HTML Sandbox

various freepers | Refreshed 6 Dec 02 | various freepers

[TPartyType]

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Welcome Newcomers!

This Sandbox is devoted to giving you a place to practice basic HTML, and to get some coaching.

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So, first things first:

Go to michigander's [ HTML Bootcamp (Cyber patriot training)] and learn there how to change font color, font size, font face, and the like.
THERE'S A WEALTH OF INFORMATION THERE NOT COVERED HERE (so as to avoid duplication).
Learn there also how to post a link and an image, then come back here to practice.

If you're having problems, folks will drop by occasionally to give you pointers and help you troubleshoot.

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Boring posts are a crime . . .

So practice here first!

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NEWCOMERS TIP: I just reread the FreeRepublic posting guidelines. They're worth a read by all newcomers [click here].

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Following is an excellent previous post by Willie Green

But first, HTML advice from the FreeRepublic help page:

Basic HTML
The Free Republic forum uses standard HTML coding techniques. Use <p> to start new paragraphs. You may use <b> to begin bolding and <center> to center text, but please remember to end these items where appropriate with </b> and/or </center>, etc. If you post links or other advanced coding, be sure to test before posting.

Creating new paragraphs is about the only html that most posters ever need, but if you would like to learn more about html you may use any search engine on the internet to find tutorials. Simply search on "html tutorial". Here are links to a couple tutorials that I found:

• HTML Goodies

• Three Rivers Free-Net Beginning HTML

The Basics

Paragraphs, Line Breaks and Horizontal Lines
A lengthy article or reply can be very tedious to read if it does not contain some very simple HTML formating. Inserting either of the following codes will make your post much more readable:

• <br> is a line break. Text that follows this code will begin on the next line.

• <p> is a paragraph break. Text that follows this code will begin on a new line after skipping a line.

• <hr> is a horizontal rule. It draws a line across the page like this:

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Character Formatting
Simple special effects may be created using Character Formatting Codes. These codes are used in pairs in the format: <?>words to be formatted</?>, where <?> turns the formatting "ON" and </?> turns the formating "OFF".

Please: ALWAYS turn "OFF" the formatting when you use it.

Some commonly used codes of this type are:

• <b> and </b> -- BOLD
• <i> and </i> -- Italic
• <u> and </u> -- Underline
• <blink> and </blink> -- Blink
• <strike> and </strike> -- Strike
• _and -- _Subscript
• ^and -- ^Superscript
• <big> and </big> -- Big text
• <small> and </small> -- Small text

These codes can be "nested" to produce multiple effects at the same time. For instance:

<b><i>Bold and Italic</i></b> produces Bold and Italic

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Links
The method for posting a HTML link is fairly simple. The following format is used:

<a HREF="URL">Link Description</a>

where "URL" is the URL address you want to link to (and you gotta use the double quotes), and Link Description is whatever you want to call your link. For example:

<a HREF="http://www.drudgereport.com/">Link to Drudge</a>

becomes Link to Drudge

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And another from the same previous post:

<FONT COLOR="COLOR">Sample</FONT> produces colorful text.

"COLOR" is often a Hexidecimal Code for whatever Color you want, but color names are also supported.
Examples:

<FONT COLOR="blue">blue text</font> produces blue text

<FONT COLOR="red">red text</font> produces red text

<FONT COLOR="green">green text</font> produces green text

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To: foolproof formatting

Here is an easy way to REMEMBER TO TURN OFF THE FORMATTING.

To be sure I turn off the formatting I TYPE THE "OFF" COMMAND AT THE SAME TIME AS THE "ON" COMMAND.

An example:
I want to respond to a line in a post by another brilliant Freeper.
I type < I >""< /I >< BR>
I then "cut and paste" his remarks between the quotes:
< i>" You are a poopy head "< /I>< BR>
And type my equally brilliant response: "No, you're a poopy head!"
The result:

"You are a poopy head"
No, you're a poopy head!

