FreeRepublic's Instructional HTML Extravaganza!

10/03/2002 | Myself (freeasinbeer)

[freeasinbeer]

Hi everyone! I figured that since I get a few questions a week about HTML from members here, and I design sites for a living, that I could help the community by answering any questions that you have about how to post HTML, build your profile page, etc.

Just my little attempt at making this an even better place.

[freeasinbeer]

Got an HTML question about posting or your profile page? Fire Away!!

[petuniasevan]

Is there an easy one-shot way to deal with default intralinks when moving partial source code from its original site to FR?

I'd like a shortcut to cutting and pasting the original site's addy into each and every offending link.

Thanks!

[freeasinbeer]

How to post an image...

**Note: to post an image to a thread or into your profile here on FR, the image must be located on a web server (i.e. you should be able to see it in your web browser from a specific website). Local images on your computer will not work.

1. Find the URL or Web Address to the image you would like to post (it will look something like this -> http://www.example.com/image.jpg).
2. Copy this address into memory on your computer (usually by hitting ctrl-c in windows), or write it down.
3. In your reply, or on your profile edit page, create the image HTML tag. It is of the form <img src="">, where the address that you have copied in step 2 is now pasted in between the "" following the src attribute (i.e. <img src="http://www.example.com/image.jpg">) .
4. Submit your message or profile (always preview to make sure it worked!) and presto, you have posted an image to FR!!

[freeasinbeer]

How to post sarcasm tags...

Since FreeRepublic allows for posting HTML, it also goes ahead and strips out incorrect HTML, like those wonderful sarcasm tags that we like to use. Seriously, this is very important when replying to any topic that mentions Hitlery, Jesse Jackson, etc.

1. Find the proper post that needs a sarcastic response.
2. Now, here is where HTML is your friend... Use the <xmp></xmp> tags, and in between those two tags, place your starting <sarcasm> and your ending </sarcasm> tags. The end result in the posting text box will look something like:

   <xmp><sarcasm></xmp>

   Boy is Hitlery purty!

   <xmp></sarcasm></xmp>

If you do this properly, your post will look something like this...

<sarcasm>

Hitlery for President in 2004!!

</sarcasm>

[freeasinbeer]

How to quote the post you are replying to...

This is an important part of posting, as it preserves the flow of the conversation, and makes it easier to allow others to joinin the discussion. FreeRepublic does include a great feature that allows you to see the original post, but including the reply in your post is a Good Thing®.

1. First, find a post worthy of your response! Click 'Post Reply'.
2. Next, on the reply page, use the italics tags to help denote the original message. Create the tags manually <i></i>.
3. Copy and paste the original message (which can be found below the 'Your Reply' text box) in between the two new italics tags we have just created.
4. Enjoy!

[freeasinbeer]

How to properly format your messages...

Nothing is quite so hard on the eyes as long posts that are essentially one huge paragraph. Break those paragraphs up! Use the paragraph tag <p> to create new paragraphs (this will automatically add a blank line above it, which helps to create the separate paragraph).

Another HTML tag used in formatting posts is the <br> tag. This is equivalent to hitting the return key, in that it starts a new line of text. Two of them together equal one paragraph tag.

[freeasinbeer]

How to post special symbols such as ®, ©...

These symbols are created by typing in special HTML codes. For instance, typing in &reg; will create the ® symbol.

Some others include: ¼, ¶, ¥, £, «, etc...

For a complete list, visit this site^

[freeasinbeer]

If you mean, when you paste the original sites html source code, and the links are of the form /news/story0222.html, instead of http://www.newssite.com/news/story0222.html, then the answer is no.

At least, not that I have found. I too usually go through and paste in the offending url to fix the problem. Maybe someone else has a better solution?

[.30Carbine]

I have had an ongoing problem with frames (colored boxes or simple lines around a text), backgrounds (wallpaper on my homepage, for instance), and fonts.

Is it possible to post on this forum using fonts that are available on my hard drive - Americana, Lucinda, etc.?
Not talking size or italics or bold here - those I've been able to master.

Thanks!

[Jemian]

Will you please remind me how to
blockquote,
highlight, and
marquee?

Thanks

[brityank]

<xmp></xmp>

It's a lot easier to type &lt; and &gt; and you get < and > respectively.

Also, in posting Images, make sure you add the width="xxx" and height="xxx" parameters to prevent the threads from hanging up during load.

[mikesmad]

Yes and no. If the displaying system (my browser) has a font loaded on it that you defined then it will display correctly. If the displaying system does not, then it will try to interpret the font and display the closest font that it has loaded. You can get really weird looking results on different machines.

[maryz]

Use the <xmp></xmp> tags, and in between those two tags, place your starting <sarcasm> and your ending </sarcasm> tags

Thanks so much for this hint! (You'll notice I had to use it to post this reply -- always good pedagogy! Though I also had to lift your code for the <xmp></xmp>. Some things there's no clear-cut way around!)

[freeasinbeer]

Also, in posting Images, make sure you add the width="xxx" and height="xxx" parameters to prevent the threads from hanging up during load

Yes, this is true, but for beginners it is tough to add in the images dimensions when the often don't know how to determine it.

I should have added that if you know them, add the width and dimension parameters.

[freeasinbeer]

Is it possible to post on this forum using fonts that are available on my hard drive...

As mikemad has replied, you can do so, but it may not display correctly for everyone on the forum.

For example, if you post using font xxx, and you have it installed on your computer, then it will display in xxx. However, anyone else that looks at the page, but does not have the font installed, then their web browser will display your text in the default font set in their browser (i.e. Times New Roman, etc.).

To use the fonts on your computer, simply use the <font face="chosen font face">text here</font> tags.

[steveegg]

You don't need the &gt; to get the >. However, if you don't otherwise have HTML (<p>, <br>, <b>, etc), just stick <i> </i> at the beginning of your post (that'll turn off "Auto-HTML" and post "straight" HTML; just remember to include at least one space between the <i> and </i>).

[brityank]

... it is tough to add in the images dimensions when they often don't know how to determine it.

If you Right-click and View Image, the Browser window displays the pixel sizing on the Title bar at the top, along with the true Location Address of the image.

Try it:

The HTML:
<IMG SRC="http://www.freerepublic.com/images/frlogo.gif" width="150" height="130" border="2" ALT="www.FreeRepublic.com">

Cheers.

[freeasinbeer]

Sorry, misunderstanding. I know how to do the dimensions of an image, I was just pointing out that many users might not understand/know how to do this.

Thanks for posting the info though!

[Havisham]

In the old days--two years ago?--we called it HTML Bootcamp.

[freeasinbeer]

In the old days--two years ago?--we called it HTML Bootcamp.

A much better name than I choose, which was at 3am...

HTML Bootcamp it is!