The 'How to...' Thread

[Sky]

Some newbies (and not so newbies) have been asking how to do certain things on the forum such as how to obtain a signature or avatar, create a hyperlink, post an image on the forum etc So here's how to do all that and more! If someone asks how to do one of those, please direct them to this thread. =)


How to... bold/italicise/underline text.

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[i]italics[/i]

would be italics

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[b]bold[/b]

would be bold

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[u]underline[/u]

would be underline

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[strike]strike[/strike]

would be <strike>strike</strike>


Alternatively, you can highlight the word or phrase with your mouse that you want to alter and click on one of the B, i or u buttons above the writing space in your post. This will automatically put tags around the word(s) you highlighted, except for the strike tags of which you have to put in manually.


How to... use spoiler tags.

A spoiler tag is a feature used to hide certain parts of a sentence, or even whole messages so that people who do not want to know important details of a movie will still be able to browse the forum. The general rule of thumb is that if the movie has still yet to be played in some cinemas anywhere in the world, you should err on the side of caution and use the spoiler tags. (Mods, feel free to correct me on this rule.)

To use the spoiler tags you put these tags around the spoiler like so:

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[spoil]this is a spoiler[/spoil]

which will be turned into this: [spoil]this is a spoiler[/spoil].


How to... have an avatar.

An avatar is the square image underneath a member's name. Avatars are limited by 100 x 100 pixels and 40 KB, but you are welcome to have your avatar smaller than that.

- click on 'Profile' whilst you are logged in to Pixar Planet.
- scroll down to the 'Avatar control panel' section.
- If the avatar is on your computer, click 'browse' and a pop-up will prompt you to locate it on your computer.
- Find the avatar, then click 'open' then 'submit.'

- You can also upload the image to an image hosting site and then copy and paste the url into the "Upload an avatar from a URL:" field. For example: http://www.examplewebsite.com/picture.jpg


How to... write a symbol/special character.

An example of a few symbols: •☺♥☼♪♠⅓ To use a symbol in one of your message posts there are a few ways to do this. In Windows, you can open up your 'Character Map' and copy and paste it from there. Or you can type in a short cut on your keyboard buy using the instructions on this page. To insert symbols if you are using a Mac, follow the instructions on this website.


How to... join a group.

Ever wondered what those little squares are underneath members' names, and how to get them? Those pictures represent groups that members belong to, such as which Pixar movies they like, what fan medium they dabble in, who are moderators and admins etc. You can see which groups you are able to belong to, as well as request membership to a group by clicking on 'Usergroups' at the top of the page when you are logged in. After your membership to a group has been approved, a picture will appear underneath your username.


How to... have a signature.

A signature is something that is displayed underneath members' posts on this forum. You are able to have text, links, symbols and an image in your signature. Just make sure your whole signature (including text) does not exceed 175px high X 500px wide. If your signature is too big, it will automatically be resized. You can also use BBCode (italics,bold, underlined text, symbols, links, etc) in your signature, too.

If you want to know how to create a signature from scratch in Windows, here's a different thread detailing how to do so: Creating a Signature 101. That tutorial can also be followed in the same way to create your own avatar. Unlike avatars, you cannot upload signatures to this forum, but you can link to them from somewhere else on the Internet. Your image needs to be uploaded to the Internet from your computer. I use tinypic.com because it is free and you don't have to sign up to use it. But any other hosting website that you prefer is fine.

After you have uploaded the image to a hosting provider, get a direct link to the image and put IMG tags around it, like so:

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[img]http://www.examplewebsite.com/picture.jpg[/img]

then click on 'Profile' once you are logged in to Pixar Planet, and scroll down to signature field, and copy and paste that IMG tagged URL into that field, and press 'Submit.'


How to... post an image in a thread.

Upload the image to an image hosting provider website like Tinypic, or whichever hosting website you prefer. Obtain the direct link, which is usually http:examplewebsite.com/picture.jpg, but put something called 'image tags' either side of it. So what you end up with is:

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[img]http://www.examplewebsite.com/picture.jpg[/img]

which tells the forum to turn that link into a displayed image.


How to... create a hyperlink.

There are two ways to create a hyperlink: you can either copy and paste the url into your message, like so:

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http://www.example.com/

But if you want to turn a word (or phrase) into a link, you would write it as:

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[url=http://www.example.com/]link[/url]

It would then turn it into: link.

If you wanted to turn a picture into a hyperlink (so that when you click the picture, it links to another webpage) you would do this:

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[url=http://www.example.com/][img]http://www.example.com/][/img][/url]

How to... quote someone's post.

