Everything to know about formatting a post

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:18pm

What is this?

This post is a comprehensive guide to all the formatting features available when composing posts on Discourse forums, including the use of the forum’s editor toolbar, Markdown, BBCode, and HTML.

This guide was put together using information from several sources adapted to match the capabilities of this forum. References can be found here.

TEST Composer Window Image w/ Clickable elements

Click to navigate to a specific section

Formatting Options

Change reply

Controls who/what your reply is directed to. Clicking it opens a dropdown menu with three possible choices:

Reply as linked topic

Use this to branch off into a separate topic without derailing the current one. Ideal for tangents or related side conversations.

Reply to a specific post by \[USER\]

Visible when replying to a topic AFTER trying to reply to a specific post within it. Selecting it switches your response to target that specific post.

Reply to topic

Visible when you’re replying to a specific post. Allows for switching to replying to the topic without clicking out of the composer window.

Strong (Bold)

Wraps a highlighted selection in double asterisks.

This **makes words bold**. It can be ***combined with italics***.
This makes words bold. It can be combined with italics.

Emphasis (Italics)

Wraps a highlighted selection in asterisks.

This *makes words italicized*. It can be ***combined with bold***.
This makes words italicized. It can be combined with bold.

Hyperlink

Creates a clickable element that redirects the user to a different webpage.

[Example](https://example.com)
Example

Blockquote

Inserts > at the beginning of every selected line

> Line 1
> Line 2
> Line 3

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3

Example: Nested blockquotes

> Line 1
>>Line 2
>>> *Line 3*
> > > > > > > > Line 4
>>> Line 5

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3

Line 4
Line 5

Upload

Image upload from a user’s local files through File Explorer.
Alternatively, drag and drop a file into the composer window to upload.

20250918-1529-56.2006736
Progress is shown next to the “Send” or “Save Edit” button. In the composer window, a markdown image link is generated where the typing cursor is positioned.

[Processing: FileName.format...]()
[Uploading: FileName.format...]()
![FileName|LengthxWidth, Percentage%](Upload Link)

Emoji

Inserts an emoji where the typing cursor is positioned.

20250918-1602-18.5456178
Menu is scrollable. Emojis are searchable and separated by sections. Certain emojis have color variants, click to change.

Emotes unique to the forum:

Emotes can be moused over to show their markdown syntax
20250918-1546-53.6203904

Quote whole post

Feature used for replying to posts. Quotes a replied-to post in its entirety.

Insert date/time

This is a Discourse unique feature (see Date/Time syntax)

You can set the following options from the menu:

Date, Time

You can select a date using the calendar

Clicking the month opens a dropdown menu with all months of a year
Clicking the year opens a dropdown menu with all the years ±10 of the current selected year
Clicking the left arrow moves the calendar back by one month
Clicking the right arrow moves the calendar forwards by one month
Hovering over a week name displays its full name

Example:
2025-05-13T16:13:00Z

Time Interval

The second date option Until... is for setting a time interval.

Example:
2025-05-13T16:13:00Z→2025-05-20T04:00:00Z

Timezone

Timezone is defined using TZ identifiers.

Advanced Options

Clicking the cog opens up the following options:

Recurrence

Can set whether the inserted time appears on specific dates after a certain time interval

Example:

Timezones to display

Defines displayed timezones when the element is clicked on

2025-05-10T04:00:00Z

Date format

Controls how the date is displayed to a user.

Preformatted text

Wraps text within ```. See more info here


```
type or paste code here
```

type or paste code here

Bulleted list

Inserts * at the beginning of each selected line.

* Line 1
* Line 2
* Line 3

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3

Staggered bullet lists are possible. It requires 3 spaces preceding the bullet point. Staggering beyond 3 steps renders the bullet point as ▪

* Line 1
   * Line 2
      * Line 3
         * Line 4
             * Line 5
* Line 5
   * Line 6

Line 1
- Line 2
  - Line 3
    - Line 4
      - Line 5
Line 5
- Line 6

Numbered Lists can be used in combination with Bulleted Lists

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
   - Line 3
        - Line 4
2. Line 4
   1. Line 5
      2. Line 6

Line 1
Line 2
- Line 3
  - Line 4
Line 4
1. Line 5
  2. Line 6

Numbered list

Inserts #. at the beginning of each selected line. Numbering is sequential and automatic regardless of the number in front.

