BB Code Guide

[Eilonnwy]

Note: I created this guide to help people familiarize themselves with BB code, and also as a quick reference guide, especially for custom made BB code. This page will be updated if any new codes are created.

BB Code Guide

Here is a list of useful BB codes to use while you are on these forums. Some of these codes are basic, well-known and can be used with buttons when you post, others have been created specifically for the forums and may be a little tricker.

Just like HTML, BB Code uses tags, however instead of <> and </> symbols, we use [] and [/] symbols. Many HTML tags can be transferred into BB code tags such as the ones for bolding, italicizing, and underlining text, however not all HTML tags translate directly into BB Code. Here are some examples of BB Code that can be useful in your forum experience.


Quote
Quoting is great for showing other members what you are referring to in a reply. Hitting the reply button automatically generates a quote, but you can make your own using this tag.

Code:

[quote]I am God[/quote]

Example:

I am God

You can also signify who you are quoting by inserting their name into the code.

Code:

[quote=God]I am God[/quote]

Example:

I am God

When quoting someone, it's important to remember it's considered bad netiquette to quote a large post or image, especially when replying to them with only a few sentences. It is a good idea to cut out parts of the quote that have nothing to do with what you are replying to, or to hide the quote or image using a hide tag (which is demonstrated further down). When in doubt, don't quote at all. Simply addressing a person by his/her username is sufficient to let people know who and what you are referring to.

Another thing to remember is not to quote vortex. Quote vortexing is when people have quoted each other so many times and have embedded quotes within a quote that it has created a vortex. An example of quote vortexing is as follows:

Code:

[quote=God]
[quote=Joe]
[quote=God]
[quote=Joe]
[quote=God]
[quote=Joe]
[quote=God]I am God[/quote]
No you're not[/quote]
Yes I am[/quote]
I don't believe you [/quote]
Too bad, it's true[/quote]
You lie[/quote]
I do not [/quote]

Example:

I am God

No you're not

Yes I am

I don't believe you

Too bad, it's true

You lie

I do not

As you can see, the embedded quotes can get annoying, so if you are quoting someone that has quoted you previously, or someone else, please trim out the excessive quoting.

Repeated failure to follow these netiquette rules can result in a warning from the moderators.



Image

In order to insert an image into the forums you can use the img tag.

Code:

[img]http://atheistforums.org/images/smilies/tiger.gif[/img]

Example:


Some images may not fit in the dimensions of your screen. This can create annoying scrollbars for some people and detract from viewing this site. If you are posting an image that is incredibly big, especially wide, you can use this code to make the image fit without resizing it yourself.

Code:

[imgfit]http://www.someplace.com/reallybigimage.jpg[/imgfit]

Links

Copying a link into a post automatically generates a hyperlink, but if you wish to link some text, you can use the url tag.

Code:

[url=http://www.atheistforums.org]This[/url] is my favorite forum

This is my favorite forum



Hide

If you want to quote something with really long text or an image, or if you want to hide a text with spoilers or answers to something, you can use the Hide tag to create a button for people to click in order to show that text.

Code:

[hide] You can't see me [/hide]

Example:

---

You can't see me

---

Wikipedia

You can now easily link to Wikipedia articles using the article's name in the new wiki tags.

Code:

[wiki]atheism[/wiki]

will result in a link to the Wikipedia article on "atheism", with the link text set to "atheism", like so: atheism

Whereas typing this:

Code:

[wiki=atheism]This is a good article on atheism.[/wiki]

Youtube

The need to use the following youtube tags are no longer necessry as Adrian has implemented an automedia feature, however I will leave the instructions up for reference and explain the auto media feature.

Automedia
In order to post a youtube video, all you need to do is post the link and the forum will automatically format it into an embedded video. If you wish to only display a link, use the following amoff tag. For example:

Code:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-syH7OK-_0E

More details here

Old Youtube Tags

You can embed a youtube video into the forum by using the youtube tag. Every youtube video has a specific video code after the = in the web address. So for example, in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-syH7OK-_0E the link code is "-syH7OK-_0E". You use this code to insert into the youtube tag, like so:

Code:

[youtube]-syH7OK-_0E[/youtube]

Example:
[youtube]-syH7OK-_0E[/youtube]


Another variation of the youtube code allows you to embed not just a video, but a playlist of videos. This is helpful, since youtube has a 10 minute time limit, so sometimes people have to upload large videos into 10 minute sections. This tag works the same way as the youtube tag, except you use the youtubep tag and insert the playlist code instead of the video code.

For example, this playlist http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=...4B600FF0B9 has the code "10230C4B600FF0B9" and you insert it like this:

Code:

[youtubep]10230C4B600FF0B9[/youtubep]

Example:




Code

The code tag allows you to show various computer codes as plain text. As you may have noticed, I have been using the tag to show you the various BB codes. It works the same as any other tag using the word "code"

[code]Code goes here.[/code]

If you have any questions about BB Codes, please feel free to ask any of the admins or moderators on the forum.