Quote:
Originally Posted by caveman
Can someone please explain this to a complete novice. Sorry to be a pain but.........
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That's not being a pain, it's being a novice forumite. I remember what that was like, even though it was 15 years ago. I am brand new to this forum and this is my first post here, but I thought, "what the hay, might as well start off on the right foot."
Basic signatures on most of today's modern forum software are pretty much the same. You should be able to do what I am about to explain on any forum that allows signatures. Some forums don't allow signatures, some don't let you use them until you have a certain number of posts. I don't even know what is allowed here yet because I just chose this forum to start my essential reading (announcements, rules, etc.) and this topic happened to be near the top of the list. So, as long as sigs are allowed this early in the game, I should be able to show you how to do it.
In the menu near the top of the page, the one below the Welcome block, is the link to your
User CP. That's where you perform all your account related activities, including editing your signature:
Click the link to
Edit Signature. You get sent to a page that has the familiar editor on it - similar to the message editor. Just type in what you want your signature to say:
That's a little plain-jain for me (see how well I avoided the sexism? i hate it when them dang militant feminists get all up in my...). I like to give my anchor text, which is the
www.TheFloorPro.com part, a more prominent appearance, so I utilize a couple of the BBCode tags available to me. First I'll give the anchor text a little indent:
And I want it to be Bold too:
Notice for all of this, the anchor text is always highlighted. That's so when you want to use a BBCode button, the code is wrapped around the part you want to be coded. You do the same for the link's URL:
Now just enter the website URL:
I don't know about this site and others, but I prefer even my short and to the point messages to be more important than my signature. To me, nothing is more distracting and obtrusive than a huge signature. If it becomes more memorable than the content of the message, it's too much. So, I keep mine on the small side:
Some people are adept at the various BBCode tags and enter them manually. I usually do, but here you see the culmination of all the previous steps and how the code appears before you save it:
As you can see, you are able to preview your signature, just as you are able to preview a message. If it looks like you want, then Save it. If you haven't used a signature before, none of your previous messages will have your signature. If you only edit an existing sig, all of your old messages will have the new sig.
You will notice a new check box below the standard and enhanced editors in the Additional Options area, and also in the Quick Reply editor in the lower right corner. If the box is checked, your signature will appear below your message. If it isn't, no signature will show. I am of the mind-set that a signature should appear only once on a page, but even on my own forum, that isn't a hard and fast rule. I see it as more of a courtesy to others not to spam my site or signature in every single message I post on a page.
If all is well in the Ether today, you should see the results of my signature below. It may not be the very same one I used for this guide, but you'll get the idear.
Best R'gards and thanks for letting me help for my first post.
Jim
Forum Signatures: How To Set Them Up
Re: Forum Signatures: How To Set Them Up
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