What is BB Code?

BB code is a set of tags based on the HTML language that you may already be familiar with. They allow you to add formatting to your messages in the same way as HTML does, but have a simpler syntax and will never break the layout of the pages you are viewing.

URL Hyperlinking

At ATS/BTS/PTS, you can simply type in the full address of the page you are linking to, and the hyperlink will be created automatically. Here are some example links:

http://www.abovetopsecret.com
www.google.com

Note that if the address begins with www. you do not need to add the http:// part of the address. If the address does not begin with www. you will need to add the http:// section.

If you want to include the BB Code yourself, you may simply type around the web address the [url] tags as shown below. (The BB Code tags are shown in blue).

[url]www.abovetopsecret.com[/url]

You can also include true hyperlinks using the [url] tag and change what a link says. Very handy for those loooooong news links when posting them. Just use the following format:

[url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com]Click here to visit Above Top Secret[/url]

This will produce a hyperlink like this: Click here to visit Above Top Secret within the post you are making.

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Bold, Underlined and Italic Text

You can make text bold, underlined or italicized by simply surrounding your text with BB Code tags as shown below:

[b]some text[/b] shows as some text
[u]some text[/u] shows as some text
[i]some text[/i] shows as some text

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Using Different Colors, Sizes and Fonts

You can alter the size, color and font of text using the following tags:

[color=blue]some text[/color] shows as some text (colored purple)
[size=4]some text[/size] shows as some text (size 4 text)
[font=courier]some text[/font] shows as some text (using courier font)

You can also combine all the various text formatting tags. This example uses bold, underlined, purple text:

[color=purple][u][b]Wow there's lots of formatting here![/b][/u][/color]

This example will show as: Wow there's lots of formatting here!

**Note - using an apostrophe in a word will cause certain formatting NOT to work. Size is one of those!

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Bullets and Lists

You can create bulleted or ordered lists like this:

Unordered, bulleted list:

[list]
[*]first bulleted item
[*]second bulleted item
[/list]

This shows as:

* first bulleted item
* second bulleted item

**Note - you must remember to close the list with the [/list] tag.

If you would like to create a list ordered numerically or alphabetically, this is just as easy. You simply need to add a little extra code to your [list] and [/list] tags. The extra code looks like =1 (for a numbered list) or =A (for a list from A to Z). Here are some examples:

[list=1]
[*]this is the first numbered item
[*]this is the second numbered item
[/list=1]

This shows as:

1. this is the first numbered item
2. this is the second numbered item

[list=A]
[*]this is the first alphabetically ordered item
[*]this is the second alphabetically ordered item
[/list=A]

This shows as:

1. this is the first alphabetically ordered item
2. this is the second alphabetically ordered item

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Adding Images

To include a picture or graphic within the body of your message, you simply surround the address of the image as shown here:

[img]images/picture.gif[/img]

**Note - the http:// part of the image URL is required for the [img] code.

Resize an Image! - It's easy and keeps the forum pages from being distorted for other viewers.

In BB code you post an image in a thread like this:
[img]picture.jpg[/img]

To resize an image (say from 1024x768) to fit just do this:
[img=512x384]picture.jpg[/img]

All I did was divide each size by 2 to keep the image in proportion.

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Quoting

To quote something manually (instead of using the handy button feature), just use the following code:

[quote]Do or do not, there is no try.[/quote]

The [quote] tags will automatically indent the enclosed text. Easy!

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For information on topics not discussed here see the ATS Freshman's Forum or the Website & Message Board Updates Forum