It's very easy to forget to turn off your formatting!
Yes it is!

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To: ftrader, deport

Actually, the <ul> tag is for a bulleted list and stands for unordered list. The missing part is the list item tag (<li>) Here's an example:

<ul>
<li>List item #1
<li>List item #2
<li>List item #3
</ul>

Would display:

• List item #1
• List item #2
• List item #3

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Finally . . .

Here's the link for [Webmonkey] (a super HTML training site).

[TPartyType]

Thanks. (BTW, the blink is working in Netscape! heh, heh)

[TPartyType]

Hey, A-G! Huggie wuggie.

[TPartyType]

Wow! Thanks, friend!

[Joe Hadenuf]

Cool.

[TPartyType]

Thanks for the warm welcome back! I learned HTML here, too!

[TPartyType]

Good for you. It's fun. This is a safe place to practice.

Gotta go eat lunch now.

[areafiftyone]

Maybe there should also be instructions on how to do a proper "SEARCH". There are so many duplications for postings. I know that some of them have a different titles but if you read the little synopsis of the article in the Search you can see it's the exact same thing as one previously posted.

[Joe Hadenuf]

http://skyandtelescope.com/default.asp?promo=

I like it, but it seems there must be an easier way...

[oyez]

Blinkin' bump for later.

[steveegg]

Figures. Internut Exploder isn't exactly HTML-compliant <VBG>

[backhoe]

You bet! If I can find the bleeding thing, there is a free download from MS that allows you to hilite, see, and copy source code- just the part you want, without the whole page... let me look around. Go here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/773745/posts

...and scroll down to the link "View Partial Source"- it saves lots of time & aggravation.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Bump for self-educational purposes.

[b4its2late]

YOWZA, YOWZA, YOWZA!!!!!!!

C

 

[GailA]

Hubby and I have been learning HTML to edit our web pages with the Coffee Cup editor. He's further along than I am. I want to know how to INDENT. Not seen any code for that. I've got posting an image down pat.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

bump

[GailA]

I found the indent thing I think..blockquote and /blockquote.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN TO COME TO THE AID OF THEIR COUNTRY. Which is one of the sentences I learned to type in typing class back in 1964.

Next question how do you create more than ONE space between paragraphs.

[steveegg]

There's a couple of ways to do it:

• First, there's the <blockquote> tag. That will cause an indentation on both the left and right margins. Ex:

  This selection is indented. Depending on your screen resolution, you may or may not see the indentation on the right edge of this post. If you don't, adjust the size of your browser until you do.

  The indentation will continue until the </blockquote> tag is used.

  You can nest the <blockquote> tag as many times as you want, but after a few, the text will be squeezed too tightly. Just remember to close things out with the </blockquote> tags until you get them all (you can have more </blockquote> tags than <blockquote> tags, and even if you forget on FR, JohnRob's magic software will keep things on an even keel).
• Next, there's the &nbsp; code. This will create one whitespace character per use. As you've already discovered, hitting the space bar more than once only creates one whitespace. Ex: (I'm forcing a fixed-width font for demonstration purposes)

  0123456789112
  a b c d e
  a  b  c  d  e
  0123456789112

  You can put as much whitespace in as you want.

[steveegg]

That would be multiple uses of the <br> (line break) tag, either on its own or after the <p> (paragraph) tag. Ex:

Paragraph 1


I inserted 3 <br>'s between Paragraph 1 and this line of text.

I inserted 1 <p> and 1 <br> between the previous paragraph and this line.

[b4its2late]

Thanks for the ping!!!!!!!

C

 

[steveegg]

One more thing; if you've invalidated the "HTML auto-detected" described in the help of each posting comment page, you'll also lose the ability to type a '<' or '&' at the beginning of a word without putting a space between it and the rest of the word, at least without resorting to some HTML "trickery".

To get the '<' followed immediately by more characters, type &lt;(remainder of word with no space). To get the '&' followed immediately by more characters, type &amp;(remainder of word with no space).