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.
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.
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.
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.
Text Formatting
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
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
* = see note about escaping commas under "Special Characters"
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
\quote{Your text}
Quoted
Quote:
Your text
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)
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
Code Result \\ \ \{ { \} } \, ,
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
| Tag | Description | Example Tag | Output |
| \sum{lower, upper} | Sum using sigma notation | \sum{i=1,10} i | Si=110 i |
| \int{lower, upper} | Definite Integral | \int{0,6} x dx | ò06 x dx |
| Input: | \int{0,2\greek{p}} sin(x) dx = 0 | |
| Output: | ò02p sin(x) dx = 0 |
| Code | Description |
| \link{URL, text description} | Link to URL with text description |
| \topurl{URL, text description} | Link to URL in top frame with text description |
| \newurl{URL, text description} | Link to URL in new window with text description |
| \mail{address, text description} | "mailto" link to address with text description |
| Input: | To learn more about this \green{FREE} discussion board program, visit the \topurl{http://mulliken.chem.hope.edu/discus,Discus Home Page}. | |
| Output: | To learn more about this FREE discussion board program, visit the Discus Home Page. |
| Tag | Description |
| \image{Text description} | Upon posting, you are prompted for an image file to upload. Images must be either GIF or JPEG format. Images must be saved on your hard disk. Your browser must support form-based file upload (Netscape Navigator 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 4.0+ support this; IE 3.02 will also work provided that you have installed the file upload patch). |
| \clipart{Clipart File Name} | Inserts clipart (see index) |
| Input: | This is a picture of me: \image{my picture} and I smile like this: \clipart{smile}. | |
| Output: | This is a picture of me: and I smile like this: . Note that the "Your Image Here" graphic is replaced by the image file that you upload. |
| Tag | Description |
| \table{Table Items} | Creates a table of the Table Items (table HAS a border) |
| \tablenb{Table Items} | Creates a table of the Table Items (table has NO border) |
| \list{List Items} | Creates a bulleted list of the List Items |
| \olist{List Items} | Creates an ordered (numbered list of the List Items) |
The List Items are separated by newline characters (carriage returns). Each List Item is given a bullet.
See the examples for further explanation.
| Input: | \table{X,O,X O,X O,,X} |
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| Output: |
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| Input: | \list{List Item 1 List Item 2 List Item 3} |
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| Output: |
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| Input: | \table{1,2\ch{br}2.5,3 4,\ch{nbsp},6 7,8,9\,000} |
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| Output: |
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