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BOARDS
How to Format Your Messages

Sometimes when you're composing a message, you'll want to do a little something extra with it -- say, put some words in italics or boldface, or create a list with bullet points. Web Crossing, our board software, can help you do that, either by using HTML or Web Crossing's own custom formatting tools.

If you don't want to do any of this, you can skip this section, and you won't have any trouble posting -- just remember to add a line space whenever you want to start a new paragraph. If you do want to format your messages, here's how it works:

If you want to format your text using HTML, just use the HTML tags as you normally would in any HTML document. Don't worry about tags like <head>, <body>, or <title> -- they're already part of the board you're posting to. Certain tags that other users may find annoying or distracting, like the <blink> tag, will be automatically removed from any message in which they appear.

Using Web Crossing's own formatting tags is a little less familiar for most people, but some members may find them more convenient. Web Crossing's formatting tags are as follows:

b -- bold up to the end of the current line.

i -- italic up to the end of the current line.

c -- center up to the end of the current line.

* -- bulleted paragraph up to the next blank line (no space needed).

] -- indent the paragraph up to the next blank line (no space needed).

> -- indent and use the block quote font, up to the next blank line (no space needed).

Web Crossing looks at the first two characters of each line in a message to see if they constitute a formatting tag. For example, if a line starts with a "b" and a space, then the rest of that line will be formatted in bold. When you enter the text:

This is some sample text
b with an important message
in it.

Web Crossing will format it like this:

This is some sample text with an important message in it.

Note that Web Crossing will automatically put a space after any text in bold or italic. And remember, if you do mess something up, you can always go back and edit it for up to 30 minutes after you post it.

Sometimes when you're responding to a message that somebody else posted on the boards, you'll want to quote some or all of that message in your own post. Web Crossing's formatting features can help you clarify which text is yours and which you're quoting from.

When you're ready to start quoting from previously posted text, hit return to create a new paragraph, then cut and paste the text from the old message into the new message you're composing. At the start of the quoted text, type the greater-than sign (>), and leave a blank line after the quoted text. (If the quoted material is more than one paragraph, you'll want to back up and add a greater-than sign in front of each quoted paragraph.) What you'll see when you post your message is that Web Crossing has indented all the quoted text, which sets it off nicely from your own words.

For example, if you put this in the message field:

Anybody who would say:
>Flying fish don't actually fly.

obviously hasn't studied the aerodynamics of flying fish.

the posted message will come out looking like this:

Anybody who would say:
Flying fish don't actually fly.
obviously hasn't studied the aerodynamics of flying fish.

In order to make doubly sure everybody knows whose words are whose, you'll want to add a note explaining whom you're quoting from.

Bulletin Board Conduct

How to Format Your Messages