I know a lot of teams decided to stop using line breaks after Viki had problems with the output across different platforms like Roku and the mobile phone version. Hasn’t it been resolved now?
IMO, it’s hard to read when the subtitle extends from one side of the screen to the other… line breaks help it look easier to read.
Hi Vivi,
I might be wrong but I thought it was a Viki direction that line breaks are not used. Irmar’s post below refers to this.
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I haven’t come across the below post before but in March of 2020, @mariliam specifically mentioned that breaks can be used in long lines of dialogue. (I’m guessing that Mariliam is Viki staff.) Now I’m confused.
https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/218654277-Adding-breaks-in-subtitles
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Lastly, the current guidelines seem to be a little vague when it comes to using line breaks for a single speaker. It’s not mentioned specifically. I’m not sure if these guidelines are assembled by Viki staff or people who are volunteers.
Manganese
It was Viki’s policy, but paid subbers do use the breaks …
I agree with you, the line breaks when used properly make the reading more confortable and enjoyable. Sometimes, I have trouble with long sentenses using Fire TV, it cuts some letters on the begine and on the end of the first line.
Anyway, Viki has to update and let us know the right politics about this matter.
I think this deserves mention since I experienced this situation myself. It so happens that on Youtube they have ‘‘uploaded’’ some dramas (short versions of about 10 minutes) subtitled by the RViki team (I recognized some of the name listed there).
I was surprised, and wanted to see if original subtitles were used or any changes were done, but to my surprise all you see are the breaks all over the place and it looks like a mess a lot of this &&&& >e < br > (something sort of like this). I know the subtitles are from viki volunteers because they have the same quality, and the only issue that is very annoying that when using the breaks is all over the place in the video so you hardly can see the subs or are able to enjoy the short version drama. So far, I only saw that in mainly Chinese (short version dramas). I don’t recall seeing any Korean ones.
I don’t bother to watch them at all since is very distracting to see all that mess in there; so my point is, that it does affect to a certain degree adding the line breaks. I want to mention I haven’t experienced that while watching dramas here, but then, I don’t know if is the fact that ‘’ line breaks’’ are not used here at RViki (as far as I know).
Guidelines or not; it’s so sad that there is no concrete feedback from viki staff as to if now is ok to use them or not. Hope you get the answer you need soon.
Only if they don’t know the rules. They adjust their ways as they go.
According to @worthyromance, they cause problems on certain devices.
I don’t see why we should change this rule. It works fine the way it is and changing it would only create a long adjustment period, full of people accidentally doing it the “old” way, then realize they should do it differently and go back through all the episodes they’ve edited so far to change everything. And why would you want 3 or 4 lines on your screen if you can have 1 or 2?
I just don’t use them unless it’s for lyrics or there are 2 ppl talking. I let ge/ce format what I don’t edit as a TE.
Some ge/ce’s have their own preferences so it all depends I guess.
For me it’s the exact oposite 
I hate line breaks because my brain gets distracted and tries to read the line below and the upper line at the same time and as you can imagine it doesn’t give the best results 
(I pause for on-screen text and dialogue for that very reason)
Just a personal preference
If you go to a Finnish cinema (and the movie is not Finnish-spoken), there are two lines of subtitles, 1 in Finnish and 1 in Swedish. Nice, but also confusing since I normally tend to read both lines if there are 2. I had to actively decide whether I was just going to listen to the spoken words (if understandable), read the Finnish lines or read the Swedish lines. Otherwise… chaos. 
Sadly I noticed the paid Viki subtitler(s) do not adhere much to the subtitling format, do you see what I see? The line break code 
and
These are just a few… but the volunteer team has some work to do to fix those, these paid subtitlers work lately on many projects…
I have roku, the breaks are showing all right now after the new update, but the device has a wonderful feature. It centralizes the subs for a more comfortable reading and enjoyable experience. So, when we add new breaks, it ends up having 3 to + lines on the screen. Since these rules are not written in stones, I don’t see why a CE can’t choose to use the breaks if they think is best. For me, when I’m the CE, I won’t be adding breaks because I believe it is better to add the feature of centralizing the subs on the app itself. But any change that makes things better for the viewer is a good change.
I have watched some paid subbers improve along the way to the point that I sometimes even thought, “Hey, they actually read my team notes!”
If they can do it on the app, then let them do it that way if they feel like it. If the English team does it, it affects viewers from all devices and not for everyone with the best result.
They can’t.
You just said they could. 
@mirjam_465, @cerejacult
I was mainly referring to the line break code… isn’t it < br > without the slash / ??
The subtitler used after br a space and then a slash…
Isn’t this the correct line break code?
and
very often the Itallics aren’t used also and writing out emotions like (laughing) isn’t the way we sub or it is?
Yeah, you’re right. Those examples are wrong, and they also tend to write [text] without italics.
Roku put the subs in the center, making the automatic break. It is not something you can adjust as you like. He does that in every sub of every streaming platform. And Roku is not an app. When I say app, I’m referring to viki’s app. The app doesn’t have this possibility yet. That’s why I said they can’t.
I’m editing a viki subber and it had the breaks < br >. I don’t see (laughing, crying, etc) being subbed. I think this is more for description sub and not our sub.
I just edited a presubbed fairly recent movie. About ¾ of the sub had breaks in them. They were the expression of a compulsive habit, not there to add to viewer comprehension or comfort. Sentences as few as five words had breaks in them. Breaks are added without rhyme or reason. “Justice forms the order of society.” is divided into two lines. Why? “The pharmacy is just
a temporary job.” “just” is modifying a temporary job so if the sentence is divided, shouldn’t it be with job? If breaks are to be used, shouldn’t the subber at least try to divide according to the parts of the sentence and only to make reading easier?
I copied the images from the Viki paid subtitler’s account… so if there are several subtitlers using that not every person is doing the correct subtitling format… therefore I showed the wrong application of break coding and the written emotions…
I find it somehow silly when such wrong subs (which are paid) need to be corrected later… I would assume that paid subtilers are taught the correct terms applied when creating subtitles like we “volunteers” do… I’m referring to using Italics, using brackets [] and not using line breaks as stated by Viki themselves…
Viki should have a better plan for paid subtitlers in place when it comes to collaboration with the project teams meaning sort of a communication, as cgwm808 stated under different topic that while she was in the editor a paid subtitler was changing her subs… although you can see who is currently working there… and can read incoming messages in the chatterbox… if one would care… is Viki aware of all of this? @vikicommunity