OK, so, where's the Daniweb support area?

[lproven]

I joined a couple of days ago & one of the first things I tried to do was to post a blog entry.

And it mangled my formatting. All it was was some standard basic HTML - bold, italic, a few links, and so on. Nothing fancy, no scripting.

But it appears that the board doesn't understand it!

Everywhere I've gone to ask has a line at the top saying DO NOT POST SUPPORT QUESTIONS HERE.

So where /do/ I post support questions?

Such as, how do I post in HTML?

I have found a guide to some weird square-brackets based formatting markup language like I have never seen before. I am not at all inclined to learn yet another new markup language. I know HTML, I know Wiki markup as I'm a Wikipedia editor, and I generally use *plain* /old/ _ASCII_ email type emphasis, which Mozilla understands and renders, for example. I'll be buggered if I can learn yet another new one.

I don't want or need WYSIWYG text editors. This is supposed to be a place for techies, isn't it? So you make it easy for them, right? Like not compelling them to learn a new markup language?

So, in summary:
- Where do I go to ask questions *about using Daniweb?*

Such as:

- How do I post using HTML markup, which one support page suggests can be done?

&

- How do I turn off that irritating "Congratulations - you've made it" banner across the top?

[The Dude]

Your on the right base for that!! (Feedback,support,etc .. SITE ISSUES)

Welcome to Daniweb mate :)

Happy new year!!

[Jaysun]

Welcome to DaniWeb... We are glad to have you!

[John A]

Hello, welcome to the world of message boards!

As you have found out, DaniWeb doesn't support HTML tags. It's just a matter of preference, but almost all forums I visit disable HTML. It's used to prevent your HTML from messing up the rest of the page's formatting and Javascripts.

So instead you must use BBCode. They're often similar to HTML tags, except using [] instead of <>.

Sorry about the inconvenience, but it's a fact that most message boards have to accept.

As for your other questions:

So where /do/ I post support questions?

DaniWeb-site problems should be posted in this forum. I assume "no support questions" means no support questions for that subject. For example, in the "Geek's Lounge", it's meant to be a forum to relax in, so Dani doesn't want people posting computer errors there.

- How do I turn off that irritating "Congratulations - you've made it" banner across the top?

Hehe, just use AdBlock + Firefox. The ads are needed to pay for the server fees, and it's been a much discussed topic here, to say the least.

[Dani]

Posting HTML code within forum posts is disabled here just as it does on nearly all other forums. The simple answer is that people can use malicious JavaScript code, they can forget to close a </b> tag which might screw up the rest of the site design, and so forth.

The following bbtags are supported:

[b] [/b] for bold [i] [/i] for italic [url=http://www.site.com]Text[/url] for a URL

It's pretty straightforward :)

As far as where to ask support questions ... Here is a forum index showing all the forums we cover: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/

And here is our Welcome How-To Guide:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/faq.php?faq=daniweb_howto

I think joeprogrammer misunderstood about the "Congratulations - you've made it" banner. He was referring to the actual advertisement to the right of the logo. Basically the congratulations welcome message disappears once you've made your first 10 posts.

[lproven]

Posting HTML code within forum posts is disabled here just as it does on nearly all other forums. The simple answer is that people can use malicious JavaScript code, they can forget to close a </b> tag which might screw up the rest of the site design, and so forth.

Oh, come on. This is 2007 not 1997! If I can post on Livejournal or Flickr or YahooGroups or GoogleGroups or almost any other online forum I'm in using a safe restricted subset of HTML, then there is no reason why it can't be done here as well.

I am, if that was not clear, only interested in and asking about posting HTML in my own blog. I don't expect or plan to use markup in forum posts at all.

It's pretty straightforward :)

It may be, but I'm still not prepared to (1) learn yet another markup language or (2) convert posts from other places, where I'd normally use HTML, into something different for here!

As far as where to ask support questions ... Here is a forum index showing all the forums we cover: (...)

Thanks for that!

