# Forum Tips and Tricks

**URL:** <https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999>\
**Category:** Meta\
**Created:** [April 22, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999 "2014-04-22T02:58:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/particle/original/3X/6/4/64635adccc35238caa19e9b553ec3e98b163d026.png) [@system](https://community.particle.io/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/1 "2014-04-22T02:58:40Z")

</div>

## Post your forum Tips and Tricks here!

* * *

Do you have some simple but useful tip that will save users time, or make their forum use much more rich with features? Post them here! Tips and Tricks should be short and to the point. Also, please don’t post questions here regarding anything other than the tips and tricks posted. I will organize and link to each relevant tip from this first post as the thread builds. If you have a way to improve a tip or trick, please make a suggestion. Thanks!

Please use these formatting techniques to submit your tips and tricks:  
[![](http://i.imgur.com/tPZqxou.png) ](http://i.imgur.com/tPZqxou.png)

* * *

### Table of Contents

for Tips and Tricks found in below posts

1. [Formatting your Code Examples is Easy](https://community.spark.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/2)
2. [Make Keyboard Shortcuts look Beautiful!](https://community.spark.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/3)
3. [Make Keywords stand out](https://community.spark.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/4)
4. [Fix Reply Box height with cool Bookmarklet](https://community.spark.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/5)
5. [Use the Search function](http://community.spark.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/9)
6.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/particle/original/3X/6/4/64635adccc35238caa19e9b553ec3e98b163d026.png) [@system](https://community.particle.io/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/2 "2014-04-22T02:58:52Z")

</div>

## Formatting your Code Examples is Easy

Here is a quick tip that makes your posted code look beautiful.

```cpp
// The following two line is for Local Builds, 
// but works fine in the Sparkulator (web IDE)
#include "application.h"

void setup() {
  pinMode(D7,OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  // Blinky code
  digitalWrite(D7,HIGH);
  delay(100);
  digitalWrite(D7,LOW);
  delay(100);
}

```

* * *

**Here's what my post looks like edited:**  
[![](https://i.imgur.com/2CQUE5r.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/2CQUE5r.png)

* * *

All you have to do is wrap your code in

````
```cpp

````

// my code  
if(worldRuler == "ME") {  
play(VICTORY\_SONG);  
}

````
```

````

* * *

and it will look like this:

```cpp
// my code
if(worldRuler == "ME") {
  play(VICTORY_SONG);
}

```

* * *

Make sure the

````
```cpp

````

and

````
```

````

are on their own lines!

* * *

Some further discussion about the language hints (e.g. `cpp`, `java`, ...) can be found in this thread

> [@Some discussion about formatting code blocks in posts](https://community.particle.io/t/some-discussion-about-formatting-code-blocks-in-posts/39936):
>
> @ScruffR, Thanks for the link to formatting, good stuff there even for folks who have been posting for a while. One question, the instructions say you need to wrap code samples in three elipses and “cpp” but as you can see below, the cpp part does not seem to make a difference. Has the system changed since the original post was made or am I doing this wrong? Serial.println(“With cpp”); Serial.println(“Without cpp”); Thanks, Chip

---

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**Author:** ![BDub](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/bdub/32/5137_2.png) [@BDub](https://community.particle.io/u/BDub)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/3 "2014-04-22T02:59:08Z")

</div>

## Make Keyboard Shortcuts look Beautiful!

Here is a quick tip that makes your keyboard shortcuts look beautiful. Every want to tell someone what keys to press, but you you type something like press CTRL + ALT + DEL to get to the Task Manager. Well, NO MORE! Check this out…

Just use the keyboard tags.

```
<kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>Alt</kbd> + <kbd>Del</kbd>

```

Looks like the real thing!

Ctrl + Alt + Del

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ScruffR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/scruffr/32/6952_2.png) [@ScruffR](https://community.particle.io/u/ScruffR)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/4 "2014-04-22T10:25:27Z")

</div>

## Make Keywords stand out

To make `keywords` like **_function_** _names_ or **commands** stand out of the text without putting them in a code block, you can use this symbol ` (grave accent) before and after the respective word (in some languages you might have to press SPACE after it to make it appear).  
And the \* does some magic, too 😉

