-- 1 -- Tab Wraparound
One of the most common problems in writing TAB is text wraparound.
This makes the TAB almost impossible to read but is very easily
avoided.
The problem occurs when you write a line of TAB which is maybe 80
or 90 characters long. For a lot of people this is too wide for
their screen, so what should be a single line of tab ends up being
split onto two lines.
Here is what it looks like :
E--------------------------------0-----------------------------------------------
B--------------------------2--4-----4--2-----------------------------------------
G-----------------1--2--4-----------------4--2--1--------------------------------
D--------1--2--4-----------------------------------4--2--1-----------------------
A-----0--2--4------------------------------------------------4--2--0-------------
E-0--2--4------------------------------------------------------------4--2--0-----
Now this will probably look pretty weird when you see it. When I
wrote it, using Windows 'Notepad', it looked fine because I could
fit the whole thing on one screen.
For most newsreaders though, it is too long and you run into
problems.
All you have to do is be careful when you type in TAB so that you
the maximum width of line is say 60 characters.
I've tried to do that in this FAQ so that the maximum width is about
<<<------------------------------------------------------------------>>>
this much. If you limit your TABs in the same way, you should be OK.
Of course, if TAB *does* get wrapped around the author might not realise
because it looked fine on his/her screen when they wrote it. It might be
worth letting them know of the problem, so they can be careful in the
future.
(This includes me ! If parts of this FAQ are too wide for your screen,
please let me know !)
-- 2 -- Very squashed TAB
It's amazing how easy it is to ruin an otherwise good piece of TAB by
not spacing it out so that the end result is a mass of cramped TAB,
explanations, labels etc.
When you finish typing up, go back through the TAB and see if you can
insert a few blank lines here and there to separate verse from chorus
or whatever. It really does make it a lot easier for others to read.
It might also be worth considering if you've included too much detail
in the TAB. Usually this will not be the case, but I have seen a few
TABs which go into great details, but are extremely off-putting to
try to read because of the sheer quantity of information.
-- 3 -- Unnecessary repetition
If a line of TAB or a particular riff is repeated a number of times
then save yourself the effort, TAB it once.
It's also easier to read that way.
That's all I *think* you need to know about reading and writing TAB.
If there's anything important you think I've left out or if there
are bits of the FAQ which you can't understand then let me know.