by cerb on Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:59 pm Not all of us are familiar with forums, or active foruming. For some, the UKCS forums are the first they have ever encountered and to be honest, it can get quite confusing. So this guide is aimed at those who are new to the area, or those who simply want to make their posts look prettier
Lets take a look at the guidelines, shall we?
Language
Structure makes the post effective. Use informative headlines for subjects!! I can't stress this enough! This will attract more readers to your thread, as most will just skip topics with subjects that are too general in nature. Also, when writing the content, try to be as less redundant as possible. Check to see if you wrote something twice when it isn't needed. Doing so will decrease the length of the thread, which will increase the reader's motivation for reading it
. After you've finished writing your post, read it as if you were the reader - try seeing if some points are not wholly understood, spread across too many sentences, or if you've jumped to another subject somewhere without entirely wrapping up the former.Punctuation marks are your friends! Using comas and full stops, colons and semicolons, and all of those - it makes your post so much more readable! These guide the reader to read your post the way you meant for it to be, and may prove invaluable when trying to make a point. Try reading this line I wrote without any sort of punctuation mark its very hard to read it in one go now think about an entire paragraph. What I mean is, we read as we speak, and with no comas for example, you won't "stop to breath" in between lines, and by the time you've reached the end of the line you've forgotten what it was all about.
Spaces and Paragraphs turn that block of text into a reader-friendly post. It's easier on the eye. So, on a change of subject, start a new paragraph, and when it seems fit, start a new line - just don't keep it all tight and heavy. Frankly, no one wants to read a dense block of characters. It makes things so much more depressing, even if you are sending pies and beers to everyone on UKCS. Rule of Thumb: New whole subjects get different paragraphs, new points your'e getting across (backing and reference for the subject) get new lines.
Grammar and Spelling are as important as the above, if not more. Most of all, it makes sure you are not misunderstood. Secondly, people will take your post more seriously. Now, obviously, not everyone on UKCS are born English speakers, but there is an infinite number of tools available on the internet to help you with that. A quick search on Google, brings up the following site: Spell Checker, and I'm sure there is a quick free translator from your language to English. I use one quite often when I'm not sure which word to use, etc.
BBCode Tags
You may have noticed I used quite a few BBCode tags on this post - It makes the post look well structured and organized, as well as highlight the important things. BBCode tags are bracketed words that give a word or a phrase a certain property to your liking. Each one of those begins with something that looks like this: [Example] and ends with the same word, only with a diagonal line: [/Example]. Everything in between those two brackets will be given the property you chose. To use the tags, you can either write them directly, or mark a word and click on the tag above the text box. Every BBCode tag can be used in combination with any other tag, as many times as you want. All of the tags explained below can be found on top of the writing box when creating a new thread or reply. Here are some examples:
[b]-Bold - Does what it says it does - thickens the width of the font used. Use it to highlight a certain word or when creating a headline.
[i]-Italics - Gives the letters a slight angle. Use in quotes, literature, etc.
[u]-Underline - Creates a line under the word, which helps define it as a headline, or when highlighting, much like Bold.
The next few put the text in a box appropriate to what is in it
Quote
This creates a quoting box, where you quote an off-site source or another post. It is automatically created when clicking the "quote" button on the top-right corner of each post. In order to specify who you are quoting, use the following formula: [quote=WHO] (with the name of the person in quotation marks). Note that the quote tag moves the text slightly to the right. On a side note - if you are replying to the person above you, there's generally no need to quote them, and if you do, just the part you are referring to.
Code (Thanks Little Devil
):This allows you to put in a structured section of code, without loosing things like space indentations and tabs. However the default tab space is used within the code /code, so if your tab spaces differ this may not look exactly like what you have written.
Example
- Code: Select all
void main(void)
{
initCPU(); // Initialise ports set clock etc
// Initialise all variables
// Initialise all external addresses
I2C_Init(); // Initialise I2C bus.
systemStart(); // Set flags to System start conditions
LCD_Operation(BCKLIGHT_ON);
while (!sysinfo.bSC_flag) // SC(system check flag) is set on an Error.
{ // This flag is maintained at 0 for this version
if(sysinfo.bColdBoot)
{
displayMessage(&cucSplash); // Display Splash Screen,
List:
- This creates a list where you can put any number of items.
- You can separate items by using a bracketed asterisk.
