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Published: 2016-09-28 03:00:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 5313; Favourites: 76; Downloads: 0
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/* ------------------------------ INSTRUCTIONS ------------------------------ */ /* DO NOT EDIT THIS! UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE APPLY CHANGES TO THE CSS IN HERE, THE HEADER OR FOOTER! */ /* ----- Check out the full instructions: https://sta.sh/0h0h2gr62n9 ----- */ /* -----Week title ----- */ /* Put
Community Week
Hello!
I'm UszatyArbuz and today I want to explain some basic features that DeviantArt provides for anyone to use in the journal. However they are really simple HTML, people keep asking me from time to time on how to do more complicated things with them.
Even though you can use more features, I am going to explain the features that are provided on top bar of "Write a journal entry" page only, in both Rich text and HTML editing modes, and how to adjust them to your needs.
Let's get it started
How does it look like?To see the bar, you can either go to your "Write a journal entry " page, or "Sta.sh Writer " page. On Sta.sh writer page, part of the bar is moved to the next line, however the features and their order doesn't change.
Description: A bar on "Write a journal entry " page.
1. MenuWhen you hover this icon, a "Sta.sh menu" will appear. It doesn't add any feature for the text that you write, so I won't go into details.
2. Undo and Redo option
There two icons allow you to undo your last action(s), such as writing text or removing a thumbnail, or redo them.
The Undo icon is on the left, and it works exactly like CTRL+Z on your keyboard.
The Redo icon is on the right and works exactly like CTRL+Y on your keyboard.
3. "File" menuWhen you click this icon, the new actions will appear as a drop-down list:
a) Last Autosave
This is not an icon, however it's a useful little thing that tells you the last time when the draft was saved by the site.
b) New Draft...
This option allows you to create a new journal entry. Please be very cautious with this option, because when you click it, it will create an empty draft directly on the page that you are on, and it can overwrite the content that you have already added. You can right-click this option, and choose "Open in a new tab", to add a new, empty draft in the new tab of your browser.
c) Open Draft...
After clicking this option, a new pop-up will appear. You will be presented with your Sta.sh content, and you will be able to choose any literature draft or deviation for future editing.
d) Save Draft
With this option, you can manually save your draft.
4. "Edit" menuWhen you click this icon, the new actions will appear as a drop-down list:
a) Always Add Full Size Images
On default, this checkbox is checked. You can disable this option while clicking on it.
b) Switch to HTML mode
This is an important option that we will be using today for this guide. It allows you to switch to HTML mode.
Now, every option that appears as an icon on the bar is added as a code between text content to give additional effect to the text. At this moment you can only see the final effect that will be added to the text. When you choose this option, you will be presented with the journal content as it looks with the particular codes.
If you click it, journal content will change, adding codes and removing features, unless you haven't chose any yet. When you hover over this menu again, you will be presented with the option "Switch to Rich Editing Mode" instead, which allows you to go back to previous state:
5. Bold, Italic, UnderlineThese are basic text formatting options presented by DeviantArt. There is more of them, most working in journals as well.
a) B - bold
Makes your text bold.
Click and drag over the text to highlight it, and then click the icon to make the text bold.
To make your text bold in HTML mode, add you text between and :
your text here
b) I - italic
Makes your text italic.
Click and drag over the text to highlight it, and then click the icon to make the text italic.
To make your text italic in HTML mode, add you text between and :
your text here
c) U - underline
Makes your text bold.
Click and drag over the text to highlight it, and then click the icon to make the text italic.
To make your text underlined in HTML mode, add you text between and :
your text here
6. HeadersAfter clicking this icon, a drop-down list will appear. This feature allows you to add text in different sizes (and weight), to emphasize the content.
The image itself is self-explanatory, whoever using headers is a bit tricky.
To make text a header, simply click and drag over the text to highlight it, and then click this drop down menu and choose the header of your liking.
If you go to new line and chose a header, all the text you will be writing in this line will be formatted to this header. If you already have a text in the line, all the line will be formatted to this header effect.
