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Although I suspect the author didn't write out those tags by hand, so how did they come to be used?

Of all the message you have to quote, it's the one posted YEARS ago about me making a little girl throw up you have to choose. What's up with that? ;o)

Anyhow, it's true, nobody typed those things out by hand. There's no such thing as a QUOTE tag in HTML--AQ converts it into a fieldset that has a "quote" class attached to it automatically.

Back in the old days, though, I used block quotes and italics instead. I changed to using fieldsets and style classes for the extra flexibility, though, since I can later change the CSS and still be able to alter the format of old posts without having to change the messages. Rather convenient, really.

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is there something else that could be safely and easily implemented for a prettier result? Maybe UL?

Actually, I've been working on some "new and improved" message board stuff. Like if you make a list by starting each line with an asterisk, it'll automatically turn it into an unordered list. I'm not sure exactly when I'll roll it out, but eventually there's going to be a lot more flexibility with what one can do with posts. =)

In the meantime, I've changed the old code to now allow blockquotes, so if you use that as a tag, it'll work fine.

-- Ryan

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Of all the message you have to quote, it's the one posted YEARS ago about me making a little girl throw up you have to choose. What's up with that? ;o)

The overt answer is that a search for "blockquote" didn't return many messages to examine, but quietly I was hoping in your eagerness to put the old embarrassment behind you, you would displace that energy into rushing to solve my problem. I should have known your carapace was tougher than that.

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I've been working on some "new and improved" message board stuff... eventually there's going to be a lot more flexibility with what one can do with posts

I'm very much looking forward to that!

In the meantime, I've changed the old code to now allow blockquotes, so if you use that as a tag, it'll work fine.

Aha! Very handy. But that tag still isn't honored in clues. Here's where I'd really like to be able to use it: http://www.atlasquest.com/lboxes/clue/index.html?gBoxId=13203. Previously, I've just had the clue hosted on LbNA where that tag does render, but I'd like to be able to use it in clues hosted here.

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But that tag still isn't honored in clues. Here's where I'd really like to be able to use it:

You had me going there for a bit. When I made the change, it was supposed to start working everywhere. The code to convert from typed in messages, clues, AQ mail, etc. to HTML all go through the same function, so if I make a change there, it should work everywhere. How it is possible it didn't work with clues?

So I looked at the clue. HA! You'd already saved the blockquote as part of the message itself before I changed the code. You just had to re-save the clue so it went through the conversion process. I did that and it saved exactly as expected. =) Clicked that "Edit Clue" button, then the "Save Clue" button, and it all looks great. *nodding* Didn't even have to change anything in the clue!

So it works fine. AQ just doesn't go through old posts, clues, and AQ mail to retroactively add blockquotes in, though.

-- Ryan

Now I like th look of these blockquotes. Will you also add the "how to" for it in your tutorial? [tiny voice saying, "Please."]

Now that you fixed it, I can't go back to that clue to see what was actually typed!

Thanks,
Mama Cache

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You'd already saved the blockquote as part of the message itself before I changed the code

Ah, OK. I figured it was getting interpreted at rendering time, but at edit time is of course the more efficient time.

Thanks!

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Will you also add the "how to" for it in your tutorial? [tiny voice saying, "Please."]

Not the tiny voice saying please! Anything but that! The guilty--it's just horrible! =)

I wasn't planning to add it to the help page since I didn't think most people would be interested in such a thing, but since you used the tiny please voice, I guess I have to now. *heavy sigh*

In any case, it works just like the quote tag does--except you use the word "blockquote" instead of "quote". It's also in the help page for the message boards as well in case you forget.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

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I figured it was getting interpreted at rendering time, but at edit time is of course the more efficient time.

*nodding* At the edit time, I only have to render it once and it works for millions of page views. =) At rendering time.... well, I'd have to process it with every page view. Very inefficient. *nodding*

Admittedly, that's also a big reason I don't like making posts editable. To edit it, I have to "convert" the string back to what the person typed. That's not always terribly easy to do. Especially if I've changed the mapping like I did with quote blocks. Those quote boxes make editing very hard to do!

-- Ryan

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I wasn't planning to add it to the help page since I didn't think most people would be interested in such a thing

Thanks for implementing the blockquote feature. I'm all ready going over my clues to see where I could add the tag, to give the pages a better layout.

Lone R

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I can't go back to that clue to see what was actually typed

Works just like other elements with both start and end tags <blockquote> and </blockquote>.

Sorry, Ryan, I just noticed that &< and others don't make the round trip. That is, after I preview the post, the character rather than the directive appears in the edit box.

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Not the tiny voice saying please! Anything but that! The guilty--it's just horrible! =)

At least it's not the sad puppy dog eyes!

Funny how I can say "no" to my kids, no matter how sweetly they ask.
But all the dog has to do is just look cute and "bam" she gets whatever she wants!

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&<

Oops, && doesn't stop the directive in & l t ;

OK, I'm gonna stop messing with this for a while. I hope it's not already too late to avoid seriously annoying you.

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I just noticed that &< and others don't make the round trip. That is, after I preview the post, the character rather than the directive appears in the edit box.

That's okay--that shouldn't be a problem. The edit box can handle it. =) If there a specific case where something isn't happening correctly, point me to it. If you just use & by itself, for instance, you can type it in as & or &amp; -- it'll work either way. (And to get &amp; to show up, I actually type to type "&amp;amp;"--see if THAT gets confusing!)

-- Ryan

Robust voice saying, "Thank you." (I reserve tiny voice for rare occasions.)

I use this one all the time:

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quote tag

So fun to play and play . . .

Mama Cache (off to her duties)

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to get & to show up, I actually type to type "&"

Right. But, after I preview a message in which I've written out "& l t ;" (no spaces), the edit box now contains "<" instead of "& l t ;". Now I know that "<" is fine to use instead of "& l t ;", but in this case I wanted to show a tag without it get interpreted. In my message I had written "& l t ;blockquote& g t;" which shows just what I want in preview and just what I want if I submit it without previewing it, but if I preview it first, I have change the "<" back to "& l t ;" in the message edit field before submitting it. Of course there is, in this case, the simple work around of including an extra space in the tag.

Didn't I say I'd drop this? Sorry.

type "&"</type>

Case in point. I was OK until I previewed that, then the first "& amp;" got interpreted and I forgot to edit it back.

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I was OK until I previewed that, then the first "& amp;" got interpreted and I forgot to edit it back.

Ah, I see. You're trying to be tricky. Don't do that. ;o)

If you want to type tags so people see the actual tag rather their effect, I'd copy the message first, preview it, then paste the copied message into the edit box. AQ really doesn't work well when you want it to show actual tags rather than their effects which is why most people add spaces somewhere in the tag so it won't get interpreted.

But if you want to show a tag instead of the effects of a tag, you have to encode the & itself. So instead of typing "&lt;", you really want to type "&amp;lt;". It's ugly, but it works. =) And heaven forbid, don't preview it first! Or at least copy the message to repaste it before you post it. *nodding*

-- Ryan