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Description
  A lot of great writers on dA don't know how to use html codes, which is a real shame, because these codes can really be used to bring out a writer's words. This tutorial will go through several basic codes, good places to use them in your writing, along with spacing and other aspects of visual poetry & writing.

If you haven't noticed, when you open an "Add text" devation, there's a list of  HTML codes at the bottom. Most of them look like this . A lot of these match up with the names used for them in Microsoft Word documents, so they should be easy to use. So, let's start off with the basics!

1. Italics
is simply, italics. Got it? Put the i inside the <>s. See, it's easy! To end any Html code, one puts a slash before the letter i, . Now, for the Visual impact of italics.
                 Emphasis and Motion
Which means that a good place to use it is on verbs. You can't go wrong putting italics on verbs. For example:

                If the world ends now, then kiss me

Other Good places are supporting words and adverbs. If it ends in an "ly" then it probably works.

In prose, the most common use for italics is thought. That's great too. Your readers will be used to that, and they'll recognize what you're doing. An example:

                What could I possibly say? What if this is really the end?

Another way to think about it is when you're saying things out loud, are there words that you draw out or put emphasis on? Those words can go in italics.

               "Oh, god I can't stand that guy, he's such a complete ass."

This adds intonation to both poetry and prose, and can make your dialogue more realistic (if you use it in moderation). They're also good for long sentences and to distinguish between speakers for poetry. Italics really are your basic emphasizer, and the best one for prose writing.

2. Bold fonts
   Bold is more tricky, because of it's visual impact.
Words are bigger, and stronger. There is emphasis, but a different type.
Words most likely leap from the page
The most important thing to note with bolds is how much they stand out, so when using them, it's probably best to use them all the same way stylistically.

If italics are for verbs, then Bold fonts are a good place for nouns. They stand still. For Example:

  And it glistens, unveiling a mine field

Bolds stand out, especially if you're not using a lot of visual effects, so the less visual effects, the more the words that are bolded are best grouped together. As you add more effects, bold stands out less, but the reader still visually matches it up. For example:

I thought lights were for fools who couldn't see in the dark

Also note that Light and dark are generally considered as a pair, they go together, so using the same effect brings them together.

When you're writing thoughts, you can't use italics for emphasis, because the thought is already italics. Some people take away the italics, like this:
Is this the last thing I will ever feel? Please no.

But when it's at the end of the sentence, it looks like the thought has ended, doesn't it? Try using bold instead:

Is this the last thing I will ever feel? Please no.

This brings up the fact that you canuse two HTML codes at the same time on the same word. But did you see that the second ending code was shown? It's safe to type both, but usually, dA gets it, and ends both, so remember to delete a code if it's showing at the end. Experiment!
Another thing about bold is, it's probably not good to use them all in a straight line, or you lose the effect.
           When it's all bold, you sort of loose the effect, see?
When everything is bold, it just seems like another font. You don't want to loose your effects.

3. Supscript and Superscript
Superscript and Subscript both make words smaller. The difference? ^{is Up Here and _{is down here.
   The visual impact? It's kind of like whispering on paper. Also, sup is floaty and sub is more whispery. Why? look:

         They all got lost at the last port, chasing butterflies.

It's floaty because your eye goes up when you read it. It's 'floating' over the rest of the words.

But there are a lot of other super cool things you can do with sub and sup, they're kind of my favorite HTML. Strike is second.
With sub and sup you can make your words ascend   or descend.
You can also make words shake and spiral.
When you use subs and sups for stuff like this, please note that it loses the whisper effect. But it does look really cool, doesn't it?

4. ALL CAPS.
This one is pretty well known and not a code. ALL CAPS MAKE THINGS BIG AND LOUD. If subs are like whispering, then ALL CAPS are like yelling.
The biggest and loudest sort of words you can make are a combination of spacing, bold and all caps.
              All I can see in my head is O V E R L O A D.

That's your extreme. ALL CAPS CAN BECOME KIND OF ANNOYING WHEN YOU USE THEM A LOT, SO ONLY USE THEM AFTER YOU'VE USED BOLD.

  5. Strike-through
   Puts a line through your words like this When you use strike, think of when you're writing on paper with ink, and you decide to take something out. You put a line through it. Strikes are like when you say something, then decide to take it back. The sentence should be able to read without it, for example:

     No, you can't see it,because something tells me you would call it a miracle It's too personal, even for you.

See, without the words, the sentence still makes sense, reading:

No, you can't see it, it's too personal, even for you.

>If you strike entire sentences, the stanza should also be able to read without it.