If you want to make multiple lines of text in the header with enter key, you need to go to HTML mode that we were discussing about earlier. Here, you are allowed to add enters inside the header code. Otherwise, the code may not work right.
7. Unordered listThis option allows you to create unordered lists. Simply click on the icon, and a dot will appear. To make a new item on the list, hit enter once. To finish writing the list, hit enter twice.
In HTML mode, the code for unordered (and ordered) list is a bit tricky. Let's see the example:
- List title
- cookies
- milk
- chocolate
- List title
- cookies
- milk
- chocolate
It's easy to see that all the list is between
- and
8. Ordered listOrdered list is similar to Unordered list, however here the items on the list will have numbers instead of dots. Moreover, the code changes a bit:
List title
- List title
- cookies
- milk
- chocolate
Here instead of
9. QuoteThis feature is used by many deviants, and at the same time, it's almost impossible to manage in Rich Editing Mode with a lot of different formatted content. It's really easy to do that in HTML mode, though!
To have you text in the quote box (aka block quote), simply click and drag over the text to highlight it, and then click the icon to put it in the box.
In the HTML mode, you will be presented with this code for block quote:
a text in blockquote
It looks very simple yet it's important to notice the opening and close of the code, for future part of this guide.
10. Text aligningThese three icons allows you align the text in your journal on thee different ways.
Left icon is aligning your text to the left, icon in the middle will center your text, and icon on the right is aligning your text to the right.
Simple as that
The codes in HTML mode looks as follows:
text on the left
text on the center
text on the right
11. Adding a linkThis is my favorite feature in Rich Editing option. It allows you to add links to your journal in most easiest way. When you click on this icon, a drop-down box will appear:
Simply, add URL address to the top text box, and the text that will appear in the journal and click OK to generate link.
In HTML mode the code looks a bit complicated. Example:
My profile
changes to:
My profile
In the first part of the code, between " and " add the URL that you want to create link to. Then, you have to add the name for the link as presented above.
12. Preview and Submit buttons (Write a Journal only)Lastly, on the very right side fo the bar, you have two buttons that will allow you to preview the journal entry, and to submit it to your Journal.
How to mix them together?Now, when we know how to manage the text editing features a bit more, and how works HTML mode of writing journals, we can mix features together to create more complex text edits.
It is very important to notice that every code that we saw today has their "opening" and "close" tags. In HTML, usually the closing code looks like opening code, but with additional backslash / right after the "less than" symbol < (Please note that not all HTML codes have the same syntax). It is very important to not to mix the codes while we are creating a complex one.
It's actually a very easy explanation on one of the basic stuff in HTML coding, so, there you go
As an example I will use Quote for the content base, and elements inside it, because as far as I noticed, it's the most used feature and hardest to manage in Rich editing text mode. I'm also going to include an image with no journal skin, because even our journal skin affects the code.
What we want to create :
How the code looks like:
I colored particular parts of the code to show you where they open and close. I also added new codes in new lines, although it's not necessary most of the time. On the right, with gradients I marked which codes are inside which other codes, and that it's mostly like building a cake with layers or a tree. I hope it's better to understand the opening and closing of the codes, and where they should be.
Last thing, when we aim to create a code where we add multiple text effects, it's always easier to create middle part, and add other that "over wrap" the one that we have already created. This way we can prevent mixing codes together a bit more.
In conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this article, and as you see the basic knowledge it brings can be used in creating not only journal entries, but also for things such as custom boxes.
As I mentioned, the effects / features that DeviantArt provides on the bar on the top of "Write a Journal" page are not all that you can use on DeviantArt. If you want to try more of them, you can read about them in this article, or this one , or find article of your liking by your own - there is a plenty of them over DA!.
Thanks, and see you next time!
