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Basic posting techniques

Posted: 25 Mar 2007, 23:12
by Selene
Many thanks to Lizzy for drafting this!

Basic posting

Welcome to our wonderful messageboard, we hope you'll enjoy posting here and we'd like to give you some guidelines on how to enter a post on the messageboard. Many of you won't need this help, but we're not all used to the Internet and messageboards and it can be very frustrating to not be able to reply to a topic you find interesting.

How to start a new topic

When you're in a specific forum and you want to start a new topic yourself, you'll see a button at the top of the page with 'new topic.' Just press it and it will take you to the posting screen. Now, it is important to give your topic a name, otherwise it won't go online. Just under 'Post a new topic' at your left it says 'subject.' Here you can choose a title for your topic. Now you can enter your message in the box below. When you're finished and want to check your message first, press 'Preview' to see how your message will look on the messageboard. If you want to change anything, just scroll down and you'll see your original. Press the 'Submit' button to finish your post.

How to reply to a topic

When you want a reply to a specific thread, just press the 'Post reply' button and again you'll see the posting screen. The only difference with starting a new topic is that you don't have to fill in a subject, because it already has a title. Proceed as above.

(Note: In the questions and examples below, the "Code: Select all" link is for your convenience in copying only. The words or characters in green are the relevant parts.)

How to highlight something in Bold

When you want to highlight something in bold, you'll see the different options right above the 'Message body.' Bold is of course the letter B. Now you can start by typing something in bold or you can first compose your message, then select the sentence you want to highlight with your mouse and press the B. You'll see a

Code: Select all

[b]
in front of your sentence and a

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[/b] 
at the end of your message. To check if it looks correct, you can always hit the 'Preview' button again.

Example:

Code: Select all

This is the way to put something in [b]Bold[/b].
  • This is the way to put something in Bold.
How to highlight something in Italic

To highlight something in Italic is the same procedure as above, only this time you select the  'i' button.

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This is the way to put something in [i]italics[/i].
  • This is the way to put something in Italics.
How to highlight something in underscore

To highlight something in underscore, follow the procedure as mentioned in bold, only this time you select the 'u' button.

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This is the way to [u]underscore [/u]something.
  • This is the way to underscore something.
How to use a different colour

On our board you can select twelve different colours besides the usual black. However, keep in mind that some colours will be difficult to read, especially for people with poor eyesight. If you want your entire post to be a specific colour, select the appropiate colour from the 'Font colour' pull down list. If you just want to highlight a sentence in a specific colour, select your sentence with the mouse, then select the colour of your choice. Again, for certainty press the 'Preview' button to see what your post will look like.

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This is the way to change a word to [color=blue]blue[/color].
  • This is the way to change a word to blue.
How to use a different font size

You can also select a different font size. A post is always set to 'normal' once you start typing, but you can also select 'tiny, small, large and huge'. Use this only when you feel it is appropiate. Using a large font size can come across like you're shouting or angry, whereas using a smaller font size might look like you're shy or hiding, so bear in mind that people might respond differently to your post when you use a larger or smaller font size. Follow the procedure as mentioned in using a different colour.

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This is the way to change a word to [size=7]Tiny[/size] and this is what [size=18]Large [/size]looks like.
  • This is the way to change a word to Tiny and this is what Large looks like.