I think joeprogrammer misunderstood about the "Congratulations - you've made it" banner. He was referring to the actual advertisement to the right of the logo. Basically the congratulations welcome message disappears once you've made your first 10 posts.[/QUOTE]

Gosh, the quoting really sucks as well, doesn't it? 8-o

10 posts of any kind anywhere? Er, OK. That's one for the FAQ, surely?

[lproven]

Hello, welcome to the world of message boards!

Er. Been there, done that! My primary email address, at the moment, is the 2nd one I got - in 1990. I've had this one for 17 years now. The previous one I got in 1985. It is fair to say that I am familiar with online conferencing and discussion systems!

As you have found out, DaniWeb doesn't support HTML tags. It's just a matter of preference, but almost all forums I visit disable HTML. It's used to prevent your HTML from messing up the rest of the page's formatting and Javascripts.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. This is a readily-solvable issue with a few subframes. I use HTML daily in posting to Livejournal, both in blog entries and in comments, and I never bother to close tags if I want the effect to run through to the end of my post - I know that LJ will handle it and sort it for me. That is, after all, what computers are for!

So instead you must use BBCode. They're often similar to HTML tags, except using [] instead of <>.

Nuh-uh. I have thousands of entries in various places around the web, and the common language is HTML. That's even what web magazines that I write for like The Inquirer (http://theinquirer.net) and OSNews (http://osnews.com) expect and demand.

It's not that I can't learn a new markup; it's that I won't. :-)

I'm not going to go through and edit any post I want to bring across from LJ or something and replace all the markup! Not a chance. I'll simply not bother putting it on Daniweb, if that's the case.

DaniWeb-site problems should be posted in this forum.

Cheers. I had never heard of this forum, but Wavey - happygeek - moved my question here for me. Which is, in a way, answering it!

Hehe, just use AdBlock + Firefox.

I already do. I'm typing in it right now. I'm not talking about the banner ads, I was talking about the text box that says:

Congratulations - you've made it! You now have the ability to participate in everthing on the site from posting on our forums to starting your own blog. It's a good idea to read our welcome guide to walk you through your first posts. Then, you're encouraged introduce yourself to the 139,111 members of our community. We'll all be glad to see you!
Enjoying DaniWeb? It would be very much appreciated if you could help us out with a small member donation of just a few dollars a month. Your contribution helps us keep the site free for our members and the advertising as unobtrusive as possible. Plus, you get some great community benefits when you sponsor us!

At the top of every single page I look at and means I have to scroll down to get at the content...

The ads are needed to pay for the server fees, and it's been a much discussed topic here, to say the least.

I'm sure it has!

[lproven]

Your on the right base for that!! (Feedback,support,etc .. SITE ISSUES)

Welcome to Daniweb mate :)

Happy new year!!

Er, thanks! Same to you!

I wasn't, though - I posted that in the "introduce yourself" area. Might I suggest that it might be an idea to put some pointers for newbies that "coffee house: techtalk" (if that is, indeed, where we are) is the right place to go?

[lproven]

> Welcome to DaniWeb... We are glad to have you!

Er, thank-you!

(Damn... The box is still there... mustn't be at ten posts yet! What else can I reply to? :-))

Hi welcome to daniweb, keep posting. You'll soon loose that message at the top. :lol:

[happygeek]

(Damn... The box is still there... mustn't be at ten posts yet! What else can I reply to? :-))

Your profile shows 7 forum posts as of the moment, so nearly there :)

[happygeek]

I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. This is a readily-solvable issue with a few subframes. I use HTML daily in posting to Livejournal, both in blog entries and in comments, and I never bother to close tags if I want the effect to run through to the end of my post - I know that LJ will handle it and sort it for me. That is, after all, what computers are for!

The difference being that this isn't LJ, and nor is it primarily a blogging system. DaniWeb is a forum based community first and foremost, the blogging system is a custom coded one created by the hand of Dani herself and so works rather differently to the ones you are used to. Although I am sure she will be along in a moment to answer for herself, I suspect that HTML was not allowed in the blogs for the same reasons as the forums and that to add the safeguards you mention, ala LJ etc, would be too much coding overhead on the limited resources we have here at DaniWeb.