Highlight the member's words that you want to quote and put quote tags around it like so:

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[quote="member's username you are quoting]members post that you are quoting, blah blah blah[/quote]

which will turn out like this:

members post that you are quoting, blah blah blah

Please use the quoting feature sparingly. There is no need to quote someone's whole post, in most cases, especially if their post is right above yours. If you are still unsure as to when and when not to use the quoting feature, refer to this thread: Questionable Quoting.


Other stuff...

Just to let you know, there are a few ways that members prefer to use BBcode here. If you are going to say a member's name: you bold it. If you are talking about a movie or TV show: you italicise it. If you are talking about the name of a song, you put "quotes" around it. For example:

Mitch - Did you know that in WALL•E, they use the song "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" numerous times?

But that is just a guideline to use the codes that way, not a rule.


If anyone has any other tips they'd like to share along the same lines, respond to this thread and I'll add it to this post. Thanks. =)

[thedriveintheatre]

Thanks for posting this up, I'm sure it'll help orientate newbies who are new to this forum business.

Here's how I upload sigs and avvies:

For uploading sigs, I resize the image to the dimensions written in the Forum Rules page in Photoshop before uploading to ImageShack. You don't need to give your e-mail address for registration to get your images uploaded. Be sure to click the thumbnail to see the bigger picture before right-clicking for the image link under Properties.

For avatars, I use shrinkpictures.com (which automatically resizes to 100x100 pixels), but you could just specify the dimensions in Photoshop and just upload to ImageShack or any other normal image-hosting sites too.

I've had experience with this stuff before on a car chase forum, so this isn't new to me. But Pixar Planet was the first time I actually created a sig, so thanks to Wall-e and rachelcakes1985 for the help!

[WALL·E]

for BBcode you can use the

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[code]insert tags here[/code]

tags!

[lizardgirl]

Nice idea for a thread, Rachel! This will definitely help newer members.

[The Star Swordsman]

Great idea rachel Thanks for posting them up. THis will defentely help out all members who don't know how to do stuff, especially newbies.

[Sky]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I took WALL·E's advice of using the code tags and the guide looks a lot neater now.

[Mitch]

Lovely idea, Rachel! It's nice to have a solid thread where new members have an opportunity to learn the ropes here at Pixar Planet. I may ask permission of my fellow moderators to make this thread a "Sticky", if that's all right with you.

Mitch - Did you know that in WALL•E, they use the song "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" numerous times?

Why, yes, I did. A most interesting tidbit, indeed.

I think it's funny that whenever someone chooses to use a member of this forum board as an example for their "tutorials"... they always pick me, for some reason. Heh.

-- Mitch

[WALL·E]

and for MAc, It's just Alt Gr+any letter

œ∑´®†¥¨^øπ“¬˚∆˙©ƒ∂ßåå`Ω≈ç√∫~µ∞#¢∞∞¶∞§∞§¶•

[The Star Swordsman]

Good idea to make it a sticky Mitch. I'll do it for you.

[Mitch]

- In addition to such image hosting sites as TinyPic and ImageShack, Photobucket is another suitable place to upload your graphics. Membership is required, but registration is free.

www.photobucket.com

The Star Swordsman - Ah! Well, there you go. Thanks!

-- Mitch

[The Star Swordsman]

You're welcome Mitch. I was glad to do it.

[Sky]

Thanks for the feedback, Mitch. Appreciate it! Thanks for making this a sticky, too. About Photobucket... I was a bit hesitant to putting that as an option because I always see the Photobucket image not found error. Heheh. But, of course, if people want to use it they can.

I think it's funny that whenever someone chooses to use a member of this forum board as an example for their "tutorials"... they always pick me, for some reason. Heh.

I think that's because you're the member who is the most fond of using the "bolding the person's name and putting a dash next to it" method of responding.

[Mitch]

Rachel - No problem! Thank The Star Swordsman for making it a "Sticky", though.

Concerning Photobucket - Really? That's interesting. I wonder why you receive an error message? Perhaps it depends on the type of computer you're using? I've browsed that website on my laptop, my dad's MacIntosh, and our family computer (PC), and it always works for me. Huh.

I think that's because you're the member who is the most fond of using the "bolding the person's name and putting a dash next to it" method of responding.

Ahh. I see. Heheh. Well, now it all makes sense.

-- Mitch

[Sky]

By some fluke, I figured out that we can strike out text here using BBCode, so I've added that to the guide. That will come in handy for crossing out information that isn't relevant any more but still needs to be kept in the post. I might get to seeing what other BBCode can be used on Pixar Planet, too, when I have the time.

[CMB]

A lot of the HTML is different on here

Luckily i knew both of the img codes because the regular image code doesnt work on here you have to use [img]URL[/img][/code]