FAQ: How do I...

[steve34]

1. Get/Show/Display an avatar?

Select "User CP" at the top of the Forum Home Page, then select "Edit Avatar" in the left-hand menu under Settings & Options. You are free to use any of our pre-defined generic avatars or use a custom avatar.

If using a custom avatar, we do not allow uploading of files to the server, so you will have to use Option 1 and enter a URL to the image on another website. There are plenty of websites around that will host images for you.

Avatars must be less than or equal to 100x100 pixels and no larger than 25.4 Kb.

2. Add a signature?

Select "User CP" at the top of the Forum Home Page, then select "Edit Signature" in the left-hand menu under Settings & Options. Read the sections on adding pictures and URLs if you want to do fancy things with your signatures.

3. Display a picture in my post?

First, the image must be hosted on another website. We don't allow uploading files to the forum server.

Second, if you're using the Enhanced Editor when creating posts, there's a little icon: , that will request the URL when you click it. If you're using the basic editor (then you should switch to the Enhanced Editor in User CP, Edit Options), you can manually enter the commands with "[ img ]URL[ /img ]" (minus the spaces).

4. Add a URL in my post?

If you are using the Enhanced Editor, you can click on the icon and enter the URL.

If you were entering the forum website, it would then be displayed as http://circleofcrones.co.uk in the forum.

If you'd rather it appeared in a more reader-friendly form, like Circle of Crones Forums, then you need to manually enter the command as [ url="http://circleofcrones.co.uk" ]Circle of Crones Forums[ /url ]

5. Create a hyperlink out of an image (for advertising my story in the archives better)?

Combine the two manual entries for adding URLs and Images. Embed the IMG command within the URL command like so: [ url="<URL of your story>" ][ img ]<URL of your image>[ /img ][ /url ].

6. Italicize, bold-type, underline, grow, shrink, and color my text or select a different font?

It's all done for you in the Enhanced editor, you just highlight whatever you typed and click the appropriate buttons, but if you really need to know the commands, they are:

[ i ][ /i ] - Begin and end italics
[ b ][ /b ] - Begin and end bold-type
[ u ][ /u ] - Begin and end underline
[ COLOR="<color>" ][ /COLOR ] - Begin and end color
[ size="#" ][ /size ] - begin and end resizing text (default size is 2)
[ font=<font name> ][ /font ] - begin and end font selection (default font is Verdana)

It is VERY IMPORTANT to remember to include the end command!

7. Add a smilie/emoticon to my post?

If you're using the Enhanced Editor (and really, at this point you should be...), you can click on the [More] link in the small sample of available smilies to bring up all of the available smilies, then click on the one you want and it will be inserted for you.

If you're using the Basic Editor, then you'll have to click on the Smilies link at the bottom of the page in the little "posting rules" box to see what all is available, then add the appropriate smilie with its invocation command (usually : <something> then possibly another colon). For example, if you type ": )" (without that space between them), you get

8. Offer up a smilie I saw somewhere else that I'd like to be available here?

Send me the URL of the smilie image or the website where you found it via PM, and if it meets my exacting standards (and really, if you look through some of the smilies we have, you'll see my standards aren't all that exacting), I'll add it. No porn smilies, please.

9. Offer suggestion for additional information to be included in the FAQ?

You can send me a PM (yeah, yeah, I'll eventually get to a PM FAQ), or post a reply here.


GLOSSARY:
avatar - little picture that is displayed next to your name in all your posts.
emoticon - a small picture used to emphasize a point or display an emotion. Also called a "smiley" or "smilie".
hyperlink - Something you click on that leads you to another web location.
PM - Private Message, an in-forum messaging system akin to email that usually receives a lot less spam but gets ignored more by the users.
signature - a block of text and/or images that appears at the bottom of all your posts.
URL - Universal Resource Locator (fancy name for website address)

[SaNale]

I send corrections back to a NY editor two weeks ago. She asked me to make them before they would consider my book for publication. How long should I wait before quering if they will accept the book?