How can I make HTML stop shifting itself?

  • Unknown's avatar
    onehungryghost · Member ·

    I used html to try to make the font of my post bigger. It worked at first, but now only the first paragraph is bigger. When I go back to the edit page, I see that the </big> tag is repositioned, after the first paragraph, not at the end of the post, where I put it. I tried repeatedly to fix it, deleting the closing tag after the first paragraph and reinserting at the end of the post, but it keeps moving back. When I gave up and took out both the initial and closing tags, the first paragraph of my post remains big, though there’s no sign of HTML in the Text window of the Edit page to make it so. I don’t want the first paragraph bigger; if I can’t have the whole post bigger, I’d like it to be all one size, like it was before I tried making it bigger. Help? Thanks.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    futureswitch · Member ·

    Hey, Onehungryghost.

    There are surely other solutions, but this one seems to work. I removed all of the “<big>” and “</big>” tags. Then I added one “<big>” tag on a completely separate line above the first paragraph and a “</big>” tag on a completely separate line below the last paragraph. It sounds like this is what you were trying to do.

    Now, just publish it! Don’t switch from the text editor to the visual editor to see what it looks like. When I switched to the visual editor and back to the text editor again, I found that some tags had been removed and (just as you described) the “big” tags had been repositioned.

    Try it and see if this works for you.

    Cheers,
    -Brian

  • Unknown's avatar
    onehungryghost · Member ·

    Thanks, Brian, and especially for responding so soon.

    I tried what you suggested, and I’m still having the same trouble. I don’t switch to Visual; I’ve tried both clicking on Update first and on Preview first, and both show the same big first paragraph only.

    I don’t understand why it worked for you but not for me, nor why this <big> command worked for me initially but not later.

    Surely this is a bug? It shouldn’t be this hard!

    Perhaps this is related: The post didn’t respond at all to attempts to change the font via HTML. I assumed this was just a limitation imposed to motivate people to buy more customizable themes, but now I wonder whether it’s just a bug.

    Thanks.

    ohg

  • Unknown's avatar
    futureswitch · Member ·

    I must be doing something different. Maybe this has something to do with it. I copied the code you used by right-clicking on the page and selecting “View Page Source.” Then, I pasted the code into a new post in the WordPress text editor. Finally, I added the “big” tags as I described. I think you’re just opening the text editor for your existing post and adding the tags. But I suspect that the editor is removing something else from your code. And whatever that is is what’s causing your problem. Do you follow me? Maybe if you re-type your post from scratch.

    Let us know if you make any progress. I’m sure there’s a way to do what you’re trying to do.

    Cheers,
    -Brian

  • Unknown's avatar
    1tess · Moderator Emeritus ·

    The problem is most likely that “big” tag as an attribute of font is no longer supported in html5.
    http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp

    <big> Not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead.
    Defines big text

    You should use inline css styling as described here:
    http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/formatting-text-pt-5/
    (please read the whole article!) 

    <div style="font-size:120%;font-family:georgia;">
TEXT HERE
</div>

    or
    <span style="font-size:PERCENTAGE HERE;">TEXT HERE</span>

  • Unknown's avatar
    1tess · Moderator Emeritus ·

    Or if you want to change the size of font for only one paragraph, you can use the p tag instead of div or span.

  • Unknown's avatar
    onehungryghost · Member ·

    Thanks, Brian and 1tess. I think I have managed, by combining your input, to make it work for now. The HTML page 1tess suggested is quite helpful; I didn’t know <big> wasn’t supported, and that page helped set me straight.

    I’m boggled by how nonstraightforward this editing process is! I think I read somewhere on the WP site that changes might take a few minutes to show up, and that might be part of my trouble with apparently inconsistent results, but that sure does make editing and learning-as-I-go much harder. It’s hard to wait around for some undefined time to see whether my results may change, since I don’t like the idea of my blog looking unpredictable and odd to others in the meantime. There ought to be a sandbox, if edits don’t take effect immediately.

    Anyway, I’m good for now, I think, re font size. I really appreciate your help. Thanks!

    ohg

  • Unknown's avatar
    futureswitch · Member ·

    Thanks for the info, 1tess. Guess the WP support docs need an update.

    The problem is most likely that “big” tag as an attribute of font is no longer supported in html5.
    http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp

    Ohg, WordPress.com is pretty straightforward, but it is limited in some ways. It just depends on what you want to do. Maybe you should look into a custom design upgrade:
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/custom-design/

    Or you could switch to a self-hosted wordpress.ORG site:
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

    Cheers,
    -Brian*

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