Pretty Posts Sticky

Submitted by justingoblue on

Wondering how to blockquote? Don't know how to embed videos? This sticky is your go-to thread for help with making your comment or thread look as good as the most computer literate users here, hopefully in steps simple enough for [rival joke here] to understand. Before we get to it, there have been helpful threads in the past, such as this one from ShockFX (which goes into more plain text detail than I will here). I'm not promising anything revolutionary as much as providing a link for "one stop shopping" to help people with common problems.

How do I get a quote to show up in the fancy yellow box?

  1. Click "switch to plain text editor". This is a link at the bottom of the text box for either a comment or post/diary.
  2. Write out <blockquote></blockquote>
  3. Paste your quote between ><
  4. Switch back to rich text editor. This button is in the same spot at the bottom of the text box as plain text editor.
  5. Format as needed: this is just trial and error. If you're really stuck it's not the end of the world, it sometimes takes practice.

How do I embed a video?

  1. Click "switch to plain text editor". This is a link at the bottom of the text box for either a comment or post/diary.
  2. On YouTube, click "share" and "embed".
  3. Copy the link that appears.
  4. Paste the link into the text box.
  5. Switch back to rich text editor. This button is in the same spot at the bottom of the text box as plain text editor.
  6. Look for a box. It should have a red outline and say either "flash" or "iframe". If you see this, you've succeeded; congrats.

How do I embed a video in a forum topic or diary?

Follow the instructions immediately above, but after clicking "share" on YouTube, you need to check the box below it that says "use old embed code".

I don't know how to embed a picture in my comment or post/diary.

  • The easiest way to do this is to drag the picture from a site hosting it (such as Google Images, Facebook, ect.). You can left click your mouse on the picture and select "view" in Firefox or "open in new tab" in Chrome. Make the window smaller and drag the image into the text box.
  • When commenting on a thread, story or diary, the comment box has a line of options at the top, with options like bold, italics, ect. On the far right is a little picture. Click this picture and paste the URL of the picture you would like included. You can obtain the URL by left clicking the image and selecting "copy image location".

Note: .gifs work the same way as pictures. Either of these instructions will work for GIFs.

My picture isn't the right size.

  • If you dragged the picture into the comment box, right click and select "image properties", if the ratio is locked, 500 pixel width should be a full sized comment.
  • If you are using the embed picture tool the size can be adjusted when you paste your link. 500 pixels wide should be a full sized comment.

I want to embed a Tweet in a comment.

  1. Click "switch to plain text editor". This is a link at the bottom of the text box for either a comment or post/diary.
  2. On the tweet you want to embed, click where it says "More"
  3. On the drop-down, select "Embed Tweet"
  4. Copy the code that appears
  5. Paste the code into the post
  6. Switch back to rich text editor. This button is in the same spot at the bottom of the text box as plain text editor.

Note: I'm told this does not work for forum topics or diaries. Sorry.

I've seen some posts use a fancy link that's part of the text. I want to do that too.

  1. Highlight the text you want to turn into a blue link.
  2. Click the blue globe on the top of the text box.
  3. Paste the URL you'd like to link to.
  4. Click "OK".

I want to get fancier than that.

To make the link open in a new window or tab:

  • After clicking the globe and pasting the URL, click "target" and switch to "New Window (_blank)"

To underline links:

  • While the text is highlighted, hit "ctrl" (Command for Apple users) and then "u" on your keyboard.

I need to create a table and copy/paste from Excel looks messy.

  1. Go to this link.
  2. Paste the table you have into the box and "Tableize It!"
  3. Click "switch to plain text editor". This is a link at the bottom of the text box for either a comment or post/diary.
  4. Paste the information the website spits out as "your table"
  5. Switch back to rich text editor. This button is in the same spot at the bottom of the text box as plain text editor.
  6. Format as needed. This usually means (for me) making sure there aren't a bunch of lines between the text and the table.

I still need help; the sticky isn't covering my problem.

Leave a comment here. We're fortunate to have a lot of knowledgeable and friendly posters here on the board, and someone will have an answer for you.

Notes:

  • Thanks to Raoul, Seth and MGoShoe for their work in the suggestions thread, and Michigan Shirt for the ShockFX link; some of the work above is yours and you deserve credit.
  • Thank you everyone who made suggestions in the prior thread.
  • Irrelevant comments made while this is on the front board will be deleted after it's off, this space should be kept clean for Q&A's.
  • Questions, other tips not accounted for here or pointing out something I've done wrong in the OP are all highly encouraged.

