ZypherQueen 
Vinsane #1
Posts: 33
(3/20/03 6:37 pm)
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 Posting Know hows and What nots for Ezboard.
This post if for those new to message board forums and ezboard. The wonder and talented Tygerzeye posted this over at UVDFC. So here is the link if you want to read it first hand from there, otherwise here ya go ladies and gents (mebbe) 
Thanks again for your wonderful knowledge Tygerzeye! 
OK, as per request, here is how to do some of the more interesting stuff with your posts.
First of all
EZCodes and HTML
All web pages are written in HTML. It is a computer language. When you request a page through your web browser, your browser reads the code which tells it how to display the page, for instance, what the background colour or pattern is, where the pics and the text go.
EZCodes are a simplified version that only apply to EZBoard. They allow people to add things to their posts without knowing HTML.
Signature Files
These are set up in your profile preferences and you HAVE to use HTML. All HTML codes have a start tag and an end tag which tell your web browser where a HTML effect begins and where it ends.
For instance, if you want to have your signature file on the right of your posts, like mine and V's, you have to use the HTML codes that tell your browser to place the file to the right. You'll also need the HTML code to generate your image. This is what it should look like:
<p align="right"><img src="your image URL"></p>
The first bit tells your browser to align your picture to the right. The second bit tells your browser where to find the image you want to use. The last bit tells your browser that that the paragraph has ended.
Adding your email address
To add an active link to your email address to your signature you need the HTML code again. To keep it aligned with your signature graphic you need to use the code that tells your browser to place a line break in the paragraph. It should look like this:
<p align="right"><img src="your image URL"><br>Email Me</p>
This is the basic code template I used for my signature file. "Email Me" will appear as text beneath your graphic. The code on either side of the words tells your browser to make it an active link. You can use the same kind of code to link to a website as well. If you want a template code for that, just ask.
Adding photos to your posts
To do this you can use HTML but using EZCodes are easier. You need to know first of all the URL of the image you want to add.
Image URL's are made up of two parts, the website address and the name of the image. They usually look like this:
http://www.websiteaddress.com/image.jpg
If you find a picture you want to use but are not sure of the address, your browser can tell you. Place your icon over the image and right click with your mouse. This will bring up a little menu. Scroll down to Properties. The Properties window will open. It will tell you the name of the photo, what format it is in, the file size and the important bit that you want, the image location. To avoid making any typing errors, just highlight the image address, right click and press Copy.
Now that you have the address you can link to it in your post. Here is the EZCode to do it:
It's that easy.
Bandwidth Stealing
Bandwidth Stealing is a problem that many servers suffer from. When you use a code to link to a photo on another server your browser has to make a request to that server to supply the image. This uses bandwidth and slows down the server. Many free web space providers dont allow remote linking to image files. Angelfire is one of them. Never bother hosting your images on an Angelfire server, they wont work. You need to find a server that allows remote linking.
If you are uploading to your own server there are two ways to do it. Lots of servers provide a browser based upload facility, like Geocities for instance. This is a simple user firendly way of uploading images. Alternatively, you can use an FTP programme. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP programmes are very efficient ways of moving files across the internet or sending files to another user that are too big to email. However they can look daunting to some people who have never used them and if you dont plan to move a lot of information around, dont bother with them.
Changing your text
To change the style of your text you can use ezcodes for things like bold or italics. when you are writing your post just click on the link on your left "Use EZCodes" You'll get a list of different effects you can use.
If you want to change the colour of your text that HAS to be done using HTML because EZCodes dont allow for it. This is an example of the code you will need:
<font color="steelblue">type your text here</font>
Color codes can be written one of two ways, as a word like the example or as a Hexidecimal colour reference. Hex refernces are usually made up of a # sign and a string of numbers. If you have a copy of Paint Shop Pro it will give you a Hex Ref for any colour in its palette, but if you prefer you can just use the colour name. To get a list of browser safe colour names visit this page:
http://www.geocities.com/annabella.geo//colornames.html
Click on the colour you want to use and it will give you the browser name.
Enabling HTML
EZBoard disbales HTML codes as a default. If you use them in your posts make sure to click the box marked HTML before you hit the Add Post button. Remember that using HTML will disbale EZCodes, so if you cant use a mixture of the two codes in your posts, only one or the other.
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