Reppy's Sig Workshop - A guide to building forum sigs

by **Shazbotdom** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:37 pm

Both of yours are under the 8 line limit.

by **Shanix** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:05 pm

Maravannea wrote:Would my sig here be okay?

That's either on the line or crossing it on my screen.

Shinjitai wrote:Is my sig okayy?

Yours is fine.

by **Lauruccia** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:49 am

I was just going to change that :rofl:

by **Krala Sau** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:46 am

Looking through this, it looks like my Sig needs some work.

Although, I haven't had any complaints about it yet...

Is it fine how it is?

by **Shazbotdom** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 7:40 am

Krala Sau wrote:Looking through this, it looks like my Sig needs some work.

Although, I haven't had any complaints about it yet...

Is it fine how it is?

There's a bit of negative space, but otherwise it looks like it falls under the 8 line limit. At least on my 1024x768 Netbook. although for some of that information, you could place it in a National Factbook in the FaNI Section.

by **Mousebumples** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:57 am

Krala Sau wrote:Looking through this, it looks like my Sig needs some work.

Although, I haven't had any complaints about it yet...

Is it fine how it is?

Like said by others, you have negative space. If you're uncertain as to how to fix that, post your sig here (presuming that you want it to be fixed), between CODE tags, and I'm sure that there are many of us here that would be happy to assist with coding, if needed.

by **Jormengand** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:03 am

Krala Sau wrote:Looking through this, it looks like my Sig needs some work.

Although, I haven't had any complaints about it yet...

Is it fine how it is?

*jumps on negative space bandwagon*

But your sig is awesome, it has me in!

by **Sedgistan** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:08 am

Jormengand wrote:*jumps on negative space bandwagon*

But your sig is awesome, it has me in!

Quit spamming in Moderation.

by **Krala Sau** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:50 pm

Alrighty, here it is:

Code: Select all: Can [i]you[/i] think inside a chimney?[floatright][spoiler=Current Government]High Select David Lower Select Warren People's Few: Jarl James, Jarl Benjamin, Jarl George, Jarl Martin, Jarl Puddinghead[/spoiler][/floatright] [url=http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=163434]National Factbook (WIP)[/url] [spoiler=Quotes][quote="San Leggera";p="8053156"]There's no black and white. Only grey.[/quote] A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist. -Stewart Alsop[/spoiler][floatright][spoiler=Personal][url=http://ponysquare.com/selectfew/]PonySquare[/url][/floatright][/spoiler] DEFCON [b][u]5[/u][/b] [floatright]Left/Right: -5.75 Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62[/floatright][spoiler=Alternate names of Krala Sau][quote="Jormengand";p="8296298"] Ko'ra'la Si'oh, meaning water snake girl's light.[/quote] [quote="1000 Cats";p="8506523"]Kráhíyas:sù - The First Bird Cries.[/quote] [quote="Haydn";p="8523214"]Krala Sau means 'Warrior' in Haydanian. (Richin Tau)[/quote][/spoiler]

I had wanted to put the Personal tab in the middle, but it kept messing up the alignment of the Current Government tab.

by **Orussia** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:57 pm

Aha! Finally, the thread that I've been looking for!
Since I know I'm going to be doing a lot of IC expansions, including a factbook, embassy thread, etc, what would be a good way to consolidate those down to prevent it from going of the limit, but still keeping it highly organized, and without too many spoilers?

by **Frisbeeteria** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:07 pm

Orussia wrote:Aha! Finally, the thread that I've been looking for!

Try looking at this post in the Tech Forum FAQ, and perhaps some of the posts near the end. Mousebumples has been posting some pretty advanced space management tools there.

by **Mousebumples** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:07 pm

Krala Sau wrote:*snip*

Tip One: Do all of your "Floatright" stuff together, in one fell swoop. Having the multiple tags is part of the problem with your empty space in your sig.

Tip Two: You have the ending tags for a float & spoiler tag inverted. (i.e. you have float first to open but also first to close) Your tags align better - and coding issues are generally avoided - when you close in the opposite order that you open tags.

{quote}{spoiler}Text to go inside of the quoted spoiler tag.{/spoiler}{/quote} (obviously, the tag brackets were changed to allow for the color-coding clarity of the tag ordering)

Anyhow, here's a quick re-do of your present sig, in pretty much the same order/arrangement that you had it originally. (You also save on characters by only having one open {floatright} tag versus the 3 you originally had.)

High Select David
Lower Select Warren
People's Few: Jarl James, Jarl Benjamin, Jarl George, Jarl Martin, Jarl Puddinghead
PonySquare
Left/Right: -5.75
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62
Can you think inside a chimney?
National Factbook (WIP)
San Leggera wrote:There's no black and white. Only grey.

A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.
-Stewart Alsop
DEFCON 5
Jormengand wrote:Ko'ra'la Si'oh, meaning water snake girl's light.

