Guide: Forum Tips & Tricks

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pedant
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Note that this is the default FAQ bundled with the forum software, so some of its content may not apply.

For general information about the BBCode markup language used on this forum, click here.
:idea: Tip: If you're wondering how some specific formatting was achieved in a particular post, you can try hitting the Quote button to reproduce the underlying BBcode for examination. (This only works if it's in a topic that you have permission to reply to.)

Here are some more specific tips and tricks:
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pedant
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Links

There is no need to use the [url] BBCode tag for simple link sharing.
Entering a link all on its own works fine.

The [url] tag is necessary if you want to change the link's text (like this: click me).
It's also used to turn images into links.

Note that using the [url] tag without specifying a resource scheme (like "http://") will create a relative link, and that probably isn't what you want.

Examples:

Code: Select all

✓ http://www.example.com
✓ www.example.com
✗ [url]www.example.com[/url] <-- relative link!
✓ [url]http://www.example.com[/url]
✓ [url=http://www.example.com]custom link text[/url]
✓ [url=http://www.example.com][img]https://i.imgur.com/qTa2fmR.jpg[/img][/url] <-- clickable image
http://www.example.com
www.example.com
www.example.com <-- relative link!
http://www.example.com
custom link text
Image <-- clickable image

For more information, read this: app.php/help/bbcode#f4r0
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pedant
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Images, Videos, and Avatars

Click here to visit the image posting test thread

There are a few ways to share media on the forum:

Uploading image attachments

Images can be uploaded directly to the forum by going to the Attachments tab below the posting textbox. After adding a file, click Place inline to automatically add an [attachment] tag to insert the picture into a particular place in your post.

Image attachment tab.png
Image attachment tab.png (62.74 KiB) Viewed 9123 times
Uploading images directly to the forum can be advantageous because external image hosting services sometimes go defunct.

To find a list of attachments that you have uploaded, go to your User Control Panel and follow the links to the attachments section.

Unfortunately, images cannot be uploaded to the forum in Private Messages (PMs). To use images in private messages, see Embedding external media below.

Note that images larger than 256KiB will be automatically resized to not exceed 950x950 px.

You can upload up to 10 attachments per post. If you need to share more images, just make another post.

If you encounter an error (for example a popup that says 'HTTP error'), please let me know and give me the following information about the file you tried to upload:
  • filesize
  • dimensions (width x height), in pixels
Embedding external media

External images can be embedded using the [img] tag:

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.imgur.com/qTa2fmR.jpg[/img]
Image


The [img] tag requires a direct link to the image itself.

Additional media can be embedded simply using a URL with no tag:

Code: Select all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlpSopy0d-U


This can embed things like youtube videos, imgur photo albums, instagram posts, etc.
Click here for more information and a list of currently supported services: app.php/help/bbcode#f6r0
(Note that the [media] tag mentioned here does not need to be used. Just the URL is fine.)

Avatars

UCP > Profile > Edit avatar

Maximum file size: 2 MiB
Minimum dimensions: 20x20 px
Maximum dimensions: 100x100 px

Avatars larger than 100x100 px will be automatically resized.
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pedant
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Mon Mar 26, 2018 3:59 pm

Forum Icon Legend

recently, i've tweaked the icons to be much closer to self-explanatory:

TF Forum Icons
TF Forum Icons
TF Forum Icons.png (115.92 KiB) Viewed 6835 times

forum link: topic has been moved to another forum
unread: contains unread posts
read: does not contain unread posts
hot: popular topic
mine: topic you have posted in (see dot in upper right of icon)
locked: new posts are not allowed
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pedant
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Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:56 pm

Private Messages

PM Folders
PM Folders
TF PM Folders.png (10.41 KiB) Viewed 6833 times

Q: Why are my sent PMs stuck in my Outbox? Does that mean they didn't send?
A: A PM appears in the Outbox until it has been read by one or more recipients. After that, it appears in Sent.
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