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
10. Line 3

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3

Staggered number lists are possible. It requires 3 spaces preceding the number and the first staggered number to be '1'. Staggering beyond 2 steps is not rendered.

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
   3. Line 3
     4. Line 4
5. Line 5
   1. Line 6
      2. Line 7
         3. Line 8

Line 1
Line 2
3. Line 3
4. Line 4
Line 5
1. Line 6
  2. Line 7
  3. Line 8

Numbered Lists can be used in combination with Bulleted Lists

1. Line 1
2. Line 2
   - Line 3
        - Line 4
2. Line 4
   1. Line 5
      2. Line 6

Line 1
Line 2
- Line 3
  - Line 4
Line 4
1. Line 5
  2. Line 6

Insert table

Opens the Table Builder

The instructions for use can be found by clicking the icon on the bottom-right

Common Bugs

Table Duplication

Editing a table whose some rows don't start with a pipe duplicate these rows - Bug - Discourse Meta
Completely empty cells could also pose an issue

Empty Headers are automatically filled

[SOLUTION] Bug regarding empty header cells being filled when edited in Discourse table

Hide details

Wraps selected text in the [details] tag, which hides it behind a clickable summary. When a user clicks the summary, the hidden content expands. Clicking it again collapses it.

See more here

Build poll

The forum has native poll support. Clicking the “Build Poll” option brings up the basic Build Poll menu. Notable settings include:

Show who voted

Option that affects the anonymity of the poll.

Manually Open/Close Poll

After creating a poll, the creator has the option to close and reopen the poll manually by opening its settings menu

Advanced Options

Clicking the gear opens the advanced Build Poll menu. Notable settings include:

Title

It adds a title to the poll in the syntax of a Markdown header (ADD LINK)

Limit voting to these groups

This option limits the users that can vote in the poll to users in specific group(s).

Automatically Close Poll

This option closes allows the scheduling of polls to close at specific dates and times, selectable in 15-minute increments.

Result Chart

This allows you to show the poll results with either a bar chart or pie chart

Poll types

Insert table of contents

Inserts <div data-theme-toc="true"> </div> at the position of text cursor.

This enables the Table of Contents for a topic post. All headings regardless of position relative to the inserted line appear in a collapsible element to the right of the post. Option is not available when replying.

Insert reason for edit

Adds a message to editing history when a post edit is saved. Useful for keeping track of edit history and/or when there are multiple collaborators in a wiki topic.

Example: Edit #30 of this topic

◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠◡◠

Markdown, BBCode, HTML Formatting Option Table

This table is sorted alphabetically by the Format column.

Key	‎ ‎
	No formatting option
	Formatting option disabled in this forum
	No Rendered Result
`Link`	More info in the guide, won’t fit in the table

Click to open table

Format	Markdown	BBCode	HTML	Rendered Result
Audio			`<audio src="audio.mp3" controls></audio>`	See Here
Blockquote	`> Text`		`<blockquote>Text</blockquote>`	Text
Bold	`Text`	`[b]Text[/b]`	`<b>Text</b>`, `<strong>Text</strong>`	Text
Checklist	`[] [X]`
Date/Time		See Here		2025-05-22T04:00:00Z
Emoji	`:EmojiName:`		`Emoji directly`
Heading 1	`# Text`		`<h1>Text</h1>`	Text
Hide Details		`[details]`	`<details>`	Displayed Text Hidden Text
Hidden Text			`[comment], <!-- Text -->`	See Here
Highlight			`<mark>Text</mark>`	Text
Horizontal Rule	`---`		`<hr>`
Image	`![ImageName` \| `LengthxWidth, Scale%](example.com)`	`[img]example.com[/img]`	`<img src="https://example.com" alt="ImageName" width="200" height="100">`
Italics	`Text`	`[i]Text[/i]`	`<i>Text</i>`, `<em>Text</em>`	Text
Keybind			`<kbd>Key</kbd>`	`Ctrl`
Large Text Size			`<small>Text <small>Text</small></small>`	Text Text
Line Break	Natively supported		`<br>`	Text Text Text Text
Link	`[Display Text](example.com)`	`[url]http://example.com[/url]`	`<a href="https://example.com">Display Text</a>`	Display Text
List	`* , 1.`
Marked Delete			`<del>Text</del>`	~~Text~~
Marked Insert			`<ins>Text</ins>`	Text
Mentions	`@username`			@ioi
Preformatted Text/Code	`Text`	`[code]Text[/code]`	`<code>Text</code>`, `<pre>Text</pre>`	`Text`
Quote		`[quote="username, post: PostNumber, topic: TopicNumber, full=true/false"] Quoted Text [/quote]`		See Here
Small Text Size			`<big>Text</big>`	Text
Strikethrough	`~~Text~~`	`[s]Text[/s]`	`<s>Text</s>`	~~Text~~
Structuring/Grouping	Natively supported		`<div>`
Superscript			`Text<sup>Text</sup>`	Text ^Text
Subscript			`Text<sub>Text</sub>`	Tex t_Text
Tables	See Here		See Here
Underline		`[u]Text[/u]`		Text
Video	`https://www.youtube.com/....`		`<video src="video.mp4" controls></video>`
			‎ ‎ ‎

