Welcome to Beyond Dominia! This document contains instructions on getting started, formatting your messages, and troubleshooting. If you experience any difficulties with the board, contact one of the moderators listed under the Contact link from the Main Menu.

1. Getting Started
2. Formatting
3. Troubleshooting

• Reading Discussions
• Contributing to Discussions
• Searching the Board
• Getting an Account
• Where to get further information
• Rules and "Netiquette"

Contributing to Discussions

To post a message to an existing discussion, fill in the "Add a Message" box at the bottom of the page. You may use formatting codes or basic HTML tags to improve the appearance of your post. A user account is NEVER required to post. Getting user accounts is discouraged, but if you feel the strange desire to have one, take it up with the moderator of the board on which you would like the account.

Where available, you may click on a "Create New Conversation" button to start a new discussion. This will add a subtopic with the subject you specify and start a conversation with the initial message that you specify. After filling in the subject line, post a message as described above.

Searching the Board

This discussion board can be searched by matching text (Keyword Search). There is a mechanism for searching by time of post, but it is currently disabled. The Last Day and Last Week options on the Main Menu are equivalent to searching for messages posted within the last day and messages posted within the last seven days, respectively.

To search the board by keywords, click the Keyword Search link from the Main Menu. You can then specify the words that will be used in the search. Additional instructions for using the Keyword Search option are displayed on the search screen itself.

When you have performed the search, click on any of the links to the pages to view the page, or click on a link in the result to go to the post where that text occurs.

Getting an Account

Due to among other things, several disabled or unavailable features, getting user accounts is very superfluous. You gain only the ability to have your e-mail automatically attached to each of your posts, and some limited defense againsts imps (impersonators). If you have a problem with imps, tell a moderator and let the moderator suggest a solution, be it user accounts or something else.

If it is your lifelong desire to get a user account, e-mail the maintainer(s) of the mill(s) in which you are interested in having an account. Be sure to list your e-mail address, desired username, desired password, and your full name, if you so desire. NOTE: Under no circumstances will user accounts be given for the Role Playing Mill. Don't ask why, it's one of Shadow's things.

Where to get further information

For additional information on using this system, read the Formatting section and the Troubleshooting section, which are included in this document. If you have additional questions or concerns, post them to an appropriate area on the discussion forum, or contact one of the moderators or the board administrator from the Contact page.

Rules and "Netiquette"

When writing your messages, please use the same courtesy that you would show when speaking face-to-face with someone. Flames, insults, and personal attacks will not be tolerated. It's fine to disagree strongly with opinions, ideas, and facts, but always with respect for the other person. Great minds do not always think alike, and that's where the fun is! Also, note that messages express the thoughts of the writers, not the board or its moderators. What is acceptable on each individual board is up to the discretion of its moderator.

Text Formatting

• Simple Features (bold, italics, etc.)
• Colors
• Text Size
• Miscellaneous (font face, blinking, etc.)

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Simple Features

Tag	Description	Example
\b{Your Text}	Bold Text	Your Text
\i{Your Text}	Italics Text	Your Text
\+{Your Text}	Superscript Text	[Reference]Your Text
\-{Your Text}	Subscript Text	[Reference]Your Text
\fixed{Your Text}	Fixed Width Text	Your Text
\u{Your Text}	Underlined Text	Your Text
\c{Your Text}	Centered Text	Your Text





Examples

Input:		\b{Show me some bold} and \i{italics text}.
Output:		Show me some bold and italics text.
Input:		H\-{2}O has a density of 1.000x10\+{-3} kg/mL.
Output:		H2O has a density of 1.000x10-3 kg/mL.

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Colors

Tag	Description	Example
\red{Your Text}	Red Text	Your Text
\orange{Your Text}	Orange Text	Your Text
\yellow{Your Text}	Yellow Text	Your Text
\green{Your Text}	Green Text	Your Text
\cyan{Your Text}	Cyan Text	Your Text
\blue{Your Text}	Blue Text	Your Text
\purple{Your Text}	Purple Text	Your Text
\white{Your Text}	White Text	Your Text
\gray{Your Text}	Gray Text	Your Text
\black{Your Text}	Black Text	Your Text





Example

Input:		\red{Red} and \green{green} are pretty colors.
Output:		Red and green are pretty colors.

