Forum tips and tricks

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BrendanM

Forum tips and tricks

Post by BrendanM »

Hi,
We have had a few enquiries and suggestions from some of you regarding the new forum format, so I thought perhaps the experts among you could help out the newbies?
One thing I would like to draw your attention to is that you can change the size of the text on the forum by using the "A" button to the top right of the screen. Also, if you click on the "User Conrtrol Panel" you can choose a different style from the default one, which may make things easier to read, or just give you a change.
I have also now enabled you to upload your own avatar (a picture that sits alongside your username in any posts you make).
If you have any specific problems, I am sure that there are those out there who will be more than willing to help, they're a friendly bunch, so I would encourage you to post details of your difficulties here and we will do our best to help.
One thing I would like to know is; how do you go about quoting someone elses post in yours? I know some of you have worked this out already!

Cheers,

Brendan. SOS
Vic
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Vic »

One thing I would like to know is; how do you go about quoting someone elses post in yours
Hi-light and copy the words to be quoted.
Hit the quote button and paste them between the tags

Or by using the Quote button in the bottom RH corner you can reply quoting the whole post but thats a real PITA
I know some of you have worked this out already
Can change the colour and size as well if you want
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Waggles
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Waggles »

Just a little teensy weensy bijou problemette I have found that the smilies dont work. Note: that I am at work and forced to use antiquated IE6 so its probably that. I guess I could put the tags in the text directly ( if I knew them ) but pressing the actual smily buttons has no affect.
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Collector Inspector
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Collector Inspector »

Very Happy With It All!

Regards

C.I.
A chicken is one egg's way of becoming others
Vic
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Vic »

Smilies dont work?

:evil: :x :? :oops: :D :mrgreen: :evil: :x :? :oops: :D :mrgreen: :evil: :x :? :oops: :D :mrgreen:

Smilies do work

Perhaps you have disabled them but if you cannot see them above you have opted not to display them
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Waggles
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Waggles »

I am sure Smilies work on other machines but not on mine. I have them enabled and can see yours, right now I can see them smiling at me to the right but pressing them has no affect look:


See? :-)

It actually reports 'Error on page' in the IE message bar at the bottom left so I don't doubt it is the old version of IE I am using here. Just flagging it up in case anyone else has problems.
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Waggles
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Waggles »

Oh and I got THAT smily by entering the code! should have said!
BrendanM

Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by BrendanM »

Waggles wrote:I am sure Smilies work on other machines but not on mine. I have them enabled and can see yours, right now I can see them smiling at me to the right but pressing them has no affect look:


See? :-)

It actually reports 'Error on page' in the IE message bar at the bottom left so I don't doubt it is the old version of IE I am using here. Just flagging it up in case anyone else has problems.
Hi Waggles,

I disabled JavaScript on my machine, by setting the security level to High from Tools/Internet Options in IE(8) and was no longer able to insert Smilies (or use the buttons at the top of the edit box)... This is in IE(8) but will be there in the options of earlier versions of IE.

The buttons and the smilies all use JavaScript to insert text (in code) into the edit box. There are two things you can do... either lower your security level to Normal, or add http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk to your trusted sites and make sure that the trusted sites security level is normal, or at least allows JavaScript to run. Then re-load the page and things should work better for you... Hope that helps... let us know either way, like you say, you're probably not the only one.
BrendanM

Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by BrendanM »

How to embed YouTube video in a post:

Code: Select all

[flash=560,340]http://www.youtube.com/v/QGMC3Hy4sI0&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]
I was informed that, as a normal registered user, you were not allowed to use the Flash button... Sorry about that, I have now fixed it.
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Hugz
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Hugz »

How do I "embed" in laymans terms? Thanks. Hugo.
BrendanM

Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by BrendanM »

Hugz wrote:How do I "embed" in laymans terms? Thanks. Hugo.
OK, good point Hugo, this is not for the feint-hearted, but here goes...

Firstly, from YouTube, right-click on the 'Embed' box for the video you want to insert, and select 'Copy'.

Then, in the Forum...

1. Click the 'Post A Reply' button.

2. Click the 'Flash' button... you should see the following...

[flash=][/flash]

3. Insert the code to display the video between the '[flash=]' and '[/flash]' like:

[flash=]http://www.youtube.com/v/T0C_Po3eC5o&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]

You can do this by right-clicking and selecting 'Paste', this will give you a lot of stuff you don't need, along with the dimensions of the video... you should edit out everything apart from the "http://" to the "&fs=1"... When you select 'Paste' it will look something like:

[flash=]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T0C_Po3eC5o&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T0C_Po3eC5o&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/flash]

(You only need the bits in red, make a note of the dimensions too though.)

4. Edit the '[flash=]' by adding the width, a comma, and then the height of your video like:

[flash=425,344]

...If you were able to follow my instructions OK then your post will look something like:

Code: Select all

[flash=425,344]http://www.youtube.com/v/T0C_Po3eC5o&hl=en&fs=1[/flash]
... :?

Hope that helps.

We hope that there will soon be a button called 'YouTube' in the Forum which will take all the messing around away... I'll let you know as soon as it's ready, but for now, this is the best we can do.
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Hugz
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Hugz »

I did it!!!
Hugo
BrendanM

Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by BrendanM »

Hi Guys,

I have now added a YouTube button to the Post A Reply form.

As you can probably guess, it lets you embed a YouTube video in your post... easily! :D

All you need to do is copy the URL code from the YouTube site, press the YouTube button in the Post A Reply form and paste between the [YouTube] and the [/YouTube].

It should look something like;

Code: Select all

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9M0ucG4Ddk[/YouTube]
No more messing around with complex code.

Hope you like it.
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Hugz
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Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by Hugz »

Any idea what Yahoo [Bot] is that comes up as a registered user from time to time? It is not on the members file. Looks positively sinister!

Cheers Hugo.
BrendanM

Re: Forum tips and tricks

Post by BrendanM »

Hugz wrote:Any idea what Yahoo [Bot] is that comes up as a registered user from time to time? It is not on the members file. Looks positively sinister!

Cheers Hugo.
Hi Hugo,

The Yahoo [Bot] you mention is an automated program that indexes our site... nothing to worry about, it's actually good for us. There are quite a few (ro)Bots that regularly wade through the forum for search engines like Yahoo and Google.

All the best,
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