Why has HTML been disabled?

[Arnold Winkelried]

Why has HTML been disabled?

[Arnold Winkelried]

P.S. next to the window in which I am typing in this post, I see the words
"*HTML is ON".

[Kat]

Funny, mine says that, too. Maybe it's been re-enabled since that message was put up?

Let me test:
<marquee>Is this scrolling text?</marquee>
<font color=662299>Is this colored text?</font>

[TubaDiva]

More tweaking, more tweaking . . .

Count on it to go away in a few.

Why? Security. It's too much of a risk.

Sorry, folks.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope

[RTFirefly]

There is one feature of HTML that they should maintain, come hell or high water. That's the HTML coding for URL links.

For some reason, UBB code doesn't seem to be able to handle the really long URLs without losing it and stretching out the page so you have to scroll L-R, which makes it take about 3 times as long to read everything.

My 2 cents, anyway.

[elelle]

Rats! Security. Why do a few jerks spoil all the fun?

[Kat]

Ah, well. I bet plenty of people saw this coming after the worm incident.

Once more for old times sake (if it still works):

&lt;marquee&gt; :cool: :eek: :p :rolleyes: &lt;/marquee&gt;

&lt;marquee&gt; :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool: &lt;/marquee&gt;

[OpalCat]

Kat: that doesn't work in Netscape anyway.

------------------
--
"it's all real"
"I KNEW IT!!!"
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com (http://www.opalcat.com)

[Patty O'Furniture]

I will not miss HTML (admittedly this is due in part to the fact that I never really relied on it in the first place), it frequently annoyed me to see 3" high red flashing text.

I agree that hyperlinks were useful, but otherwise 99.99% of our inflexion in most posts can be succinctly delivered via UBB code.

[TubaDiva]

For url's use the UBB code:

{url=www.whateverthenameis.com}NAME OF SITE{/url}

Of course, replacing curly brackets with straight ones. Like so:

All Ye Need Know (http://www.straightdope.com)

Your humble TubaDiva

[Arnold Winkelried]

Originally posted by opus:
I will not miss HTML (admittedly this is due in part to the fact that I never really relied on it in the first place), it frequently annoyed me to see 3" high red flashing text.

I agree that hyperlinks were useful, but otherwise 99.99% of our inflexion in most posts can be succinctly delivered via UBB code.

Here's what I think would be useful in HTML, that can't be done with UBB:
underlining
coloured text
one other font size (e.g. [ large ] [ / large ] code)
ability to do columns (HTML tables)
superscript and subscript (for math/chemical formulas)
a font with greek characters (for math formulas)

I think I'll go put in those requests to the people at Infopop right now.
http://www.ultimatebb.com

[NanoByte]

I second Arnold, particularly as to either fixing UBB to handle very long URLs or allowing HTML for that purpose.

BTW, should I assume "changing" one's username is really just signing up under a new one and not using the old one? There's no way to change one's username on one's profile page.

Ray

[manhattan]

Nano, no one is asking you to change your username. You need to change your password. You can do that on the profile page.

------------------
Change Your Password, Please (http://204.95.48.199/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ubbmisc.cgi?action=getannounce&ForumNumber=3&Start=2451545.99&End=2451911&Session=2451598.1854) and don't use HTML, as it has been disabled

[RTFirefly]

TubaDiva, I routinely find myself linking to pages with URLs too long for UBB to handle in the manner you suggested above. For instance, see the *failed* use of UBB for a link in this (http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001323.html) thread's OP. Lib used UBB in the manner you recommended, but wound up with a page where you have to scroll left-to-right. (This could have been avoided with the now-disabled HTML code.) Is there a solution to this?

------------------
"Living in this complex world of the future is not unlike having bees live inside your head." - F. Scott Firesign

[Kamino Neko]

Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried:
Here's what I think would be useful in HTML, that can't be done with UBB:
underlining
superscript and subscript (for math/chemical formulas)

Those are the only 2 I agree with. The colours and font sizes are just annoying in this context (though quite useful in others), and the greek characters could be replaced with (pi), (theta), (sigma), etc.

Just MHO, of course.

------------------
Eschew Obfuscation

[Lord Jim]

RT, if you view the source on the page with problem you indicated, you would see that there was a space in the word uncertainty toward the end of the URL. That would have created the same problem for HTML. Spaces aren't allowed. Here it is with the space removed. (damn, I hope this works!)

(uncertainty principle (http://infoseek.go.com/?win=_search&sv=M6&ud9=IE5&qt=heisenburg+uncertainty+principle&oq=strong+HUP&url=http%3A//theory.uwinnipeg.ca/physics/quant/node7.html&ti=The+Uncertain ty+Principle&top=))

If it does, it wasn't a UBB problem, but something in the C&P putting a space in the URL.

[Lord Jim]

Well, I guess that proves that, eh, RT. I know there was no space in there, now there is. Must mean there is a definate limit on how long the line can be.

Now, Tuba, since you aren't doing anything, would you fix this page for me?

[AHunter3]

Would there be a security risk involved in telling us just what the bloody hell actually happened?



------------------
Disable Similes in this Post

[TubaDiva]

Originally posted by AHunter3:
Would there be a security risk involved in telling us just what the bloody hell actually happened?

All registered members should have received email from the powers that be at the Reader explaining the situation.

You can also read the letter here (http://www.straightdope.com/news.html).

Hope this clears it all up for you.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope

[RTFirefly]

It's going to be a real nuisance, JimB. I routinely link to articles from places like washingtonpost.com where the URLs of specific pages get really long, really fast. I don't want to stretch out every page I post such a link on; I hate having to scroll left-right to read a page, and I don't think I'm the only one.

[Jois]

You aren't, Firefly.

And I know I'm going to read the link and I MIGHT read the info without it.



------------------
Are you driving with your eyes open or are you using The Force? - A. Foley

[PatronAnejo]

Other useful features of html: linking within a page using &lt;a name=""&gt; and &lt;a href=""&gt; tags reduced font sizes (larger font sizes are, indeed, quite annoying)both of which are useful for footnoting sources and references.

[evilbeth]

A Cool Site (http://www.straightdope.com)

[TubaDiva]

This is really getting too unwieldy, so let's close.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope