#chat format

read this in their voice

(and if you don’t have one, just let this be a gentle voice for you)

incoming call… connected

“hey… you are here”

“you look tired today”

“no, not in a bad way… just… like you have been carrying a lot”

“did you eat? it’s okay if you didn’t, i’m not judging… just checking”

“come here, closer to the screen”

“there you go… i can see you better now”

“you don’t have to say anything, you know that right?”

“we can just sit like this”

“…you have been overthinking again, haven’t you?”

“it’s okay. you don’t have to figure everything out tonight”

“no, really. nothing is that urgent”

“look at me for a second”

“you are okay right now”

“nothing bad is happening”

“you can rest here”

“…yeah, i’ll stay”

“you don’t have to rush to leave”

“just breathe a little slower”

“good… like that”

“i’m not going anywhere”

“we’ll just stay on call until you feel a bit better, okay?”

“you are not bothering me”

“i’m glad you are here”

Ghost in my room: The font looks like the one they use on drama scripts, so it’s fine.

Me: But the thinness of the letters unbolded and the lack of spacing between each speaker make this format difficult to read, especially when the text is long.

Me: Before the NPF post editor was a thing, the Chat format served a purpose. It used to be that theme editors can easily format the Chat post to look like actual chat messages on their themes

Examples:

Dusk and Sempiternal by @ cactusthemes

Space Race by @ laurenashpole

Discord by @ starlightthemes

Me: Now, with custom Tumblr themes and the username.tumblr.com view being sidelined as a way to push users to the Tumblr mobile app and shove ads in their faces, theme-makers are less motivated to give the Chat format any fancy styling. That, or maybe it’s just not possible to make it fancy because of how NPF works. Idk, I don’t code.

Ghost: I see your point, but I think the Chat format is still handy for short text

Ghost: Like this

Ghost: or this

Ghost: People don’t really use it for long text

Me: True

Me: I still hate the Courier font, though

Me: It looks fine on print but not really on a screen

Me: May I propose a different monospace font?

Me: Like the lovely Roboto Mono or perhaps Source Code Pro?

Ship: Dead on Main

[chat between Danny and Damian]

Danny: how much effort would you say you put into that attempted stabbing? It didn't seem like your best effort bud

Damian: you are correct. 

Damian: I invested the minimum amount of effort needed as you are a pathetic fool not worth my time

Danny: thanks bud! :D 

Damian: you are an idiot

Danny: ^.^

—

[Group chat]

Damian: Todd you will explain why your brain damaged idiot asked me how much effort I put into killing him

[Several people are typing]

Jason: he thinks i don't like him because i never tried to kill him!

Dick: Jay's boo did what now?

Cass: 🤔❔❓

Damian: foolish

Tim: well, do you like him?

Jason: also he thinks you guys are besties because you did

Jason: the fuck do you mean do i like him Copyright Infringement?

Steph: well you didn't try to kill him so how should we know?

Jason: killing someone isn't a love language!

Elita-1: "I was hoping you'd say that, makes the job so much mor fun!"

Kendra: Literally who calls you that?

KT: "I swear to god Kyle I'll steal your molars"

KC: "Just my molars?"

*googles what time it is in their timezone*