Hiding Details

BBCode

^{Note: Traditional BBCode parser will not read this}
This is the simpler of the two to use, and the version used in the Formatting Options.

[details=Displayed Text]
Hidden Text
[/details]

It has one limitation in that the Displayed Text cannot be formatted at all.

See here for various limitations

[details=Normal Text]
Hidden Text
[/details]

Normal Text

Hidden Text

[details=**Bold Text**]
Hidden Text
[/details]

\*\*Bold Text\*\*

Hidden Text

[details="**Bold Text**"]
Hidden Text
[/details]

\*\*Bold Text\*\*

Hidden Text

[details=<b>BoldText</b>]
Hidden Text
[/details]

<b>BoldText</b>

Hidden Text

[details=[Linked text](example.com)]
Hidden Text
[details]

[details=Linked text]
Hidden Text
[/details]

HTML

This is more difficult to use as it requires more HTML tags and space to format something similarly to the BBCode.

<details>
<summary>Displayed Text</summary>

Hidden Text
</details>

This version of Hide Details does allow for formatting of Displayed Text.

See Implementation Examples

Importance of Line Spacing

<details><summary>Normal Text</summary>Hidden Text</details>

Displayed Text

Hidden Text

<details><summary>Displayed Text</summary>**Bold Text**</details>

Displayed Text

**Bold Text**

<details><summary>Displayed Text</summary>
**Bold Text**
</details>

Displayed Text

**Bold Text**

<details><summary>Displayed Text</summary>

**Bold Text**
</details>

Displayed Text

Bold Text

<details><summary>**Bold Text**</summary>**Hidden Text**</details>

**Bold Text**

**Hidden Text**

<details><summary>

**Bold Text**
</summary>**Hidden Text**</details>

Bold Text

**Hidden Text**

Formatting `Displayed Text`

<details>
<summary><b>Bold Text</b></summary>
Hidden Text
</details>

Bold Text

Hidden Text

<details>
<summary>

**Bold Text**
</summary>
Hidden Text
</details>

Bold Text

Hidden Text

<details>
<summary>

[Linked Text](example.com)
</summary>
Hidden Text
</details>

Linked Text

Hidden Text

<details>
<summary>
<a href="https://example.com">Linked Text</a>
</summary>
Hidden Text
</details>

Linked Text

Hidden Text

Hiding Text with HTML

HTML allows for users to hide text within the composer. Using the methods below, the HIDDEN TEXT will only be viewable when editing a post.

SINGLE LINE:
[comment]: <> (HIDDEN TEXT)

<!-- Hidden Text -->

MULTI-LINE:
<!---

HIDDEN
TEXT

-->

Examples

Date/Time with BBCode

^{Note: Traditional BBCode parser will not re ad this}

Single Date:
[date=YYYY-MM-DD time=HH:MM:SS timezone="TZ Identifier" recurring="[interval].[unit]"]

Multidate:
[date-range from=YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS to=YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS timezone="TZ Identifier" recurring="[interval].[unit]"]

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ – YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS → [Date]T[Time on 24HR clock]
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ – TZ Identifier → List of names for timezones of countries, learn more here
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ – [interval].[unit] → Interval in counting numbers (1, 2, 3…), units of time (year, month, week, day)

Examples
– Recurring anniversary date of this post’s creation 2025-05-13T16:18:00Z
– Nonrecurring date of this year’s summer solstice 2025-06-21T02:41:00Z
– Nonrecurring date range of the last 10 days of November 2025-11-21T05:00:00Z→2025-11-30T05:00:00Z

