Whether you are posting a new topic or replying to an existing thread, the window where you type your question/response presents you with a number of options for formatting (changing the appearance of) your post. Last month's article covered basic formatting of your posts to the ICON Forums. This month's article will cover the last 7 buttons in the Format row(see illustration below), which offer more advanced formatting.



Horizontal Rule
The button labeled "HR" will draw a horizontal line in your message. Such lines make it convenient to segregate or highlight portions of your post. Place your cursor where you want the line to be drawn, and click the HR button. The characters, [hr] will appear in your message. Click the Preview button at the bottom of the window to see how the line appears.

Insert Hyperlink
There are several ways to insert a hyperlink into your post:

1. Simply type the hyperlink, making sure it begins with http:// or https://. Press Enter. The link will automatically be underlined, and when clicked by a viewer will take them to the specified page.
   
   
2. Another way to insert a hyperlink is to type the url, such as: http://www.iconusersgroup.org, highlight the url, then press the Format button that has a globe and chain links on it. This will place [url] [/url] tags around your hyperlink. (Online Editor's Note: The words "highlight the url" were added after the fact to clarify these instructions.)
   
   
3. Finally, if you would like make the words, "Visit ICON online!" a clickable link, type the words, then select/highlight them, and click the Insert Hyperlink Button as in 2 above. Modify the first tag to read: [url="http://www.iconusersgroup.org"]. "Visit ICON online!" then becomes a hyperlink to ICON's web site.
   
   
4. You can also make an image a clickable hyperlink (see the Forum's FAQ's).

Insert E-Mail
You can also make e-mail hyperlinks (see the Forum's FAQ's), although they are not recommended due to the spam liability.

Insert Image
To insert an image in your post, the image must first exist on a server (computer) attached to the Internet, and you must know the path to the image, and the image name. For example, if the path to the ICON logo that appears on the web site is http://www.iconusersgroup.org/images/iconlogo.gif, then to place that image in my post, I would type the url, select/highlight it, and click the Format button with the picture icon on it. This will place [img] [/img] tags around the url. The easiest way to designate left, right or center alignment for your image, is to select/highlight the image tags and the url, then click the Left, Right or Center Format buttons. (Or see the Forum's FAQ's for another way to align your images).

If you choose to insert an image to your post, please use small images, as the larger the image, the longer it will take the forum to load, especially for those of us with dial-up Internet access. Secondly, if the image is not on your own server, please be sure you have permission to link to the image on someone else's server. There are some image providers that encourage such links, but most of them forbid external links to their images. Why? Because every time a page with such linked images is viewed, it sends a request for the image to their server, and that steals their bandwidth.

Insert Code
This is the Format button with the # sign on it; it is not currently used on the ICON Forums.

Insert Quote
This is another way to segregate text in your post, and is especially useful if you are quoting information found in printed material or on another web site. First, type the text you are quoting. Then select/highlight it, and press the Format button with the page and red right arrow on it. This will automatically label the selected text as a quote and will place horizontal rules on either side of it, as shown below.

Insert List
This last Format button allows you to insert bulleted lists, alpha lists, or numbered lists into your post. This is the only time it is easier to click the button first, and then type the text.

1. To create a bulleted list, click the Format button with the 3 bullets on it. This will put the following code in your post: [list][*] [/*][*] [/*][*] [/*][/list] Between each set of [*] [/*] tags, type one of your list items. The default is 3 items, but if you need more, just add one of the [*] [/*] tags for each additional items.
   
   
2. If you want your list to be alphabetic, complete Step 1, then change the list tags to [list=a] [/list=a]
   
   
3. If you want your list to be numeric, complete Step 1 above, then change the list tags to [list=1] [/list=1]

You'll find a link to the Forum FAQ's at the top of each forum page. If you're new to the Forum, you'll find additional help on the Forum home page under the topic "New to the Forum? Start here…." You can also find help with the Forum at any ICON function…just ask!

Happy Posting!