About formatting/text modes on scriptbin

Scripts on scriptbin can be written with two formatting modes, chosen when you write/add or edit a script.

Plain text means that there's no formatting besides the text you type in. (Emoji are just text and so are still allowed.) The exception is that links are also allowed. Read more about Plain text.

Reddit-compatible Markdown means that Markdown formatting is used, which allows *italic* to turn into italic, **bold** to turn into bold, and so on, by similar tricks/spellings (often called a "syntax") where punctuation marks where formatting starts and ends. Read more about Reddit-compatible Markdown

No matter if you're writing in plain text or Reddit-compatible Markdown, you can include instructions at the top of your script with a similar-looking formatting trick.

Plain text

When you choose "plain text", which is also the default text mode, the characters you type show up as-is in the script. They are also presented in a fixed-width, "monospace" typeface.

The exception is that links are still allowed, in the following form:

#[the link text](https://link-address.example.org/)

Why would you want plain text and why is it the default? Often, writers use conventions like What he did? *whispers* ...I know, right? or [out of breath] wow, please, just give me a minute to mark instructions for sound effects, intonation or delivery. It can also be used to mark parts in a multi-part, collaborative script or to set the scene or provide asides. All of this can be summed up as "direction".

A formatting syntax like Markdown often uses many of the same spellings. If *whispers* is turned into whispers, the direction is possibly less likely to be caught and understood, and looks less delimited from the text.

When plain text is used, line numbers can be shown on the script.

Reddit-compatible Markdown

Markdown is a formatting "syntax" for turning specially written plain text into formatted text.

(The "new" version of Reddit has an editor where you do not need to remember or use the Markdown syntax but can select and format text as bold or italic like in Word or Google Drive. This may become a scriptbin feature in the future but is not currently available.)

When scriptbin was started, nearly the entire community was based on Reddit. There are many slightly different versions of Markdown, but to cut the learning curve, special care was taken to use the exact same version of Markdown used by Reddit at the time.

One of the best guides is Reddit's own guide to "Reddit-flavored Markdown".

When Markdown is used, on the add/edit script page, there is a preview of how the formatted text will look like below the script text area, which updates as you type. This is the exact same result as you will see when the script is saved.

Line numbers in Markdown-formatted scripts

Due to Markdown allowing formatting, like tables, but also paragraphs in numbered/bulleted list items or line breaks in paragraphs, it is not always clear when a line is considered to have started. Since August 2024, line numbers are now available in beta for Markdown-formatted scripts. Note that some elements (plain text formatting or tables) may not be numbered, or that some line numbers may not properly align with the start of the line, or may overlap with other line numbers. For most cases, it is hopefully usable enough to be useful.

Separate instructions

You can also include instructions at the top of your script. Instructions are distinctly formatted to be easy to tell apart. To include instructions, start your scripts with the instructions, then, on its own line, type:
--8<--
...which is a plain-text approximation of a dashed line with scissors — meaning, the actual script starts below here.