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:18pm

Hidden Text

Back to Guide

Single Line Comment:

Line above comment
[comment]: <> (A line above the comment must be empty due to how the post is processed by the server)

[comment]: <> () Anything outside the parenthesis on the same line will not be hidden

[comment]: <> (This comment is hidden)

<!-- This comment is also hidden -->

Result

Line above comment
comment: <> (A line above the comment must be empty due to how the post is processed by the server)

comment: <> () Anything outside the parenthesis on the same line will not be hidden

Multiline comment:

<!---

(anything between the <!-      -> can only be viewed here)

-->

Text between comments

<!---

Hidden Text

-->

Text between comments

<!---

[details="Summary"]
This text will be hidden

-->

[/details]

Result

Text between comments

[/details]

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:18pm

Tables

^Back

HTML TABLE:

<table border="1">
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Planet</th>
      <th>Moons</th>
      <th>Has Rings?</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Earth</td>
      <td>1</td>
      <td>No</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Jupiter</td>
      <td>79</td>
      <td>Yes</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Saturn</td>
      <td>83</td>
      <td>Yes</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Planet	Moons	Has Rings?
Earth	1	No
Jupiter	79	Yes
Saturn	83	Yes

MARKDOWN TABLE:

| Planet  | Moon | Has Rings? |
| ------- | ---- | ---------- |
| Earth   | 1    | No         |
| Jupiter | 79   | Yes        |
| Saturn  | 83   | Yes        |

             OR

|Planet|Moon|Has Rings?|
|--|--|--|
|Earth|1|No|
|Jupiter|79|Yes|
|Saturn|83|Yes|

Planet	Moon	Has Rings?
Earth	1	No
Jupiter	79	Yes
Saturn	83	Yes

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:18pm

`<div>`

^Back

<div>
  This is a basic container.
</div>

This is a basic container.

`align`

<div align="center">This text is centered.</div>
<div align="right">This text is aligned right.</div>
<div align="left">This text is aligned left.</div>

This text is centered.

This text is aligned right.

This text is aligned left.

`dir`

<div dir="rtl">
  هذا نص عربي من ترجمة جوجل. #Translation: "This is Arabic text from Google Translate"
</div>

هذا نص عربي من ترجمة جوجل.

<div dir="rtl" align="center">
  Right-to-left text, centered.
</div>

Right-to-left text, centered.

`<div>` with other HTML

<div>
  <strong>Bold text</strong> and <em>italic text</em> inside a div.
</div>

Bold text and italic text inside a div.

<div>
  <img src="https://media.tenor.com/x8v1oNUOmg4AAAAM/rickroll-roll.gif" alt="Example Image">
  <p>Image inside a div</p>
</div>

---

Image inside a div

<div>
  Check out <a href="https://www.example.com">this website</a>.
</div>

Check out this website.

<div>
  <h3>Section Title</h3>
  <p>This paragraph is grouped inside a div section.</p>
</div>

Section Title

This paragraph is grouped inside a div section.

<div>
  <table border="1">
    <tr><th>Item</th><th>Price</th></tr>
    <tr><td>Apple</td><td>$1</td></tr>
  </table>
</div>

Item	Price
Apple	$1

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:18pm

`<audio>`

^Back

<audio controls>
  <source src="https://www.w3schools.com/html/horse.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"> # Multiple <source> tags can be used for if the first <source> doesn't work. It will try each audio file sequentially until it finds an audio file
  Your browser does not support the audio element. #Will only show if all sources fail to show anything
</audio>

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:18pm

Multiline Code

^Back

This is the feature when clicking the Preformatted Text option. Multiline code requires text to be wrapped in ``` at the minimum

```
Text
Text Text
Text
```

Text
Text Text
Text

To display ``` within the code box, the text must be wrapped in more ` than the desired display amount

Progressively removing `

6 `

`````
Text
````
Text Text
```
Text Text Text
```
Text Text
````
Text
`````

5 `

Text
````
Text Text
```
Text Text Text
```
Text Text
````
Text

4 `

Text

Text Text
```
Text Text Text
```
Text Text

Text

3 `

Text
Text Text

Text Text Text

Text Text
Text

Syntax Highlighting

To add syntax highlighting, specify a language next to the `before the code block.

```json

  "firstName": "Joe",
  "lastName": "Shmoe",
  "age": 50