We are, please remember, a new and growing community, so allow us some time to evolve :)

And, anyway, don't give us your LJ blog postings give us the fresh, exciting, new and original stuff. Go on, I know you want to :)

Finally, you will find that DaniWeb is very responsive to debating issues that members bring up. It may not always get resolved as you would like, or when you would like, but I have to say that this is a rare beast in as far as changes do get made based upon the result not just of feedback but debate between users and The Queen herself.

[stymiee]

Oh, come on. This is 2007 not 1997! If I can post on Livejournal or Flickr or YahooGroups or GoogleGroups or almost any other online forum I'm in using a safe restricted subset of HTML, then there is *no* reason why it can't be done here as well.

I am, if that was not clear, only interested in and asking about posting HTML *in my own blog*. I don't expect or plan to use markup in forum posts at all.

Actually most online forums use bbcode as their standard markup language. It is the standard language in vbulletin, phpbb, and more and they easily make up the majority of communities out there. I'm not saying HTML isn't used, but its use is very small compared to bbcode.

It may be, but I'm still not prepared to (1) learn yet another markup language or (2) convert posts from other places, where I'd normally use HTML, into something different for here!

bbcode is great because it is easy to learn and safe to use. And if you don't want to learn it you don't have to. All forum software comes complete with a standard editor that does it all for you. You just click bold and your text is bold, etc.. Just like your favorite word processor. Can't get any easier then that.

Gosh, the quoting really sucks as well, doesn't it? 8-o

Works great for me.;) Just use the quote button and you're all set.

I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. This is a readily-solvable issue with a few subframes. I use HTML daily in posting to Livejournal, both in blog entries and in comments, and I never bother to close tags if I want the effect to run through to the end of my post - I know that LJ will handle it and sort it for me. That is, after all, what computers are for!

I wouldn't go so far as to say computers are here for that. Anyway, if you plan to use HTML you should understand how it works and use it properly. If you're not closing your tags you are not using it properly. Otherwise stick with simpler languages like bbcode. That's why bbcode is standard instead of HTML in most community software.

And frames are a bad thing for so many reasons (accessibility being one of them). They are rarely a good solution for anything.

Nuh-uh. I have thousands of entries in various places around the web, and the common language is HTML.

Actually bbcode is by far the defacto community/forum language. And I mean by a country mile.

It's not that I can't learn a new markup; it's that I won't. :-)

If you know HTML then you already know 98% of bbcode. Except instead of using < and > you use [ and ]. Plus bbcode has far less rules then HTML. Anyone hwo knows HTML can learn bbcode in 5 minutes or less. It's that simple.

[lproven]

It really doesn't count if 2,000 web fora use this "bbcode" thing, there are a hundred million websites out there and they *ALL* use HTML, even the ones that are entirely Flash-based.

It also doesn't matter how easy it is to learn or use, the point is that it's different to everywhere else that I use. I can post HTML on LJ, on Myspace, on my homepage, on my home webserver, on my client's machines, on CD-ROMs and I know that any computer with a GUI anywhere in the world will be able to render it. This BBCode thing is a peculiarity of web-based message boards, which are a miserable abomination compared to proper threaded conferencing systems like CoSy, Usenet and so on anyway.

I think from the look of this that I'm going to stick to my 30-odd mailing lists, Slashdot (which uses HTML), OSnews, CIX, LJ, Orkut, Myspace and all the other fora in which I participate, I'm afraid.

If I can't even update my own blog on Daniweb without using the standard language of the *entire world-wide web* then I'm afraid I really don't see why I should bother.

This may seem like a small niggle from a newbie to you, but it's not, honestly. Favouring proprietary formats over standards, even widely-used proprietary formats, is always a Bad Thing. Heed my words!

[stymiee]

It really doesn't count if 2,000 web fora use this "bbcode" thing, there are a hundred million websites out there and they *ALL* use HTML, even the ones that are entirely Flash-based.

Of course the website is made with HTML. But that's not what we're talking about.

This may seem like a small niggle from a newbie to you, but it's not, honestly. Favouring proprietary formats over standards, even widely-used proprietary formats, is always a Bad Thing. Heed my words!

