 | Introduction |  |
What is BBCode?
BBCode is a special implementation of HTML. Whether you can actually use BBCode in your posts on the forum is determined by the administrator. 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. 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.
Back to top |
 |
| 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!
Back to top |
|
How to change the text color 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 recognized color 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=9]SMALL[/size]
will generally be SMALL
whereas:
[size=24]HUGE![/size]
will be HUGE!
Back to top |
|
What does the S BBCode do?
The [s] [/s] tags will put a strikethrough (horizontal line) through the center of the text. For example using:- [s]This text is struckthrough![/s]
will display as:
This text is struckthrough!
This tag could be useful for text which is no longer relevant or useful, and is merely kept for "historical purposes".
Back to top |
|
Can I combine formatting tags?
Yes, of course you can; for example to get someone's attention you may write:
[size=18][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]
Back to top |
|
| 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.
Back to top |
|
Outputting computer code
If you want to output a piece of computer code that requires a fixed width with a Courier-type font, you should enclose the text in [code][/code] tags, eg.
[code]echo "This is some code";[/code]
All formatting used within [code][/code] tags is retained when you later view it.
Back to top |
|
Outputting pre-formatted text
If you want to output some text written in a fixed width, Courier-type font, you should enclose the text in [pre][/pre] tags, eg.
[pre]This is some fixed-width pre-formatted text! [/pre]
All formatting used within [pre][/pre] tags is retained when you later view it. This is useful for plain-text files with ASCII art and/or diagrams.
Back to top |
|
| Generating lists | |
Creating an Un-ordered 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 [*]. For example, to list your favorite colours you could use:
[list]
[*]Red
[*]Blue
[*]Yellow
[/list]
This would generate the following list:
Back to top |
|
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=1][/list] to create a numbered list or alternatively [list=a][/list] for an alphabetical list. As with the unordered list items are specified using [*]. For example:
[list=1]
[*]Go to the shops
[*]Buy a new computer
[*]Swear at computer when it crashes
[/list]
will generate the following:- Go to the shops
- Buy a new computer
- Swear at computer when it crashes
Whereas for an alphabetical list you would use:
[list=a]
[*]The first possible answer
[*]The second possible answer
[*]The third possible answer
[/list]
giving- The first possible answer
- The second possible answer
- The third possible answer
Back to top |
|
| Creating Links | |
Linking to another site
phpBB 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 phpBB.com you could use:
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/]Visit phpBB![/url]
This would generate the following link, Visit phpBB! 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.phpbb.com/[/url]
This would generate the following link: http://www.phpbb.com/ - Additionally phpBB 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.phpbb.com into your message will automatically lead to www.phpbb.com being output when you view the message.
- The same thing applies equally to email addresses; you can either specify an address explicitly, like:
[email]no.one@domain.adr[/email]
which will output no.one@domain.adr or you can just type no.one@domain.adr into your message and it will be automatically converted when you view.
As with all the BBCode tags you can wrap URLs around any of the other tags such as [img][/img] (see next entry), [b][/b], etc. As with the formatting tags it is up to you to ensure the correct open and close order is following. For example:
[url=http://www.phpbb.com/][img]http://www.phpbb.com/images/phplogo.gif[/url][/img]
is not correct which may lead to your post being deleted so take care.
Back to top |
|
Linking within a post
Let's say you have a really long post, or perhaps your text has been split into several posts. You want an easy way to create a clickable table of contents as well as be able to cross-link your material. How do you do this? With Link Anchors.
Link anchors allow you to link to particular sections of your post. To do this, use the following format:
[anchor]anchorname[/anchor]
You must make an anchor name and it should be between 1 to 15 characters long, only numbers and/or letters!! If you put more than one anchor in your post, they each much have a unique name.
Anchors are invisible! They don't normally show up. You can only see them by viewing the HTML source code, or by editing your post.
Step two is to link to that anchor which you made. The link can be anywhere: the same post, another topic, another site. If you're using BBCode to make the link, use this format:
[url=http://macgui.com/forums/cafe/some-topic/t.123#anchorname]Click Here- Anchor[/url]
The important part (in bold) is getting the right URL, adding the # and then typing in the name of an anchor you made previously. If you type in the wrong anchor name, then you won't be able to link directly to it, only to the page it's on.
Back to top |
|
| Showing images in posts | |
Adding an image to a post
phpBB BBCode incorporates a tag for including images in your posts. Two very important things to remember when using this tag are: many users do not appreciate lots of images being shown in posts and second, the image you display must already be available on the Internet (it cannot exist only on your computer, for example, unless you run a webserver!). There is currently no way of storing images locally with phpBB (all these issues are expected to be addressed in the next release of phpBB). To display an image, you must surround the URL pointing to the image with [img][/img] tags. For example:
[img]http://www.macgui.com/gfx/systems/macgui_black.gif[/img]
As noted in the URL section above you can wrap an image in a [url][/url] tag if you wish, eg.
[url=http://www.macgui.com/][img]http://www.macgui.com/gfx/systems/macgui_black.gif[/img][/url]
would generate:
Back to top |
|
| Roleplaying Features | |
Rolling dice in a post
Posts and private messages can also include dice rolls. Using the [dice]...[/dice] tags you can specify one or more rolls to be displayed in your message.
Dice Command Syntax:- [dice](Dice Strings)[/dice]
- [dice="Roll Title"](Dice Strings)[/dice]
The Dice String parameter can include multiple dice strings in the standard throw syntax.
Throw Syntax:- (Number of Dice)d(Type of Dice)
- (Number of Dice)d(Type of Dice)(+,-,x,*,/)(Modifier)
It may look complicated if you've never seen this system before, but it is actually quite easy to understand.
Optionally, you can specify an operation and modifier for each throw, as shown above. Supported operations are addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (* or x), and division (/).
Some Examples:- d6 - Throw a single 6-sided die.
- d20 - Throw a single 20-sided die.
- 2d20 - Throw two 6-sided dice.
- d100 - Somewhat special, throws two 10 sided die, and multiplies one by 10.. resulting in a range of 100
- d20+5 - Throw a 20-sided die and add 5 to the result.
- 4d20+10 - Throw four 20-sided dice and add 10 to the total.
Hopefully you understand.
Output Examples:
Here are a few instances of the 'Die' code in action, with the code above.
Totals are provided for convenience, but obviously are not relevant to all throws.
Code: [dice]d20[/dice]
| Dice Roll: | Original Roll String: d20
20-Sided Dice Results: 6
|
Code: [dice="Fire Save"]2d20+10[/dice]
| Dice Roll - Fire Save: | Original Roll String: 2d20+10
20-Sided Dice Results: (4, 1) + 10 (Total = 15)
|
Code: [dice="Statistic Generation"]4d4+10 3d6x2 2d100 4d4+10[/dice]
| Dice Roll - Statistic Generation: | Original Roll String: d4+10 3d6x2 2d100 4d4+10
4-Sided Dice Results: (2) + 10 (Total = 12)
6-Sided Dice Results: (1, 4, 3) * 2 (Total = 16)
100-Sided Dice Results: 60+1(61), 30+1(31) (Total = 92)
4-Sided Dice Results: (1, 3, 4, 1) + 10 (Total = 19)
|
In case you are wondering, the numbers you see when you 'preview' will probably change when you go to post.
Dice Mod (version 1.1.0) by Jeff Leigh.
Back to top |
|
| Other matters | |
Can I add my own tags?
No, I am afraid not directly in phpBB 2.0. We are looking at offering customisable BBCode tags for the next major version.
Back to top |
|
|
|
