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.
Introduction to Formatting
All formatting tags have the following structure:
\code{Arguments or text to be formatted}
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.
Text Formatting
- Simple Features (bold, italics, etc.)
- Colors
- Text Size
- Miscellaneous (font face, blinking, etc.)
Simple Features
| 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 |
Your Text |
Examples
| 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. |
Colors
| 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 |
Example
| Input: |
|
\red{Red} and \green{green} are pretty colors. |
| Output: |
|
Red and green are pretty colors. |
Text Size
| 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 |
Example
| Input: |
|
\2{You} \1{can} \0{size} \-1{your} \-2{text}. |
| Output: |
|
You can size your text. |
Miscellaneous
| Tag |
Description |
Example |
| \greek{Your Text} |
Greek (symbol) text |
Your Text |
| \strike{Your Text} |
Strikethrough |
Your Text |
| \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) |
\indent{Your text} |
Indented (blockquoted) |
Your text |
* = see note about escaping commas under "Special Characters"
Examples
| 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. |
Special Characters
Modern browsers support the display of special characters, such as the "degrees"
symbol (°). There are a number of available characters.
| 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) |
The "Symbol" font, supported on Windows platforms, allows the incorporation of Greek characters which is especially useful for mathematical notation in many scientific disciplines. The following table gives available Greek characters in groups of 5.
| Tag | Result | |
Tag | Result |
| \greek{abcde} |
abcde | |
\greek{ABCDE} |
ABCDE |
| \greek{fghij} |
fghij | |
\greek{FGHIJ} |
FGHIJ |
| \greek{klmno} |
klmno | |
\greek{KLMNO} |
KLMNO |
| \greek{pqrst} |
pqrst | |
\greek{PQRST} |
PQRST |
| \greek{uvwxyz} |
uvwxyz | |
\greek{UVWXYZ} |
UVWXYZ |
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 |
|---|
| \\ | \ |
| \{ | { |
| \} | } |
| \, | , |
Examples
| 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. |
Other Formatting
and I smile like this: 
.