Forums » Suggestions & Development Discussion » BBCode Ideur

Maybe I've gotten spoiled by other sites (probably ), but in both IPB and Zetaboards hosts (probably others, I think it's an HTML 5 thing now), you can apparently set up BBCode strings that will let you bounce around on a given page between sections by clicking a link.

So instead of having to manually scroll down a page or between multiple posts to get to what you want, or use a browser's search function (ctrl+F), the poster(s) can just "mark" where they want something to go with BBCode like "[from]" or "[anchor]", and drop a link at the top of the page to allow them to go directly there (with "[to]" or "[go2]", respectably). It's really helpful on profile pages with multiple characters on them, where you have to scroll down and might miss the one you want otherwise. I'm not sure how that would work here, though, as I think it's host-exclusive code and I'm not sure what RPR runs on :

Then again, maybe there's something like this already and I'm too dumb to have not figured it out already

Well, you can use the post's or widget's id or name, both of which can be easily found in the HTML (if I'm understanding what you're after). I think others have been using some other way to get it. Then it's just a matter of adding #that-id-or-name to the end of the url when creating a link.

That does sound like something that could be useful though, especially for locating things within a single large post (like the Villains-R-Us opening post is getting to be).

I like using collapse tags for large chunks of text that need to be organized or easily gotten to, myself.

@Novalyyn: See? I knew there'd be something I missed @__@

@Sanne That would be more useful for stuff within a single post, probably. I was thinking more like if you have multiple posts (or one really long one), and a specific part of one that you wanted to reach, with a "return to top" tag at the end or something.

Example of what I'm talking about: http://hermetica.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=191
( don't worry, it's a safe link - this was the last board I was at, and I'm still alive, so I know it's not going to give your computer cooties or w/e XP )

Oh yeah, I know what you meant! Just pointed out that with a lack of this ability in the forums, collapse tags work neatly too. You basically create the top list, and it just expands into different sections. Much like what Nova has on her profile! It's a fairly neat and clean alternative for those who want something to work with (in the meantime). I've no idea if the suggestion is a feasible addition.

This is not only possible, I've actually done it regularly.

Creating "arbitrary" user-defined anchor points is an interesting idea, though!

It should be as easy as building a code swap that turns the specified BBCode tags into an anchor and a span that use a term set up similarly to how images can be floated left or right, or how font colors can be defined, but which converts that term into name or id instead of styling. I think. That'd be the first thing I'd try, anyway. The main problem I can see is if the same term gets used multiple times on a page for some reason, which would be most likely to happen if the post featuring those tags was quoted.

It really shouldn't be used for quoting text, though
Like I said, I've seen it mostly used on large posts spanning more than a single page of text, or for profiles where a lot of info can be on a single page and still remains accessible without having to scroll all over the place looking for stuff. Then again, the profiles on this site usually don't get very long...

And before you mention your particular case, Novalyyn (yes I know which one it is you were complaining about a few days ago XP), I should probably dig up the eleven-page-ish-probably-longer profile that one of my cohorts wrote for one of his characters. Granted, that included a hell of a lot of formatting, but about 2/3rds of it was pure text, not BBCode. It was insane.

This. Pondering.

Here's the two ways I've seen them work:

1. For the [go2] / [anchor] way (usable on Zetaboards forums, I think), the [anchor] tag encapsulates a character set ( ex.- [anchor]tag1[/anchor] ) which is placed the tag at the intended destination, while the [go2] tag uses that letter/number/word as the link to said destination around another set of characters ( ex.- [go2=tag1]Tag #1[/go2] ). The [anchor]'s tagged text remains invisible.

2. For the [from] / [to] tags (used in Invision Power Board [IPB] forums), the [from] tag encapsulates the starting link ( [from=tag1]Tag Link[/from] ), while the [to] tag encapsulates the link's destination ( [to=tag1]Tag Destination[/to], with both affected texts remaining visible. A bit simpler and easier to understand, as long as you don't get the two flipped


In either case, they're both custom tags and have to be added after the fact. As well, their destinations must be on the same page (otherwise it won't go anywhere). As long as each anchor/from-to pair is different ( a "Return to Top" link is optional, though I usually put one in because it's nice to have ), it works quite well.

EDIT: I have no clue how to get a widget's id/name .__. What poking around I did just ended up back at the edits page... or ended up 404'ing