What is BBCode and why should I care?

BBCode is a very basic markup language used to add stylistic and structural information to forum posts. It is quite similar to a cut down version of HTML 3.2, an old version of the markup language used to create web pages.

BBCode works by enclosing the text to be marked up between two tags. When the message is posted the tags are invisible. What is seen is the content, marked up in the way specified. In this way you can make text bold or italic, and change its colour or size, include clickable links and images (example below) in your post, and so on.

Tags can be combined to produce multiple effects, like this.

How do I use it?

Note that this is a brief and basic guide. If you really want more detail, try the PNphpBB2 Users Guide.

BBCode tags are delimited by square brackets. That is, they start with '[' and end with ']'. In addition, the close tag (not the delimiter) begins with forward slash ('/').

See the end of this post for examples.

I posted but now I want to say more. What do I do?

At the bottom right of your posts is an edit icon (). Clicking this allows you to add to, or otherwise change, your post.

I posted but now I wish I hadn't. What do I do?

At the bottom right of your posts is an edit icon (). Click this to edit your post. On the new page, below the input window, are five options. The fifth one is 'Delete this post.' Simply check this option and click 'Submit.'

An even quicker method of self-censorship is to click the delete post icon (), also found at the bottom right of your posts.

Ooh! I am so ready to post... aren't I?

Not quite. Remember, posting is power. Like all power it must be exercised responsibly. If you don't do so, without wanting to sound too threatening, there are people more powerful than you, if you get the hint.

Anyway, watch the public information film Posting And You (external link, requires Flash).

Now, read on...

BBCode examples

Quoting

This is probably the most important bit of markup to understand, as it's often necessary to quote what someone else wrote in a previous post.

[quote]Smacky is great![/quote]
Produces:

Smacky is great!

[quote="Smacky"]Thanks, very kind of you to say so.[/quote]
Produces:

Thanks, very kind of you to say so.

Note that as a shortcut you can click on the quote icon () at the bottom right of any post to quote that post and attribute it to the original author.[/size]

Emphasis, text colour, and size

[b]Bold text[/b]
Produces: Bold text.

[i]Italicised text[/i]
Produces: Italicised text.

[u]Underlined text[/u]
Produces: Underlined text.

[color=red]Red text[/color] and [color=#ff0000]Red text[/color]
Produces: Red text

[size=18]Bigger text[/size] or [size=8]smaller text[/size]
Produces: [/size]Bigger text or smaller text

Lists

Daimonin knows four melee weapon types:
[list]
[*]Cleave;
[*]Impact;
[*]Pierce; and
[*]Slash.
[/list]
Produces: Daimonin knows four melee weapon types:

• Cleave;
• Impact;
• Pierce; and
• Slash.

Note that you can specify a numbered list (1, 2, 3) with:

[list=1] ...
and a lettered list (a, b, c) with:

[list=a] ...[/size]

Links

[url=http://www.daimonin.net/]Daimonin[/url]
Produces: Daimonin

[url]http://www.daimonin.net/[/url]
Produces: http://www.daimonin.net/.

[email]fake@email.address[/email]
Produces: fake@email.address.[/size]

Images

The image needs to be in .png, .jpeg or .jfif (or .jpg), or .gif format and must be hosted on some webspace somewhere; you can't upload images directly to the forums.

[img]http://www.daimonin.net/themes/Daimonin/images/daimonin.gif[/img]
Produces: [/size]

Code examples

[code]static int is_username_valid(const char *name)
{
    int i;

    for(i=0; i< (int)strlen(name); i++)
    {
        if (name[i]!= '_' && !(((name[i] <= 90) && (name[i]>=65))||((name[i] >= 97) && (name[i]<=122))))
            return 0;
    }
    return 1;
}[/code]

Produces: well, itself![/size]

Spoilers

Given that Daimonin is a game of exploration and discovery a possible the spoiler tag is useful. Use this to hiidehints and information which may spoil parts of the game  for some players. For example:

[spoiler]
Type secret message here
[/spoiler]

Produces:

Thanks Falciron, but this is probably unnecessary now as SMF has it's own decent help: http://www.daimonin.com/index.php?action=help;page=post#tags

Note though that I turned off the hyper-annoying move/marquee tag on this forum as it breaks XHTML validation. Seems the help is not dynamicallly generated though...

Good point. Modify this one as you see fit I think.

Thanks for the usefull post