hints and tips

[David Pilling]

This sticky topic will be modified to summarize your best hints and tips in the first post - please add your findings in the discussion, the team will condense the ideas up here.

Recent Posts (by David)

If you miss the old list feeling, try the following link: It lets one read posts (from new to old) as if they are in a flat structure.

https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsforum/index.php?action=recent

@-Mention someone (by Martin)

If you want to draw someones attention to a topic, mention them with the '@' symbol,like

@gastil or @David Pilling 

Note: You can't @-mention yourself. The system will try to help you and offers user names as soon as you type the first letters of the user name directly after an @
How and if you're notified if YOU are @-mentioned can be determined in your notification settings: receive an email or an onscreen alert - or don't. just your choice!

Species and the Wiki (by Martin)

We've got our first very own bb-code (the markup language you can use to style your posts here), allowing to link species directly to the wiki. All you have to do is to surround a genus name or species binomial with the following code:

[species]Genus epithet[/species]

The system will check if there is information on the wiki and will generate a link and a preview if possible, otherwise will just display the text in italics. These links will adapt if species are added to the wiki or page structures are changed, thus are superior to directly copying the current link. you don't even have to memorize the code - just highlight your species name and click the little bulb symbol in your editor tool row - currently it's behind font tools, we may move it later (and update this text).

A few examples how it deals with certain situations and wiki structures? Gladiolus splendens

Flower Colors:	red
Climate:	winter rain climate

, Gladiolus nonexistus, Examplus nonexistus, Crinum americanum

, Achimenes 'Grape Wine'

Flower Colors:	purple
Life form:	rhizome
Climate:	summer rain climate

.

Posting Pictures (by Martin)

To add your own pictures to your posts, you can use the "Attachments" function. The corresponding interface is displayed on clicking the little arrow icon next to "Attachments and other options" beneath your edit window on posting or starting a topic.

ATTENTION: The attachment area is not there when using the "Quick Reply" window below a discussion. Please use the "Reply" Button instead.

You can drag&drop a file into the "Attach" field or select one via file dialog on clicking "Add Files". The page will then display a preview of the file and the buttons "Cancel" or "Upload" - press the latter one to start uploading - you can edit your post or choose more attachments simultaneously. On completion of the upload, the image area will turn green, and display some code to embed the image into your text - you can copy and paste that or hit the "Insert" button at the bottom right of the green area to add the picture to your post text - you can even resize the display (not the image data file) using width options:

[attach id=444 width=100]Image Title displayed on hover[/attach] 
[attach id=444 width=150]another Image Title displayed on hover[/attach] 

If you choose not to embed the files in the text, they will be displayed as clickable thumbnails beneath the post - which most of the time is the better solution for readability and will also provide you with statistics on how often people clicked on your image to see it full size.

There's currently a limit of 4 pictures with 32MB summed up file size on upload per post. The system will auto-resize bigger images to 1024 pixels in the longer dimension, and 75% JPEG quality, which we think is a good compromise for web graphics and is actually the size we prefer to use on the wiki, so this saves the wiki editors one step on adding stuff. It will also try to interpret embedded exif-data on jpgs to rotate the image if necessary. Allowed image formats are JPEG (file extentions .jpg .jpe .jpeg), PNG and GIF.

[Martin Bohnet]

If you want to draw someones attention to a topic, mention them with the '@' symbol,like

@gastil or @David Pilling 

Note: You can't @-mention yourself. The system will try to help you and offers user names as soon as you type the first letters of the user name directly after an @



How and if you're notified if YOU are @-mentioned can be determined in your notification settings: receive an email or an onscreen alert - or don't. just your choice!

[David Pilling]

@Martin Bohnet - hey you

It did work for me, I got an email.

[gastil]

I got the notification.

[Martin Bohnet]

added Info on the new  [species][/species]  BB-Codes linking to the Wiki. I have a few more ideas for that mod, but I feel it has reached a maturity level for public use.

Besides, I've re-organized the first post to be where the tips condense.

[Martin Bohnet]

We've been asked how to receive notifications of new topics or posts not in a topic one has already posted in. Well, you can subscribe to a whole board using the last button in the corresponding button row - pointed at in the following picture:



You'll have to do this for every sub-board you're interested in. We're sorry we can't activate this by default as to mimic the list function - the forum software does not allow to do so, because some local legislation will consider this forbidden spam if not actively opted in by users.

[David Pilling]

how can I get the forum to populate as an icon on my phone screen ?

See this:

"How to Add Websites to the Home Screen on Any Smartphone or Tablet"

https://www.howtogeek.com/196087/how-to-add-websites-to-the-home-screen-on-any-smartphone-or-tablet/