Compose tips

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

    This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

    For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

    Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://www.boltprospects.com">Bolt Prospects</a>Bolt Prospects
    Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
    Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
    Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
    Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
    Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
    • First item
    • Second item
    Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
    1. First item
    2. Second item
    Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
    First term
    First definition
    Second term
    Second definition

    Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

    If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

    Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Ampersand&amp;&
    Greater than&gt;>
    Less than&lt;<
    Quotation mark&quot;"
  • Youtube and google video links are automatically converted into embedded videos.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
  • You can embed tablemanager tables within your nodes using the following syntax:
    [tablemanager:table_id,pagination,admin_links,column=?|start=?|end=?,attribute=?|attribute=?|...]
    All arguments bar table_id are optional:
    • table_id = table number
    • pagination = list length (numeric or NULL for all results)
    • admin_links = TRUE or FALSE to enable/ disable administrative links
    • column=?|start=?|end=? = can be in any order:
      • column = column to search on (numeric)
      • start = match from
      • end = match end (optional)
    • attributes = add as many attributes as you like separated by '|', for example border=2|bgcolor=yellow

  • BBCode Guide

    BBCode allows you to specify formatting rules for your text, even if you are not allowed to use HTML in your posts. BBCode originated from the forum software named PHPBB, and this site has a special implementation of it.

    In BBCode terms, you use "tags" to add formatting to your text. Every tag is enclosed in [ and ] brackets. If you want to mark some region in your text, you need to use an opening tag and a closing tag. Closing tags start with [/, as you will see in the examples below. If you mistype a tag or forget to close it, you will not get the desired formatting.

    Simple text formatting

    BBCode allows you to make some parts of your texts stand out from the context by adding [b]old, [i]talic, [u]nderlined and [s]trikeout formatting to them. The [color], [size] and [font] tags allow you to change the color, size and font of portions of the text you enclose with these tags. Both require a parameter (which colour, how big, what font) that is suffixed to the name of the tag by an equals sign (example below). You should not repeat the parameter in the closing tag!

    You can specify any recognized color name (red, blue, green, white, etc.) or a hexadecimal color value (#CDCDCD, #FFFFFF, etc.) as the parameter of a [color] tag. The [size] tag allows you to set the font size between 6 and 48, 6 being the smallest size. Note that using very large text is considered by many to be annoying, and it is seldom a good idea to try to attract more attention to your post in this way. The [font] tag can be set to any valid font face, such as Arial, Arial Black, Courier, Courier New, Helvetica, Impact, Times New Roman, Verdana, etc.

    usagedisplay
    I [b]need to do[/b] this by the weekend I need to do this by the weekend
    John said that [i]we should[/i] ask her John said that we should ask her
    I [u]would not like to[/u] offend you I would not like to offend you
    Let's correct this [s]mispelled[/s] misspelled word Let's correct this mispelled misspelled word
    Jane was at [color=blue]the coast[/color] Jane was at the coast
    Joe was in [color=#FF0000]the forest[/color] Joe was in the forest
    You said: [size=30]HEY![/size] You said: HEY!
    She said: [font=Courier]What?[/font] She said: What?

    Creating links

    You have multiple options to specify links to other destinations in your posts.

    URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) starting with "www" or "ftp" (eg. www.example.com) are automatically recognized and replaced with links. You can also use the [url] tag with a parameter to specify a link with meaningful text to click on. If you use the url tag without the parameter, the enclosed text is assumed to be a URL, and a link is created to that destination.

    Email addresses in posts are also automatically converted to email links. For compatibility with common BBCode implementations, an [email] tag is provided.

    usagedisplay
    For more examples, visit www.example.com For more examples, visit www.example.com
    For more examples, visit http://example.com For more examples, visit http://example.com
    If you have questions ask me at joe@example.com If you have questions ask me at joe@example.com
    If you have questions ask me at [email]joe@example.com[/email] If you have questions ask me at joe@example.com
    We use [url=http://example.com/]the example site[/url] in these examples We use the example site in these examples
    We use [url]http://example.com/[/url] in these examples We use http://example.com/ in these examples

    Displaying images

    The [img] tag allows you to display an image in your post. You need to specify a URL to the image, so it needs to be accessible somewhere on the internet. Beware of adding very large images to your text, or the page will load very slowly!

    If you enclose a URL in an [img] tag, then it will be replaced with code to display the image. For example A good screenshot: [img]http://example.com/screenshot.png[/img] will show you the screenshot (if it exists).

    You can also specify the desired display dimensions of the image by adding a dimension parameter to the [img] tag. A good screenshot: [img=640x480]http://example.com/screenshot.png[/img] will display the image in 640x480 (though the full image will be downloaded). Do not use this to show a thumbnail of an image!

    You are free to link an image to an external destination by enclosing the [img] tag with a [url] tag: See [url=http://example.com][img]http://example.com/screenshot.png[/img][/url].

