[Nation=flagonly] ? - (For TINY flags inline w/text)

[Strike]

According to the factbook: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=330837

In addition to the standard [nation] tag on factbooks we can add "=long" to get the full title of the nation not just the nation name, and "=noflag" to exclude the flag but still link to the nation.

However, the option I am looking for is one that presents *ONLY* the flag, and not the text of the nation name. Is there a string for this or has it not been coded yet? If the latter, boy that would be a great feature. Thanks

Basically instead of [Flag] NATION I would like the factbook to be able to display [Flag] Person of that Nation.

[-Astoria-]

According to the factbook: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=330837

In addition to the standard [nation] tag on factbooks we can add "=long" to get the full title of the nation not just the nation name, and "=noflag" to exclude the flag but still link to the nation.

However, the option I am looking for is one that presents *ONLY* the flag, and not the text of the nation name. Is there a string for this or has it not been coded yet? If the latter, boy that would be a great feature. Thanks

Basically instead of [Flag] NATION I would like the factbook to be able to display [Flag] Person of that Nation.

If you're looking for a way to only show the flag, then you could download the flag in question & resize it to a small enough level, then upload it onto an image sharing site, but that'd be a bit too repetitive.

[Comfed]

I think I read somewhere that a similar tag, [nation=noname] was implemented, and deleted shortly after because people were using it to spam.

[Trotterdam]

If you're posting somewhere that allows [img] tags, you can just use those (no need for offsite image sharing sites, you can just link to the NationStates server directly), although it doesn't let you resize the flag to fit the environment.

[Strike]

but that'd be a bit too repetitive.

correct.

If you're posting somewhere that allows [img] tags, you can just use those (no need for offsite image sharing sites, you can just link to the NationStates server directly), although it doesn't let you resize the flag to fit the environment.

I think you realize the major drawback to this but I will complete the list

1) The size of the image will not fit inline with the text and would completely break the entire formatting of the factbook
2) The flag would not update when the user updates the flag as each flag upload URL is unique and this image link would break anytime the nation changes its flag in the future
3) The image link would also break if the nation CTE's, and would not restore itself if the nation refounded
4) The flag would not scale with the text around it
5) The flag would not natively link to the nations page


Using gameside tags like [nation] are powerful as they will always adapt to the game. If the URL's change in game the tag updates to address them. The nations flag changes, the tag updates it. Thats why its imperative that a [nation] or similar tag is used.

I think I read somewhere that a similar tag, [nation=noname] was implemented, and deleted shortly after because people were using it to spam.

I'm not sure what context it could be used to spam as the size of the flag while using the [nation] tag is approximately 20x12 pixels. If "noname" was being used simply to return the flag as a way to overcome issue #2 above but returning a full size image of the flag then perhaps that could be a concern but thats not what the request is for here. The request is for the [nation] tag to have an option to display the flag only In the exact size it currently displays inline with the text when using the standard [nation] tag. I'm not really sure what concern there would be with it being used in place of an [img] tag since we already have an [img] tag and a [url] tag that can put any arbitrary image and link together gameside as is. Having an option in the [nation] tag that displays only the flag image doesn't provide a capability that didn't already exist from a 'spam' perspective it just provides a way for formatting to stand the test of time.

If the spam concern is to do with notifications in factbooks or specifically RMB messages - i dont see how its really a concern as its not really any different than the current [nation] tag but you could make it a [flag] tag instead and have no notifications on flag tag and make it such that the flag tag could only be used in Factbooks, not on the RMB. Future developments could have [flag=tiny] [flag=small] [flag=default] where tiny = 20x12, small = 50x30 and default = 107x71 with transparent space filling out those max dimensions if the flag is of an off-ratio.

[Comfed]

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=202229
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=221720

[Strike]

Yup so that confirms the initial issue was that [nation=noname] returned the full size flag. The second thread shows many of the same resolutions to preserve the capability (Returning the flag only at the size it is shown in the base [nation] tag and not at full size, as well as restricting the use of the tag to factbooks only and not allow it on WFE, RMB or TG's)


Where its Nation=noname, Nation=flagonly or a new tag entirely, it would seem that simply restricting either the size of the flag that is returned to be the same size as is already returned using the default [nation] tag while optionally restricting it from being used in places where the [img] tag is not allowed would completely eliminate any potential spam concerns that doomed the tag the first time around.

[Strike]

While it seems any issue with this tag would be immediately mitigated by restricting it from use on the RMB or TG if there is even a concern there, another alternative would be to require the text as part of the tag much like a spoiler. This would prevent it from ever being used as a standalone image (which would limit its use perhaps unnecessarily - but perhaps somehow ease the spam concern from 10 years ago?)

For spoiler tags we either have [ Spoiler ] or [ spoiler=TEXT] where the word "Spoiler" is replaced by the "TEXT"


To retain inline small nation flags without letting them be a standalone image, the tag could simply be ='text' the same way. You could either re-use the nation tag with "Short" and "Long" blocked off and return any other value as text along side the name or, once again, make a new tag of [flag | or [nationtext= | where what comes after the "=" would be displayed as text inline with the flag identical to how the current NATION tag works


This would be beneficial to any factbook or discussion that involves characters from a nation in a multi-national environment such as conflict (Showing the nationality of a leader next to their name without requiring two separate lines of information), Politics (Showing IC candidates for positions such as a Regional delegate without having the duplicate lines to show the full nation text) and sports (Olympics, International Sports etc)

This is particularly important when viewing things like factbook on mobile where cell formatting changes switch the appearance of the page and make it more onerous to review extended content.

On the left, see This Factbook as translated to mobile currently, and the optimized factbook taking advantage of [nation=flagonly] / =noname] / [nationtext=].