Unfortunately you're alone in this belief. And bbcode isn't proprietary. Everyone can, and most do, use it.

[John A]

It really doesn't count if 2,000 web fora use this "bbcode" thing, there are a hundred million websites out there and they *ALL* use HTML, even the ones that are entirely Flash-based.

True, but I did say "message boards" not "social discussion websites". The vast majority of message boards support BBCode and use it because so many messages are being processed everyday it would be dangerous to allow HTML. Here's a quote from the Wikipedia article on BBCode:

BBCode was devised and put to use in order to provide a safer, easier and more limited way of allowing users to format their messages. Previously, many message boards allowed the users to include HTML, which could be used to break/imitate parts of the layout, or run JavaScript.

It also doesn't matter how easy it is to learn or use, the point is that it's different to everywhere else that I use. I can post HTML on LJ, on Myspace, on my homepage, on my home webserver, on my client's machines, on CD-ROMs and I know that any computer with a GUI anywhere in the world will be able to render it. This BBCode thing is a peculiarity of web-based message boards, which are a miserable abomination compared to proper threaded conferencing systems like CoSy, Usenet and so on anyway.

Say what you like, but I sure don't think it's a bad thing. There's even converters available that allow you to convert HTML to BBCode.

If I can't even update my own blog on Daniweb without using the standard language of the *entire world-wide web* then I'm afraid I really don't see why I should bother.

Sorry, but BBCode seems to be the standard in the world of message boards. And since you actually are at a message board, I'm afraid there's not much else you can expect.

Besides, blogs at DaniWeb aren't supposed to have huge amounts of formatting anyway. If everyone was allowed to customize their font and everything to personalize it, you would quickly lose the unified look that exists currently in the DaniWeb blogs.

Favouring proprietary formats over standards, even widely-used proprietary formats, is always a Bad Thing. Heed my words!

Alright, since when is BBCode a "propreitary format"? Message boards are free to implement BBCode however they like! It's as open-source as HTML.

Pipe down a little...

[lproven]

> Unfortunately you're alone in this belief. And bbcode isn't proprietary. Everyone can, and most do, use it.

I'm not, you know.

Q.v.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bbcode

"Some implementations of BBCode have suffered problems related to the way they translate the BBCode into HTML, which could negate the security that was intended to be given by BBCode. A properly constructed HTML filter (of which there are a seeming infinitude of freely available) easily negates the need for users to learn another poorly defined, inconsistently implemented markup language. There is also currently no standards document for BBCode."

It's a daft idea. Making people learn a new markup language which the web forum then converts into the language the forum itself is designed and rendered in is virtually a definition of "redundant".

[pty]

> Unfortunately you're alone in this belief. And bbcode isn't proprietary. Everyone can, and most do, use it.

I'm not, you know.

Q.v.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bbcode

"Some implementations of BBCode have suffered problems related to the way they translate the BBCode into HTML, which could negate the security that was intended to be given by BBCode. A properly constructed HTML filter (of which there are a seeming infinitude of freely available) easily negates the need for users to learn another poorly defined, inconsistently implemented markup language. There is also currently no standards document for BBCode."

It's a daft idea. Making people learn a new markup language which the web forum then converts into the language the forum itself is designed and rendered in is virtually a definition of "redundant".

This is the most stupid thread EVER.

Too pro for a WYSIWIG editor (a 20 year veteran of teh technologies!) and refusing to learn new markup that has about 5 commonly used tags and is pretty much the same as html but with [ and ] instead of < and >.

(Score -1, Flaimbait)

[happygeek]

I think the real point here is a missed one: DaniWeb is a web based discussion forum driven community, so it isn't that strange that we operate in a similar way to most other such web based fora. Daniweb isn't a blog based community or a social spaces website based one, so you can't expect it to operate like one.

Sorry Liam, I think you are way off-base with this argument.

That said, of course, everyone is different and if the HTML/bbcode thing is a huge stumbling point for you then that's fair enough. Just don't make us out as being the bad guys here :)