Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

marlboro180

marlboro180

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 23, 2009
Messages
1,164
I am selling a fairly good quantity of aluminum scaffolding on CL, and initially when I type the list into CL, it looks fine. But then when it posts, it comes out in one big paragraph , making me one of those really annoying people who cannot spell or use a return key. It is really hard to read like this.

Here is the list, . 24 foot poles: 5 18 foot poles: 3 6 foot poles: 3 Joints: 7 Braces: 14 20 inch 500# decks, 24 feet long: 3 (werner) 20 inch 500# decks, 16 feet long: 1 (werner) 14 inch 500# decks, 24 feet long: 3 (alumapole) (really heavy duty) 14 inch 500# decks, 16 feet long: 1 (werner) Nets: 1 End rails: 2 pumpjacks with workbenches: 8 ( a few of the workbenches are werner) all poles have feet, except the 6 footers. All items are Alum-a-pole, unless otherwise noted
Click to expand...

I have looked at the FAQ section on CL, and cannot seem to find a way to make it look the way I want, which is kinda like this:
6 foot poles - 3

pumpjacks with workbenches- 10
Click to expand...


I have gone through and edited it with the ad looking fine at first, then it posts again looking like the blather above. Any ideas?
 
HopeSheFloats

HopeSheFloats

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
1,674
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

Have you tried using notepad, word etc. and using cut/copy and paste, that usually works for me when I have a long listing...Other than that, sorry no idea.
 
marlboro180

marlboro180

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 23, 2009
Messages
1,164
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

HopeSheFloats- Yes, I actually had it as a word document, cut and pasted it initially , looked goofy.I even went back and deleted the whole thing, and keyed it all in again:confused:

Windsor- Yes, Firefox has been my default browser for several years. Lot fewer problems and I like the add- ons.

Well, as I thought would happen I got a few interesting, to say the least, responses to my crazy looking ad on CL today . At least one person thought I was a scammer/ spammer:eek: They sent me a love letter.

What I ended up doing was putting a lot of these ------------------in there to help clarify it.

Still stumped as to why things look so much different on the website from the way I post it initially, but then again, I am really not very good with computers.:redface::confused:
 
W

windsors03cobra

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
1,191
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

Craigslist leaves some things to be desired but does have a large audience and the price is right.
 
marlboro180

marlboro180

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 23, 2009
Messages
1,164
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

windsors03cobra said:
Craigslist leaves some things to be desired but does have a large audience and the price is right.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Have you noticed the lack of ads in the papers around here? And the Journal Sentinel still charges a ton for their newspaper ads...:rolleyes:

I will put up with the spam/ bottom feeders on CL instead.
 
D

Doug N.

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
85
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

Have you tried introducing a bunch of spelling, punctuation and grammar errors? Maybe you can trick it into thinking you are stupid to make it feel sorry for you and help you out by keeping the format.
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,493
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

Open up a word document and have it save as html. That way you can change the font, have bold and underlines and everything you want to make it pretty. After you create the html, you can open the html with a text editor and just copy and paste the html or use "view source" from within Word.

Here is my ad that I put in. I like using bold lettering. You can also insert pictures without having to go through the Craigslist pain of posting pictures. I didn't go crazy but you can if you want to. It definitely looks less amateur than most of the others.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/vac/1803474129.html



Here I took your add and put in some formatting. Cut and paste the code in the quote below into your add and see what you think of it.
<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered)">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Wingdings;
panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
/* List Definitions */
ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
-->
</style>

</head>

<body lang=EN-US>

<div class=Section1>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>Here is the list: </span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'> </span></b></p>

<ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>24 foot poles: 5 </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>18 foot poles: 3 </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>6 foot poles: 3 </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Joints: 7 </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Braces: 14 </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>20 inch 500# decks 24 feet long: 3 (werner)</span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>20 inch 500# decks 16 feet long: 1 (werner) </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>14 inch 500# decks 24 feet long: 3 (alumapole)
(really heavy duty) </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>14 inch 500# decks, 16 feet long: 1 (werner)</span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Nets: 1 End rails: 2 </span></b></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='color:black'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>pumpjacks with workbenches: 8 ( a few of the
workbenches are werner) all poles have feet, except the 6 footers. </span></b></li>
</ul>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'> </span></b></p>

<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>All items are Alum-a-pole, unless otherwise noted</span></b></p>

</div>

</body>

</html>
Click to expand...
 
W

windsors03cobra

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Messages
1,191
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

marlboro180 said:
Agreed. Have you noticed the lack of ads in the papers around here? And the Journal Sentinel still charges a ton for their newspaper ads...:rolleyes:

I will put up with the spam/ bottom feeders on CL instead.
Click to expand...

I'm 30 years old myself and while I use to read 3 newspapers a day I have only read news online for atleast 5 years or better now.
I refer to the paper copy as the "dead tree media".
Have not looked at newspaper classified in as long or longer.

Went into Pick n' Save today and a fellow was there giving Journal Sentinels away free and he had very very few takers from my observation. I did tell him I read it online and he said "that's how ya do it".
It has boggled my mind a bit how newspapers are able to give news away free online but that is slowly going away I think. I guess advertising on sites as well.
 
marlboro180

marlboro180

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 23, 2009
Messages
1,164
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

Doug- that is funny . Pity me!

Bruce- I pasted that change you made, albiet I need to change it up a bit ( to extend to the rest of the ad), that looks great.:D Thanks you ! Great tip.
Your ad looks real nice , makes me want to rent it right now!

Windsor- JSonline is how I read it too.
 
bruceb58

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,493
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

You are welcome. If you message me your whole ad, I can modify it and paste it in the return message for you.
 
marlboro180

marlboro180

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jun 23, 2009
Messages
1,164
Re: Craigslist question- Paragraphs/list

Thanks Bruce- Looks much better now. Copied and pasted it in. You Rock.
 
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