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Text Size

Tag	Description	Example
\2{Your Text}	Largest (size +2 text)	Your Text
\1{Your Text}	Large (size +1 text)	Your Text
\0{Your Text}	Average (size +0 text)	Your Text
\-1{Your Text}	Smaller (size -1 text)	Your Text
\-2{Your Text}	Smallest (size -2 text)	Your Text





Example

Input:		\2{You} \1{can} \0{size} \-1{your} \-2{text}.
Output:		You can size your text.

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Miscellaneous

Tag	Description	Example
\greek{Your Text}	Greek (symbol) text	Your Text
\strike{Your Text}	Strikethrough	Your Text
\blink{Your Text}	Blinking text	Your Text
\rgb{Hex_code,Your Text}	Color text by hex code	Your Text: aaaa00 color
\font{Font_face,Your Text}*	Font face	Your Text
\char{ASCII code}	Character (0-255)	Ê (ASCII code=202)
\indent{Your text}	Indented (blockquoted)	Your text
\quote{Your text}	Quoted	Quote: Your text

* = see note about escaping commas under "Special Characters"



Examples

Input:		\rgb{5aaa7c,This is a strange color}.
Output:		This is a strange color.
Input:		\font{Times New Roman,This is in a different font}.
Output:		This is in a different font.
Input:		\font{Comic Sans MS\,Tahoma,Note the escaped comma here}.
Output:		Note the escaped comma here.

Modern browsers support the display of special characters, such as the "degrees" symbol (°). There are a number of available characters.

Tag	Result		Tag	Result
\ch{->}	®		\ch{<-}	¬
\ch{/ |}	­		\ch{\ /}	¯
\ch{t}	†		\ch{tt}	‡
\ch{dot}	•		\ch{TM}	™
\ch{c}	©		\ch{<<}	«
\ch{R}	®		\ch{deg}	°
\ch{+-}	±		\ch{=/=}	¹
\ch{<>}	¹		\ch{int}	ò
\ch{:)}	J		\ch{:(}	L
\ch{:|}	K		\ch{mu}	µ
\ch{1/2}	½		\ch{>>}	»
\ch{A}	Å		\ch{/}	÷
\ch{nullset}	Ø		\ch{forall}	"
\ch{<=}	£		\ch{>=}	³
\ch{<->}	«		\ch{inf}	¥
\ch{= =}	º		\ch{del}	¶
\ch{DEL}	Ñ		\ch{=>}	Þ
\ch{therefore}	\		\ch{line}
\ch{br}	<BR> (HTML)		\ch{nbsp}	&nbsp; (HTML)

The "Symbol" font, supported on Windows platforms, allows the incorporation of Greek characters which is especially useful for mathematical notation in many scientific disciplines. The following table gives available Greek characters in groups of 5.

Tag	Result		Tag	Result
\greek{abcde}	abcde		\greek{ABCDE}	ABCDE
\greek{fghij}	fghij		\greek{FGHIJ}	FGHIJ
\greek{klmno}	klmno		\greek{KLMNO}	KLMNO
\greek{pqrst}	pqrst		\greek{PQRST}	PQRST
\greek{uvwxyz}	uvwxyz		\greek{UVWXYZ}	UVWXYZ

Backslashes, and curly braces have special meanings to the interpreter.If you wish to use these characters as text within a tag, youmust "escape" them as with a backslash. Additionally, when you are using a tag that requires 2 or more arguments and you want to include a comma within the arguments (and not have it interpreted as a separator), you must escape it with a backslash. See the examples.

Code	Result
\\	\
\{	{
\}	}
\,	,

Examples

Input:		This program is \ch{c} 1997
Output:		This program is © 1997.
Input:		\b{No need, to escape, these commas} in a tag that takes only one argument.
Output:		No need, to escape, these commas in a tag that takes only one argument.
Input:		\rgb{0000aa,No need, to escape, these commas} in the last field of a tag.
Output:		No need, to escape, these commas in the last field of a tag.
Input:		\font{Times\,Roman\,Arial,You need to escape the first two commas in this case}.
Output:		You need to escape the first two commas in this case.

