Formatting
A powerful formatting language developed specifically for this application allows you to format your posts without knowledge of HTML. This formatting language is easy for both HTML users and non-HTML users to learn quickly. There are examples after each major section.
This document makes extensive use of tables and advanced HTML not appropriate for many older browsers.
Contents
Introduction to Formatting
All formatting tags have the following structure:
\ code { Arguments or text to be formatted }
The code is a keyword to invoke the desired formatting (for example, green to produce green text and b to produce bold text). Formatting tags are case sensitive . Formatting tags may be nested within other tags. A comprehensive list of available formatting tags is available in this document (although the system administrator can turn off certain tags).
To use formatting, enter the appropriate code(s) in the text of your message or subject line. When you preview your post, your formatting will be displayed so you can verify that you have entered your tags properly.
Text Formatting
Tag Description Example
\b{ Your Text } Bold Text Your Text
\i{ Your Text } Italics Text Your Text
\+{ Your Text } Superscript Text [Reference]Your Text
\- { Your Text } Subscript Text [Reference]Your Text
\fixed{ Your Text } Fixed Width Text Your Text
\u{ Your Text } Underlined Text Your Text
\c{ Your Text } Centered Text
Your Text
Examples
Input :
\b{ Show me some bold} and \i{ italics text} .
Output :
Show me some bold and italics text .
Input :
H\- { 2} O has a density of 1.000x10\+{ -3} kg/mL.
Output :
H2 O has a density of 1.000x10-3 kg/mL.
Tag Description Example
\red{ Your Text } Red Text Your Text
\orange{ Your Text } Orange Text Your Text
\yellow{ Your Text } Yellow Text Your Text
\green{ Your Text } Green Text Your Text
\cyan{ Your Text } Cyan Text Your Text
\blue{ Your Text } Blue Text Your Text
\purple{ Your Text } Purple Text Your Text
\white{ Your Text } White Text Your Text
\gray{ Your Text } Gray Text Your Text
\black{ Your Text } Black Text Your Text
Example
Input :
\red{ Red} and \green{ green} are pretty colors.
Output :
Red and green are pretty colors.
Tag Description Example
\2{ Your Text } Largest (size +2 text) Your Text
\1{ Your Text } Large (size +1 text) Your Text
\0{ Your Text } Average (size +0 text) Your Text
\-1{ Your Text } Smaller (size -1 text) Your Text
\-2{ Your Text } Smallest (size -2 text) Your Text
Example
Input :
\2{ You} \1{ can} \0{ size} \-1{ your} \-2{ text} .
Output :
You can size your text .
Tag Description Example
\greek{ Your Text } Greek (symbol) text Your Text
\strike{ Your Text } Strikethrough Your Text
\blink{ Your Text } Blinking text Your Text
\rgb{ Hex_code, Your Text } Color text by hex code Your Text: aaaa00 color
\font{ Font_face, Your Text } * Font face Your Text
\char{ ASCII code } Character (0-255) Ê (ASCII code=202)
\indent{ Your text } Indented (blockquoted)
Your text
\quote{ Your text } Quoted
Quote:
* = see note about escaping commas under "Special Characters" Examples
Input :
\rgb{ 5aaa7c, This is a strange color} .
Output :
This is a strange color .
Input :
\font{ Times New Roman, This is in a different font} .
Output :
This is in a different font .
Input :
\font{ Comic Sans MS\, Tahoma, Note the escaped comma here} .
Output :
Note the escaped comma here .
Special Characters
Modern browsers support the display of special characters, such as the "degrees" symbol (°). There are a number of available characters.
Tag Result Tag Result
\ch{ ->} ® \ch{ <-} ¬
\ch{ / |} \ch{ \ /} ¯
\ch{ t} \ch{ tt} !
\ch{ dot} "
\ch{ TM} "
\ch{ c} ©
\ch{ <<} «
\ch{ R} ®
\ch{ deg} °
\ch{ +-} ±
\ch{ =/=} ¹
\ch{ <>} ¹ \ch{ int} ò
\ch{ :)} J \ch{ :(} L
\ch{ :|} K \ch{ mu} µ
\ch{ 1/2} ½
\ch{ >>} »
\ch{ A} Å
\ch{ /} ÷
\ch{ nullset} Ø
\ch{ forall} "
\ch{ <=} £ \ch{ >=} ³
\ch{ <->} « \ch{ inf} ¥
\ch{ = =} º \ch{ del} ¶
\ch{ DEL} Ñ \ch{ =>} Þ
\ch{ therefore} \ \ch{ line}
\ch{ br} <BR> (HTML ) \ch{ nbsp} (HTML )
The "Symbol" font, supported on Windows platforms, allows the incorporation of Greek characters which is especially useful for mathematical notation in many scientific disciplines. The following table gives available Greek characters in groups of 5.
Tag Result Tag Result
\greek{ abcde} abcde \greek{ ABCDE} ABCDE
\greek{ fghij} fghij \greek{ FGHIJ} FGHIJ
\greek{ klmno} klmno \greek{ KLMNO} KLMNO
\greek{ pqrst} pqrst \greek{ PQRST} PQRST
\greek{ uvwxyz} uvwxyz \greek{ UVWXYZ} UVWXYZ
Backslashes, and curly braces have special meanings to the interpreter. If you wish to use these characters as text within a tag, you must "escape" them as with a backslash. Additionally, when you are using a tag that requires 2 or more arguments and you want to include a comma within the arguments (and not have it interpreted as a separator), you must escape it with a backslash. See the examples.
Code Result
\\ \
\{ {
\} }
\, ,
Examples
Input :
This program is \ch{ c} 1997
Output :
This program is © 1997.
Input :
\b{ No need, to escape, these commas} in a tag that takes only one argument.
Output :
No need, to escape, these commas in a tag that takes only one argument.
Input :
\rgb{ 0000aa, No need, to escape, these commas} in the last field of a tag.
Output :
No need, to escape, these commas in the last field of a tag.
Input :
\font{ Times\, Roman\, Arial, You need to escape the first two commas in this case} .
Output :
You need to escape the first two commas in this case .
Other Formatting
Frequently Made Mistakes
Not looking at the preview
The message preview shows your tags in action. If you look at it and your \b{ Bold text} isn't bold, you have made a mistake!
Using / instead of \ to start a tag
/ b{ Bold text tag} is wrong\b{ Bold text tag} is correct
Using parentheses instead of curly braces
\b ( ) \b{ Bold text tag} is correct
Using the wrong case in tags
\B { Bold text tag} is wrong (\B{ } is not defined)\b{ Bold text tag} is correct
Not escaping commas where necessary
Advanced tags use the comma to separate the various arguments. If you need to use a comma and not have it treated as a delimiter, you must escape the comma.
See the discussion under "Special Characters" for further explanation and many examples.
Putting spaces where they do not belong
\ b{ Bold text tag} is wrong (space between \ and b ).\b { Bold text tag} is wrong (space between b and { ).\b{ Bold text tag} is correct.
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