Compose tips

input formats:
  • Filtered HTML:
    • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

    • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

      This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

      For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

      Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://mike-hostetler.com">Mike Hostetler</a>Mike Hostetler
      Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
      Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
      Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
      Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
      Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
      • First item
      • Second item
      Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
      1. First item
      2. Second item
      Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
      First term
      First definition
      Second term
      Second definition

      Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

      If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

      Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Ampersand&amp;&
      Greater than&gt;>
      Less than&lt;<
      Quotation mark&quot;"
    • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
    • To post pieces of code, surround them with <code>...</code> tags. For PHP code, you can use <?php ... ?>, which will also colour it based on syntax.

    • Syntax highlight code surrounded by the {syntaxhighlighter OPTIONS}...{/syntaxhighlighter} tags, where OPTIONS is a Syntaxhighlighter options string.

      Example: {syntaxhighlighter brush:php;collapse:true;first-line:50;highlight:[57,81,101];class-name:'some_class some_other_class'}...{/syntaxhighlighter}

      This will syntax highlight PHP code, initially collapsed, start line number at 50, highlight lines 57, 81 and 101 and tag highlighted code with class names some_class and some_other_class.

      See usage, language aliases and options for additional helps.

      Note: instead of using the raw HTML <pre> tag markup from the original Syntaxhighlighter Javascript Library, you enable the Syntaxhighlighter filter in an input format, and then use the {syntaxhighlighter OPTIONS}...{/syntaxhighlighter} markup using that input format. The OPTIONS string is whatever you would put inside the class string as in <pre class="OPTIONS">...</pre> according to the original Javascript Library format. Secondly, you do not need to escape the "<" and ">" characters in your program code as required by the original Syntaxhighlighter Javascript Library. This is automatically taken care of so you can leave your program code completely unchanged. Thirdly, if you use the HTML filter, you must allow the <pre> tag.

    • Video Filter

      You may insert videos from popular video sites by using a simple tag [video:URL].

      Examples:

      • Single video:
        [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1qUeId]
      • Random video out of multiple:
        [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1qUeId1,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1qUeId2]
      • Override default autoplay setting: [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1qUeId autoplay:1]
      • Override default width and height:
        [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1qUeId width:X height:Y]
      • Align the video:
        [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN1qUeId align:right]

      Supported sites: YouTube, Google Video, Tangle, DailyMotion, Eyespot, Revver, Vimeo, Flickr Slideshows, Flickr Video, Game Videos, Meta Cafe, Game Trailers, College Humor, MySpace, Capped, Blip.tv, Slideshare, Picasa Slideshows.

      Special instructions:

      Some codecs need special input. You'll find those instructions here.
      • Slideshare:
        You need to construct your own URL, using the "Wordpress Embed" code from Slideshare, extract the "id" and "doc" parts, and form the URL like this: slideshare.net/?id=1759622&doc=usingdrupal-090723103440-phpapp01.
      • Picasa Slideshows:
        You must use the URL of the RSS feed for the Picasa album:
        1. View the album in Picasa (you should see thumbnails, not a slideshow).
        2. Find the "RSS" link and click it.
        3. Copy the resulting URL from the browser address bar. Example:
          [video: http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/USER_NAME/albumid/5568104935784209834?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_US]
  • Comments:

    • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

      This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

      For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

      Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://mike-hostetler.com">Mike Hostetler</a>Mike Hostetler
      Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
      Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
      Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
      Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
      Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
      • First item
      • Second item
      Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
      1. First item
      2. Second item
      Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
      First term
      First definition
      Second term
      Second definition

      Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

      If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

      Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Ampersand&amp;&
      Greater than&gt;>
      Less than&lt;<
      Quotation mark&quot;"
    • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
    • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Plain Text:
    • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
    • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
    • To post pieces of code, surround them with <code>...</code> tags. For PHP code, you can use <?php ... ?>, which will also colour it based on syntax.