1000 Cats wrote:Kráhíyas:sù - The First Bird Cries.

Haydn wrote:Krala Sau means 'Warrior' in Haydanian. (Richin Tau)

Certainly, the order of items is a matter of personal choice, but I think that the arrangement may be more logical with some swapping around of locations.

One alternative suggestion is as follows. I tried to group your "nation" stuff all on the left-hand side since (I figure) that will be the most relevant to your posts and should be the "easiest" to find. Also, grouping it together makes it simpler for another user to learn more about your nation, rather than needing to un-spoiler each of your spoiler-tags.

San Leggera wrote:There's no black and white. Only grey.

A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.
-Stewart Alsop
PonySquare
Left/Right: -5.75
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.62
Can you think inside a chimney?
National Factbook (WIP)
DEFCON 5
High Select David
Lower Select Warren
People's Few: Jarl James, Jarl Benjamin, Jarl George, Jarl Martin, Jarl Puddinghead
Jormengand wrote:Ko'ra'la Si'oh, meaning water snake girl's light.

1000 Cats wrote:Kráhíyas:sù - The First Bird Cries.

Haydn wrote:Krala Sau means 'Warrior' in Haydanian. (Richin Tau)

Hopefully something there is helpful.

And, on another note, I do have some coding in the Tech FAQ, but I don't know that I have much on the float tags there. In one of the sig threads (although I think it was the other one), I covered how to combine FLOATLEFT, FLOATRIGHT, and CENTER tags to get 3 columns of information into your sig. (Provided that you're under the character limit, of course.)

by **Mousebumples** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:23 pm

"Bumping" this thread because I figured that having an additional post with more of the coding details (combining all the float/alignment tags into one sig) may be beneficial here - for linking and easy-reference - without having to separate out those details from the sig edit suggestions I had in the previous post.

The other thread I referenced above was here in the Sig Reporting thread. The sig in question, there, had 9 spoiler tags, which can be difficult to condense into 7 or fewer lines ... unless you use the magic of FLOAT/ALIGN tags!

THIS:

1
2
3
7
8
9
4
5
6

is coded by THIS:

Code: Select all: [floatleft][spoiler=1]1[/spoiler][spoiler=2]2[/spoiler][spoiler=3]3[/spoiler][/floatleft][floatright][spoiler=7]7[/spoiler][spoiler=8]8[/spoiler][spoiler=9]9[/spoiler][/floatright][align=center][spoiler=4]4[/spoiler][spoiler=5]5[/spoiler][spoiler=6]6[/spoiler][/align]

Coding recommendations for mixing and matching these codes:

Type/code all of your content separately for each column you want to create. Perfect each column, individually, before you add in the FLOAT/etc. tags. Due to character constraints (and to simplify coding and editing of your sig), it's simplest to do that step first and make sure it looks like you want it to. Of course, keep the row-limit of sigs in mind, but I think we all know about that by now.
Remove carriage returns between coding (after SPOILER or FLOAT tags) as the system will automatically insert one for you. Often "blank spaces" in sigs result from additional carriage returns. (This is also true of QUOTE and LIST tags, but that's not as relevant to sigs since most quotes tend to be spoiler-tagged.) However, it's often easier to work with your coding to perfect it if you leave extra carriage returns between your FLOAT tags initially - only removing them when you have everything else as you want it.
Close your tags in the opposite order in which you open them. If you're a visual person, you can code in a word processing document and perhaps add some color-coding to each type of tag to ensure that you're closing in them in the correct order. There are certainly other tricks for remembering, though, if that doesn't work for you. (For any of you that have seen forum pages go wonky, it's usually due to mixed up quote/spoiler/something code closures. Mod-fixaible, but it's simpler to not make them fix that sort of thing, right?)
To have everything "start" on the same line, I've found it works best to go FLOATLEFT, FLOATRIGHT, ALIGNCENTER, when using all 3 tags. When you're only doing 2 columns, you only need to code for FLOATRIGHT and just code the left-aligned column right after it - keeping the carriage return rules in mind. (I'm happy to post the code for my own sig, if that would be useful for anyone, to see how I did the 2 column format.)
Keep an eye on how long each line of a given column is getting. If multiple spoilers in multiple columns are open, the board will auto-adjust the allowed width. However, it may also make sense to align "longer" width items within the same column, to avoid competing columns in your sig.

Further questions, et cetera, certainly let me know. (And, yes, I am looking to add some of this to the Technical FAQ, when I next have the chance to update, so if there are certain questions that seem to be popping up more often than others, those are likely to be included.)

by **Licentiapacisterra** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:35 am

Probably a completely stupid question, but I can't find how to create my sig. :palm:

Would somebody mind telling me ??

by **Jormengand** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:37 am

Licentiapacisterra wrote:Probably a completely stupid question, but I can't find how to create my sig. Would somebody mind telling me ??

The top left corner has a link to user control panel. Then click the profile tab and the edit signature subtab.

by **Licentiapacisterra** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:40 am

Jormengand wrote:
Licentiapacisterra wrote:Probably a completely stupid question, but I can't find how to create my sig. Would somebody mind telling me ??

