[HOW TO] Using the forum text editor functionality

This post will briefly describe how to use the functionality of the forum.

Note: this tutorial is based on the desktop version of the website, however all editing/options still apply to mobile, smartphone, tablet device (etc.) use.


Create a new topic

  1. Press the New Topic button in the top right corner of the screen to create a new topic.

  1. Give your new topic a name, category, and tags (optional, but they help with the Search functionality).

  1. After you have written your post, press the Create Topic button in the lower left corner of the screen to publish.


Text editor

The forum uses an inbuilt rich-text editor.

You will see these icons at the top of the text editor box every time you make a new topic or post:

You may see more or fewer icons depending on your trust (membership) level.

In order, the buttons are as follows:

1. QUOTE WHOLE POST

2. BOLD TEXT

highlight the text to make bold and press the B icon. Can also be done by using double asterisks around the text you wish to make bold. **Bold text** = Bold text. Alternatively you can type <b>text</b>, as in standard HTML formatting, to create bold text.


3. ITALIC TEXT

highlight the text to make italic and press the I icon. Can also be done by using single asterisks around the text you wish to make italic. *Italic text* = Italic text. <i>Text</i> can also be used to display italic Text.


4. HYPERLINKS

allows you to create a link (URL) from text to another website.

You can also type text, highlight it, and then press the Hyperlink icon to create a hyperlink.

I’m a link to the forum homepage!


5. BLOCKQUOTE

Use this icon to create a blockquote of text.

Write your text, highlight it, and click the icon to create

This!

You can also manually create quotes, or blockquotes, by typing a > symbol before every line.

So,
>Quote becomes

Quote.


6. PRE-FORMATTED TEXT

You can create pre-formatted text by surrounding the text with ` tilde symbols. Or, you can create a block of pre-formatted text by pressing this button, then typing your text within.

This is my preformatted text.

You can also create preformatted text by placing four (4) space characters before your text.

This is also my preformatted text.

Note that we do not recommend putting spaces before text, or using preformatted text in general: it makes text very difficult to read, because the text does not wrap to the next line properly.


7. UPLOAD IMAGE

Click the icon to upload an image to your post.

Note: you can also copy images, or image links, into a post, and the image will upload automatically. However, this depends on whether you are using the forum on desktop, or on a smartphone or mobile device.


8. BULLET LIST

Highlight lines of text and click this button to create a bullet list.

You can also create a bullet list by using the *, -, or + icon at the beginning of a line.

  • This is a bullet point!

  • Notice that numbered and bulleted items are always indented.

- Or you can prevent indentation by applying bold or italic text to the entire line, but the automatic indentation will not apply.


9. NUMBERED LIST

Highlight lines of text and click this button to create a numbered list.

You can also create a numbered list by typing 1. followed by your text.

  1. First numbered list item.
  2. Second list item.
  3. Notice that numbered and bulleted items are always indented.

1. Or you can prevent indentation by applying bold or italic text to the entire line, but the automatic indentation will not apply.

Even if you accidentally type the wrong number, the forum text editor will automatically number your list items in correct order.


10. EMOJIS

Click on this icon to open the emoji character map. You can also type a colon symbol : and begin typing the name of an emoji to search for an emoji.

For example, typing :smiley: will place the :smiley: emoji in your text.


11. DATE & TIME

Click this icon to see a date/time selection window, which allows you to input a date and time into your post.


12. ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

The cog wheel icon in the text editor toolbar allows you to select further options, such as:

  • Hide details
  • Blur spoiler
  • Build poll.

Click here to view hidden details.

See, told you so!


This text is blurred as an example. Click the blurred text to view it. (You can blur images too!)


Polls let you source opinions from other users.

You can click the cog wheel icon for more options to build a poll.

Was this information helpful?
  • Yes, thanks!
  • Not really…
0 voters

Other editing tools

You can create H1 primary headings by placing a # symbol and then a space before your header text.

So # This becomes

This

Headings of this type are useful, because they create anchor links in your post which you can link to directly (see the hyperlink section above).

After you’ve posted, hovering a H1 heading will display a hyperlink icon which you can click on.

You can then copy the link and use it as a direct link to that section of your post.


To create a H2 secondary heading, place 1 or more - hyphen or en-dash symbol(s) directly underneath your text.

My secondary heading
--

becomes

My secondary heading

Secondary headings can also be used to link to specific sections of your topic or comment.


Em-dashes will automatically be created in your post if you post two hyphens (or en-dashes) next to each other, like this: --. Instead of this - you could have (wait for it) – this!


You can create a horizontal rule, aka HR (a horizontal line across the page to divide your post into sections) by typing --- on its own line.


Struckthrough text (which looks like this) can be created by placing ~~ symbols before and after the text you want to strike out, so ~~this~~ would look like this.


Finally, you can negate the < and > symbols by placing a backslash \ symbol before them, for example, if you wish to write

>Something like this

Instead of

Something like this,

or \</sarcasm> to write </sarcasm>.


Happy posting :wave:

8 Likes