I’ve noted sometimes when I try to indicate italic/ boldface with the wrong symbol–{} instead of , for example, I may get a different typeface on the screen or printed page; or it may occur if I don’t properly match up opening indicators with closing. Is there a format for this so I can do so deliberately? Thanks very much. 
What browser are you using? I’m on IE5 and I’ve never seen different fonts on here. In theory all text on the page is displayed using <FONT FACE=“arial, helvetica” size=“2”>, so unless you’ve got a stylesheet overriding your browser settings I’m not sure why another font would be displayed.
Sorry that wasn’t much help.
I use, about 50-50, Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer. (I’ve already ranted on the SDMB about why I won’t use AOL.)
If you’re using Netscape 4.x, you should be able to get it to switch from Helvetica/Arial to the default font, which is probably Times, by putting in an extraneous [/b] or [/i] tag. It might work with [****/u] too, but I’ve never tested it. I use Netscape 6.2, and it, like IE, doesn’t have this “feature” - otherwise I’d test it right now. Also, I’m not sure, but I believe that once you convert the text to the default font, there’s no easy way to get it back in the same post.
That’s OK with me, Achernar. I prefer Times Roman, but rarely see it on the screen or printed pages. Thanx.
In other words, * if I do this it should switch to Times Roman, eh?
We shall see, as Clemenceau commented…
IIRC, it’s one of the results of Netscape not complying with all the W3C’s standards. That is, the font is not supposed to change to your default font after a </b> </i> or whatever tag.
**
This should be in Times New Roman for Netscape users.
I will try to see if a [****/sym] tag changes it back, on a hunch.
[/sym]
If this works, this should now be in the normal font. I use IE, so I really have no idea myself.
Well, I use Netscape 6. It’s supposed to be more standards-compliant than either Netscape 4 or Internet Explorer 5. In your post, waterj2, N6 did revert to the default font, but for an orphaned [**/b] tag, it doesn’t. Looking at the source code, I believe that in the case of a random [/sym] tag, the browser should definitely revert to the default. As for the others, though, I think it’s undefined, though I can’t exactly tell from the specs. From the HTML 4.01 specification, §3.2:
And, from §15.2.1:
It seems to me that it’s undefined, and both the way N4 handles it and the way N6 handles it are both okay. I can’t speak for IE, but I think it probably does it fine too, as long as it really does revert back to the default on that [/sym****]. Now, I’m not a designer, so I could be wrong about this standards thing; someone can welcomely correct me.
In IE 5.5 all of water2js post appears in Arial, apart from:
If this works, this should now be in the normal font. I use IE, so I really have no idea myself.
Which appears in Times New Roman
So:
**
This should be in normal board font, while
[/sym]
this should be in Times. I think.
Not Times, necessarily, but your default font. My default font is the same (I think) as the board font.