```

  "firstName": "Joe",
  "lastName": "Shmoe",
  "age": 50

A full list can be found here

ioi · May 13, 2025, 4:19pm

‎ Build poll

All types of polls
Navigate through the various options using the Table of Contents

TOC

Show who voted

Public 1
Public 2

0 voters

Anonymous 1
Anonymous 2

0 voters

Closed Poll

Closed 1
Closed 2

0 voters

Advanced Options

Title

Titles can be any size, use syntax of any kind supported by the forum (see here for the types)

Option 1
Option 2

0 voters

Limit voting to these groups

Poll limited to users in More Ads group

Option 1
Option 2

0 voters

Automatically close poll

This option closes allows the scheduling of polls to close at specific dates and times, selectable in 15-minute increments.

Example: This poll will close 2033-01-01T05:15:00Z

Option 1
Option 2

0 voters

Result Chart

Pie Chart

Pie 1
Pie 2
Pie 3
Pie 4

0 voters

Bar Chart

Bar 1
Bar 2
Bar 3

0 voters

Poll types

Single Select

Users voting on the poll can only select one option

What device are you viewing this guide on?

Phone
Laptop/PC
Console
Watch
Refrigerator

0 voters

Multiple Select

Users voting on the poll can select multiple options from 0 to the total number of options

Animals that you love

0 voters

Number Rating

A single select number poll. Poster can manipulate the minimum, maximum, and the steps (deviation) of each number option

Rate your experience with this guide

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

0 voters

Ranked Choice

Favorite Desert

0 voters

ioi · May 13, 2025, 5:27pm

Testing

^{Note: This is a wiki. Test stuff to your heart’s content if you need to.}

ioi · May 13, 2025, 5:28pm

Stuff to add to a feature request for this forum:

ioi · May 19, 2025, 7:14pm

Reference Material

^{Back to top}

ChatGPT used to generate the following examples

ioi · May 19, 2025, 7:14pm

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

ioi · May 19, 2025, 7:15pm

Mildly useful stuff (most in guide)

Markdown

Format	Code	‎ ‎
Bold	`Text`	Text
Italics	`Text`	Text
Strikethrough	`~~Text~~`	~~Text~~
Horizontal Rule	`---`
Heading 1	`# Text`	Text
Heading 2	`## Text`	Text
Heading 3	`### Text`	Text
Single Line Code	`Text`	`Text`
Multiline Code	See Here	‎ ‎
Link	`[Displayed Text](example.com)`	Displayed Text
Image	`![Displayed text` \| `LengthxWidth, Scale%](example.com)`
List	See Here	‎ ‎
Checklist	`[] [X]`
Emoji	`:smile:`
Tables	See Here	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

BBCode

BBCode are the text blocks that are wrapped in brackets [ ] that create or manipulate specific elements. The forum uses it in its post window features like Quote whole post, Insert date/time, Hide Details, and Build Poll. This section will focus on the actual code itself.

All the code in the (• Code ) sections will work for both single line and multiline applications.

‎ ‎ Code Block

Code

[code]This sentence is in a code block[/code]

Result

This sentence is in a code block

‎ ‎ Underline

Code
[u] This sentence is underlined [/u]
Result
This sentence is underlined

‎ ‎ Strikethrough

Code
[s] This sentence is crossed out[/s]
Result
This sentence is crossed out

‎ ‎ Italics

Code
[i]This sentence is italicized[/i]
Result
This sentence is italicized

‎ ‎ Bold

Code
[b]This sentence is thickened[/b]
Result
This sentence is thickened

‎ ‎ Image

Code

[img]IMAGE LINK[/img]

Example used: [img]https://c.tenor.com/yheo1GGu3FwAAAAd/tenor.gif[/img]

‎• ‎ ‎ Result

‎ ‎ URL

Code
[url]http://example.com[/url]