Related content
Comments: 62
Malintra-Shadowmoon In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-10-29 12:35:17 +0000 UTC]
You are very welcome. Your journal is very helpful to all people on dA
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UszatyArbuz In reply to Malintra-Shadowmoon [2016-10-30 08:38:53 +0000 UTC]
I'm very glad to hear that
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TokyoMoonlight [2016-10-02 11:07:49 +0000 UTC]
Great article
The biggest problem for me is making certain text appear bigger.
That "header" option is Β a nightmare for me. Β
I have a written text, then I want to make some of it bigger (mostly titles). I do it as you wrote, but then all the text changes to the header sizeΒ I choose. Β The text above and under it, though I specifically highlighted the wordsΒ I want to be bigger.
NowΒ IΒ use thisΒ < font size=3>...< /font> It get's the job done for me Β
Oh and about the text alignment...one icon I miss is for the text to be evenly aligned. ThenΒ I use thisΒ fella Β < p align="justify">
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UszatyArbuz In reply to TokyoMoonlight [2016-10-02 12:07:25 +0000 UTC]
I'd suggest write the text first, and then chose all the text with a mouse and then from the top bar the Header option. Otherwise the code finish itself everytime you hit "Enter"
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TokyoMoonlight In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-10-02 13:11:42 +0000 UTC]
That's what I do...I write or copy the whole text then I do the "editing", bold /Β italic text, text alignment, emoticons
Just that header doesn't do what it should Β
I don't "argue" with it anymore...I just use the html thing Β
Thank you for your help Β
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Pascua-Tanya [2016-09-29 22:16:34 +0000 UTC]
Excellent article, very explanatory and easy to understand
Having this option bar has made it easier to edit the text without using HTML codes (such as bold or italics), but there are times when even the codes are required when not there an option for certain editions, as the quotes for example. I'm from users who have been on DA long before these options arise when we all had to use only the HTML codes to edit our texts. I know the basic HTML and some CSS to make my Skins
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UszatyArbuz In reply to Pascua-Tanya [2016-09-30 08:00:28 +0000 UTC]
Yes it's quite useful for people but it seems not many non-core deviants use it anyway. maybe they don't really now how it works, I'm not sure
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BRSpidey [2016-09-29 21:44:14 +0000 UTC]
You couldn't expect less from the Sensei of codes!
I think I've never used the ordered list
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UszatyArbuz In reply to BRSpidey [2016-09-30 08:00:56 +0000 UTC]
You make me blush
Oh I use lists the least as well
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BRSpidey In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-09-30 17:48:05 +0000 UTC]
Achievement unlocked! Spidey make blush UszatyArbuz
It's one of those things that don't have much use, but you can save in case one day is used .
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fireytika [2016-09-29 12:24:20 +0000 UTC]
Wooow awesome info! Thank you very much! This is super helpful~
You did a great job to create this article!
And...... we can save our draft? I just know about this, now! I'm not sure, should i be happy or sad? TT^TT
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UszatyArbuz In reply to fireytika [2016-09-29 12:25:27 +0000 UTC]
Ahhaha I suppose happy, after all you got new knowledge and that's always a good thing!
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fireytika In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-09-30 14:14:30 +0000 UTC]
yeahh that's a good thing XD
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ErikShoemaker [2016-09-29 07:59:04 +0000 UTC]
wow your code looks so nice! Do you actually write it like that? (Outside DA I do too, but here I never even got the idea to organize it nicely )
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UszatyArbuz In reply to ErikShoemaker [2016-09-29 08:01:58 +0000 UTC]
Yes, but I make less empty lines when I'm writing for myself I learned that on my studies... it's way easier to find and fix stuff when you have clear code
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SinistrosePhosphate [2016-09-29 02:53:31 +0000 UTC]
Thank you very much for this wonderful article! I am sure it will come in very handy very soon!Β
You did a great job with your examples and the "how to" section. I am sure a lot of people loved your article as well! Β
Good job!Β Β
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UszatyArbuz In reply to SinistrosePhosphate [2016-09-29 07:59:00 +0000 UTC]
Ah I'm glad you like it, it's always hard to explain coding especially for people who never had any experience in it...
