TEXT FORMATTING
Those of আপনি who have written soapbox প্রবন্ধ before may have seen the guide that ফ্যানপপ provides for formatting text. But maybe you've never written a soapbox প্রবন্ধ অথবা never noticed the key, and have been wondering how some users manage to make their text আরো interesting. With these tags, আপনি can:
* boldface your text
* put your text in italics
* underline your text
* have your text point to a different লিঙ্ক link
Soapbox authors can also use ট্যাগ to embed pictures into the bodies of their articles. But what not many users realize is that all of these ট্যাগ - with the exception of the image embedding - can be used in other places on Fanpop.
HOW TO FORMAT YOUR TEXT
If আপনি are familiar with hypertext markup language (HTML), the ট্যাগ 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 আপনি type on Fanpop, আপনি need to include a start tag at the beginning of the text আপনি want to look different, and then put a close tag at the end of the text আপনি 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 ফ্যানপপ markup ট্যাগ alike, আপনি apply ট্যাগ like this:
1) আপনি type a special symbol to indicate to the system that a tag is starting. In HTML, this tag is the < অথবা "bracket" symbol. On Fanpop, it is the [ অথবা "square bracket" symbol.
2) Then আপনি type the name of the tag. In our example, the word "blink" is the name of the blink tag. On Fanpop, আপনি have the following basic tags:
b
i
u
3) After the name of the tag, আপনি insert the opposite bracket symbol: > in HTML, ] on Fanpop.
These ট্যাগ indicate where the formatting should start, so আপনি place it to the left of the first word আপনি 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 আপনি put in the end tag, which tells the system where to stop that text formatting? Like this:
A) আপনি type the same sort of bracket: < in HTML, [ on Fanpop.
B) আপনি indicate that the tag is a close tag দ্বারা using the অগ্রবর্তী স্ল্যাশ key: /
C) আপনি insert the name of the tag just like in the start tag.
D) আপনি close with the opposite bracket: > in HTML, ] on Fanpop.
The close tag should come immediately after the text আপনি want to format, so that the start tag and close tag enclose the text আপনি want to format.
If আপনি wanted the text to say "This is blinking!" in HTML, for instance, আপনি would write:
<blink>This is blinking!</blink>
If আপনি want to write an explanation of your low rating on a picture ("Sorry, but this pic is really dull!"), আপনি 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!
অথবা আপনি 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, আপনি can also embed URLs into your text. The tag name is "url", and the ট্যাগ work the same way, except that আপনি also need to provide the actual লিঙ্ক of the site to which আপনি want to link. আপনি then put this link in the start tag with an "equals" sign. The close tag is unaffected.
For example, if আপনি wanted to link to the Neverending Story ফোরাম game on Fanpop, আপনি 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 আপনি wanted to be that link, then the close tag: [/url]. In that way, আপনি 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 আপনি have any reason to be suspicious of a link that someone has posted, most browsers will let আপনি see the লিঙ্ক without clicking on the link, but just hovering the মাউস cursor over the link. Then আপনি can read the লিঙ্ক and judge whether it feels নিরাপদ অথবা not. Some লিঙ্ক (www.spamspamspamittyspam.com?counter) are going to seem suspect, and so আপনি shouldn't click on them.
Three things of interest for placing these লিঙ্ক on Fanpop:
i) The লিঙ্ক should be absolute. This means that আপনি 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 লিঙ্ক can be any URL, not just a ফ্যানপপ one. That way, আপনি can point to link.
iii) If আপনি want to reference a particular passage from a particular thread of a particular forum, আপনি can link to the প্রদত্ত page of that forum. For instance, আপনি could point to link, which is just the শীর্ষ page of that forum, leaving the user to read through multiple pages to get at the end অথবা any page in between, অথবা আপনি could point to link, if আপনি wanted to reference, say, link's mention of Mrs. Doubtfire (or anything else on that page).
The way আপনি do it is simple: just insert /, then the number of the page, then a # and then "comments" after the লিঙ্ক of the base ফোরাম 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 লিঙ্ক to point to page four of that thread.
Finally, I should note that, if আপনি don't want to substitute text for some obscure URL, আপনি can still just type the URL, and ফ্যানপপ will recognize it as an লিঙ্ক and will format that text for আপনি 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 আপনি CAN USE TAGS
All this is well and good, but where can আপনি use these ট্যাগ on Fanpop? The most obvious place is in soapbox প্রবন্ধ like this one. But, আপনি can also use these ট্যাগ in any মতামত box on the site, which includes ফোরাম thread postings, responses to ফোরাম threads, and মতামত on videos, links, images, picks, and articles. Basically, if the content is already there and আপনি want to post a comment, আপনি can do it with tags.
WHERE আপনি CAN'T USE TAGS
আপনি can't use these ট্যাগ in the titles অথবা descriptions of anything আপনি add to Fanpop: links, articles, videos, images, প্রশ্ন অথবা their picks. Basically, if আপনি are adding content to the site, আপনি cannot format the name অথবা the বিবরণ of the content with tags. আপনি can take some comfort in the fact that আপনি can immediately মতামত on your addition, and in that মতামত আপনি can use tags, though.
A WORD OF CAUTION/BEST PRACTICE
So, now আপনি know how to format your text to be আরো 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 আপনি will get pilloried. Much like TYPING IN ALL স্মারক FOR EXTENDED PERIODS, using too much boldface, italics অথবা 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 আপনি start (if আপনি 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 অথবা formatted text to regular text, like no আরো than 10% of what আপনি write should be formatted as bold/italic/underlined, অথবা linked to a different URL. Doing otherwise will likely get আপনি reported দ্বারা your fellow ফ্যানপপ users.
With all that said, enjoy!
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Here's লিঙ্ক 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 মতামত প্রশ্ন that আপনি see on the site and for the উত্তর আপনি can pick to that question. Papa has created a link.
* 5: link
* 6: link
* 7: link
আপনি may also want to see:
* link feature
* link
