NEW! If BBCode is enabled in a forum, you no longer need to use the [URL] code to create a hyperlink. Simply type the complete URL in either of the following manners and the hyperlink will be created automatically:

Notice that you can either use the complete http:// address or shorten it to the www domain. if the site does not begin with "www", you must use the complete "http://" address. Also, you may use https and ftp URL prefixes in auto-link mode (when BBCode is ON).

The old [URL] code will still work, as detailed below. Just encase the link as shown in the following example (BBCode is in bold).

[url]www.totalgeek.org[/url]

You can also have true hyperlinks using the [url] code. Just use the following format:

[url=http://www.totalgeek.org]totalgeek.org[/url]

In the examples above, the BBCode automatically generates a hyperlink to the URL that is encased. It will also ensure that the link is opened in a new window when the user clicks on it. Note that the "http://" part of the URL is completely optional.

In the second example above, the URL will hypelink the text to whatever URL you provide after the equal sign. Also note that you should NOT use quotation marks inside the URL tag.

To add a hyperlinked email address within your message, just encase the email address as shown in the following example (BBCode is in bold).

[email]james@totalgeek.org [/email]

In the example above, the BBCode automatically generates a hyperlink to the email address that is encased.

You can make italicized text or make text bold by encasing the applicable sections of your text with either the [b] [/b] or [i] [/i] tags. The following is an example.

Hello[b]James[/b]

You can make bulleted lists or ordered lists (by number or letter).

To add a graphic within your message, just encase the URL of the graphic image as shown in the following example (BBCode is in bold).

[img]http://www.totalgeek.org/images/tline.gif [/img]

In the example above, the BBCode automatically makes the graphic visible in your message.

To reference something specific that someone has posted, just cut and paste the applicable verbiage and enclose it as shown below (BBCode is in bold).

[quote]Ask not what your country can do for you....ask what you can do for your country. [/quote]

In the example above, the BBCode automatically blockquotes the text you reference.

Similar to the Quote tag, the Code tag adds some <PRE> tags to preserve formatting. This is useful for displaying programming code, for instance.

[CODE]#!/usr/bin/perl print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; print "Hello World!";[/CODE]

In the example above, the BBCode automatically blockquotes the text you reference and preserves the formatting of the coded text.