While reading this tutorial, it might be a good idea to open
up the editor by clicking the "new topic" button in this forum.
up the editor by clicking the "new topic" button in this forum.
THE BASICS
A single post is minimally made up of a subject and a message. A subject should be concise and descriptive that draws readers in, and the message is what you're actually trying to convey to your readers.
- This is the postform.
There are many tools to aid you while writing your message. One of the most important is BBCode, or "Bulletin Board Code". BBCode is like simplified HTML. It is a widely used formatting code used in many forums. You can use BBCode by hand or you can use some of the popular BBCode by clicking on the buttons below the subject input line (see image). Read our help topic on BBCode to learn more.
Another tool for your message is using smilies. Smilies, or emoticons, are small images that depict the users mood when writing a particular line or paragraph (or with some people - word). To use a smilie, click on it and it will be inserted wherever your cursor is located in the textbox. MLK has many (seriously - we have a ton of) smilies for you to choose from. Just click "View more smilies" under the smilie list to view them all.
Below all the message textbox you will see three buttons: "Save", "Preview" and "Submit". The Save button saves your subject and message to your drafts. Read our help topic on drafts to learn more. The Preview button lets you see how all the mumbojumbo text and code actually looks before you submit it. The Submit button will actually add your topic or reply to the forum for others to see. Be careful what you publish, and be sure it fits within our universal rules.
ADVANCED EDITING
There are also some extra, more advanced, features you can use when creating or editing posts. They are located below the save, preview, submit buttons. There are three panels accessible by clicking on one of the three tabs: "Options", "Upload attachment" and "Poll creation".
The Options tab allows you to disable certain features in your particular post. "Disable BBCode" means that BBCode is disabled in your post. Same for smilies. "Do not automatically parse URLs" means that if you copy and paste a full URL, phpBB will not make it into a link for you. "Attach a signature" will either attach or detach your signature for the particular post. "Notify me when a reply is posted" will email you if replies are made in the topic.
The Upload attachment tab lets you...upload attachments. Attachments can be a variety of files. Many file types are allowed, but some are not. If you upload an attachment, a block will appear under the message textbox that lists your attachment(s). Use file comments to describe your attachments. Clicking "Place inline" will place the attachment within the text of your message, much like the attached image of the postform above. The file comment appears just below the attached file. Clicking "Delete file" will obviously remove the attachment. If you do not place a particular attachment inline, it will appear at the bottom of your post in a separate attachment list once your post is submitted (see my ahadi.png file that I've attached and not placed inline).
If you're creating a new topic, you may also see the "Poll creation" tab. This is relatively self-explanatory.
