How to use YaBBC in the Message Boards

Other pages: Board Policies, Posting Tips

The software used by USConstitution.net to support user messages is called YaBB, and it includes a macro system for text mark-up called YABBC. HTML used in messages will NOT survive - if you type "<b>bold</b>" in a message, the "bold" will not appear bolded - the tags will "show through." This is a protection mechanism.

To do mark-up, use YaBBC. If you have used YaBB elsewhere on the Internet, or any of a number of similar messaging systems, most YaBBC macros will already be familiar. This document will list all YaBBC macros you can use in the USConstitution.net forums.

Standard mark-up

[b]text[/b] - text between the tags is set to bold. Equivalent to HTML's <b></b> tags.

[i]text[/i] - text between the tags is set to italics. Equivalent to HTML's <i></i> or <em></em> tags.

[u]text[/u] - text between the tags is set to underlined. Equivalent to HTML's <u></u> tags.

[s]text[/s] - text between the tags is set to strikeout. Equivalent to HTML's <s></s> or <strike></strike> tags.

[sup]text[/sup] - text between the tags is set to ^superscript. Equivalent to HTML's  tags.

[sub]text[/sub] - text between the tags is set to _subscript. Equivalent to HTML's  tags.

[tt]text[/tt] - text between the tags is set to teletype. Equivalent to HTML's <tt></tt> tags.

[fixed]text[/fixed] - text between the tags is set to use the font Courier New. For example, this is Courier New. Equivalent to HTML's <font face="Courier New"></font> tags.

[code]text[/code] - text between the tags is set to code. In addition to any font change, the text is placed inside a box. Roughly equivalent to HTML's <code></code> tags.

[quote]text[/quote] - text between the tags is placed in a box and separated from the surrounding text. There is no general equivalent in HTML. Use to show text from a previous message that you are responding to. If you are replying to several people at once, or are replying to an older message and you wish to identify whom you are quoting, use this syntax: [quote=name]text[/quote]. When you do this, the quote box will be topped with the text "name wrote:", making it easier to identify the author of the quote.

/me - inserts your username in the message like this: * User Name.

[snip] - use as an indicator that text you have quoted has been trimmed or "snipped". Visually, this tag shows as a pair of scissors: .

Extended mark-up

[url]text[/url] - text between the tags is set to a clickable URL. This can be used in two ways. Most simply, type [url]http://www.somewhere.com[/url] to make a link that looks like http://www.somewhere.com. You can also type [url=http://www.somewhere.com]Click here[/url] to make a link that looks like Click here. Linked sites are automatically opened in a new window. Equivalent to HTML's <a href="http://www.somewhere.com"></a> tags. Additionally, the board will find URLs without the [url] tags and turn them into clickable links - for best results, be sure to use the "http://" prefix on all URLs.

[link]text[/link] - text between the tags is set to a clickable URL. These tags work exactly the same as [url][/url], but the URL does not open in a new window.

[usc=page]text[/usc] - this set of tags is designed specifically for use with the USConstitution.net site. The page should be an HTML page on the site, such as "consttop_cabi.html" or "const.html#Am1", and a text desription of the page. A full URL to this site will be generated, something like <a href="//www.usconstitution.net/page">text</a>.

[ftp]text[/ftp] - text between the tags is set to a clickable FTP URL. There are no "modifiers" as with [url] or [link]. Also available are [news][/news] and [gopher][/gopher]. Equivalent to HTML's <a href="ftp://www.somewhere.com"></a> tags.

[br] - inserts a break in the message. Equivalent to HTML's <br> tag.

[hr] - inserts a horizontal rule (line) in the message. Equivalent to HTML's <hr> tag.

[border=x] - when used before a [table] tag, applies a border width to the table. x should be a number from 1 to 9. Equivalent to HTML's <table border=x> tag.

[list][*][/list] - inserts an unordered list in the message. Use [list] to start the list and [/list] to end it. Place [*] in front of each bullet point. Equivalent to HTML's <ul><li></ul> tags.

[img]text[/img] - inserts an image in your message. The text should be the full URL to the image. For example: [img]http://www.mysite.com/img.gif[/img]. Optionally, you can resize an image by providing height and width values like this: [img height=123 width=123]text[/img]. The height is limited to 500 and the width to 400. If you specify height and width, the code must be in the order shown above. Equivalent to HTML's <img> tag.

[left]text[/left] - places the text in a paragraph that is left aligned. Usually not needed, as text is left-aligned by default. Equivalent to HTML's <p align=left></p> tags.

[right]text[/right] - places the text in a paragraph that is right aligned. Equivalent to HTML's <p align=right></p> tags.

[center]text[/center] - centers the text. Equivalent to HTML's <center></center> tags.

[color=xxx]text[/color] - changes the color of the text to the color specified. A limited number of color names are available, such as black, red, and blue, or a hex value of the form "#123456" may be used. Equivalent to HTML's <font color=xxx></font> tags.

[black][/black] [white][/white] [red][/red] [green][/green] [blue][/blue] - specifically supported colors, equivalent, for example, to [color=black][/color].

[font=face]text[/font] - used to change the font face. Some choices might be Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, or Times New Roman. Equivalent to HTML's <font face="face"></font> tags.

[size=x]text[/size] - used to change the font size. The choices are generally limited to values from 1 to 7: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Equivalent to HTML's <font size="x"></font> tags.

Tables

Tables can be created using YaBBC. The tags and options closely follow those used in HTML. A table is started wiuth the [table] tag and ended with the [/table] tag. Tables are made of of rows and columns. Rows are started with the [tr] tag and end with the [/tr] tag. Columns actually consist of individual cells within a row. A cell is started with the [td] tag and ended with the [/td] tag. To be rendered properly, there should be an equal number of cells in each row, but empty cells at the end of a row can be omitted.

Example: Standard table

YaBBC:
[table]
[tr][td]Row 1 Cell 1[/td][td]Row 1 Cell 2[/td][td]Row 1 Cell 3[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Row 2 Cell 1[/td][td]Row 2 Cell 2[/td][td]Row 2 Cell 3[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Row 3 Cell 1[/td][td]Row 3 Cell 2[/td][td]Row 3 Cell 3[/td][/tr]
[/table]

Rendered:

Example: Standard table with border added - in most browsers, the default table renders with no border. You can add the [border] tag immediately before a YaBBC table to make the border larger. The value provided can be any number 0 or above.

YaBBC:
[border=2][table]
[tr][td]Row 1 Cell 1[/td][td]Row 1 Cell 2[/td][td]Row 1 Cell 3[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Row 2 Cell 1[/td][td]Row 2 Cell 2[/td][td]Row 2 Cell 3[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Row 3 Cell 1[/td][td]Row 3 Cell 2[/td][td]Row 3 Cell 3[/td][/tr]
[/table]

Rendered:

Smilies

Smilies have become ubiquitous on the Internet. Used to show emotion with just a few quick keystrokes, YaBB supports many smilies.

Type this	To get this	Meaning
:)		Smile
:-)		Smile
;)		Wink
;-)		Wink
;D		Toothy grin
:-/		Undecided
:-X		Lips are sealed
:-[		Embarrassed
:-*		Kiss
>:(		Angry
::)		Roll eyes
:P		Tongue
:D		Cheesy grin
:-(		Sad
:(		Sad
:o		Shocked
B)		Cool
???		Huh?
?!?		Huh?