Compose tips

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h3>

    This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

    For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

    Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://www.sunsetlakesoftware.com">Sunset Lake Software</a>Sunset Lake Software
    Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
    Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
    Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
    Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
    Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
    • First item
    • Second item
    Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
    1. First item
    2. Second item
    Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
    First term
    First definition
    Second term
    Second definition
    Header<h3>Subtitle three</h3>

    Subtitle three

    Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

    If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

    Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Ampersand&amp;&
    Greater than&gt;>
    Less than&lt;<
    Quotation mark&quot;"
  • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.

  • Syntax highlighting of source code can be enabled with the following tags:

    • Generic syntax highlighting tags: "<code>", "<blockcode>".
    • Language specific syntax highlighting tags: .

    Options and tips:

    • The language for the generic syntax highlighting tags can be specified with one of the attribute(s): type, lang, language. The possible values are: "bash" (for Bash), "c_mac" (for C (Mac)), "cocoa" (for Cocoa).
    • Line numbering can be enabled/disabled with the attribute "linenumbers". Possible values are: "off" for no line numbers, "normal" for normal line numbers and "fancy" for fancy line numbers (every nth line number highlighted). The start line number can be specified with the attribute "start", which implicitly enables normal line numbering. For fancy line numbering the interval for the highlighted line numbers can be specified with the attribute "fancy", which implicitly enables fancy line numbering.
    • If the source code between the tags contains a newline (e.g. immediatly after the opening tag), the highlighted source code will be displayed as a code block. Otherwise it will be displayed inline.
    • Beside the tag style "<foo>" it is also possible to use "[foo]".

    Defaults:

    • Default highlighting mode for generic syntax highlighting tags: the default language used for syntax highlighting is "cocoa".
    • Default line numbering: no line numbers.

    Examples:

    You typeYou get
    <code>foo = "bar";</code>Inline code with the default syntax highlighting mode.
    <code>
    foo = "bar";
    baz = "foz";
    </code>    		Code block with the default syntax highlighting mode.
    <code lang="c_mac" linenumbers="normal">
    foo = "bar";
    baz = "foz";
    </code>    		Code block with syntax highlighting for C (Mac) source code
    and normal line numbers.
    <code language="c_mac" start="23" fancy="7">
    foo = "bar";
    baz = "foz";
    </code>    		Code block with syntax highlighting for C (Mac) source code,
    line numbers starting from 23
    and highlighted line numbers every 7th line.

  • To add a lightbox to your images, add rel="lightbox" attribute to any link tag to activate the lightbox. For example:

    <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightbox">image #1</a>

    <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[][my caption]">image #1</a>

    To show a caption either use the title attribute or put in the second set of square brackets of the rel attribute.

    If you have a set of related images that you would like to group, then you will need to include a group name between square brackets in the rel attribute. For example:

    <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[roadtrip]">image #1</a>
    <a href="image-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[roadtrip][caption 2]">image #2</a>
    <a href="image-3.jpg" rel="lightbox[roadtrip][caption 3]">image #3</a>

    There are no limits to the number of image sets per page or how many images are allowed in each set.

    If you wish to turn the caption into a link, format your caption in the following way:

    <a href="image-1.jpg" rel='lightbox[][<a href="http://www.yourlink.com">View Image Details</a>]' >image #1</a>

  • Quoted content can be placed between [quote] tags in order to be displayed as an indented quote. Every [quote] tag must have a corresponding [/quote] tag. For example: 

    [quote]This is a simple quote.[/quote]
    is displayed as:

    Quote:
    This is a simple quote.

    Additionally, there is an optional attribute which allows quotes to specify the original author. 

    [quote=Mr. Drupal]This is a quote with an attribution line.[/quote]
    is displayed as:

    Mr. Drupal wrote:
    This is a quote with an attribution line.

    Finally, multiple [quote] tags can be nested within one another. Just remember that every [quote] tag must have a corresponding [/quote] tag. 

          [quote]I think she says it best...
      [quote=Ms. Quotation]This is a quote nested within another quote.[/quote]
      but you can't argue with
      [quote=Ms. Reply]The more quotes, the merrier.
      Just don't get too carried away.[/quote]
      And I have nothing more to say.[/quote]
    is displayed as:

    Quote:
    I think she says it best...
    Ms. Quotation wrote:
    This is a quote nested within another quote.
    but you can't argue with
    Ms. Reply wrote:
    The more quotes, the merrier. Just don't get too carried away.
    And I have nothing more to say.