Scouting forums editor - Looking for more details (2021)

Bill_W · October 12, 2021, 2:05pm

Here is what I have found for Discourse guides and frequently asked questions (FAQ)

How do I tell what version of Discourse I am on? - howto / faq - Discourse Meta

As of 10/13/2021 Scouting forums is using:

<meta name="generator" content="Discourse 2.8.0.beta6 - https://github.com/discourse/discourse version 6273dfad4bc79576808c00b98f9c211e575021f6">

Where do I find more information about what formatting is supported in the “Discourse” input editor? Here is what I have found so far (as of 11/12/2021):

The Scouting forums (Discourse) input editor says it accepts Markdown, BBCode and HTML. How much of each is not clear.

Boy Scouts of America

FAQ for New Scouting Forums - BSA Announcements - Scouting forums (April 2019) - BSA users guide

Discourse - A platform for community discussion

Discourse New User Guide - howto / faq - Discourse Meta

More:

Software website: https://www.discourse.org/ :

Docs - Discourse Meta

Latest releases topics - Discourse Meta

GitHub Discourse

GitHub browser requirements

Markdown - Markdown markup language

Markdown markup is converted to HTML for presentation.

Markdown Guide (markdownguide.org)

Markdown Basic Syntax

Markdown Extended Syntax

Markdown has a table format that uses vertical bar character as column delimiter.

Need to know what the Discourse editor flavor of Markdown is (i.e how much of Markdown is being used).

BBCode - Bulletin Board Code

BBCode markup is converted to HTML for presentation.

BBCode.org, bbcode users guide and tricks on implementing it

BBCode tags reference

HTML - HyperText Markup Language

For improved security Discourse is likely to be limiting HTML code that can be used,

HTML Living Standard is the current HTML standard (since May 2019)

W3C HTML

HTML Living Standard (whatwg.org)

Version: 2021-10-14-F

SteveCagigas · October 12, 2021, 2:17pm

The easiest way to format text in the Scouting forums is to use the WYSIWYG buttons in the editor window.

edavignon · October 12, 2021, 2:27pm

You can get more information on the Discourse forums used by the BSA at https://discourse.org. Discourse discussion forums are at https://meta.discourse.org

Bill_W · October 12, 2021, 2:32pm

This is what I see when I am using the Discourse editor:

I am not seeing a “what you see what you get” editor button.

edavignon · October 12, 2021, 2:57pm

While it isn’t a true WYSIWYG editor, at least on a computer, Discourse will display a preview of your post on the right side of the screen. If it is showing you a list of similar topics, click the X in the upper right corner of the list and you will see the preview. If the editor panel is in the center instead spanning the window, click the >> in the lower right corner to expand the panel.

SteveCagigas · October 12, 2021, 9:38pm

You can click on the buttons to add the markdown code on the fly, without having to learn markdown. Obviously, “B” for Bold, “I” for Italic, the chain links to add a hyperlink, etc.

Bill_W · October 12, 2021, 9:39pm

@edavignon
Ed,
Thank you for the links. However you are sending me on a “goose hunt in a large forest” by referring me tp the blog.

The home website front-end appears to be all advertising with one download link. However I did find the documents categories menu at
- Docs - Discourse Meta
The one multilingual discussion I found on the blog site was related to building a new plugin.
Bill

Reply revised 2021-10-13-B

Bill_W · October 12, 2021, 9:54pm

@edavignon
I am very familiar with “preview” in desktop view. However, I think I now like the mobile view on the desktop better.

Bill_W · October 13, 2021, 6:18pm

Markdown “table” input

Testing Markdown “table” input

Table 1 - Simple

In

| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|---|---|---|
| row 1 col 1 | row 1 col 2 | row 1 col 3 |
| row 2 col 1 | row 2 col 2 | row 2 col 3 |
| blank columns |   |   |
| text and link | | At [https://scoutbook.scouting.org/](https://scoutbook.scouting.org/)   |