Compose tips

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

    This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

    For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

    Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://www.desynes.com">desynes.com</a>desynes.com
    Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
    Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
    Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
    Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
    Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
    • First item
    • Second item
    Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
    1. First item
    2. Second item
    Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
    First term
    First definition
    Second term
    Second definition

    Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

    If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

    Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Ampersand&amp;&
    Greater than&gt;>
    Less than&lt;<
    Quotation mark&quot;"
  • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
  • Syntax highlighting of source code can be enabled with the following tags:

    • Generic syntax highlighting tags: .
    • Language specific syntax highlighting tags: "<ascode>" for ActionScript source code, "<as3code>" for ActionScript 3 source code, "<csscode>" for CSS source code, "<jscode>" for Javascript source code, "<phpcode>" for PHP source code.

    Options and tips:

    • The language for the generic syntax highlighting tags can be specified with one of the attribute(s): type, lang, language, class. The possible values are: "actionscript" (for ActionScript), "actionscript3" (for ActionScript 3), "as3code" (for ActionScript 3), "ascode" (for ActionScript), "css" (for CSS), "csscode" (for CSS), "javascript" (for Javascript), "jscode" (for Javascript), "php" (for PHP), "phpcode" (for PHP).
    • Line numbering can be enabled/disabled with the attribute "linenumbers". Possible values are: "off" for no line numbers, "normal" for normal line numbers and "fancy" for fancy line numbers (every nth line number highlighted). The start line number can be specified with the attribute "start", which implicitly enables normal line numbering. For fancy line numbering the interval for the highlighted line numbers can be specified with the attribute "fancy", which implicitly enables fancy line numbering.
    • If the source code between the tags contains a newline (e.g. immediatly after the opening tag), the highlighted source code will be displayed as a code block. Otherwise it will be displayed inline.
    • A title can be added to a code block with the attribute "title".

    Defaults:

    • Default highlighting mode for generic syntax highlighting tags: when no language attribute is specified the code block won't be processed by the GeSHi filter.
    • Default line numbering: no line numbers.

    Examples:

    You typeYou get
    <ascode>
    foo = "bar";
    baz = "foz";
    </ascode>
    Code block with syntax highlighting for ActionScript source code.
    <ascode start="23" fancy="7">
    foo = "bar";
    baz = "foz";
    <ascode>
    Code block with syntax highlighting for ActionScript source code,
    line numbers starting from 23
    and highlighted line numbers every 7th line.