kad: How can I format my post?

Q: How can I format my Apple Discussions posts?

A: When composing your message, you can use the formatting buttons above the Message text field (see below).

(The 'Quote' button is only available when replying to a post.)

In addition to these, you can use many HTML tags for more advanced formatting of your post.
The following list contains some common HTML-tags that can be used on Apple Discussions. Many of these tags can be combined; for example, text can be underlined and bold, the alignment of images can be defined and more.
In most of the following examples, you will find the source code (like you would enter it when typing your message) on the left, and the rendered version (as it will be displayed) on the right.

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Text formatting

The following HTML tags can be used to change the format of individual characters, words or even an entire post.

<i>italics</i> - italics

<b>bold</b> - bold

<u>underlined</u> - underlined

<tt>teletype</tt> - teletype

<s>strike-through</s> - strike-through

_subscript - _subscript

^superscript - ^superscript


Text alignment

use the <p class="command">-tag to display text like this - and </p> to close the tag

To format text like this (when quoting a previous message, for example), put the text between <blockquote> and </blockquote>-tags.

The <p>-tag can also be used to change the text alignment; the default is 'left', other options are 'right', 'center' and 'justify'.

Example:

use the <p align="center">-tag to display text like this - and </p> to close the tag

Font size

Use the <font size>-tag to increase the font size. The forum software allows values between +1 and +4 in the <font size>-tag. Using the value "1" in the <font size>-tag will slightly decrease the font size.

Examples:
<font size="+2">font size</font> - font size

<font size="1">font size</font> - font size


Text color

To change the text color, use the <font color>-tag.

Examples:
<font color="green">colored text</font> - colored text
<font color="#0000FF">colored text</font> - colored text

You can use color names like aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white or yellow - or hexadecimal numbers in the <font color>-tag.


Font face

The <font>-tag can also be used to change the font face.

However, the font face defined in the <font>-tag has to be installed on the reader's computer in order to be displayed properly (not much of a problem as long as you use 'standard' fonts, though).

Example:
<font face="Courier">Courier</font> - Courier



Code


If you are posting code, you can use the

tags to block off the code.

Paste your code here.

Example:

#include <iostream.h>
main()
{
cout << "Hello World!";
return 0;
}
{code}

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Images

To insert images into your post, use the <img>-tag. Note that the image you want to use in your post needs to be hosted online (e.g. on your .Mac website, etc.); you can not upload images to Apple Discussions.
For example, <img src="http://www.apple-history.com/images/models/128k.gif"> displays the file stored at the specified location, in this case:


Image used with permission from apple-history.com

When using images in your post please keep in mind that excessive use of images will increase page loading time. Also it is good practice to use images only where required, to crop images so that only relevant information is shown (i.e. do not post full screenshots to illustrate an error message or a dialog box), and to resize the image if necessary (use the Preview function to ensure your image is not too wide for the page layout before posting).

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Links

While copying and pasting a complete URL - like http://www.apple.com - will result in a clickable link, it's often useful to create a text link - like Apple Website.

To do this, use the <a>-tag to define URL and link text. In the example above, the source code is

<a href=" http://www.apple.com"> Apple Website</a>

You can modify URL and link text as required.

*To link within the same post*, use anchors and link to those anchors.
<a name=“ anchor”></a> (The anchor you are linking to.)
and
<a href=" #anchor"> Link Text</a> (The clickable link to go to that anchor.)

Note the Link reference has the # symbol, the actual anchor does not, and don't use smart quotes.
example

<a href=“#TextFormatting”>see Text Formatting</a>
gives us: see Text Formatting

Which takes us to the anchor above which has
<a name=“TextFormatting”></a>

*To link within a different post*, add the anchor to the message link in the URL.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9171189&#9

Edit: This also appears to work when using the thread number:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1964018#9



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Lines

You can create horizontal rules by adding a <hr>-tag.
The default width of a <hr>-tag is 100% (above), but you can also set other values - like <hr width="75%"> (below).


<hr width="75%">
<hr>

Other editors

In addition to the buttons above the Message text field and HTML tags, you can also use applications like Volker Runkel's level4 to create (and preview) HTML-formatted messages.

To test or preview HTML-code, you can use sites like the HTML Test Lab.

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Last updated: 6 Jan 2010