I'm sure most of you have noticed that this forum works a bit differently than the old one did. No longer are we stuck with the ancient BB code... we've stepped up to XHTML, baby!
This... can be confusing. So, I'm going to do a quick primer of the tags you'll be using most often, and hopefully this will help you post signatures, add emphasis to your posts, and overall look REALLY cool.
For a complete list of tags available on this forum, you'll find them on the Compose Tips Page (Thanks HedgeMage!) - Here are the ones you'll use most often on this forum.
Links
First, is the link. In web designer speak, we use an anchor tag for this... what it means to you is that you can format your links prettily.
You can just post the link like so: http://www.nanowrimo.org and the forum will automatically convert it for you. However, you might want to make it clickable, and pretty, so that it doesn't ugly-up your post!
Here's how you do this:
<a href="URL">Clickable Text</a>
It's important to remember to "close your tag", that is, add a </a> at the end of the text, otherwise everything after it will be clickable. Not pretty at all. ;)
You can also do a clickable email link the same way, only instead of using a URL, you'll use the following within the quotation marks: mailto:EMAIL ADDRESS
Be wary of this one, though, as any email address you may post on the forum may be harvested by spam bots. It's generally not a wise idea to post your email address unless absolutely necessary.
Italics
Italics were updated with the new XHTML specifications. The technical term for this is "deprecated". The old tag, <i>, is no longer valid, so it doesn't work. The arcane deity known as the "W3C" decided this is so, so it is. ;)
What does this mean to you? Well, it means that to make it work, you have to get with the program, and use their new, approved tag.
Italicized Text
To do this:
<em>Italicized Text</em>
Easy-peasy! This one also needs to be closed, or your whole post will be italicized.
Bold Text
Sometimes, you just gotta shout! Like the italics, the old <b> tag was deprecated. So now, we use a new tag: <strong>.
To make your text bolder, use the following:
<strong>Bolded Text</strong>
This is also a tag that needs to be closed, or your entire post will be bolded.
Lists
The next bit of code you're like to use is a list. Sometimes, you want to order your thoughts, or you want a bulleted list. These can be simulated with regular characters, such as a dash ( - ) for a bullet, or numbering manually. However, lists offer two advantages: Prettier, easier to read formatting, and autonumbering. If you add an item in the middle of your list, the ordered list option will rearrange your numbers for you, instead of you having to go in and retype them all.
- This is an ordered list
- Your items will be numbered in order
To do this:
<ol>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Second item</li>
</ol>
- This is an unordered list
- Your items will be presented with bullets
To do this:
<ul>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Second item</li>
</ul>
The construction of both of these lists is the same, with one small difference. Make sure you use the right opening and closing tags: <ol></ol> for an ordered list, and <ul></ul> for an unordered list.
Images
We know why you're all here. Admit it; you want a pretty image in your signature, or you want to post an image in your post. Well, this will tell you how to do just that!
Before I do, let me remind you of a few guidelines: Keep your images small, and don't use too many. If someone has to scroll past half a screen to get by your signature, Cybele or another moderator may ask you to remove it. Cybele has asked that signature banners be no larger than 500 x 100.
Unlike the other tags, the image tag doesn't need to be closed with a second tag. It's a standalone.
If you want to post this:
Here is how you do so:
<img src="IMG URL" />
Note the little forward slash at the end. ;) That is how you denote a tag that doesn't need to be closed with a second tag.
Please note that images must be hosted elsewhere for you to link them. You can use photobucket, a private web host (some don't allow hotlinking, so check with your host - Geocities is one of these that disallows linking from elsewhere.) My personal favorite is TinyPic, because it's quick and easy, and doesn't require a link back like photobucket does.
Now, if you really want to get squirrely? You can make your PICTURES clickable, by nesting tags.
To do this:
<a href="URL you want to link to"><img src="Image URL" /></a>
There, that was your not-so-quick, not-so-dirty primer on how to use XHTML on this forum. This will actually work on any web page (except forums that have HTML disabled, of course). If you have questions, feel free to ask!
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Heather
Forums Moderator
0 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 08 54
To make such instructions easier to follow, you can surround tags you want to display rather than interpret with <code> tags.
For example, if I type
<a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org">NaNoWriMo</a>I can show you how to make a link to the NaNoWriMo home page. I find this easier to read than switching to square brackets or other munging techniques.
There's currently a bug in the NaNoWriMo theme causing this not to work correctly -- I'm sending a fix to firebus as we speek, so you can expect it to be remedied soon. In the mean time, you can replace the '<' in a tag with "& l t" (remove the spaces) as a work-around if you're really impatient.
