Formatting on the Forums
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A Former User last edited by
It took me a tinkering to properly show the example above:
these forums' markup gets something corrupted even within its own "code" parsing (embracing within a pair of those "back apostrophes"(I can't figure out how to show them now)); while the HTML "<code>" tag doesn't show the full parsing either - it hid the angular brackets in my example.<hr>
<font>: With various attributes (e.g. face and color), further styling of posts is possibleI read this tag is deprecated - no?
<hr>
I should probably end with a word of caution. I suspect anything in addition to the Markdown basics is just a nice bonus that could go away. So don't rely heavily on them and always consider how your post will display if they ever go away.
That makes sense. Using HTML commenting is a bit slower though.
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ruario last edited by
I read this tag is deprecated - no?
Sure, one of the reasons I said, "I suspect anything in addition to the Markdown basics is just a nice bonus that could go away."
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ruario last edited by
By the way (within the limitations of the formatting options that are available) you could write in another format and then use an extension like Marksy.
Just right click and "Activate Marksy!" before you post (or Ctrl+Shift+m), to convert back to Markdown (or HTML) before you post.
P.S. It looks like Marksy might use an external service for conversion, so use with caution if your are converting personal or private texts.
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ruario last edited by
it hid the angular brackets in my example.
Looks like it is a feature of Markdown. Go read those guides.
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Deleted User last edited by
You could improve the forum and add all markdown stuff in the editor of posts and when posting a new thread or in a thread. Because use that code may be a bit difficult for beginners.
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
The biggest formatting problems are people who post without reading (or understanding) the markdown guide. If you are posting a link and not expecting the forum to "linkify" it for you (that is, you use a proper URL format) then you're fine. If you want to post a link as text, a code tag works fine for that. But as soon as you post a URL and expect the forum to linkify it automatically, you can run into trouble. Likewise people who can't post images because they don't know the tags. As long as they fixed that issue with the smilie for XP (which they did) then everything is behaving as specified.
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ruario last edited by admin
I had a look at a random thread. As I have mod access I can look at what they wrote and what actually displayed. It is fairly easy to see what the user intended and clearly the display doesn't always come out the way they hoped.
The most common problems are:
- Not leaving a blank line, before and after starting a list
- Putting extra new lines in a list (a single carriage return should be used between each item)
- Using the wrong characters as bullet points in a list. For example # or 1), rather than * or 1.
- Not adding an extra a new line after someone is quoted (making the the reply look like part of the quote)
- Not putting angle brackets '<>' around a URL that includes an underscore
If we could help people avoid those mistakes, all would be good!
P.S. I fixed the mistakes I saw in that example thread. Including a few from people who have posted here.
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A Former User last edited by
- Not adding an extra a new line after someone is quoted (making the the reply look like part of the quote)
Do you forget the forums had different quoting rendering not so long ago?
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ruario last edited by
Do you forget the forums had different quoting rendering not so long ago?
I think that specific mistake has always wrong since we started these forums.
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A Former User last edited by admin
You can insert horizontal rules with three dashes on a line of their own line:
---Aha, I just checked it there in that thread.
What then about the underscores?
Yes, it looks the same as with the dashes:
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A Former User last edited by
When you do want to insert a
It's not exactly on the forums, but you know, in HTML5 you don't need a slash there:
:P, it's simpler and it works just fine*:happy:*
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ruario last edited by
That quote is from the Markdown syntax guide, written in 17 Dec 2004, when self closing tags were all the rage.
P.S. I corrected your quote, as you actually left the
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A Former User last edited by
<abbr>is specifically designed for expanding abbreviations and acronyms. Not for displaying random, unrelated messages on mouseover.Actually, I used
<abbr>1) because I used it on MyOpera and 2) because it's inline - unlike<p>
In fact, I use not a tag - but a specific attribute (quite universal as it can appear) that can be put wherever you want (providing it's a displayed element).
Tooltips are funny and cheerful. The con here against MyOpera is that such elements do not differ from other content, while MyOpera's [abbr] was highlighted somehow - underdotted or like that*:)* -
ruario last edited by
That does not change the fact that it is technically wrong. abbr = abbreviation. That is its only purpose, to mark acronyms or abbreviations in your text. The title attribute is there to expand to their meaning. Marking other snippets of text (which are not acronyms or abbreviations) with this tag is incorrect usage. Using the title attribute to expand to something other than the meaning is also incorrect usage.
Nobody is going to stop you of course but it is invalid HTML to do what you are doing.
Tooltips are funny and cheerful.
Or pointless and annoying (when used incorrectly), depending on your viewpoint of course.
