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Topic: question about editing books and the "&" sign

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Subject: question about editing books and the "&" sign
Date Posted: 7/10/2013 10:51 AM ET
Member Since: 3/25/2009
Posts: 279
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Sometimes a book title will use the ampersand "&" instead of the actual word "and". So what is the prefered method of editing an ampersand title? Use the & or use the word "and"?

Date Posted: 7/10/2013 11:56 PM ET
Member Since: 7/7/2007
Posts: 4,815
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I use "and", because that ampersand sometimes gets removed by the system, for reasons that I've not fully figured out.

ETA: But Rob, clearly, has it figured out. ;-)



Last Edited on: 7/11/13 12:58 PM ET - Total times edited: 1
Date Posted: 7/11/2013 9:37 AM ET
Member Since: 7/12/2010
Posts: 4,177
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The ampersand gets removed because it can mess with computer code.  The ampersand is used in HTML,XML, Visual Basic, C++, Perl and no doubt others that I'm not fully cognizant of.

-RD

Date Posted: 7/11/2013 10:07 AM ET
Member Since: 1/17/2009
Posts: 10,247
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Most of the book listings that I've seen use the ampersand. The ampersand exists in the PBS listing, it is just removed from the view of the title in certain book views.

Here is a listing to look at:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sins-Shadows-Lyn-Benedict/book/0441017118/

You will notice that the ampersand is in the listing of the title, and at the very top of the listing (where it says Search and then the title, you can see the ampersand)  but on the line below where it restates the title, you don't see the ampersand.

However, if you do a search for "Sins & Shadows" the book will come up just fine, with the ampersand shown in the title in the search results, even though PBS does auto-remove the ampersand from your search string.

So ... I think you can use the ampersand in the titles, which is probably how most people would try to perform a search on it, for example.  PBS has created the proper logic so that the correct thing happens when people use ampersands in whatever field is appropriate on the site.

 

Date Posted: 7/11/2013 9:05 PM ET
Member Since: 3/25/2009
Posts: 279
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Thank you for the info.
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