The text above was typed like this

```cpp
 ... make `keywords` like ***function*** *names* or **commands** stand out ...

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BDub](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/bdub/32/5137_2.png) [@BDub](https://community.particle.io/u/BDub)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/5 "2014-04-30T00:28:01Z")

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## Fix Reply Box height with cool Bookmarklet

The following link loads a twitter bootstrap html page (i.e., cool page) that’s shared from my Dropbox account (i.e., super hacky web hosting because It’s too easy to drag and drop it to my webhost through Filezilla FTP). It has a bookmarklet that you can drag up you your bookmarks bar and click while on any Discourse forum (such as this one) to change the reply box height to 200px. This is useful if you have maximized your reply box on a computer with a large monitor, and then switch to a smaller monitor computer with no way to shrink the reply box. This bookmarklet will reset your reply box height to something you can grab and resize.

Get the **Fix Reply** bookmarklet to instantly set your Reply box to a height of 200px.

Add this code to a Bookmark called _Fix Reply_:

```auto
javascript:(function()%7B%24('div%23reply-control').css('height'%2C'200px')%7D)()

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Julian](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/julian/32/706_2.png) [@Julian](https://community.particle.io/u/Julian)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 4:03pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/8 "2014-10-22T16:03:28Z")

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Hey @BDub, thanks for this it is a great help.

I have struggled with the issues you address here.

Thank you very much.

Now… more tips please!! 😉

---

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**Author:** ![Moors7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/moors7/32/588_2.png) [@Moors7](https://community.particle.io/u/Moors7)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/9 "2014-10-30T13:28:09Z")

</div>

## Use the Search function

Contrary to popular belief, and prior experiences with those ‘old fashioned’ forums, Discourse provides a really well working search functionality. Please, for the sake of the community,_USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION_. It’s not that hard, and it provides reliable answers, for which you don’t have to scroll through the entire forum. For those who are visual learners:

The search button is the little looking glass at the top right corner, next to your profile image, and notification bubble.  
 ![](https://community.particle.io/uploads/particle/3431/50cca0ca1f07282b.png)

To get more, and possibly more relevant, answers, please click the “show more” button, which is shown after entering a query. Shown in the picture below:  
 ![](https://community.particle.io/uploads/particle/3432/0f6284333a6c86c5.png)

I know it’s easier to just open a new thread, ask your question, and wait for answers. But with the community growing, there will be more and more questions asked, and more time will have to be spent answering those. We’re absolutely okay with that, and you’re more than welcome to ask question. It will however clutter the forum if some questions have to be answered on 7 different topics, while they’ve been answered several times before. So I’d like to request it once more: _please use the search functionalities, and don’t be afraid to read a bit before opening a new topic._

Thanks in advance!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![emc2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/emc2/32/1997_2.png) [@emc2](https://community.particle.io/u/emc2)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 6:48am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/11 "2014-11-21T06:48:56Z")

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To bypass the incredibly annoying Ctrl + F hijacking that occurs in Discourse (this forum software) for select browsers, press Ctrl + F **twice**.

There’s a debate thread over at [https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-to-disable-hijack-of-cmd-f-ctrl-f-and-keys-for-search/16875/31](https://meta.discourse.org/t/options-to-disable-hijack-of-cmd-f-ctrl-f-and-keys-for-search/16875/31).

---

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**Author:** ![ScruffR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/scruffr/32/6952_2.png) [@ScruffR](https://community.particle.io/u/ScruffR)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/14 "2016-10-03T13:28:04Z")

</div>

To center an uploaded (via drag and drop, copy paste or the upload icon ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/particle/original/2X/5/5517bd4401f791b61c529df7d3a746b124a44a6b.png)) wrap it into this

```auto
<div align="center">
<img src="..." >
</div>

```

Output:

 ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/particle/original/2X/0/0009403cbc65f905bbd9a9b20e342015ee87c666.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ScruffR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/scruffr/32/6952_2.png) [@ScruffR](https://community.particle.io/u/ScruffR)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/15 "2016-10-03T13:47:55Z")

</div>

Adding a spoiler block like this

> **What's it?**
>
> This should not be seen immediately

* * *

```nohighlight
<details>
<summary>What's it?</summary>
This should not be seen immediately
</details>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ScruffR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/scruffr/32/6952_2.png) [@ScruffR](https://community.particle.io/u/ScruffR)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 5:30am UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/16 "2018-10-15T05:30:54Z")

</div>

How to mark a thread as solved:

The OP of a thread or a moderator can click the ellipsis symbol ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/particle/original/3X/3/c/3c5115bb82ff99481804f195e5673a1d552ef1b8.png) at the bottom of the solving post, this will reveal a ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/particle/original/3X/7/a/7a26653c0f9c98839f979bc737e989c56e083ac6.png) icon to click.

That way the respective post will be quoted in the opening post and the thread marked as solved.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joe](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/community.particle.io/joe/32/16963_2.png) [@Joe](https://community.particle.io/u/Joe)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://community.particle.io/t/forum-tips-and-tricks/3999/17 "2019-12-11T21:10:30Z")

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