TEXT FORMATTING
Those of u who have written soapbox artikels before may have seen the guide that Fanpop provides for formatting text. But maybe you've never written a soapbox artikel of never noticed the key, and have been wondering how some users manage to make their text meer interesting. With these tags, u can:
* boldface your text
* put your text in italics
* underline your text
* have your text point to a different url link
Soapbox authors can also use tags to embed pictures into the bodies of their articles. But what not many users realize is that all of these tags - with the exception of the image embedding - can be used in other places on Fanpop.
HOW TO FORMAT YOUR TEXT
If u are familiar with hypertext markup language (HTML), the tags will seem pretty familiar to you. Let's assume for a moment that you're not familiar with HTML tags, though.
In order to format any of the text u type on Fanpop, u need to include a start tag at the beginning of the text u want to look different, and then put a close tag at the end of the text u want to look that way.
For example, in regular HTML, there is a thing called the "blink" tag (which is very annoying and should never be used in a serious web page - I offer it here only as an example). Simply put, any text marked with a blink tag (in normal HTML) will blink on and off, like a fluorescent light when the power is first applied. In HTML and the Fanpop markup tags alike, u apply tags like this:
1) u type a special symbol to indicate to the system that a tag is starting. In HTML, this tag is the < of "bracket" symbol. On Fanpop, it is the [ of "square bracket" symbol.
2) Then u type the name of the tag. In our example, the word "blink" is the name of the blink tag. On Fanpop, u have the following basic tags:
b
i
u
3) After the name of the tag, u insert the opposite bracket symbol: > in HTML, ] on Fanpop.
These tags indicate where the formatting should start, so u place it to the left of the first word u want formatted in that way.
Thus, the text <blink> in an HTML file would indicate where the text should start blinking. But now that you've put in the start tag, how do u put in the end tag, which tells the system where to stop that text formatting? Like this:
A) u type the same sort of bracket: < in HTML, [ on Fanpop.
B) u indicate that the tag is a close tag door using the vooruit, voorwaarts slash key: /
C) u insert the name of the tag just like in the start tag.
D) u close with the opposite bracket: > in HTML, ] on Fanpop.
The close tag should come immediately after the text u want to format, so that the start tag and close tag enclose the text u want to format.
If u wanted the text to say "This is blinking!" in HTML, for instance, u would write:
<blink>This is blinking!</blink>
If u want to write an explanation of your low rating on a picture ("Sorry, but this pic is really dull!"), u could write it like this:
Sorry, but this pic is [i]really dull[/i]!
...which would look like this:
Sorry, but this pic is really dull!
of u could write it like this:
Sorry, but this pic is [u]really[/u] [b]dull[/b]!
...which would look like this:
Sorry, but this pic is really dull!
INSERTING UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATORS (URLs)
Those are what I call the three "basic" text formatting tags:
boldface
italics
underline
But, as I mentioned earlier, u can also embed URLs into your text. The tag name is "url", and the tags work the same way, except that u also need to provide the actual url of the site to which u want to link. u then put this link in the start tag with an "equals" sign. The close tag is unaffected.
For example, if u wanted to link to the Neverending Story forum game on Fanpop, u would take the link link and put it in the start tag, to read like this:
[url=http://www.fanpop.com/spots/writing/forum/post/2421], then type the text u wanted to be that link, then the close tag: [/url]. In that way, u could write something about link and continue on without cluttering up the post with a long URL.
People know that they can click on links, and will do so if they're curious. Note to users seeing these hyperlinks, though: if u have any reason to be suspicious of a link that someone has posted, most browsers will let u see the url without clicking on the link, but just hovering the muis cursor over the link. Then u can read the url and judge whether it feels veilig of not. Some linken (www.spamspamspamittyspam.com?counter) are going to seem suspect, and so u shouldn't click on them.
Three things of interest for placing these linken on Fanpop:
i) The url should be absolute. This means that u should include the link at the beginning. This may not be necessary for all browsers, but it is good practice for people using older browsers, who would be unable to resolve a link like "fanpop.com" over "http://www.fanpop.com"
ii) In case it isn't obvious, the url can be any URL, not just a Fanpop one. That way, u can point to link.
iii) If u want to reference a particular passage from a particular thread of a particular forum, u can link to the gegeven page of that forum. For instance, u could point to link, which is just the top, boven page of that forum, leaving the user to read through multiple pages to get at the end of any page in between, of u could point to link, if u wanted to reference, say, link's mention of Mrs. Doubtfire (or anything else on that page).
The way u do it is simple: just insert /, then the number of the page, then a # and then "comments" after the url of the base forum thread. In the example above, we started with link's movie titles game: link.
Then, to point to page 4 of the thread, we added /4#comments to the end of that, making link as the url to point to page four of that thread.
Finally, I should note that, if u don't want to substitute text for some obscure URL, u can still just type the URL, and Fanpop will recognize it as an url and will format that text for u as a link (see the link and www, above: a link that points nowhere - my apologies to any users who actually clicked on that!)
WHERE u CAN USE TAGS
All this is well and good, but where can u use these tags on Fanpop? The most obvious place is in soapbox artikels like this one. But, u can also use these tags in any commentaar box on the site, which includes forum thread postings, responses to forum threads, and commentaren on videos, links, images, picks, and articles. Basically, if the content is already there and u want to post a comment, u can do it with tags.
WHERE u CAN'T USE TAGS
u can't use these tags in the titles of descriptions of anything u add to Fanpop: links, articles, videos, images, vragen of their picks. Basically, if u are adding content to the site, u cannot format the name of the beschrijving of the content with tags. u can take some comfort in the fact that u can immediately commentaar on your addition, and in that commentaar u can use tags, though.
A WORD OF CAUTION/BEST PRACTICE
So, now u know how to format your text to be meer interesting, and carry greater emphasis than just putting *asterisks around words*! But realize that too much emphasis can quickly get to be annoying, much like the <blink> tag I mentioned earlier: use that on an HTML page these days, and u will get pilloried. Much like TYPING IN ALL badges FOR EXTENDED PERIODS, using too much boldface, italics of underlining only annoys people, so use these items with moderation. Two final things to keep in mind:
a) Remember to always use a close tag to stop whatever text formatting u start (if u don't, the entire contents of your posting will be formatted for emphasis after the start tag)
and
b) Try to stick to a conservative ratio of emphatic of formatted text to regular text, like no meer than 10% of what u write should be formatted as bold/italic/underlined, of linked to a different URL. Doing otherwise will likely get u reported door your fellow Fanpop users.
With all that said, enjoy!
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Here's linken to other parts of the guide for your quick reference:
* link
* 1: link
* 2: link.
* 3: link
* 4: Picks: this is the generic name both for the enquête vragen that u see on the site and for the antwoorden u can pick to that question. Papa has created a link.
* 5: link
* 6: link
* 7: link
u may also want to see:
* link feature
* link