It is also worth noting that this is all explained on the Compose Tips page. This page is automatically updated whenever the tags available to users are changed, so it will never be out of date.
Susan
60,054 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 09 17
Yeah, I had attempted to do just that, but it didn't work, so y'know. :) I've fixed it with the arrows... I HATE the bracket thing. Thanks for that suggestion.
Thanks for the link to the compose tips page. That'll be useful... (but we all know how often people go to the FAQs. ;) )They want an answer NOW, thank you! I've included a link so they can see a complete list of what they can use.
0 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 12 11
As I was writing the post to suggest to firebus that we offer a content type or filter that would escape the '<' and '>' for us, it occurred to me that we write this kind of post so seldomly on nanowrimo.org, that it's probably not worth the small overhead of an additional filter, or confusing less techy users with an alternate filter option. Typing ampersand-l-t-semicolon in place of the less-than sign isn't that big a deal, and theoretically we'll only need to explain this stuff once, anyway. ;)
Susan
50,979 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 12 30
You've answered a question for me, which was, where are the clickable formatting buttons? For bold, itaclic, different coloured fonts, etc. Answer: they aren't anywhere. I think I will just be using plainspeak this year, as I will not possibly be able to remember all those instructions. Thanks for providing them, though.
60,054 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2007 - 13 08
You're probably right about that. Those of us who DO need to post such things generally have no problems figuring them out, and are explaining them to people who have NO clue. And don't care about being able to post code snippets. ;)
51,897 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2007 - 02 19
I've looked at all the notes above and checked the links suggested, but I can't find two simple codes I might
use a lot of over the month of posting:
Can anyone say How you tag for
Underlining?
and
Changing Text Colour?
thanx.
60,054 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2007 - 10 23
Unfortunately, right now you can't. Those options aren't available, although they may be implemented later when Russ gets some of the more pressing technical issues under control. He hasn't said one way or the other yet.
4,709 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2007 - 22 57
The picture posting isn't working for me... *sniffle*
I tried the normal < img src = / > and then I tried the <imgsrc=/< and that didn't work either. I'm positive I have the right URL... am I just missing some crucial instruction that is obvious to everyone but me???
EDIT: wait... I see it now... I missed the semicolon. Don't mind me. I'm sorry for my blindness.
60,054 / 50,000
Oct 16, 2007 - 09 10
If it was your signature you were working on, it was displaying properly when I opened the topic. :)
1,560 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 14 34
Shall we see if this works for me, then?
Although I'm willing to bet that, just like everyone else, it's a bug and it won't work.
60,054 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2007 - 14 52
It worked. Please be aware that the HTML works fine... signatures ARE displaying, just not consistently every time you view a post. If you'll notice, when you're the original poster of a thread, your signature will always display. This is why posting your signature in the body of your post when you already have one isn't wise... it does show up, and you just wind up with a double wide display.
When posting signatures in the body of a post, please disable your regular signature, so that when the bug is fixed, and signatures do display properly before then, it will not double up.
52,709 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2007 - 22 15
:::siiiiiiigggghhhh::
It takes a tech person to call a set of instructions like that "easy-peasey."
Nononono -- when I click a button and it italicizes or makes links FOR me, that's easy-peasey. Having to hand-type my own code, and go, "Wait, is that right? Is that how this board does it, or was it the other board that does it that way? Geez, I better look it up AGAIN..." is not easy-peasey. Any set of instructions that includes the words "nested tags" is not easy-peasey. Yeah, I know how to hand-code HTML. I've built web pages from scratch. Like circus acrobatics or ice dancing, it's only "easy" if you've practiced a LOT.
Call me old-fashioned, but somehow, for me, when something becomes harder to use, I just don't see it as "better" or "more powerful." I just see it as harder to use.
Now please pass the cheese to go with that whine.
50,586 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2007 - 23 41
I'm so sorry to bother you with this, but I can't get my signature to work. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Thanks for your help.
50,377 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2007 - 23 50
What are you doing at the moment? Put a image in your sig? Pretty words? Can you copy and paste what you're trying to do in a reply here? :)
50,586 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2007 - 00 46
Thanks so much for your quick response! I think I jumped the gun -- I've noticed that my signature (my NaNoWriMo winner's image) is showing up. Sorry to have taken your time!
32,756 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2007 - 10 32
Underlining?
and
Changing Text Colour?
