Message Board Help

[Jets]

Due to somewhat popular demand, we are creating a thread/sticky to assist anyone with questions about being a message board "noob".  If you are unsure of the features or how to perform a certain action, post here and have it explained to you.  This way, a pool of questions can be built for other users who have similar queries about the tools and functions of the message board.

[Jets]

Here are the previous questions asked/solutions:

QUESTION 1:

I'm crappy with computers.  When on the message board I notice a lot of people taking someone else's post and somehow copying it and placing it their reply.  You know what I mean....it shows up in a blue box usually over the repliers comments.  How do you do this???  Some people make some of the specific points bold.  How is this done???  I won't get carried away cuz I don't like it when someone replies and there is a blue box the size of the entire thread above it.  

SOLUTION to QUESTION 1:

Across from the Message Topic, on the right hand side of the screen, you will see a "quote" icon.  Click on it and the quote will appear in the "reply" on the screen and you can then type your reply post.

To highlight a piece of text, place your cursor at the beginning of the text you want to select.

Hold down the left mouse button while dragging the cursor over the text you want to use, which will be highlighted in blue as you go along.

When you've selected the text you want, release the left mouse button. Your text should still be all blue, but if not, try it again.

At the top of the message you will see those little squares with letters in them. Each letter represents a different modification to the text you've highlighted ... e.g., B is for bold, I for italics etc.  Place your cursor over each box for a couple of seconds and each command will come up and you can see what it does. You can select several at one time, e.g. you can make your highlighted text bold, italicized and underlined in screaming flaming red letters scrolling madly across the screen. Just keep clicking one command after another and those are the highlights that will be applied to your text.

The first modification you click on will remove the blue highlighting from your text, but this is okay. Your selected text will still be modified by the commands you click on, until you click anywhere outside of that menu.

If you wish, you can click on Preview to see what your message will look like. If you're not happy with it, just go into your message and delete the command characters.

Have fun!

[Jets]

QUESTION 2:

My question: how do you insert a hyperlink without showing it? Know what I'm sayin? e.g. "Look here" <-- would have the link.

SOLUTION to QUESTION 2:

Such as Google?

It is similar to the url tag, www.google.ca,but not entirely...
normally you would type:

Code Select Expand

[URL]www.google.ca[/URL]
Instead of this, you have to enclose the link in the URL tag, similarly to how HTML works...

Code Select Expand

[URL=www.google.ca]Click Here![/URL]

and that should show up the way i did it above... you can just hit the quote button that was explained earlier in the thread, just to show the tags that I used in my message, without actually posting...
and for those that dont know, that code tag is to show the code without it deploying the function.

[Reverend Thom]

Ah of course! Thanks

[Colton]

Did not know about the code tag, very useful, thanks

[Jets]

Did not know about the code tag, very useful, thanks

I thought you might like that one, it beats having to take a screenshot to explain what you mean.

[Jets]

The Basics


The first thing to know about BBcode, is how to correctly set up and use the codes.
Similar to HTML, BBcode uses an opening and a closing tag, surrounding the piece of text that you wish the code to be applied to.
In BBcode, each "code" is inputted by surrounding it with a square bracket and ending with a closing square bracket.  Each closing tag is opened with a square bracket, and a backslash (to indicate an end or closing tag) followed by a closing square bracket.
Here is a quick view of what I mean...

Code Select Expand

[Example Code]Text to be manipulated[/Closing example code]

A Breakdown of each quickly available code on the reply function of this forum:

The first and most basic BBcode is the Boldfunction.  The bold function is represented by the letter B.  To bold a piece of text, open with a square bracket, followed by a B, and closed with another square bracket.  Capitalization is not important.  Next, type the message that you want to be bolded, and finally finish off with a closing tag.  Type a square bracket, a backslash, another B, and finally a closing square bracket.

Here is an example

Code Select Expand


[b]Here is an example[/b]

There are also many other functions related directly to the text.  The italicize function is performed in the same way as the bold, only instead of the letter B, it uses the letter I.  Finally there is also the underline function, which is denoted by the letter U.

Here is an example of italics

Code Select Expand


[i]Here is an example of italics[/i]

Here is an example of underline

Code Select Expand


[u]Here is an example of underline[/u]

There are also some less common text features.  These include the strikethrough, glow and marquee effects.  Font size and face can also be changed.

The strikethrough feature is performed the same way as the bold, italic and underline functions, just using an S instead of a corresponding B, I or U. 

Here is an example

Code Select Expand


[s]Here is an example[/s]

[Jets]

Fyi, to make forum posting easier, Firefox users ought to download and install the bbcodeXtra add on.

It makes using forum features such as formatting (bold, italic, etc) and inserting pic links and links easy as a right click, left click!

Once installed you will have many options in your context menu (right click menu) that will make posting in forums easier and faster!

Cheers

[Reverend Thom]

  BBBob is still around!!!  Come out of hiding man! 

[BBBob]

BBBob is still around!!!  Come out of hiding man! 

I'm still here, just not allowed to post as I am a moderator.

cheers

[bluejet]

how to quote multiple posts all in one post??

[Jets]

how to quote multiple posts all in one post??

Do you mean a quote within a quote?

^^Like that?

Or separate quotes in one post? 

(Where you hit quote, copy the quote text, then hit quote again, and past it into that new message.)

[THE_U]

how do u post pics? thanks in advance

[BBBob]

how do u post pics? thanks in advance

Start a new post and click the "Additional Options" link that is to the left and under the post composition window. Then click "Browse" to locate the image that you want to post from your computer. If you want to include more than 1 image, click the "(more attachments)" link.

Cheers

[ModAdmin]

For modification.