[img] - If you have an image you want to share, and have it already uploaded, put the entire address in this tag. Example:
- Code: Select all
[img]http://www.............../image.jpg[/img]
Remember, being registered on the UKCS forums gives you access to the UKCS Uploader- Free, fast and easy to use file uploaded (Files go Here, Images go Here)
[url] - Allows you to hot-link keywords to websites, meaning clicking on the word will lead to a website. Example:
- Code: Select all
[url=www.google.com] Click here for Google!![/url]
You can also combine between the two above: placing the IMG tag inside the URL tag (instead of text), makes the image clickable, and it will lead to the URL you want it to.
[size] - This simply changes the size of the font. There are presets in a drop down list above the writing box, however, you can change the size manually to fit your needs like so: [size=###], where ### means a number. For reference, the normal sized text you see is 100.
Font Colour - This will open a small tab where there are quite a few colours for you to use. Very useful for headlines and highlighting, but don't over do it! Also, use bright colours, as the background of the UKCS forums is dark. Just make sure its easy on the eye to read.
Spoiler - Use this tag to hide spoiling information away from readers who haven't read the end of Harry Potter, but is essential for readers who have. Especially useful in the "Films, Television and Books Even!" forum. If you use "=INFO" inside the brackets, The spoiler button will give any general information about what is inside, so readers won't accidentally click it. Just done give away too much information with it
Heres a detailed explanation by Xerxes about "Strikethrough", "Superscript" and "Subscript", and "Align="
Last three are for embedding flash and YouTube videos, and work just like those above. For the youtubeHD one, there are a few options to add at the end of the url: &fmt=6 gives the normal, low resolution videos. &fmt=18 gives the high quality, slightly higher resolution videos. &fmt=22 gives the highest quality possible - 720p.
Here are explanations for embedding MovieWeb, CollegeHumour, Vimeo (Including VimeoHD), WMV video files (You can combine with the uploader!), and BBC.
For FireFox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome users, Alt+Shift+any of the following letters will insert a BBCode tag as listed here: (Thanks bullet_sponge and Xerxes!)
- Code: Select all
b: Bold text: [b]text[/b]
i: Italic text: [i]text[/i]
u: Underline text: [u]text[/u]
q: Quote text: [quote]text[/quote]
c: Code display: [code]code[/code]
l: List: [list]text[/list]
o: Ordered list: [list=]text[/list]
p: IMG tag
w: URL tag
a: Inline uploaded attachment: [attachment=]filename.ext[/attachment]',
s: Font colour
f: Font size
e: List
Expression
Yes, there are smilies on the right, and those are very useful when trying to pass a message, as the reader can't see your face or hear the tone of your voice. Quite often, these separate between a quarrel, and a joke, so make sure you use it. However! Don't overuse it! One smiley is great for emotions, two or three for extreme emotions, but more than that and it looks like you're spamming, and it distracts the reader from the actual text. This also applies to exclamation and question marks.
Abbreviations
Here's a short list of acronyms and abbreviations you may come across on the forums. These help type faster, and most people understand them.
- AFAIK - As Far As I Know
- ASAP - As Soon As Possible
- BB - Bye Bye
- BRB - Be Right Back
- CYA - See You
- FFS - For F*** Sake
- G/L - Good Luck
- GTG - Got To Go
- IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
- IM(H)O - In My (Humble) Opinion
- J/K - Joking
- LMAO - Laughing My A** Off
- LOL - Laughing Out Loud
- OMG - Oh My God
- TBH - To Be Honest
- WTF - What The F***
Thread Accessories
Options Tab - Gives you a measure of control over the thread. The options there are pretty much self explanatory.
Upload Attachment - Allows you to attach a file to the post, in case you referenced to something specific, or uploading something for the community
Poll Creation - Here you can attach a poll (survey) to your thread, in relation to the content (i.e if you asked a question you want the readers to answer). Separate the different possible answers in new lines.
Further Notes
Always listen to the moderator team! Cut out swear words! Be friendly to fellow UKCSers! Be active on the forums, but that doesn't mean spam! Read post and preview it before submitting! MOAR EXCLAMATION MARKS!
Forum Rules Are Here, make sure you read those!
Heres a great guide for using images on UKCS forum boards! (Thanks bort!)
that's about it, hope you have a pleasant time on the forums, and in-game!