6. Underlines
I use this effect very rarely. Grammatically, it should underline titles of long plays, films, and books. When using in in poetry however, I find it is similar to bold, however, with significantly less impact.
For example:
                  I know your secret dear, the world ends with you.

Now, let's trade the underline for bold.
                    I know your secret dear, the world ends with you.
It's really a stylistic choice on whether you go for bold or underline. See which one you like best.

6. S p a c i n g
Spacing is one of the most important aspects of Visual poetry. Spacing is your tempo, not only between lines and stanzas, but within them.
Crammingwordstogtherlikethismakesitfastanddisoriented. How about adding italics for that? It becomes a rambling thought. If you think people won't be able to read it, then you can change the positions of the words using sub and sup, so that it really becomes a rambling thought.
wellIdon'treallyknowwhatI'msayingagainandI can'tstop.

A lack of spacing makes things faster, so obviously the more space you use, the more you   s l o w  t h i n g s d o w n.
                  A   n   d
                                 y   o   u
                                              c a n
                                                   a l s o                                                              u  s e
                                                                     e n t e r
See how spread out that was? It was kind of like a descending sup/sub, but bigger. Spacing has many wonders! You just have to be patient enough to hold the bar down. You also have to be ready for Microsoft word to be pissed off at you. Also, the dA preview won't recognize it, but it will show on the deviation. I've also seen a lot of writers make pictures from their poetry using spaces. It's really cool. I've heard that there are HTML codes that will center your work, but I've also heard that those codes are very tricky, so it's safest to just use the trusty old space bar.

7.Putting it all together.
Okay, so now it's time to exercise your creativity, you're a writer, so I'm sure you've got plenty. Use your new-found powers for good, okay? All of these effects can create really stunning visuals to your poetry, and can be combined in an infinite number of ways. One way is lists, which are pretty fun to experiment with:

Then it's you, wonderful, idiot, beautiful, brilliant, stupid YOU.
            I guess I never forgot about you.

I don't know all of the html codes, but these are the ones I use. I'm sure there are other ones, which I haven't figured out yet, so keep looking and keep learning.

Your keyboard also has plenty of symbols at your disposal to use: {brackets} ~These swirly things~, |Lines that are kinda like walls| ...dots..., and *stars* for you to experiment with.

Just remember that everything is good in moderation, and you CAN go overboard.
Now go forth my pupil! Go write brilliant visual writing!}}

Description
  A lot of great writers on dA don't know how to use html codes, which is a real shame, because these codes can really be used to bring out a writer's words. This tutorial will go through several basic codes, good places to use them in your writing, along with spacing and other aspects of visual poetry & writing.

If you haven't noticed, when you open an "Add text" devation, there's a list of  HTML codes at the bottom. Most of them look like this . A lot of these match up with the names used for them in Microsoft Word documents, so they should be easy to use. So, let's start off with the basics!

1. Italics
is simply, italics. Got it? Put the i inside the <>s. See, it's easy! To end any Html code, one puts a slash before the letter i, . Now, for the Visual impact of italics.
                 Emphasis and Motion
Which means that a good place to use it is on verbs. You can't go wrong putting italics on verbs. For example:

                If the world ends now, then kiss me

Other Good places are supporting words and adverbs. If it ends in an "ly" then it probably works.

In prose, the most common use for italics is thought. That's great too. Your readers will be used to that, and they'll recognize what you're doing. An example:

                What could I possibly say? What if this is really the end?

Another way to think about it is when you're saying things out loud, are there words that you draw out or put emphasis on? Those words can go in italics.

               "Oh, god I can't stand that guy, he's such a complete ass."

This adds intonation to both poetry and prose, and can make your dialogue more realistic (if you use it in moderation). They're also good for long sentences and to distinguish between speakers for poetry. Italics really are your basic emphasizer, and the best one for prose writing.

2. Bold fonts
   Bold is more tricky, because of it's visual impact.
Words are bigger, and stronger. There is emphasis, but a different type.
Words most likely leap from the page
The most important thing to note with bolds is how much they stand out, so when using them, it's probably best to use them all the same way stylistically.

If italics are for verbs, then Bold fonts are a good place for nouns. They stand still. For Example:

  And it glistens, unveiling a mine field

Bolds stand out, especially if you're not using a lot of visual effects, so the less visual effects, the more the words that are bolded are best grouped together. As you add more effects, bold stands out less, but the reader still visually matches it up. For example:

I thought lights were for fools who couldn't see in the dark

Also note that Light and dark are generally considered as a pair, they go together, so using the same effect brings them together.

When you're writing thoughts, you can't use italics for emphasis, because the thought is already italics. Some people take away the italics, like this:
Is this the last thing I will ever feel? Please no.

