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MNHQ

Bold and italics

182 replies

tech · 10/11/2004 21:25

We are thinking of letting members add bold and italics to messages for emphasis. Being of the old school I don't wholeheartedly approve of such new-fangl ednesses, but hmm... Anyway, I figured we'd use [b]bold section[/b] and [i]italic section[/i] for italics (too much WordPerfect reveal codes in my youth). Anyone have any better ideas?
Of course, they'd display as bold and italic in the message.

OP posts:
JanH · 10/11/2004 22:09

Well it will certainly be easier for us but how will it be for you ?

Kayleigh · 10/11/2004 22:06

sounds good tech

MNHQ
tech · 10/11/2004 22:05

OK, we'll maybe do that then.
bold
underine
/italic/

-- may as well do something people are used to. Easier to type as well.

OP posts:
ks · 10/11/2004 22:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

JanH · 10/11/2004 22:01

I think one word at a time is good - the BBC boards do it that way (word for bold, word for underlining); mind you with /word/ for italics you have to leave at least 2 and sometimes 3 spaces between words if you want to italicise a whole phrase (and even then it doesn't always work reliably so you get some words italic and some not).

WideWebWitch · 10/11/2004 21:59

WordPerfect? ewww! Can't we just have control I, control B or something? Otherwise I will stick to asterisks

KangaMummy · 10/11/2004 21:57

I don't understand the tech of it

but why can't the word be put in { and }
or ( and ) ?

JanH · 10/11/2004 21:56

When did you have an over-zealous profanity filter? Before my time! !

pixiefish · 10/11/2004 21:53

yep tech- if someone forgot to put the bold off that would cause serious headaches. We need to HAVE to put it off to stop accidental postings all in bold

MNHQ
tech · 10/11/2004 21:50

No, JanH, it wouldn't matter. there could be whole sentences if you like. we'd have to also deal with the case where someone starts bold and doesn't end it or the rest of the page might go bold. It would actually be much easier if we limited it to single words. Hmm, there's a thought. maybe we should do
[b]word - does just one word
[b]a phrase[/b] - bold everything between.

It starts to get complicated quite quickly sadly (in the techno sense). I remember when we had the over-zealous profanity filter.... whole messages were turning into asterisks.

OP posts:
vict17 · 10/11/2004 21:48

I guess as long as the instructions are in the wee box at the bottom we'll get the hang of it

pixiefish · 10/11/2004 21:47

[b]got it[\b] or have i?

Sounds great tech

JanH · 10/11/2004 21:45

Ohhhh - that's a lot of complicated typing for some of us

Mind you we have got used to the [] for emoticons I suppose....

[b] word [/b]

does it matter if there are spaces between the [b] and [/b]?

MNHQ
tech · 10/11/2004 21:43

They are part of it. To start bold you would type [b] and then to end bold [/b]. start italic [i], end italic [/i]. If we didn't have the square brackets it would be very difficult to distinguish an I that says "go italic from here" from an I that just happens to mean I like in "I like chocolate" - if you see what I mean.

OP posts:
JanH · 10/11/2004 21:41

On AOL Control-I gets you the instant message box, I just discovered. (I don't like the control key, I'm always hitting it instead of shift and things disappear......)

JanH · 10/11/2004 21:39

tech dear, could you explain your method again?

[b]bold section[/b]

We would write

b
bold bit
/b

Yes? (It was the square brackets that confused me but they're not part of it?)

vict17 · 10/11/2004 21:36

Sorry posts crossed. I thought it would be simple!!

vict17 · 10/11/2004 21:36

just in case what I said was confusing I mean you hold down the 'ctrl' key and then press either 'b', 'i' or 'u' like in word. Is anyone with me?!!

MNHQ
tech · 10/11/2004 21:35

Control-keys won't work without a major re-engineering project. If you press Ctrl-I while typing in internet explorer, you get the favourites bar popping up on the left.

OP posts:
JanH · 10/11/2004 21:34

They get unintended bolding at the beeb too - quite funny sometimes, if someone puts a twinkle in to modify a rude word and another one in later and the whole lot in between turns bold.

JanH · 10/11/2004 21:33

nonono darling, please do do it!

I just didn't understand your example at all [thick]

vict17 · 10/11/2004 21:32

and while I'm at it control + u for underlining.

MNHQ
tech · 10/11/2004 21:32

won't work sadly. * can appear anywhere really. It'll be inappropriate winks all over again. we'd be bolding everyone's swear words. Or do you mean you think we shouldn't do it at all JanH?

OP posts:
JanH · 10/11/2004 21:32

Sorry, meant to add a to that, it reads curt!

vict17 · 10/11/2004 21:31

That should be control + i for italics!!