Compose Tips

  • If you include a textual smiley in your post (see chart below), it will be replaced by a graphical smiley.
    :)   :-)   :smile: :)   :-)   :smile:
    ;)   ;-)   :wink: ;)   ;-)   :wink:
    :(   :-(   :sad: :(   :-(   :sad:
    :D   :-D   :lol: :D   :-D   :lol:
    }:)   }:-)   :evil: }:)   }:-)   :evil:
    :P   :-P   :tongue: :P   :-P   :tongue:
    :O   :-O   :shocked: :O   :-O   :shocked:
    :?   :-?   :puzzled: :?   :-?   :puzzled:
    8)   8-)   :cool: 8)   8-)   :cool:
    :jawdrop: :jawdrop:
    :sick:   :barf: :sick:   :barf:

  • BBCode Guide

    Introduction

    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 Drupal has a special implementation of it.

    In BBCode terms, you use "tags" to add formatting to your text. Every tag is enclosed in [ and ]. 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 and [u]nderlined formatting to them. The [color] and [size] tags allow you to change the color and size of portions of the text you enclose with these tags. Both require a parameter (which colour or how big) 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 10 and 30, 10 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 drive more attention to your post in this way.

    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
    Jane was at [color=blue]the coast[/color] Jane was at the coast
    Joe was in [color=#00FF00]the forest[/color] Joe was in the forest
    You said: [size=20]HEY![/size] You said: HEY!

    Creating Links

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

    Drupal recognizes URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) used in your posts, and automatically replaces them with links. For URLs starting with "www" or "ftp" (eg. www.example.com) there is no need for a protocol specification, but you need to specify a protocol for other types of addresses (eg. example.com).

    Drupal also recognizes email addresses in posts automatically, but for compatibility with the common BBCode implementations, also provides the [email] tag to mark email addresses. There is no spam protection applied to the email addresses!

    You can 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, then the enclosed text is assumed to be an URL, and a link is created to that destination.

    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 otherwise 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 an [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", and "A" 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.

    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>

    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].

    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 for example.

    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 submiting it to discover possible formatting errors due to improper BBCode usage.

    There are some exceptions where you cannot add more BBCode tags. Examples of these include the contents of the [img] tag, which by definition should contain an URL only. BBCode tags are also disallowed inside [code] tags, and you cannot apply some formatting to all list items by wrapping the list with that formatting tag.

  • Web and e-mail addresses are automatically converted into links.