‎• ‎ ‎ Result

http://example.com
http://example.com

HTML

HTML Tags with no Markdown/BBCode equivalents

Tag	Use Case	Code Example	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<sub>`	Subscript	`H<sub>2</sub>O, H<sub><sub>2</sub></sub>`	H₂O, H_₂O
`<sup>`	Superscript	`x<sup>2</sup>, x<sup><sup>2</sup></sup>`	x², x^²
`<big>`	Large-sized text	`<big>Text</big>`	Text
`<small>`	Small-sized text	`<small>Text <small>Text</small></small>`	Text Text
`<div>`	Structuring/Grouping Text	See Here	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<audio>`	Playing Audio Files	See Here	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<mark>`	Highlighting	`<mark>Text</mark>`	Text
`<del>`	Text Editing	`<del>Text</del>`	~~Text~~
`<ins>`	Text Editing	`<ins>Text</ins>`	Text

HTML Tags with Markdown/BBCode equivalents

Tag	Use Case	Code Example	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<b>`	Bold text	`<b>Bold Text</b>`	Bold Text
`<strong>`	Strong (bold) text	`<strong>Important</strong>`	Important
`<i>`	Italic text	`<i>Italic</i>`	Italic
`<em>`	Emphasized (italic) text	`<em>Emphasized</em>`	Emphasized
`<s>`	Strikethrough	`<s>Strikethrough</s>`	~~Strikethrough~~
`<a>`	Hyperlink	`<a href="https://example.com">Visit</a>`	Visit
`<img>`	Image	`<img src="https://example.com" alt="Ex" width="200" height="100">`
`<h1>`	Heading (largest)	`<h1>Heading</h1>`	Heading
`<h2>`	Heading	`<h2>Heading</h2>`	Heading
`<h3>`	Heading	`<h3>Heading</h3>`	Heading
`<p>`	Paragraph	`<p>This is a paragraph.</p>`	This is a paragraph.
`<code>`	Inline code	`Use <code>ls -la</code>`	Use `ls -la`
`<pre>`	Block preformatted text	`<pre>line 1\nline 2</pre>`	`line 1` `line 2`
`<blockquote>`	Quoted block	`<blockquote>This is quoted</blockquote>`	This is quoted
`<hr>`	Horizontal rule	`<hr>`
`<table>`	Table	`<table><tr><th>H</th><td>D</td></tr></table>`	See here
`<thead>`	Table header group	`<thead><tr><th>Head</th></tr></thead>`	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<tbody>`	Table body group	`<tbody><tr><td>Row</td></tr></tbody>`	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<tr>`	Table row	`<tr><td>Data</td></tr>`	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<th>`	Table header cell	`<th>Header</th>`	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
`<td>`	Table data cell	`<td>Cell</td>`	‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Tables

Format	Markdown	BBCode	HTML	Rendered Result
Bold	`Text`	`[b]Text[/b]`	`<b>Text</b>`, `<strong>Text</strong>`	Text
Italics	`Text`	`[i]Text[/i]`	`<i>Text</i>`, `<em>Text</em>`	Text
Underline		`[u]Text[/u]`		Text
Strikethrough	`~~Text~~`	`[s]Text[/s]`	`<s>Text</s>`	~~Text~~
Superscript			`Text<sup>Text</sup>`	Text^Text
Subscript			`Text<sub>Text</sub>`	Text_Text
Horizontal Rule	`---`		`<hr>`
Structuring/Grouping	Natively supported		`<div>`
Line Break	Natively supported		`<br>`	Text Text Text Text
Small Text Size			`<big>Text</big>`	Text
Large Text Size			`<small>Text <small>Text</small></small>`	Text Text
Heading 1	`# Text`		`<h1>Text</h1>`	Text
Blockquote	`> Text`		`<blockquote>Text</blockquote>`	Text
Preformatted Text/Code	`Text`	`[code]Text[/code]`	`<code>Text</code>`, `<pre>Text</pre>`	`Text`
Link	`[Display Text](example.com)`	`[url]http://example.com[/url]`	`<a href="https://example.com">Display Text</a>`	Display Text
Image	`![ImageName` \| `LengthxWidth, Scale%](example.com)`	`[img]example.com[/img]`	`<img src="https://example.com" alt="ImageName" width="200" height="100">`
Audio			`<audio src="audio.mp3" controls></audio>`	See Here
Video	`https://www.youtube.com/....`		`<video src="video.mp4" controls></video>`
List	See Here
Checklist	`[] [X]`
Emoji	`:EmojiName:`		`Emoji directly`
Hide Details		`[details]`	`<details>`	Displayed Text Hidden Text
Hidden Text			See Here
Date/Time		See Here		2025-05-22T04:00:00Z
Highlight			`<mark>Text</mark>`	Text
Marked Insert			`<del>Text</del>`	~~Text~~
Marked Delete			`<ins>Text</ins>`	Text
Mentions	`@username`			@ioi
Tables	See Here		See Here
Keybind			`<kbd>Key</kbd>`	`Ctrl`
			‎ ‎ ‎