Although this particular XHTML is apparently not working yet, if/when? it's implemented (or if you want to use it elsewhere, say, a webpage with your story) the tags you asked about are
<u>for underlining</u>
and
<font color="insert color here">for recoloring text</font> ...and the color can either be the name (blue, gold, orange, etc.) or the hex code (#552234, #47f22a, etc.) at the words insert color here.
I assume when more tags are added, they'll be helpfully listed below the posting textbox along with the bold, linking, list tags, etc.? : 0-D
For that matter, the <i> and <b> tags in particular seem dead, which I know are the ones I always use. ...The alternate tags for these are <strong> and <em> respectively, if I recall.
60,054 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2007 - 10 42
As listed in the original topic? ;)
70,350 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2007 - 12 54
Um... can I just copy and paste the HTML from my photobucket account? I'm trying to get a picture for my signature. I don't understand all of this coding stuff. It has the already made HTML stuff on my photobucket. Do I just paste that to my profile? I'm not quite sure what I'd have to change, if I have to change anything.
60,054 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2007 - 13 48
That should work just fine, however, Photobucket often adds unnecessary stuff that may get the signature truncated. There is a character limit (I'm not sure what it is) that kicks in, and I don't think it warns you.
If you like, you can NanoMail me the code Photobucket wants you to use, and I can trim out the unnecessary stuff for you and send it back to you so all you have to do is paste it in your sig (which does appear to be working, by the way - the banner says NaNo Novel 2007).
50,819 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 00 53
This is sooooo wrong. We're writers not programmers. There is so much of this html stuff on the site this year, it drives me crazy. Every time I need help, I get a page of advice on how to program it. I don't want to spend any, nada, not one second figuring out html or xhtml, or any other geek language. Please give us non programmers a place to go to get word answers, not code answers.
Like: How do I get a picture to show up in my signature? How can I reply to the last forum email when there's no reply button? How do I get my halo working? Do someone have a word counter helper thingy? How can I put in numbers for missed days?
Figuring out code is such a waste of time for us writers and takes away energy and concentration.
Please
Squirestone
50,819 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 01 02
I wanted to reply to Writerslife, an email that came after Heather's but when I hit reply it it bounced me up a level. Is this my mistake (I think not)? Same thing happens when I try to reply to an email on my regional forum. I will try again. But I am wasting way too much time trying to figure out the site and all this "easyee peasyee" stuff. I just wanted to post a quick reply. One more try and then I will give up on the forums altogether. Even the simplest thing turns out to be way too "hardsy, pardsy" for me.
I have writing to do.
Squirestone
60,054 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 10 03
I'm not sure what you're talking about; there's only HTML if you want to do something other than regular text in your forum posts. This is pretty much cut and paste; there is no simpler way to explain it. I
1) Read the topic. It explains how to do this. Paste the image tag in your signature, then add the url.
2) I don't know what you're talking about. Forum email? if there is a button missing, then you need to post a topic describing the problem.
3) Have you donated? If you have, and your halo is not displaying, you will need to contact the store directly. They don't read the forums, and no one here can help you.
4) Word count helper thingy? I don't know what you're asking for. There's detailed directions on updating everything here. No code involved.
5) You can't. Once a day has rolled over, there is no way to input the word count for past days at this time. If you will read the forum, several people have already asked this question.
60,054 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 10 07
I have writing to do.
I don't really understand what you mean by email. Are you talking about NaNomail, or forum posts?
If you'd like help, you're going to have to be more detailed in describing your difficulties. What level are you bouncing up to, and what do you mean by bouncing? Depending on how your Comment viewing options have been configured (you change these at the bottom of any forum post, near the bottom of the page) it will change how threads are displayed.
When you click reply, depending on which reply button you clicked, it will take you to a different page that shows the topic you are replying directly to. To reply directly to an individual post, you must click the reply button under it. Clicking the large reply button sandwiched between the TOP/BOTTOM and NEW TOPIC will default to responding to the first post.
42,079 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 20 02
I tried to put a banner in my signature, but it keeps showing up as either a red x or not even showing up. This is the first banner I've made, so it's probably my fault somehow. :) Help me please!!!
-Sierra :)
60,054 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2007 - 21 17
-Sierra :)
Sierra, if you will Nanomail me the code you're using, I'll happily check it for you to see what may be wrong with it. :) If it's not showing up, it's probably the signature display bug. Signatures won't always display on forum topics, unless you are the first poster. Looking at yours now (on one of the rare occasions when it does) I don't see anything entered in your signature.