FAQ - Features of the New Forum & "How to" guides.

[Admin]

I'm intending to do an FAQ / 'How To Guides' page, with a permanent link at the top of The Forum, so people can find out how to send Personal Conversations, post images, quote posts, etc.

If anyone has the time or inclination to knock anything along these lines up, with screengrabs and what-not, feel free to post them in here and I will transfer them to aforementioned page.

Thanks.

 

[Admin]

You can now send a private message to someone by clicking the Private Message link underneath their username. This is the same as starting a Private Conversation, but I know that many people prefer the term 'private message', so I thought I would add an easy-to-see button for easy access.

 

[Admin]

Now that we have the rich-text editor (i.e. all the little handy buttons to make your text bold, change the font, etc.) it is easy to overlook what other BB Codes we might have. Check out the full list at any time by going to the Help menu at the the top and choosing BB Codes:

BB Codes for Stafford Forum

For example, you can [sup]write stuff in superscript[/sup], or even [sub]subscript if you like[/sub].

Spoiler

Not to mention the oft-requested 'spoiler' tag!

 

[Withnail]

... this thread can be used to point out features that people stumble upon, so that others know they are there to be used.

One feature of the new forum i have noticed is the inability, when editing a post that has been created, to do something as simple as create line breaks - oh yeah, you better believe i have been there hammering the 'return' key - the forum will have none of it. Quite why anyone would be compelled to embrace this function i have yet to work out.

Sometimes you just want to tidy things up a bit - computer says no.

 

[Gramaisc]

Do you mean to edit a line like this?

into

Do
you
mean
to
edit
a
line
like
this?

By the use of a post-posting edit?

Are you perhaps being misled by the strange fact that you can't edit a post again without leaving the thread and returning to it..?

 

[Withnail]

Sort of...

I have just posted an event, that in it's current (and apparently unalterable) form looks like this

Sunday 13 May 10.00am - 5.00pm​

Shire horse logging, Ferret racing and birds of prey. Meet the experts from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and other environmental organisations. Experience traditional country craft demonstrations and activities. With willow weaving, pole turning, wool spinning and children's craft workshops. Join themed guided walks along the new Woodland Trail.​

'Olympian' dog competition - enter your pet into various categories organised by PADS Dog Training Dog show £1.50 per category (rosettes to 5th place). ​

Sponsored by Trophy Pet Foods: Stafford (01785) 241066​

Free admission to event. Car Park £2​

​

Whereas after copying 'n' pasting (like what i did) 'n' attemptin' to edit (like what i couldn't), i would've prefered to look like this​

Sunday 13 May 10.00am - 5.00pm

Shire horse logging, Ferret racing and birds of prey. Meet the experts from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and other environmental organisations. Experience traditional country craft demonstrations and activities. With willow weaving, pole turning, wool spinning and children's craft workshops. Join themed guided walks along the new Woodland Trail.

​

'Olympian' dog competition - enter your pet into various categories organised by PADS Dog Training Dog show £1.50 per category (rosettes to 5th place). ​

​

Sponsored by Trophy Pet Foods: Stafford (01785) 241066​

​

Free admission to event. Car Park £2​

​

Tidier i trust you'd agree.​

On a side note, that's another thing that annoys me - there is a default 'Font Family' and Font Size', but each time you 'import' any kind of text from outside 'n' elsewhere it's impossible to get any kind of conformity with what went before (see the 'Whereas after..." bit above), and another e.g. - yesterday i copied 'n' pasted from that eBay thang what db posted and it appeared in that 'washed-out -"quote"-grey', anything i typed after was in the same 'washed-out-"quote"-grey', no matter how hard i tried to erase it.In the end i just copied it out manually and deleted the 'copy 'n' paste' text.

I appreciate that this is hardly something to send one weeping into the cornflakes, but it don't half piss me orf at times ​

 

[Withnail]

See!

It's effing done it again!

 

[Withnail]

See!

It's effing done it again!

It hasn't only coz i've just edited it - i have also learned something (on account of actually editing it four times), but it is only as vague as it being something to do with the formatting.

I am now weary, and in need of rest.

 

[Gramaisc]

Very strange..! If you look above, you will see that it lets me do it - multiple times.

 

[Withnail]

I think it is only an issue with 'imported' text - forgive me if this is not the correct terminology - in other words words that ain't your own...

 

[Gramaisc]

The wages of plagiarism is uneditability.

 

[Withnail]

The wages of plagiarism is uneditability.

Actually you can edit, but you have to do it twice - the line breaks don't show whilst you are editing the text, but they do appear in the edited version. Unfortunately this means you only know what it actually looks like once you have 'save' ed the 'changes'

You can then go back and edit your edit to make sure a sufficient amount of tidiness has been achieved.

A much better state of affairs i think we can all agree.

 

[Withnail]

And 'are', shurely?

 

[Gramaisc]

And 'are', shurely?

Whilst I might be tempted to agree with you, I was basing my judgement upon Romans 6:23..

 

[Withnail]

Good point etc

 

[Gramaisc]

One of the many things that the Romans have given to us...

 

[Withnail]

Greengate Street for one, but i fear we are once more digressing.

 

[Gramaisc]

Seems only reasonable to me that we should be discussing the Romans on a Forum...

 

[Admin]

On a side note, that's another thing that annoys me - there is a default 'Font Family' and Font Size', but each time you 'import' any kind of text from outside 'n' elsewhere it's impossible to get any kind of conformity with what went before...

Alas, one (wo)man's annoyance is another (wo)man's must-have feature.

This is 'rich text' copy & pasting; i.e. when one copies from somewhere, it attempts to preserve the fonts/formatting when you paste it. Unfortunately, it doesn't always get it spot on, but it's pretty good in my opinion.

If you would rather go 'old school' and paste something in as plain text, so that you can format it yourself, simply:

1) Copy source.
2) Paste into Windows Notepad (or your Operating System's equivalent).
3) Copy from Notepad.
4) Paste into the Forum message.

As Gramaisc has pointed out, line breaks are not a problem, so it's possible that the text you have pasted contains hidden control characters which are affecting your ability to make it look right!

 

[Withnail]

As Gramaisc has pointed out, line breaks are not a problem, so it's possible that the text you have pasted contains hidden control characters which are affecting your ability to make it look right!

The curious thing is that, in the 'window' that pops up when you edit, the return key doesn't appear to have done anything. If you are (god help you) anything like me, that means you hit the return key ~7 times before admitting defeat. If you then 'save changes' there will be seven line breaks






in the edited text.

If you subsequently click the 'edit' option on the already edited version, the breaks are there and you can monkey around with the text at your leisure. Curious.