BBCode Guide for LowCarbonEconomy.com
BBCode is a special implementation of HTML. BBCode
itself is similar in style to HTML: tags are enclosed in square
braces [ and ] rather than < and > and it offers greater control
over what and how something is displayed. Depending on the
template you are using you may find adding BBCode to your posts
is made much easier through a clickable interface above the
message area on the posting form. Even with this you may find
the following guide useful.
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Text Formatting
How to create bold, italic and underlined text
BBCode includes tags to allow you to quickly change the basic style of your text. This is achieved in the following ways:
- To make a piece of text bold enclose it in [b][/b],
eg.
[b]Hello[/b]
will become Hello
- For underlining use [u][/u], for example:
[u]Good Morning[/u]
becomes Good Morning
- To italicise text use [i][/i], eg.
This is [i]Great![/i]
would give This is Great!
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How to change the text colour or size
To alter the color or size of your text
the following tags can be used. Keep in mind that how the output
appears will depend on the viewers browser and system:
- Changing the colour of text is achieved by wrapping it
in [color=][/color]. You can specify either a
recognised colour name (eg. red, blue, yellow, etc.) or the
hexadecimal triplet alternative, eg. #FFFFFF, #000000. For
example, to create red text you could use:
[color=red]Hello![/color]
or
[color=#FF0000]Hello![/color]
will both output Hello!
- Changing the text size is achieved in a similar way
using [size=][/size]. This tag is dependent on the
template you are using but the recommended format is a
numerical value representing the text size in pixels,
starting at 1 (so tiny you will not see it) through to 29
(very large). For example:
[size=.8]SMALL[/size]
will generally be SMALL
whereas:
[size=2]HUGE![/size]
will be HUGE!
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Can I combine formatting tags?
Yes, of course you can; for example to get someones attention you may write:
[size=2][color=red][b]LOOK AT ME![/b][/color][/size]
This would output LOOK AT ME!
We don't recommend you output lots of text that looks like this,
though! Remember that it is up to you, the poster, to ensure
that tags are closed correctly. For example, the following is
incorrect:
[b][u]This is wrong[/b][/u]
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Quoting and outputting fixed-width text
Quoting text in replies
There are two ways you can quote text: with a reference or without.
- When you utilise the Quote function to reply to a post
on the board you should notice that the post text is added
to the message window enclosed in a [quote=""][/quote]
block. This method allows you to quote with a reference to a
person or whatever else you choose to put. For example, to
quote a piece of text Mr. Blobby wrote, you would enter:
[quote="Mr. Blobby"]The text Mr. Blobby wrote would
go here[/quote]
The resulting output will automatically add: Mr. Blobby
wrote: before the actual text. Remember that you must
include the quotation marks "" around the name you are
quoting -- they are not optional.
- The second method allows you to blindly quote something.
To utilise this enclose the text in [quote][/quote]
tags. When you view the message it will simply show: Quote:
before the text itself.
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Generating lists
Creating an Unordered list
BBCode supports two types of lists, unordered and ordered. They are essentially the same as their
HTML equivalents. An unordered list ouputs each item in your
list sequentially one after the other indenting each with a
bullet character. To create an unordered list you use
[list][/list] and define each item within the list using a new line. For example, to list your favorite colours you could
use:
[list]
Red
Blue
Yellow
[/list]
This would generate the following list:
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Creating an Ordered list
The second type of list, an ordered list
gives you control over what is output before each item. To
create an ordered list you use [list=I][/list] to create
a roman numbered list or alternatively [list=a][/list] for an
alphabetical list. As with the unordered list items are
specified using a new line. For example:
[list=I]
Go to the shops
Buy a new computer
Swear at computer when it crashes
[/list]
will generate the following:
Whereas for an alphabetical list you would use:
[list=a]
The first possible answer
The second possible answer
The third possible answer
[/list]
giving:
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Creating Links
Linking to another site
LCE BBCode supports a number of ways of
creating URIs, Uniform Resource Indicators better known as URLs.
- The first of these uses the [url=][/url] tag;
whatever you type after the = sign will cause the contents
of that tag to act as a URL. For example, to link to
lowcarboneconomy.com you could use:
[url=http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/]Visit LCE![/url]
This would generate the following link,
You will notice the link opens in a new window so the user
can continue browsing the forums if they wish.
- If you want the URL itself displayed as the link you can
do this by simply using:
[url]http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/[/url]
This would generate the following link:
- Additionally lowcarboneconomy features something called Magic
Links which will turn any syntatically correct URL into a
link without you needing to specify any tags or even the
leading http://. For example typing www.lowcarboneconomy.com into your
message will automatically lead to
being output when you view the message.
As with all the BBCode, with the formatting tags it is up to you to
ensure the correct open and close order is followed. For
example:
[size=1.5][colour=red]the [/colour] cat [b]
sat on the [u] mat[/b][/u][/size]
is correct, if however you failed to check the syntax correctly
and submit your post, this may lead to your post being deleted
so take care.
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If you experience any problems with the LowCarbonEconomy.com BBCode facility, or would like further help, please don't hesitate to contact us.