New Markup Tool for Forums

Jonathan Neal wrote on 6/30/2008, 2:59 PM
Hey folks!

I was surfing by the forums this weekend and noticed that you still don't have a preview tool for making posts, so I went ahead and wrote one today and then posted it at http://madison.thewikies.com/sonyforumpreview/

It's not the prettiest thing you've ever seen, but it gets to the point. You can pick the forum that you want to post to and then just go at it -- all the while seeing how it's going to look when you're done with a live preview. There are friendly, intuitive shortcuts that should make formatting your post easier.

Oh, and you'll need to be logged in if you intend to use the "Post Message" button.

Anyhow, I hope all are well and enjoying life!

Jonathan

Comments

SCS PBC wrote on 6/30/2008, 3:02 PM
Great tool - thanks!
Jim H wrote on 6/30/2008, 3:19 PM
That's very slick...though how would one use this to reply to an existing post?
Cheno wrote on 6/30/2008, 3:30 PM
will it work like all of the other forums and allow us to type a url and have it display properly without having to write out the code? - that could bring this forum into the 00's

Jonathan Neal wrote on 6/30/2008, 4:17 PM
bops, thanks!

Jim H, for replies you could use this tool to add formatting, images, hyperlinks, and then preview that formatting, see those images, and test those hyperlinks - then copy and paste - to reply to an existing post.

Cheno, yes it will work like all of the other forums, allowing you to type a url and format it easily without knowing any code.

When you've written out your url (e.g: http://www.google.com/), just highlight the URL and click the hyperlink icon. It will prompt you for a title. For example if you had typed the link "http://www.google.com/" and wanted to make it a link, you'd highlighted it, click the hyperlink icon, and maybe type 'Google!' so it becomes Google!

Also, you could leave the title blank so it shows up as a clickable address (e.g: http://www.google.com/).

Also, if you've written out text like Sony Creative Software, you can highlight that, click the hyperlink button, and it will see that you still need a URL and prompt you for one (e.g: Sony can become Sony).

Basically this tries to make your life easier by figuring out what you want, writing all the coding for you, and giving you a live preview. Writing this all out makes it sound way cooler than it really is. Thanks for your happy words though :)
video777 wrote on 6/30/2008, 6:32 PM
My hope is that Sony will give us a good forum. There is so much free forum software out there. Why even I have created a forum that looks and functions better than this. :--)
Chienworks wrote on 6/30/2008, 7:04 PM
I hope they never change it. I like this *WAY* better than any of the popular forum software out there. This forum is elegant, streamlined, and functional. No fluff that gets in the way, slows things down, and eats up screen space uselessly.

It doesn't get much better than this.
Jim H wrote on 6/30/2008, 7:18 PM
Chienworks I would agree if this forum let you subscribe to threads and send notifications when a new post hits. It's been requested many times and is the only thing I really miss. I feel bad if some one replies to my post with a question (or an answer) and I have not checked the forum in a couple days (or couple of hours) ... heaven forbid. ;)

Jonathan, I really like that tool. I put a shortcut to the URL on my 2nd monitor so I can pop it up as needed. Nice.
Chienworks wrote on 6/30/2008, 8:26 PM
I suppose i can see how some might find that useful. Dunno. In my case i'm way too inundated with email day in and day out. If i got emails whenever anyone responded to one of my posts i'd go crazy and probably never come back again. It's not a feature i'd ever want or use.
Grazie wrote on 7/1/2008, 5:33 AM
Jo-Jo? Didn't work for me?

Nice interface, but it got me to my account instead? I really DON'T think that was the idea?

Grazie
farss wrote on 7/1/2008, 8:01 AM
The forums that do have a Subscribe feature make it optional. I agree if you couldn't turn it off it'd become a PIA.
What I feel we need is being able to post images, files would be even better. At first I was concerned about the amount of storage that'd entail but even if every post had an attached 5Mb image it still doesn't add up to a daunting amount of disk space.
Then again there are other Vegas fora that do have these features.

Bob.
Jonathan Neal wrote on 7/1/2008, 10:58 AM
Grazie, what wasn't working? Making a new post? The live preview? Were you logged in before you went to make a new post?

Remember, if you're using this tool to reply, you can only use it for the live preview. Maybe I'll write something bigger to do more if there is substantial interest. Who knows, maybe they changed the functionality of the site to prevent making new posts from 3rd party sites even when you are logged in.

I tested this tool in Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Firefox 2, Firefox 3, Safari 3.1.1, and Opera 9.5, all returning 100% functionality.

Jonathan
Grazie wrote on 7/1/2008, 2:30 PM
"Making a new post?" - Didn't work.

"The live preview?" - Didn't try that . .

"Were you logged in before you went to make a new post?" - Yes

Grazie
Jonathan Neal wrote on 7/1/2008, 3:21 PM
Hi Grazie, good to see you on here, by the way!


"Were you logged in before you went to make a new post?" - Yes

Okay, then it should have worked.

"The live preview?" - Didn't try that . .

Huh? Are you sure? Typing even a single character (which is required to post, otherwise you'll get an error message like "please include a message before posting") into the input textarea would have generated a preview right there on the spot, right underneath the input textarea. For instance, had you pressed "A" in the textarea, underneath you would have see the letter "A" appear.

"Making a new post?" - Didn't work.

Did you try typing something first? Not seeing the live preview makes me wonder about that.

Hope that helps. :-
Jonathan
Grazie wrote on 7/1/2008, 9:36 PM
J! Sorry live preview as in SEEING what I type? DU-oh!! Yes I can see that . . I was thunking that you meant Live Preview OF some video - apologies for being a twit . ..

So yes, I DID try typing and yes I can see what I was typing - that's cool! When I went to POST I got into my "Account"!!

Shall try again . ..

Grazie
Grazie wrote on 7/1/2008, 9:40 PM
Sorry Jonathan, when I go POST I get to go back to "My Account"? Humph ..

All the formatting and preview and so on work.

Grazie