HTML or BBCode: Which should we use?
Dee
Member Posts: 10,447
Due to a change in the way Vanilla handles things, we've been forced to make a decision between HTML and BBCode.
HTML has the advantage of allowing you to do just about anything you could do with a website. It's primarily useful for advanced users.
BBCode is a more standardized message board formatting system; it's designed to be author- and reader-friendly, but that also means it's more limited in the types of things it allows you to do.
I'm going to let this simmer for about a week, and then we'll make a decision based on the results of this poll and the discussions that follow.
Right now we're using BBCode because that was the most popular in our previous poll, but nothing has been finalized yet. Try out BBCode, see if you like it, and then vote below. No matter what we use, the formatting bar that you see at the top of the reply box will be staying where it is.
HTML has the advantage of allowing you to do just about anything you could do with a website. It's primarily useful for advanced users.
BBCode is a more standardized message board formatting system; it's designed to be author- and reader-friendly, but that also means it's more limited in the types of things it allows you to do.
I'm going to let this simmer for about a week, and then we'll make a decision based on the results of this poll and the discussions that follow.
Right now we're using BBCode because that was the most popular in our previous poll, but nothing has been finalized yet. Try out BBCode, see if you like it, and then vote below. No matter what we use, the formatting bar that you see at the top of the reply box will be staying where it is.
- HTML or BBCode: Which should we use?136 votes
- HTML52.94%
- BBCode47.06%
5
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Unfortunately we can't go all the way back to the old way, due to the changes that Vanilla made. We're reporting the bugs as we find them, but if what you want is <i> and [ spoiler] in the same post, those days are (perhaps sadly, perhaps happily) over.
Moreover, all previous posts use the HTML code, and the change meant that spoilers from the old posts don't work. If we return to HTML, spoilers in the old posts will work again.
I'm fine with HTML - if we can ban rainbow text. It's the BLINK tag of the 21st century.
*gasps!*
How dare thee!
The right tool for the right job. When I'm writing a journal article, I use TeX. It's the best typesetting program out there, but I don't fire it up for every document I write. And I wouldn't advocate for TeX support in forum postings. It's not the right tool.
For forum postings, simple and automatic formatting like Markdown is the best tool. For example, in Markdown, being able to just type:
* Item 1
* Item 2
* Item 3
And have that be formatted automatically as a list is really useful:
I am looking at it from the other perspective. The new bar on top makes it easier for newer users to share links, upload pictures and format their posts. All the basics are covered in a neat and orderly bar right above where text window.
One just has to stroll through a meme thread on here to see how complicated the old system was to figure out. Yes there are informative posts explaining how to do things, but one must have to know it exists.
Many forumites come on here just to look for answers regarding a particular place they are stuck in the game. They don't have the time to figure out how to make an uploaded image display properly.
BUT: Whatever you do, keep the the comment Code Menu! I *hated* the old way of looking for the editing thread, copy/paste the code and edit the whole thing accordingly just to post a Bhaal damn message!
AAUUUUGGGGHHHH! My eyes!
Actually, yes. WIth my glasses, chromatic aberration makes the different colors bend different amounts. So unless I have my head perfectly level and looking at the screen dead-center, the colored text does not share a single baseline and the kerning will be off.
If I move my head side-to-side (to look at my second monitor), the "mea" drift away from the "n" and it starts to look like "You mea n ths?" with a really small space between "You" and "mea". Also, the i and s in "this" appear on top of each other (to the point where it looks like a "s" with a dot over it.
If I tilt my head downward, I get three baselines. Upper one for red letters ("Yo" "n" "th"), middle for yellow letters ("u" "i"), lower for blue letters ("u" "mea" "s?"). Tilting my head up gets the opposite effect (but I down is the more frequent direction I look, usually the "chin in hand for pondering" pose as I read).
So, yeah, I'd love to see rainbow text go they way of the BLINK tag and the dodo bird.
24 vs 24... 50% vs 50%... The future of forums.beamdog.com in the palm of my hand...
Abstain! Hah!