A powerful formatting language developed specifically for this application allows you to format your posts without knowledge of HTML. This formatting language is easy for both HTML users and non-HTML users to learn quickly. There are examples after each major section.
The code is a keyword to invoke the desired formatting (for example, green to produce green text and b to produce bold text). Formatting tags are case sensitive. Formatting tags may be nested within other tags. A comprehensive list of available formatting tags is available in this document (although the system administrator can turn off certain tags).
To use formatting, enter the appropriate code(s) in the text of your message or subject line. When you preview your post, your formatting will be displayed so you can verify that you have entered your tags properly.
Tag | Description | Example |
\b{Your Text} | Bold Text | Your Text |
\i{Your Text} | Italics Text | Your Text |
\+{Your Text} | Superscript Text | [Reference]Your Text |
\-{Your Text} | Subscript Text | [Reference]Your Text |
\fixed{Your Text} | Fixed Width Text | Your Text |
\u{Your Text} | Underlined Text | Your Text |
\c{Your Text} | Centered Text |
Input: | \b{Show me some bold} and \i{italics text}. | |
Output: | Show me some bold and italics text. | |
Input: | H\-{2}O has a density of 1.000x10\+{-3} kg/mL. | |
Output: | H2O has a density of 1.000x10-3 kg/mL. |
Tag | Description | Example |
\red{Your Text} | Red Text | Your Text |
\orange{Your Text} | Orange Text | Your Text |
\yellow{Your Text} | Yellow Text | Your Text |
\green{Your Text} | Green Text | Your Text |
\cyan{Your Text} | Cyan Text | Your Text |
\blue{Your Text} | Blue Text | Your Text |
\purple{Your Text} | Purple Text | Your Text |
\white{Your Text} | White Text | Your Text |
\gray{Your Text} | Gray Text | Your Text |
\black{Your Text} | Black Text | Your Text |
Input: | \red{Red} and \green{green} are pretty colors. | |
Output: | Red and green are pretty colors. |
Tag | Description | Example |
\2{Your Text} | Largest (size +2 text) | Your Text |
\1{Your Text} | Large (size +1 text) | Your Text |
\0{Your Text} | Average (size +0 text) | Your Text |
\-1{Your Text} | Smaller (size -1 text) | Your Text |
\-2{Your Text} | Smallest (size -2 text) | Your Text |
Input: | \2{You} \1{can} \0{size} \-1{your} \-2{text}. | |
Output: | You can size your text. |
Tag | Description | Example |
\greek{Your Text} | Greek (symbol) text | Your Text |
\strike{Your Text} | Strikethrough | |
\blink{Your Text} | Blinking text | |
\rgb{Hex_code,Your Text} | Color text by hex code | Your Text: aaaa00 color |
\font{Font_face,Your Text}* | Font face | Your Text |
\char{ASCII code} | Character (0-255) | Ê (ASCII code=202) |
Input: | \rgb{5aaa7c,This is a strange color}. | |
Output: | This is a strange color. | |
Input: | \font{Times New Roman,This is in a different font}. | |
Output: | This is in a different font. | |
Input: | \font{Comic Sans MS\,Tahoma,Note the escaped comma here}. | |
Output: | Note the escaped comma here. |
Tag | Result | Tag | Result | |
\ch{->} | ® | \ch{<-} | ¬ | |
\ch{/ \} | | \ch{\ /} | ¯ | |
\ch{t} | † | \ch{tt} | ‡ | |
\ch{dot} | • | \ch{TM} | ™ | |
\ch{c} | © | \ch{<<} | « | |
\ch{R} | ® | \ch{deg} | ° | |
\ch{+-} | ± | \ch{=/=} | ¹ | |
\ch{<>} | ¹ | \ch{int} | ò | |
\ch{:)} | J | \ch{:(} | L | |
\ch{:|} | K | \ch{mu} | µ | |
\ch{1/2} | ½ | \ch{>>} | » | |
\ch{A} | Å | \ch{/} | ÷ | |
\ch{nullset} | Ø | \ch{forall} | " | |
\ch{<=} | £ | \ch{>=} | ³ | |
\ch{<->} | « | \ch{inf} | ¥ | |
\ch{= =} | º | \ch{del} | ¶ | |
\ch{DEL} | Ñ | \ch{=>} | Þ | |
\ch{therefore} | \ | \ch{line} | ||
\ch{br} | <BR> (HTML) | \ch{nbsp} | (HTML) |
Backslashes, and curly braces have special meanings to the interpreter. If you wish to use these characters as text within a tag, you must "escape" them as with a backslash. Additionally, when you are using a tag that requires 2 or more arguments and you want to include a comma within the arguments (and not have it interpreted as a separator), you must escape it with a backslash. See the examples.
Code | Result |
---|---|
\\ | \ |
\{ | { |
\} | } |
\, | , |
Input: | This program is \ch{c} 1997 | |
Output: | This program is © 1997. | |
Input: | \b{No need, to escape, these commas} in a tag that takes only one argument. | |
Output: | No need, to escape, these commas in a tag that takes only one argument. | |
Input: | \rgb{0000aa,No need, to escape, these commas} in the last field of a tag. | |
Output: | No need, to escape, these commas in the last field of a tag. | |
Input: | \font{Times\,Roman\,Arial,You need to escape the first two commas in this case}. | |
Output: | You need to escape the first two commas in this case. |
Tag | Description | Example Tag | Output |
\sum{lower, upper} | Sum using sigma notation | \sum{i=1,10} i | Si=110 i |
\int{lower, upper} | Definite Integral | \int{0,6} x dx | ò06 x dx |
Input: | \int{0,2\greek{p}} sin(x) dx = 0 | |
Output: | ò02p sin(x) dx = 0 |
Code | Description |
\link{URL, text description} | Link to URL with text description |
\topurl{URL, text description} | Link to URL in top frame with text description |
\mail{address, text description} | "mailto" link to address with text description |
Input: | To learn more about this \green{FREE} discussion board program, visit the \topurl{http://mulliken.chem.hope.edu/discus/home,Discus Home Page}. | |
Output: | To learn more about this FREE discussion board program, visit the Discus Home Page. |
Tag | Description |
\image{Text description} | Upon posting, prompts you for the image file to upload. Image files must be in the GIF format and accessible on your local machine. This works only on browsers with form-based file upload capabilities (Netscape Navigator 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 3.0+ with file upload add-on) |
\clipart{Clipart File Name} | Inserts clipart (see index) |
Input: | This is a picture of me: \image{my picture} and I smile like this: \clipart{smile}. | |
Output: | This is a picture of me: ![]() ![]() Note that the "Your Image Here" graphic is replaced by the GIF file that you upload. |
Tag | Description |
\table{Table Items} | Creates a table of the Table Items (table HAS a border) |
\tablenb{Table Items} | Creates a table of the Table Items (table has NO border) |
\list{List Items} | Creates a bulleted list of the List Items |
The List Items are separated by newline characters (carriage returns). Each List Item is given a bullet.
See the examples for further explanation.
Input: | \table{X,O,X O,X O,,X} |
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Output: |
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Input: | \list{List Item 1 List Item 2 List Item 3} |
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Output: |
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Input: | \table{1,2\ch{br}2.5,3 4,\{nbsp},6 7,8,9\,000} |
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Output: |
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