But when it's at the end of the sentence, it looks like the thought has ended, doesn't it? Try using bold instead:

Is this the last thing I will ever feel? Please no.

This brings up the fact that you canuse two HTML codes at the same time on the same word. But did you see that the second ending code was shown? It's safe to type both, but usually, dA gets it, and ends both, so remember to delete a code if it's showing at the end. Experiment!
Another thing about bold is, it's probably not good to use them all in a straight line, or you lose the effect.
           When it's all bold, you sort of loose the effect, see?
When everything is bold, it just seems like another font. You don't want to loose your effects.

3. Supscript and Superscript
Superscript and Subscript both make words smaller. The difference? ^{is Up Here and _{is down here.
   The visual impact? It's kind of like whispering on paper. Also, sup is floaty and sub is more whispery. Why? look:

         They all got lost at the last port, chasing butterflies.

It's floaty because your eye goes up when you read it. It's 'floating' over the rest of the words.

But there are a lot of other super cool things you can do with sub and sup, they're kind of my favorite HTML. Strike is second.
With sub and sup you can make your words ascend   or descend.
You can also make words shake and spiral.
When you use subs and sups for stuff like this, please note that it loses the whisper effect. But it does look really cool, doesn't it?

4. ALL CAPS.
This one is pretty well known and not a code. ALL CAPS MAKE THINGS BIG AND LOUD. If subs are like whispering, then ALL CAPS are like yelling.
The biggest and loudest sort of words you can make are a combination of spacing, bold and all caps.
              All I can see in my head is O V E R L O A D.

That's your extreme. ALL CAPS CAN BECOME KIND OF ANNOYING WHEN YOU USE THEM A LOT, SO ONLY USE THEM AFTER YOU'VE USED BOLD.

  5. Strike-through
   Puts a line through your words like this When you use strike, think of when you're writing on paper with ink, and you decide to take something out. You put a line through it. Strikes are like when you say something, then decide to take it back. The sentence should be able to read without it, for example:

     No, you can't see it,because something tells me you would call it a miracle It's too personal, even for you.

See, without the words, the sentence still makes sense, reading:

No, you can't see it, it's too personal, even for you.

>If you strike entire sentences, the stanza should also be able to read without it.

6. Underlines
I use this effect very rarely. Grammatically, it should underline titles of long plays, films, and books. When using in in poetry however, I find it is similar to bold, however, with significantly less impact.
For example:
                  I know your secret dear, the world ends with you.

Now, let's trade the underline for bold.
                    I know your secret dear, the world ends with you.
It's really a stylistic choice on whether you go for bold or underline. See which one you like best.

6. S p a c i n g
Spacing is one of the most important aspects of Visual poetry. Spacing is your tempo, not only between lines and stanzas, but within them.
Crammingwordstogtherlikethismakesitfastanddisoriented. How about adding italics for that? It becomes a rambling thought. If you think people won't be able to read it, then you can change the positions of the words using sub and sup, so that it really becomes a rambling thought.
wellIdon'treallyknowwhatI'msayingagainandI can'tstop.

A lack of spacing makes things faster, so obviously the more space you use, the more you   s l o w  t h i n g s d o w n.
                  A   n   d
                                 y   o   u
                                              c a n
                                                   a l s o                                                              u  s e
                                                                     e n t e r
See how spread out that was? It was kind of like a descending sup/sub, but bigger. Spacing has many wonders! You just have to be patient enough to hold the bar down. You also have to be ready for Microsoft word to be pissed off at you. Also, the dA preview won't recognize it, but it will show on the deviation. I've also seen a lot of writers make pictures from their poetry using spaces. It's really cool. I've heard that there are HTML codes that will center your work, but I've also heard that those codes are very tricky, so it's safest to just use the trusty old space bar.

7.Putting it all together.
Okay, so now it's time to exercise your creativity, you're a writer, so I'm sure you've got plenty. Use your new-found powers for good, okay? All of these effects can create really stunning visuals to your poetry, and can be combined in an infinite number of ways. One way is lists, which are pretty fun to experiment with:

Then it's you, wonderful, idiot, beautiful, brilliant, stupid YOU.
            I guess I never forgot about you.

I don't know all of the html codes, but these are the ones I use. I'm sure there are other ones, which I haven't figured out yet, so keep looking and keep learning.

Your keyboard also has plenty of symbols at your disposal to use: {brackets} ~These swirly things~, |Lines that are kinda like walls| ...dots..., and *stars* for you to experiment with.

Just remember that everything is good in moderation, and you CAN go overboard.
Now go forth my pupil! Go write brilliant visual writing!}}