Formatting Text and Posting Links and Images
From Barbelith
N.B. If you're not familiar with HTML syntax and not quite sure whether you're using the following properly or not, using the Preview Reply button at the bottom of the message box can save you a lot of trouble.
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Formatting
This is for formatting text and images and the like on the UNDERGROUND not on the wiki. (Mordant Carnival)
<b>Whatever you want in bold type</b>
...Creates bold text
<i>Whatever you want in italics</i>
...Creates italic text
Links
<a href="http://www.whatever the URL of the website is">Whatever you're calling the link</a>
...Makes a link.
Please note that just typing in the URL without putting it in this tag will not work.
(The Haus) Also, to make the link open in a new window, type target="_blank" into your link...
<a href="http://www.barbelith.com" target="_blank"> ...like so. </a>
You can also make Revenue-Generating Amazon Links (http://www.barbelith.com/faq/index.php/Amazon_Links) so people can buy whatever it is you're talking about, and a cut of the sale can go to help pay for bandwidth.
Images
<img src="http://www.whatever the URL of the image file is">
...Inserts an image in your post
Make sure you're using the full URL, otherwise known as the address. In Windows using IE, right-click on the image, go to "Properties" and you should find a filename ending in ".jpg" or ".gif" or ".tif" or ".bmp". On a Mac, it will depend on the browser - ctrl-click the image and you should find a way of viewing the image alone. What is in the address bar when you are viewing the image is what you need to enter in the SRC="" bit.
You can always check that you have the right address by pasting what you are trying to use into the address bar of a new browser window. If you have it right, you will see the image alone.
If you've entered all this correctly, and your image still isn't appearing on Barbelith, see My Image Isn't Showing Up.
Resizing Images
If your image is large, then you can make it fit on the page by inserting width="500" into the code, like this...
<img src="http://www.whatever the URL of the image file is" width="500">
This is considered good Barbetiquette.
You should be aware that file size is not the same as the physical size of the image on the screen, and file size is what slows people down. Resizing the image using the method above only makes the viewer's browser display it at a smaller size than its maximum. If you've found a 2,000-pixel-wide picture that took five minutes to load, it will still take five minutes to load if you put width="500" into the tag. In such cases it's better to simply link to the picture, e.g.:
<a href="http://www.hugepictures.com/huge_picture.jpg">This is the picture of stoats I was talking about</a> - warning, it takes five minutes to load
Work Safe vs. Non-Work Safe
Bear in mind when posting images that many Barbelithers visit the site while at work. If you're posting a particularly nasty, sordid, violent or salacious picture, it's best to post a link to the image rather than the image itself, with a "Not Safe For Work" warning in the link text, or just NSFW. This is not about censorship, it's about trying to keep our compatriots from getting fired. This is also considered good Barbetiquette.
I Have An Image On My Hard Drive, Can I Post It?
If you have an image on your own computer and you want to post it on the board - basically, you can't. You need to get it up on the web first so you can link to it in the way described above. See Getting Images Onto The Web.
Special Characters
< produces <
> produces >
(for example, if you want to quote some HTML code in a post)
& produces &
(for example, if you want to quote how to produce special characters in a post)
Characters for other languages can also be written with HTML code:
é produces é
è produces è
Check resources below for a complete list.
Other Resources
- Webmonkey (http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/index.html/index.html) is a useful resource. It has a searchable database and a cheat-sheet detailing commonly used HTML tags, although not all the tags work on the 'Lith.
- HTML Codes - Characters and symbols (http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm) has a list of HTML codes for, strangely enough, characters and symbols.