 

justingoblue

January 30th, 2013 at 2:10 AM ^

so this will be forever available if you click "MGoBoard" at the top of the page, along with the mod action sticky, ticket spreadsheet, ect. My hope is that this can get rid of a few "how do I embed" posts that get a several answers, since anyone trying to be helpful has an easy link to post.

Thanks, by the way.

hart20

January 30th, 2013 at 3:15 AM ^

When creating a thread based off of a link, please say something about the link. Blockquote a particularly interesting section of the article or, at bare minimum, simply summarize the article with a few sentences. Preferrably, you would also provide some commentary, as in "I find this relevant/interesting because X, Y, and Z. I'm particularly interested in how X relates to YZ and XZ," etc. It's annoying to click on a thread, only to find a link to an article and nothing more, especially when using your phone to browse.

Thorin

January 30th, 2013 at 4:43 AM ^

I see that you underlined all of the links in this post, presumably because you wanted people to see that they're links instead of just text. Can we fix the board CSS so that links are automatically underlined like they are on the front page? There isn't enough contrast between the text and link colors and people miss links unless you manually underline them or post an ugly URL.

MGoShoe

January 30th, 2013 at 8:59 AM ^

...post was my formatting bible when I started on MGoBlog. It used to be stickied but that went away once the new editor was rolled out (an unfortunate decision). So I'm ecstatic that JGB did this and linked to the foundational formatting post. Together, they are a powerful resource for MGoUsers when creating board threads and diaries, and comments.

When you use the tools and use the plain text editor and basic HTML language, you demonstrate that you care how your thoughts are presented.  

MadMonkey

January 30th, 2013 at 9:33 AM ^

I am trying to embed a lifesize hologram of Kate Upton doing the dougie in my posts, but I keep getting America Ferrera instead.  What am I doing wrong?

 

bluebyyou

January 30th, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^

Since this is a how to use the blog better, I have a question.  If someone posts a comment on the blog (not the OP) and someone up or down votes you, is there a way to find out who did the voting?

justingoblue

January 30th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^

That's not something posters or mods can see. I think I've read in the past that the admin level above mine can't either (Brian, Seth), but I'm just basing that off memory. It's possible that information just isn't logged.

Either way, it's for the best. To pull a very old formerlyanonymous quote (in pretty form):

Negative. Brian definitely isn't allowing you to know who votes on your posts. That would cause endless, and needless, feuds between posters. The only way to track the post is to go back and look at what you've done. Points aren't supposed to matter.

Drunk Uncle

January 30th, 2013 at 2:31 PM ^

 

Question somewhat but not really related. How come sometimes I get 1 point for a post, and others 2 points? This is before anyone has a chance to mod my post.

Thanks!

justingoblue

January 30th, 2013 at 8:05 PM ^

it's not how many points you get (you get one for each post, two for a forum topic and ten for a diary), but what score your posts start out at. Each post can score between -1 and +5, and the better your posts are received the closer you start to five. The reverse is also true: if people don't like what you post you'll start closer to -1.

ChopBlock

February 2nd, 2013 at 9:36 PM ^

Great work JGB! As always, I have a couple changes/additions to suggest.

1) Resizing pictures. Once you have them in the post and before you submit, double click, make sure the "lock" icon is in the lock position, and resize as appropriate. Off the top of my head, I think the maximum width is 400 pixels before it starts to get all distorted.

2) Play a certain spot in a youtube video. The instructions are helpful, albeit a little confusing, and can be found in the following exchange:

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/tradition-do-you-really-care-or-just-used-a…

Thanks to AFMich and GoBlueNYC!

Soulfire21

May 5th, 2013 at 8:26 PM ^

Is the Twitter thing just not working, or?  I've seen it in some forum posts but when I got to embed a tweet I switch to plain text editor, paste the Twitter embed code in there, and switch back to the rich text editor and all I get is a blockquote.

 

Raoul

August 30th, 2013 at 8:42 PM ^

Need some help with creating a table in an original post using Tablelizer. See the table I posted in this thread. I believe I've followed the instructions correctly, but I don't know why the coding is appearing above the table.

This doesn't happen when I post a table in a comment, only when it's in an original post. Has anyone else encountered this issue and figured out how to fix it?

EDIT: LSAClassOf2000 provided me with a good suggestion on Twitter. He suggested turning the Excel chart into an image and then inserting the image into the post. And that worked fine.

Still not sure why there's a difference between posting a table in an OP and doing so in a comment. But I guess it's just one of those quirks of posting here.

 

EDIT2: ANOTHER TEST

billgate123

March 24th, 2015 at 2:16 AM ^

Click this picture and paste the URL of the picture you would like included. You can obtain the URL by left clicking the image and selecting "copy image location".