[Psymon]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

There are any number of ways to set the display for character name before their line. That pretty much just depends on how you want to do it. CSS can be very powerful. The problem is - as you mentioned - making sure all the devices will display it properly. Personally, I would go with the most basic coding that would still appear properly.

Yeah, I'm quite familiar with CSS -- well, reasonably familiar enough, anyway -- I guess I just didn't know if this sort of thing had come up before, and if perhaps there was some particular way(s) that you oldtimers and pros out there thought worked the best.

As far as the spacing for those lines - yes, you COULD use nbsp, but you really can't control the size of the reader's display...those spaces could cause the words to flow to the next line anyway. This is a long standing problem with things like plays and poetry.

I personally don't see any added benefit to having those spaces...just align them to the left like the other lines.

Well, because it's Shakespeare -- in a way, it's a "matter of respect" for the ol' Bard, to at least try to typset his words as they were meant to be displayed. In that regard, re your comment that you don't see the added benefit of having those lines spaced like that, there is actually a reason and significance for doing so -- it's a visual cue as to the rhythm and meter of his words (iambic pentameter and all that).

I know what you mean, though, about lines wrapping and stuff -- but don't forget, Shakespeare's writings are all written in a way that they require being typset the same as poetry, i.e. not where each sentence just continues on "in a straight line" and then wrapping wherever the page ends over to the next line, but instead it's "line-by-line," like a poem. Even without adding in spaces to lines like those that I described, there will always be the potential for lines to wrap over to the next and for things to end up "looking funny."

Also, from Toxaris...

Originally Posted by Toxaris

I have seen a couple of screenplays that used the <dt> and <dd> tags. With styling you can make it exactly what you want, depending on the reader of course.

Oh, that's an interesting idea, to "cheat" with those DT/DD tags! I'm not sure if I'll actually do it that way, but it's certainly a thought to consider.

Thanks, guys, for the replies! I do look forward to any more, if you or anyone else has anything something more to add.