The top left corner has a link to user control panel. Then click the profile tab and the edit signature subtab.

Thank you very much

by **Frisbeeteria** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 8:39 pm

Mousebumples wrote:"Bumping" this thread because I figured that having an additional post with more of the coding details (combining all the float/alignment tags into one sig) may be beneficial here

Mousebumples, you've underestimated the value of the float tools. You can make a clean and tight sig much more simply:

Notice how all the spoilers line up nicely, even though the code has line returns in it. That's because all the starting [floatleft] tags are on the same line as the previous closing tag. Mind you, when you click the spoilers it's not quite as neat, but you can pack one hell of a lot of useless crap into your sig without annoying those of us who don't really want to see any of it.

Code: Select all: [floatleft][spoiler=Political Compass]My Political Compass <foo> +100, <antifoo> -100[/spoiler][/floatleft][floatleft][spoiler=Quotes]Quotes [quote="Frisbeeteria";p="8641950"]Mousebumples has been posting some pretty advanced space management tools there.[/quote][/spoiler][/floatleft][floatleft][spoiler=Links]Links [url=http://www.nationstates.net/page=help]Getting Help[/url][/spoiler][/floatleft][floatleft][spoiler=Religion]Religion In Frisbeeteria "Frisbeeterianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets caught in the gutter." - [i]George Carlin[/i][/spoiler][/floatleft]

I suppose you could start a second line or use [floatright] tags to increase the amount of crap in your sig, but honestly 4-5 spoilers ought to be enough even for the most enormous ego.

by **Mousebumples** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:34 pm

Frisbeeteria wrote:
Mousebumples wrote:"Bumping" this thread because I figured that having an additional post with more of the coding details (combining all the float/alignment tags into one sig) may be beneficial here

Mousebumples, you've underestimated the value of the float tools. You can make a clean and tight sig much more simply:

*snip*

I suppose you could start a second line or use [floatright] tags to increase the amount of crap in your sig, but honestly 4-5 spoilers ought to be enough even for the most enormous ego.

I never even thought of trying to use more than one float-tag, Fris! Thanks for the info.

And, yes, I'd generally agree that 4-5 spoilers are probably enough, especially since there's a character limit in sigs, on top of the line limit, which is proving to be easier and easier to evade ...

by **Merfurian** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:10 am

Could someone check the coding in my sig? I want to provide a link to the GHR page - just in case anyone wants or needs to use it. I think I've mucked up the relevant coding slightly.

by **Mousebumples** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:14 am

Merfurian wrote:Could someone check the coding in my sig? I want to provide a link to the GHR page - just in case anyone wants or needs to use it. I think I've mucked up the relevant coding slightly.

The "code" coding that you're using shows others how THEY can code for a GHR in their own posts/sigs.

Remove the code tags [.code][./code] - minus the periods - and that should give you a nice and neat: THIS IS THE LINK TO GHRs. USE IT TO REPORT MAJOR CONCERNS - MORE INFO ON THHE GHR PAGE.

Of course, I notice that your coding of the [.help][./help] tag doesn't include the proper end tag. Here's the coding you're looking for:

Code: Select all: [help]THIS IS THE LINK TO GHRs. USE IT TO REPORT MAJOR CONCERNS - MORE INFO ON THHE GHR PAGE[/help]

(You may also want to spell-check the text inside the code tags, as you have THHE, which is likely a typo.)

by **The Sword** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:04 pm

Is my sig okay?

by **Frisbeeteria** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:07 pm

The Sword wrote:Is my sig okay?

The rule is "8 visible lines". That and following all the other forum rules, of course. I see 5-6 lines in yours, depending on whether you count spoilers as 1, 1.5, or 2 lines. I usually count them as 1.5 unless they're used with a float tag, in which case they're one.

by **The Sword** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:19 pm

Frisbeeteria wrote:
The Sword wrote:Is my sig okay?

The rule is "8 visible lines". That and following all the other forum rules, of course. I see 5-6 lines in yours, depending on whether you count spoilers as 1, 1.5, or 2 lines. I usually count them as 1.5 unless they're used with a float tag, in which case they're one.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Fris.

by **Nanatsu no Tsuki** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:47 am

Quick question: was my sig mod tweaked?

by **Frisbeeteria** » Thu May 03, 2012 11:10 am

Nanatsu no Tsuki wrote:Quick question: was my sig mod tweaked?

That was me. It appeared to have too much whitespace, and I'm afraid I got carried away. The stupid Spoiler tags take up 1.5-2 lines each and won't post side by side without float tags, so I floated them all on the same line to save space.

While we allow up to 8 lines, some of us (well, me for sure) don't like seeing all that extra space between posts. It distracts from the flow of the thread, and the only possible benefit I can see is the ego of the poster. I did a spin through the Forums and trimmed a bunch of close-to-the limit sigs.

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