• Mathematical Notation
• Hyperlinks
• Images, Attachments, and Clipart
• Tables and Lists

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Mathematical Notation

Tag	Description	Example Tag	Output
\sum{lower, upper}	Sum using sigma notation	\sum{i=1,10} i	Si=110 i
\int{lower, upper}	Definite Integral	\int{0,6} x dx	ò06 x dx

Example

Input:		\int{0,2\greek{p}} sin(x) dx = 0
Output:		ò02p sin(x) dx = 0

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Hyperlinks

Code	Description
\link{URL, text description}	Link to URL with text description
\topurl{URL, text description}	Link to URL in top frame with text description
\newurl{URL, text description}	Link to URL in new window with text description
\mail{address, text description}	"mailto" link to address with text description

Example

Input:		To learn more about this \green{FREE} discussion board program, visit the \topurl{http://mulliken.chem.hope.edu/discus,Discus Home Page}.
Output:		To learn more about this FREE discussion board program, visit the Discus Home Page.

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Images, Attachments, and Clipart

Tag	Description
\image{Text description}	Upon posting, you are prompted for an image file to upload. Images must be either GIF or JPEG format. Images must be saved on your hard disk. Your browser must support form-based file upload (Netscape Navigator 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 4.0+ support this; IE 3.02 will also work provided that you have installed the file upload patch).
\clipart{Clipart File Name}	Inserts clipart (see index)

Example

Input:		This is a picture of me: \image{my picture} and I smile like this: \clipart{smile}.
Output:		This is a picture of me: and I smile like this: . Note that the "Your Image Here" graphic is replaced by the image file that you upload.

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Tables and Lists

You can hand-enter tables or you can paste in tables directly from a tab-delimited spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel). See the "Pasting Tables" instructions if you are pasting a table directly from Excel.



Tag	Description
\table{Table Items}	Creates a table of the Table Items (table HAS a border)
\tablenb{Table Items}	Creates a table of the Table Items (table has NO border)
\list{List Items}	Creates a bulleted list of the List Items

Table Items and List Items

The Table Items are divided into columns by commas and into rows by newline characters (carriage returns). Thus, the entry \table{1,2,3} would create a table with three columns (with entries "1", "2", and "3").

The List Items are separated by newline characters (carriage returns). Each List Item is given a bullet.

See the examples for further explanation.

Pasting Tables

You can paste in tables from tab-delimited spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel. To paste a table, do the following:
• Open your spreadsheet using Excel.
• Select the range that you wish to paste as a table using Excel.
• Choose Edit and then Copy.
• Bring up your WWW browser.
• Enter an "empty" table tag (such as \table{ } or \tablenb{ }) in your message. Do not put in any Table Items at this time.
• Click the mouse between the curly braces in that tag.
• Select Edit and then Paste.

Examples

Input:		\table{X,O,X O,X O,,X}
Output:		X O X O X O X
Input:		\list{List Item 1 List Item 2 List Item 3}
Output:		List Item 1 List Item 2 List Item 3
Input:		\table{1,2\ch{br}2.5,3 4,\ch{nbsp},6 7,8,9\,000}
Output:		1 2 2.5 3 4   6 7 8 9,000

• Not looking at the preview
The message preview shows your tags in action. If you look at it and your\b{Bold text} isn't bold, you have made a mistake!
• Using / instead of \ to start a tag
• /b{Bold text tag} is wrong
• \b{Bold text tag} is correct
• Using parentheses instead of curly braces
• \b(Bold text tag) is wrong
• \b{Bold text tag} is correct
• Using the wrong case in tags
• \B{Bold text tag} is wrong (\B{ } is not defined)
• \b{Bold text tag} is correct
• Not escaping commas where necessary
• Advanced tags use the comma to separate the various arguments. If you need to use a comma and not have it treated as a delimiter, you must escape the comma.
• See the discussion under "Special Characters" for further explanation and many examples.
• Putting spaces where they do not belong
• \ b{Bold text tag} is wrong (space between \ and b).
• \b {Bold text tag} is wrong (space between b and {).
• \b{Bold text tag} is correct.

• My post does not show up
• When I click the "Reload" button, I go to the top page
• My formatting tags don't work
• Text entry boxes reset when I resize windows
• Text entry boxes reset when I use the back button
• Text entry boxes don't fit entirely on screen
• Some links present "not found" messages
• Images are not displayed properly
• Colors are displayed strangely on the screen
• Some strange characters appear
• Text entry boxes don't show up properly

Alternatively, try reloading the frame or refreshing the frame using your browser's command. Note that this is different from reloading the document (see the next problem).

When I click the "Reload" button, I go to the top page

Colors are displayed strangely on the screen

Text entry boxes don't show up correctly