Spoilers - How to use

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by Crazy1080, Apr 27, 2013.

  1. Too many broken spoilers on the forums.
    I must make step-by-step guide for fixing them.
    My last forum formatting thread touched upon this, but I'll make this a little more in-depth. If you see broken spoilers, just refer people to this thread.

    ---
    So you want to create a spoiler? You write things like a normal person and it'll all work out. Now, if you're someone like PandasEatRamen, you'll run into a few problems. Why? Because you have a modifier on the spoiler itself. This is a bad idea, don't do it.

    XenForo's rich text editor loves to throw unnecessary tags on everything. Every line gets a modifier, occasionally doubling them up in crazy ways. Because of this, modifiers are very hard to get rid of. The best way to use the spoiler tag is to use it before you do anything else. If you know your post will contain a spoiler, put it there. Later, when editing your post, just avoid the spoiler tag like the plague.
    thingam1.png
    But wait, you already edited your post, didn't you? Your spoiler tags already have modifiers on them. That's not very good.

    Well, how do you fix that? Every time you get replace the spoiler tag, the modifier remains. This is when you dump the rich text editor and delve into that unknown territory touched only by Crazy1080, the standard text editor. It's a scary place, so be careful.
    thingam2.png
    Comparing the two standard text spoilers, the second one has the modifiers inside the spoiler, while the first one (the bad one) has the modifier on the outside. It's a pretty quick fix to click&drag the modifier from the outside to the inside.

    This will work every time, assuming you're using the rich text editor in the first place. If not, there is another fix, which I will show below... but I'm the only person who even touches the standard text editor.
    thingam3.png
    See that? There is no modifier placed precisely on the spoiler tag. It should be okay, right? Well, it's not. The spoiler tags are still being modified! That's unfair. How do you fix it? You need to isolate the spoiler tag and make everything good again.
    thingam4.png
    As you can see, the spoilers are now surrounded by an absolute mess of additional tags. On the outsides, I have tags to remove and later replace the color/font tags. On the insides, I have an isolated color/font modifier that begins and ends inside the spoiler. It looks confusing, but it also works, so it's okay.

    If you happen to have any further questions regarding spoilers, feel free to ask, but this should be comprehensive enough for most people. Stop worrying about "the spoiler curse" now, because that's just silly.
    Did you expect something about the eraser button? I've tested it out. It doesn't always work, so I don't tell people to use it.
  2. Very good guide, I was getting tired of having to click 3 spoilers to find the right one......
  3. Nice. Nothing new to me but nice.
  4. I thought it was only the last one......
  5. It is, i just like clicky clicky. xD
  6. they need a spoiler button
  7. I have actually used the standard text editor myself for fixing multiple spoilers.
    I realised for fixing them, you had to highlight the text you need for the spoiler (including spoiler tags), cut it (Ctrl-X) then paste as plain text (Ctrl-Shift-V) back where it used to go.
  8. Yep, it might work
  9. Text is the best thing in the world by far? I think not. Ponies are better.
    Parkerjv9, AliceF3 and jtc0999 like this.
  10. And you had to use text to say that. Go figure
  11. I think you missed something.
    thingam5.png
  12. :I Throwing me under the bus man. j/k
    BilboBaggins23, penfoldex and mba2012 like this.
  13. You should do a tutorial on how to quote/reply to someone.
  14. YES! PONIES FTW
  15. ask a mod
  16. And a mod did link to it....
    But please don't bump for sake of bumping
  17. I don't have the time to read all of that, but how do i name my spoilers like TheEpic5 did?