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SinistrosePhosphate In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-09-30 02:44:43 +0000 UTC]
I know what you mean!Β
I took a programming course when I was really young. And I remember reading through the text book a few times and still don't understand what it's trying to say!
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TrixyNetex [2016-09-28 12:09:35 +0000 UTC]
This was a really great read, super easy to follow along with
I had a couple of light bulb moments while reading it
Thank you for sharing
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UszatyArbuz In reply to TrixyNetex [2016-09-29 07:59:59 +0000 UTC]
I'm happy you like it!
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Iduna-Haya [2016-09-28 08:42:20 +0000 UTC]
Thank you! This is really helpful ^^ htmlΒ always gives me an immediate headache, haha
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UszatyArbuz In reply to Iduna-Haya [2016-09-29 08:00:23 +0000 UTC]
AHhaha glad you like it
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surrealistic-gloom [2016-09-28 07:41:00 +0000 UTC]
Thank you kindly for sharing, you are awesome!Β
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UszatyArbuz In reply to surrealistic-gloom [2016-09-28 07:56:09 +0000 UTC]
Aw glad you liked it!
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surrealistic-gloom In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-09-29 05:34:27 +0000 UTC]
Of course I do! Great job!Β
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TheStockWarehouse [2016-09-28 06:59:47 +0000 UTC]
Have already sent another Deviant a link to this article! Well written and very clear!
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UszatyArbuz In reply to TheStockWarehouse [2016-09-28 07:55:58 +0000 UTC]
I hope they will like it
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LualaDy [2016-09-28 06:40:55 +0000 UTC]
I hate rich editing, it always adds so many span things
everything line
gets a span
drives me insane!!!
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UszatyArbuz In reply to LualaDy [2016-09-28 07:55:41 +0000 UTC]
Oh yeah I either use one or another, never both
Especially when I'm writing for InternationalFAQ and copy/paste stuff from dA FAQ to translate, it's like somethinganother thing. xD
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LualaDy In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-09-28 08:36:27 +0000 UTC]
EXACTLY OMG!!!!!!!!
like WTF
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Noctualis [2016-09-28 04:25:34 +0000 UTC]
This was a great run down of how to write journals! Lots of good information
I was wondering if you could explain how to make special bullet points like the hearts you did in this journal. Or more generally how to have css that applies to deviantart stuff.Β
I've built my own website so I know how to use css, but when I did it the css would be in a separate file from the html. So I'm just not sure how to apply that to deviantart
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UszatyArbuz In reply to Noctualis [2016-09-28 07:54:07 +0000 UTC]
Thanks
Yes Luala is right, in case of dA, they goes separate as well - HTML goes into journal content (where you write), and CSS is as a journal skin that loads itself after choosing it. So the heart icons were in the CSS, and that's why they appeared in this journal..
Still, writing CSS skins for dA is totally different from 'usual' CSS since this site hast heir own rights and many of things doesn't work or work differently
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Noctualis In reply to UszatyArbuz [2016-09-28 17:29:05 +0000 UTC]
I see, thanks for the explanation
Are there any resources for starting to make your own journal skin css and the rules? If I get core again I think it would be fun to try to make my own journals.Β
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UszatyArbuz In reply to Noctualis [2016-09-28 17:44:36 +0000 UTC]
I'm not really sure, I never used these to create my own skins.. Maybe those will help you out:
These are the "bases" in two versions, old code and new one but both works on dA just fine.
deviantART Journal CSS Explanation
CSS Tricks: Skin Template
And here other tricks..
The Tip Jar
Let's code! Pushable Buttons
Code Basics: Sidebar- Floating
CSS Tricks: Before and After!
How to: Scroll Boxes
CSS Tricks: Deviations in Journals
Code Basics: Inside Tabs
Let's code! CSS Progress bar
Mini Thumb Gallery Code Snippet
Big Thumb Hover CSS Snippet
CSS-fragment: round thumbs with text-hover
Chrome Frame Thumb Snippet
These are all from my favs regarding CSS, although I don't use them often (if ever )
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