Unused Stuff

Pictures

Line Art

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～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～●～
☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷☷

ioi · May 19, 2025, 7:15pm

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

All Images in Line

1 ChangeReply 2 Title 3 Full-Min-Save
4 TextEditor 6 Italics 7 Headings 8 Hyperlink 9 Blockquote 10 Upload 11 Emoji 12 More
13 Bottom

Pros

Fine for a single window size

Cons

Smaller window size ruins layout
Only works most of the time if resized to ~30%

HTML Table

Pros

Maintains layout even with window resizing

Cons

Spacing between cells

`<map>`

Pros

Cons

Doesn’t work?

Markdown Table

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Pros

Cons

HTML but worse
Spacing between cells

ioi · May 19, 2025, 7:16pm

Okay, so its not 100% complete, but I probably have more than enough reply space than necessary, reply away!

ioi · May 20, 2025, 10:04pm

Never knew this was a thing

Finished for now, if anything is missing or something lmk

Forge · May 23, 2025, 6:30pm

who going to read all of this

ioi · May 23, 2025, 6:33pm

New people to the forum and people that want something they post to look a certain way. For regular users probably the table is all that is necessary.

ioi · September 16, 2025, 2:21pm

Made it more readable

meomaranti-hack · September 16, 2025, 4:05pm

absolutely nobody.

not even a new username would read a yapping session idk what ioi thinking about.

hmmmmmm more readable-

ioi · September 16, 2025, 7:03pm

Hurray, more stuff to argue about! I’ll bite .

I’d disagree. Assuming rebrand occurs at some point in the future, people coming from discord have a slight learning curve to overcome.

Although discord uses a bit of markdown, its much more restrictive on what you can do. Also, there’s a whole lot more enabled outside of markdown (HTML, BBCode). There isn’t a great resource within the forum that explains what can be done. Outside of the forum, there are resources (see here), but it’s either all in bits and pieces or gives a barebones explanation.

I would agree that it previously was much more annoying to look through, but I think I’ve mitigated some of that using a good amount of html (see edit history 77 → 78).

So why I made this is simple. It’s 80% for my own reference, 20% for other people to reference.

At the time, I was experimenting with an open-source note taking app called Obsidian. It has a similar way of writing, specifically with markdown and html. In my own research, I saw the similarity and thought making a guide on it wouldn’t hurt and it’d be useful for whenever I forget how to do something.

If you have ideas regarding how to improve readability, I’m all ears.

Everything to know about formatting a post

What is this?

TEST Composer Window Image w/ Clickable elements

Formatting Options

Markdown, BBCode, HTML Formatting Option Table

Hiding Details

BBCode

HTML

Formatting Displayed Text

Hiding Text with HTML

Date/Time with BBCode

Hidden Text

Single Line Comment:

Multiline comment:

Tables

<div>

align

dir

<div> with other HTML

Section Title

<audio>

Multiline Code

6 `

5 `

4 `

3 `

Syntax Highlighting

Show who voted

Closed Poll

Advanced Options

Title

Limit voting to these groups

Automatically close poll

Result Chart

Poll types

Single Select

Multiple Select

Number Rating

Ranked Choice

Testing

Reference Material

Mildly useful stuff (most in guide)

Markdown

Text

Text

Text

BBCode

‎ ‎ Code Block

‎ ‎ Underline

‎ ‎ Strikethrough

‎ ‎ Italics

‎ ‎ Bold

‎ ‎ Image

‎ ‎ URL

HTML

HTML Tags with no Markdown/BBCode equivalents

HTML Tags with Markdown/BBCode equivalents

Heading

Heading

Heading

Tables

Format

Markdown

BBCode

HTML

Rendered Result

Text

Unused Stuff

All Images in Line

HTML Table

<map>

Markdown Table

Finished for now, if anything is missing or something lmk

Formatting `Displayed Text`

`<div>`

`align`

`dir`

`<div>` with other HTML

`<audio>`

`<map>`