Compose tips

input formats:
  • Filtered HTML:
    • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
    • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

      This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

      For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

      Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://blog.deanland.com">blog.deanland.com</a>blog.deanland.com
      Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
      Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
      Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
      Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
      Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
      • First item
      • Second item
      Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
      1. First item
      2. Second item
      Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
      First term
      First definition
      Second term
      Second definition

      Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

      If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

      Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Ampersand&amp;&
      Greater than&gt;>
      Less than&lt;<
      Quotation mark&quot;"
    • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
  • Full HTML:
    • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
    • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
    • To add a lightbox to your images, add rel="lightbox" attribute to any link tag to activate the lightbox. For example:

      <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightbox">image #1</a>

      <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[][my caption]">image #1</a>

      To show a caption either use the title attribute or put in the second set of square brackets of the rel attribute.

      If you have a set of related images that you would like to group, then you will need to include a group name between square brackets in the rel attribute. For example:

      <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightbox[roadtrip]">image #1</a>
      <a href="image-2.jpg" rel="lightbox[roadtrip][caption 2]">image #2</a>
      <a href="image-3.jpg" rel="lightbox[roadtrip][caption 3]">image #3</a>

      There are no limits to the number of image sets per page or how many images are allowed in each set.

      If you wish to turn the caption into a link, format your caption in the following way:

      <a href="image-1.jpg" rel='lightbox[][<a href="http://www.yourlink.com">View Image Details</a>]' >image #1</a>

    • To add a lightbox slideshow to your images, add rel="lightshow[slideshowname][slide caption]" attribute to any link tag to activate the slideshow. For example:

      <a href="image-1.jpg" rel="lightshow[show1]">image #1</a>
      <a href="image-2.jpg" rel="lightshow[show1]">image #2</a>
      <a href="image-3.jpg" rel="lightshow[show1]">image #3</a>

      The title attribute in the link tag is optional. The addition of this attribute enables the display of a caption with the image displayed in the lightbox.

      There are no limits to the number of slideshow image sets per page or how many images are allowed in each slideshow.

      If you wish to turn the caption into a link, format your caption in the following way:

      <a href="image-1.jpg" rel='lightshow[show1][<a href="http://www.yourlink.com">View Image Details</a>]'>image #1</a>

    • It's possible to show webpage content in the lightbox, using iframes. In this case the "rel" attribute should be set to "lightframe". Again it's possible to group the content, (e.g. lightframe[search][caption]) but in addition to that, it's possible to control some of the iframe properties. It's possible to set the "width", "height" and "scrolling" properties of the iframe. The properties are separated from the group name by a |, for example lightframe[search|width:100px;][caption]. If no grouping is being used, then the | is still used and the format would be lightframe[|width:100px;]. The properties should all be of the format "property: value;" - note the closing semi-colon. If no iframe properties are set, then the default width and height of 400px will be used. See below for more detailed examples.

      Basic example:
      <a href="http://www.google.com" rel="lightframe">Search google</a>

      Grouped example:
      <a href="http://www.google.com" rel="lightframe[search][caption]">Search google</a>
      <a href="http://www.yahoo.com" rel="lightframe[search]">Search yahoo</a>

      Controlling iframe property example:
      <a href="http://www.google.com" rel="lightframe[|width:400px; height:300px; scrolling: auto;][caption]">Search google</a>

      Controlling iframe property when grouped example:
      <a href="http://www.google.com" rel="lightframe[search|width:400px; height:300px; scrolling: auto;]">Search google</a>
      <a href="http://www.yahoo.com" rel="lightframe[search|width:400px; height:300px;]">Search yahoo</a>

    • It's possible to show video content in the lightbox. In this case the "rel" attribute should be set to lightvideo. It's possible to group videos and to control the size of the lightbox by setting the "width" and "height" properties. The properties can be configured like lightvideo[group|width:300px; height: 200px;][caption]. The properties should all be of the format "property: value;" - note the closing semi-colon. If no properties are set, then the default width and height of 400px will be used. See below for more detailed examples.

      Basic example:
      <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1811233136844420765" rel="lightvideo">Google video example - default size</a>

      Controlling lightbox size example:
      <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1811233136844420765" rel="lightvideo[group|width:400px; height:300px;][caption]">Google video example - custom size</a>

      Supported video formats include asx, wmv, mov and swf. A number of online video providers are also supported, including YouTube and Google Video. For a full list of the current supported video providers please see the documentation on drupal.org.

    • It's possible to show HTML snippets in the lightbox, that is on the same domain. In this case the "rel" attribute should be set to "lightmodal". Again it's possible to group the content, (e.g. lightmodal[group][caption]) but in addition to that, it's possible to control some of the modal properties. It's possible to set the "width", "height" and "scrolling" properties of the modal. The properties are separated from the group name by a |, for example lightmodal[group|width:100px;][caption]. If no grouping is being used, then the | is still used and the format would be lightmodal[|width:100px;]. The properties should all be of the format "property: value;" - note the closing semi-colon. If no modal properties are set, then the default width and height of 400px will be used. See below for more detailed examples.

      Basic example:
      <a href="search.php" rel="lightmodal">Search</a>

      Grouped example:
      <a href="search.php" rel="lightmodal[search][caption 1]">Search</a>
      <a href="search.php?status=1" rel="lightmodal[search]">Search published</a>

      Controlling modal property example:
      <a href="search.php" rel="lightmodal[|width:400px; height:300px; scrolling: auto;][caption]">Search</a>

      Controlling modal property when grouped example:
      <a href="search.php" rel="lightmodal[search|width:400px; height:300px; scrolling: auto;]">Search</a>
      <a href="search.php?status=1" rel="lightmodal[search|width:400px; height:300px;]">Search published</a>