Help talk:Beginner's guide to typography

Underline

The original text I am formatting includes underlined text and italics text. How can I format text as underline? See: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Sm_all_cc.pdf/5 for an example. Thanks! --Lbeaumont (talk) 03:27, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

We avoid underlining if at all possible. It was used in the typewriter era as a way of emphasising some words, but was never used by typesetters. I recommend that you format those sub-headings in bold instead. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 03:50, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

For this work, I disagree. Looking at that page and other pages, the underlining should probably be preserved. This work seems to have been created in an early word processor, and the underlining is sometimes used to emphasize points in the argument, but on other pages is used for titles of books. Substituting bold for underlining will not work in this situation. --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:11, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Underlined titles should always be transcribed as italics, so that's not a reason to not use bold. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 04:40, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Again, I disagree. The work already uses italics (sometimes), single quotes (sometimes), and underlining (sometimes) for titles of works. Changing some of the underlined items to bold, and some of them to italics would inconsistently alter the work from its original form. --EncycloPetey (talk) 04:47, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

The reason to avoid underlining is that it gets mistaken for hyperlinking, isn't it? — Sam Wilson ( Talk • Contribs ) … 06:35, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Multiple Columns

How do I create multiple columns on a page? See, for example: Page:Sm all cc.pdf/228 Can this be added as a topic? Thanks! --Lbeaumont (talk) 14:55, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

Symbols and Special Characters

What if the special character is wrong? An English-language book I was validating consistently had ẏ at the end of a Czech surname where it should have been ý. The proofreader had written ý. I changed it to how it was in the book, before I knew the book had it wrong. What should I have done?PeterR2 (talk) 22:24, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

That can be circumstantial. If the book is using a consistent spelling that was correct for the time it was printed, then there is no error. Norms of spelling and of transcribing foreign spellings have changed over time. Wikisource always tries to preserve what was printed. However, if there is one instance that is an error when compared with other uses in the same book, then the template {{SIC}} can be used. --EncycloPetey (talk) 00:24, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

On indentation at paragraph start.

In the Bangla(bn.wikisource.org) the video shows adding ⁠ in front of each paragraph. What should be done on that occasion? Greatder (talk) 12:56, 12 February 2021 (UTC)

We don't indent paragraphs. That's the first piece of advice on the page under "Paragraphs and sentences". However, the style is different on different Wikisource projects. If you have a question about editing on the Bangla Wikisource, you should ask the editors there. The English Wikisource is a separate project. --EncycloPetey (talk) 05:27, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

Ok, so different language projects different styles. Thanks for the answer. --Greatder (talk) 05:37, 13 February 2021 (UTC)

Dashes

I've been working on transcribing a series of documents that were originally typed on a typewriter. Because of those origins, they use hyphens where we'd use dashes. Should I be converting the hyphens to dashes, or should they be left alone? Imzadi 1979 → 22:48, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

@Imzadi1979:. Where they've used a double (or triple) hyphen to indicate a dash, I would convert to an em-dash. But where a single hypehn was used, even if it should be a dash under typography rules, then leave as a hyphen. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 22:54, 24 April 2022 (UTC)

{{hws}} and {{hwe}}

In H:Formatting conventions#Hyphenated end of page words and in the documentation of {{hws}} and {{hwe}} it is stated that currently they are not needed in most cases. But in H:Beginner's guide to typography#Multiple pages {{hws}} and {{hwe}} are still recommended (or, more precisely, mandated). Should there be an update? CS14654 (talk) 09:58, 17 March 2023 (UTC)