    Ordered and unordered lists

    The simplest list type is the unordered list, which means that there is no numbering applied to the elements. You can make such a list by enclosing the list elements in [list] opening and closing tags. Specify the start of one element with the [*] list element marker, which has no closing tag pair.

    To create an ordered list, you should add a parameter to the [list] list tag specifying what type of ordered list you would like to see. The possible parameters are "i", "I", "1", "a", "A", "c", "d" and "s" which all correspond to the display of the first list element.

    usagedisplay 
    I love
 [list]
  [*]Oranges
  [*]Apples
  [*]Bananas
 [/list]
    		I love
    • Oranges
    • Apples
    • Bananas
    		 
    I love
 [list=I]
  [*]Oranges
  [*]Apples
  [*]Bananas
 [/list]
    		I love
    1. Oranges
    2. Apples
    3. Bananas
    		 
    I love
 [list=1]
  [*]Oranges
  [*]Apples
  [*]Bananas
 [/list]
    		I love
    1. Oranges
    2. Apples
    3. Bananas

    Fixed-width text and block formatting

    You can use the [code] tag to add an inline fixed-width formatted part or to add a block of (usually program) code. If there is any newline present between the opening and closing tags, then a block will be displayed.

    Similarly, the [php] tag can be used to post PHP code. PHP code will automatically be syntax highlighted for easier readability.

    usagedisplay
    Edit your [code]robots.txt[/code] file Edit your robots.txt file
    An HTML title example:
    [code]
    <head>
     <title>Page Title</title>
    </head>
    [/code]     		An HTML title example:
    <head>
     <title>Page Title</title>
    </head>
    Some PHP code:
    [php]
    <?php
    function hello()
    {
      echo "Hello World!";
    }
    ?>
    [/php]     		Some PHP code:
    <?php
    function hello()
    {
      echo     "Hello World!";
    }
    ?>

    Text and block alignment

    You can also set the alignment of the text by using [left], [right] and [center] tags. The [float] tag can be used to place floating boxes in the text (especially handy for images). You can specify the direction of the floating with [float=left] and [float=right]. The [justify] tag can be used justify text on both sides of the page.

    Other supported tags

    It is possible to quote something that has already been posted, by just putting [quote][/quote] tags around it. To quote a specific person, use something like [quote=John]. Quote tags can be nested.

    The [sub] and [sup] tags can be used to add subscript and superscript text. For example, H[sub]2[/sub]O gives H2O, while X[sup]3[/sup] gives X3.

    The [acronym] tag allow you to identify text as an acronym and provide a description when users move their mouse over the tag. For example, [acronym=Structured Query Language]SQL[/acronym] produces SQL.

    The [abbr] tag allow you to identify text as an abbreviation and provide a description when users move their mouse over the tag. For example, [abbr=World Wide Web]WWW[/abbr] produces WWW.

    The [notag] tags prevent text inside the tags from being parsed. This allows you to give examples of BBcode and not have it converted to HTML. For example: [notag]These [b]tags[/b] are not rendered[/notag] will produce "These [b]tags[/b] are not rendered".

    The [hr] tag draws a horizontal line across the page. Handy for separating chunks of text.

    Using multiple formatting tags

    You can apply more than one formatting specification to a portion of some text. I was at [b][i]the coast[/i][/b] will be rendered as I was at the coast.

    Make sure that you take care of the proper order of the opening and closing tags. You should close the tags in the opposite order in which you opened them. Otherwise you might get very strange rendering results. Also check your post with the preview function before submitting it, in case there are formatting errors due to improper BBCode usage.

  • Acidfree inline tags
    • It is possible to change the way the [acidfree:nnn] tags look by adding a few name/value pairs. Note that any value that has spaces in it must be quoted either with single quotes ' or with double quotes ". Currently, the choices are:
    • title: use this string as the caption (Note that you can have the node title be the default caption by modifying the setting in admin/settings/acidfree)
    • align: {left,right}
    • size: {M, WxH} where M=max dimension and WxH=WidthxHeight
    • link: 'none' or relative or absolute url e.g. http://www.google.com or node/59. If set to none, thumbnail will not be a link
    • popup: any value. If set, it will cause the link to be a popup link
    • style: CSS style information for the image
    • class: additional class for the image
    Examples
    • [acidfree:1234 size=300 align=right] - right aligned thumbnail of node 1234 with max dimension of 300 pixels
    • [acidfree:4321] - left aligned thumbnail of node 4321 (default thumbnail size)
    • [acidfree:3241 align=left size=320x240] - right aligned thumbnail of node 3241 with size = 320x240
    • [acidfree:3241 title='This is a different title' size=320 popup=true link="http://mysite.dom/"] - left aligned thumbnail of node 3241 with a title set, size = 320x240, link pointing to mysite.dom and target=blank_ set in the anchor
    • [acidfree:3241 link=none class='my-image your-image' style="border: 2 px grey inset;"] - left aligned thumbnail of 3241, default size, class set and new style info