Short guide to using BBCode to markup your forum posts

What is BBCode and why should I care?

BBCode is a very basic markup language used to add stylistic and structural information to forum posts. It is quite similar to a cut down version of HTML 3.2, an old version of the markup language used to create web pages.

BBCode works by enclosing the text to be marked up between two tags. When the message is posted the tags are invisible. What is seen is the content, marked up in the way specified. In this way you can make text bold or italic, and change its colour or size, include clickable links and images (example below) in your post, and so on.

Tags can be combined to produce multiple effects, like this.

How do I use it?

Note that this is a brief and basic guide. If you really want more detail, try the PNphpBB2 Users Guide.

BBCode tags are delimited by square brackets. That is, they start with '[' and end with ']'. In addition, the close tag (not the delimiter) begins with forward slash ('/').

See the end of this post for examples.

I posted but now I want to say more. What do I do?

At the bottom right of your posts is an edit icon (

). Clicking this allows you to add to, or otherwise change, your post.

I posted but now I wish I hadn't. What do I do?

At the bottom right of your posts is an edit icon (

). Click this to edit your post. On the new page, below the input window, are five options. The fifth one is 'Delete this post.' Simply check this option and click 'Submit.'

An even quicker method of self-censorship is to click the delete post icon (

), also found at the bottom right of your posts.

Ooh! I am so ready to post... aren't I?

Not quite. Remember, posting is power. Like all power it must be exercised responsibly. If you don't do so, without wanting to sound too threatening, there are people more powerful than you, if you get the hint.

Anyway, watch the public information film Posting And You (external link, requires Flash).

Now, read on...

BBCode examples

Quoting

This is probably the most important bit of markup to understand, as it's often necessary to quote what someone else wrote in a previous post.

Code:

[quote]Smacky is great![/quote]

Produces:

Quote

Smacky is great!

Code:

[quote="Smacky"]Thanks, very kind of you to say so.[/quote]

Produces:

Quote from: Smacky

Thanks, very kind of you to say so.

Note that as a shortcut you can click on the quote icon (

) at the bottom right of any post to quote that post and attribute it to the original author.[/size]

Emphasis, text colour, and size

Code:

[b]Bold text[/b]

Produces: Bold text.

Code:

[i]Italicised text[/i]

Produces: Italicised text.

Code:

[u]Underlined text[/u]

Produces: Underlined text.

Code:

[color=red]Red text[/color] and [color=#ff0000]Red text[/color]

Produces: Red text

Code:

[size=18]Bigger text[/size] or [size=8]smaller text[/size]

Produces: [/size]Bigger text or smaller text

Lists

Code:

Daimonin knows four melee weapon types:
[list]
[*]Cleave;
[*]Impact;
[*]Pierce; and
[*]Slash.
[/list]

Produces: Daimonin knows four melee weapon types:

Cleave;
Impact;
Pierce; and
Slash.

Note that you can specify a numbered list (1, 2, 3) with:

Code:

[list=1] ...

and a lettered list (a, b, c) with:

Code:

[list=a] ...

[/size]

Links

Code:

[url=http://www.daimonin.net/]Daimonin[/url]

Produces: Daimonin

Code:

[url]http://www.daimonin.net/[/url]

Produces: http://www.daimonin.net/.

Code:

[email]fake@email.address[/email]

Produces: fake@email.address.[/size]

Images

The image needs to be in .png, .jpeg or .jfif (or .jpg), or .gif format and must be hosted on some webspace somewhere; you can't upload images directly to the forums.

Code:

[img]http://www.daimonin.net/themes/Daimonin/images/daimonin.gif[/img]

Produces:

[/size]

Code examples

Code:

[code]static int is_username_valid(const char *name)
{
int i;

for(i=0; i< (int)strlen(name); i++)
{
if (name[i]!= '_' && !(((name[i] <= 90) && (name[i]>=65))||((name[i] >= 97) && (name[i]<=122))))
return 0;
}
return 1;
}

[/code]

Produces: well, itself![/size]

Spoilers

Given that Daimonin is a game of exploration and discovery a possible useful application of BBCode is to write spoilers in 'invisible ink.' To do this change the text colour to white, like this (you also need to put the message in a quote to give it a white background):

Code:

[quote="Spoiler"][color=#c3b8d0]type secret message here[/color](Highlight to reveal.)[/quote]

Produces:

Quote from: Spoiler

Kyle is a noob!(Highlight to reveal.)