BBCode guide |
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Introduction What is BBCode? Text Formatting How to create bold, italic and underlined text How to change the text colour or size How to change the type face Subscript and superscript Can I combine formatting tags? Quoting and outputting fixed-width text Quoting text in replies Outputting code or fixed width data Generating lists Creating an Unordered list Creating an Ordered list Creating Links Linking to another site Obscuring spoilers Using spoilers inline Using spoilers as a block Showing images in posts Adding an image to a post Using aligned images Adding attachments into a post Sharing videos Embedding Youtube players Put it in the center Centering things |
Introduction |
BBCode is a special implementation of HTML. Whether you can actually use BBCode in your posts on the forum is determined by the administrator. In addition you can disable BBCode on a per post basis via the posting form. BBCode itself is similar in style to HTML, tags are enclosed in square brackets [ and ] rather than < and > and it offers greater control over what and how something is displayed. Depending on the template you are using you may find adding BBCode to your posts is made much easier through a clickable interface above the message area on the posting form. Even with this you may find the following guide useful.
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Text Formatting |
BBCode includes tags to allow you to quickly change the basic style of your text. This is achieved in the following ways:
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To alter the colour or size of your text the following tags can be used. Keep in mind that how the output appears will depend on the viewers browser and system:
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To alter the appearance of your text, you can change the font face. This can be accomplished by wrapping the text in [face=][/face] tags. Keep in mind that in order for another person to see text in the font you choose, they must have that font installed on their system. For that reason, it is a good idea to stick with commonly distributed fonts. A list of several is provided in the Font Face selection box on the posting page.
To use a font, type the full name of the font in the face tags. For example: [face=Comic Sans MS]This is a common font![/face] This would output as: This is a common font! |
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You can raise and lower text using the [sup][/sup] and [sub][/sub] tags. Take this example:
He placed 1[sup]st[/sup] in the [sub]over[/sub]all race. The result of this example would be: He placed 1st in the overall race. |
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Yes, of course you can, for example to get someone's attention you may write:
[size=200][color=red][b]LOOK AT ME![/b][/color][/size] this would output LOOK AT ME! We don’t recommend you output lots of text that looks like this though! Remember it is up to you, the poster, to ensure tags are closed correctly. For example the following is incorrect: [b][u]This is wrong[/b][/u] |
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Quoting and outputting fixed-width text |
There are two ways you can quote text, with a reference or without.
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If you want to output a piece of code or in fact anything that requires a fixed width, e.g. Courier type font you should enclose the text in [code][/code] tags, e.g.
[code]echo "This is some code";[/code] All formatting used within [code][/code] tags is retained when you later view it. PHP syntax highlighting can be enabled using [code=php][/code] and is recommended when posting PHP code samples as it improves readability. |
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Generating lists |
BBCode supports two types of lists, unordered and ordered. They are essentially the same as their HTML equivalents. An unordered list outputs each item in your list sequentially one after the other indenting each with a bullet character. To create an unordered list you use [list][/list] and define each item within the list using [*]. For example to list your favourite colours you could use:
[list] [*]Red [*]Blue [*]Yellow [/list] This would generate the following list:
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The second type of list, an ordered list, gives you control over what is output before each item. To create an ordered list you use [list=1][/list] to create a numbered list or alternatively [list=a][/list] for an alphabetical list. As with the unordered list, items are specified using [*]. For example:
[list=1] [*]Go to the shops [*]Buy a new computer [*]Swear at computer when it crashes [/list] will generate the following:
[list=a] [*]The first possible answer [*]The second possible answer [*]The third possible answer [/list] giving
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Creating Links |
BBCode supports a number of ways of creating links.
[url=http://www.google.com/][img]http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/logo.gif[/url][/img] is not correct which may lead to your post being deleted so take care. |
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Obscuring spoilers |
Spoilers are bits of information that should not be revealed in plain text for some reason. For example, imaging you are playing a new game and looking forward to experiencing the story for yourself. Instead, you go online and see someone has posted critical plot details, ruining the story for you! If they had used the [spoiler][/spoiler] tags, you would have had the choice to view the story spoilers or skip them.
The spoiler tags obscure text by covering it with a black bar. Using a inline tag allows you to cover part of a sentence. For example: When you get to [spoiler]Esper Mansion[/spoiler], you will learn a secret. That would output: When you get to Esper Mansion, you will learn a secret. To see the blacked out section, simply click on it. |
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When you have a lot of spoilers to post, it is better to use the box form of the spoiler tags, [spoiler=][/spoiler] tags. The box form also allows you to specify a title. Here is an example:
[spoiler=This is my Title]Important plot details here![/spoiler] The output of this is: [Reveal] Spoiler: This is my Title Important plot details here! Again, simply click the black area to reveal what is hidden inside. You can also hide the text again by clicking again. This form also has a handy Reveal/Obscure switch. |
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Sharing videos |
When you find a great video on Youtube you would like to share, you can embed it with the [youtube][/youtube] tags. This is a little tricky, so pay close attention! First, find the URL address to your video. These are usually shown in an "Embed" box when a video has finished playing. Here is a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPj0E7EDt4k
Now, you need to use only part of that in the tags. See the ?v= in the URL above? Place everything after that, but before any & character, in the Youtube tags. This is correct: [youtube]rPj0E7EDt4k[/youtube] These are wrong:
A correct usage will show your video inline: |
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Put it in the center |
A great set of tags for combining with other tags is the [center][/center] tags. These allow you to place things in a centered alignment. Look at this example:
[center][img]http://www.psalgo.com/boards/images/avatars/gallery/Phantasy%20Star%20IV/bigmusk1.gif[/img][/center] The output will look like this: ![]() This is a great code to combine with images or Youtube videos. |
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