Formatting Ideas for Your Posts

The Subheading Style Makes a Nice Heading in Discussion Posts

Type in your heading, follow it with some line breaks (type the enter key).  Then highlight the heading with your mouse and select "Subheading" from the drop-down format list box at the top of the editor.

Cutting and Pasting Text Sometimes Doesn't Work

One way of quoting others or inserting some text from your computer into your post is to use the cut and paste function of your browser.  You highlight some text from a text file, word file, web page, etc. right click on it, and select "copy".  Then you go to the Comment editor, right click within the text area, and select "paste".

What you see next is somewhat uncertain due to the large incompatibilities between document formats and computers.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it looks awful.

There are come security concerns with pasting onto a web page.  Microsoft's Internet Explorer will give you a little warning message and ask for your permission.  Firefox, however, requires you to create a special file in its program area to allow this operation.  When you get the Firefox message, it will give you a link to instructions on  how to fix up the browser so it can paste.

The Literal Style is good for quoting an excerpt that has line breaks you want to keep

First, create a "Literal" box in the editor by creating a line composed of a few spaces followed by some line breaks.  Highlight the spaces, then select "Literal" from the drop-down format list box at the top of the editor.

 Now copy the text you want to quote

One particular problem with Literal quotes: This format follows exactly the line breaks of your source file.  So if it has long lines, it can make the page very wide and hard to read.  If this happens to you, PLEASE delete the quote and choose another format for it before you post.

Always remember to explain the exact source of your quote.

Sometimes a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

You can add a picture from two places:

1. From your Member Folder
2. From your own computer

First enter the text of your post.  Then, to add the picture, position the cursor where you want the picture to go.  Then click on the picture tool on the editor tool bar.  You will be able to browse through your member folder or any of its subfolders.  If you find the image you want, click on it and then specify whether you want it on the left, the right, or in the middle of your page. Give it a title (Alt text) and then select a size (yes, the editor does a pretty good job of resizing your image).  Finally, say OK and you are done.  Of course, you can always select the image again to change any of these things if they don't look the way you want.

If you need to "upload" the picture from your computer, browse to the place in your Member Folder for a place to put it, then click on the upload... link.  You will probably want to create an "images" folder to keep them in a place where you can easily find them.

Links Can Lead People to Important Reference Material

To enter a link, first type the text to be converted to a link ("Click here for my article on lunar transits").  Highlight this text, then select one of the link tools at the top of the tool bar.  The chain tool allows you to select something from your Member Folder to link to.  The globe tool allows you to type in any internet address  and  then preview the page to make sure you got it right.

Emoticons Add Spice

When you post, the following emoticons are automatically converted to small graphics:

• ":)"  or ":-)"  
  
• ":(" or ":-(" 
  
• ":o" or ":-o" 
  
• "8-)" 
  
• ":D"  or ":-D" 
  
• ":|" or ":-|" 
  
• ";)" or ";-)" 
• ":-P" 

Conversations are Not Very Fun if Someone Talks Too Much

If your post is getting as long as this one, even if it is beautifully formattted, you might want to think about expressing yourself in another way...  like a blog or an article!  Have fun.