Why does <del>text</del> tags work but the textile version -text- doesn’t?

I’ve been having the same problem. When I e-mailed customer service, Sarah said I wasn’t using Textile correctly, but I don’t think that’s it.

Here’s a link to a Textile reference, what you’re looking for is about a quarter of the way down the page: http://hobix.com/textile/quick.html

The correct way to format a strikethrough is to use hyphens before and after, like this.

Yeah, I know. It does work here (see?), I’ll grant you that, but when I wrote you, it was about Backpack lists and notes, and it still doesn’t work there. Sorry. You tried it, didn’t you? I don’t understand how it could work for you, but not for us. Weird. I’ll be interested to hear what you figure out.

BTW, that is a great picture in your Gravatar. I’ve got to figure out how to get a decent picture. How did you manage it?

Any luck on this, Sarah? It would be SO helpful if the strikethrough feature worked! Thanks in advance.

Same question in my Backpack.

I directly copy the text in the quick reference (I’m sure not sure.) and it did not work.

Thanks for the help.

Another one has question is the underline (You are a pleasant child.).

I copy all the quick reference in my Backpack and found that.

Any update here? Last comment from 37signals is Nov 2007.

I was wondering this, too…count me in on the curious to know the difference between Backpack Textile and the usual version.

still not working in Backpack del tags work, + signs don’t. I’m a Mac user, surely this can’t possibly make any difference?

Hi everyone. We’re no longer using the “stock” textile implementation. We’ve disabled very few features, but one of them is strikethrough text. Strikethrough can wreak havoc when you’re not expecting it, and it’s a rarely used formatting aide.

I understand that sometimes strikethrough text can be a useful signifier, but at the cost of making other hyphenation unpredictable, it doesn’t seem worth it.

Thanks for the clarification Jeff – at least now I know I’ve not been doing something stupid. It might be a good idea to change the textile help link at the bottom of http://www.backpackit.com/help/pages/ because it provides incorrect information and wastes your user’s time. So textile strikethrough and underline don’t work – anything else?

I have also had problems with certain Textile codes. Can someone from Backpack please post all of the Textile codes that are intentionally disabled in Backpack? It doesn’t make sense to direct users there from the Backpack Help pages when you have disabled parts of it.

Perhaps there needs to be a page created/hosted by 37 Signals showing what codes to use for formatting in Backpack.

Thank you.

Jim