# "Code:"...? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 30, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317 "2004-08-30T23:10:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/1 "2004-08-30T23:10:22Z")
What am I not seeing when I see the word “Code:” followed by a short, long, empty box? Like [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5216247). I usually surf the Dope on a Mac (both at work and at home) and they both have the lastest version of IE. Am I missing something that should sort of fill the box like a quote? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/2 "2004-08-30T23:20:19Z")
In that particular box: > [@](#): > > java\_script\_:void(document.oncontextmenu=null) In general: text that is displayed in monospaced font (such as Monaco), including leading “white spaces” entered by the spacebar. The “code” tag is very useful for posting the equivalent of tab-delimited tables or ASCII art or diagrams. Dunno why you’re not seeing it. Of course you are using that heathen browser… ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/3 "2004-08-30T23:58:19Z")
For what it’s worth: The “code” VBB tag was originally introduced for the more technically oriented VBB boards, including the VBB webmasters’ board. The advantage of it is that what’s posted between [code] and [/code] is not parsed by VBB as coding, so therefore you could show someone how to code a given VBB feature without having the code you put in the post automatically code that feature! :eek: But it has come in handy for things like Iowa 10 3.0% West Virginia 5 1.5% California 50 15.0% Western Australia 10 3.0% which is not particularly clear as typed. But in code brackets it becomes ```auto Iowa 10 3.0% West Virginia 5 1.5% California 50 15.0% Western Australia 10 3.0% ``` …which **should** line up as a nice little table. (Though with my luck at getting the [code] tag to work, it probably won’t! :() ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/4 "2004-08-30T23:59:21Z")
Well, **that** figures! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/5 "2004-08-31T03:33:20Z")
Interesting. I DO see it in Mozilla. WTF is with IE? IT renders stuff like sh\*t. (Like, half of the smilies aren’t in the box, they’re just floating off to the side. And XML – Yeesh! Hopeless!) That explains it though. Browser incompatibility. Thanks. I never thought to look at it in a different broswer. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/6 "2004-08-31T04:30:35Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > Interesting. I DO see it in Mozilla. WTF is with IE? IT renders stuff like sh\*t. My copy of IE lost the ability to see the code boxes as anything more than a 1 line tall blank rectangle when the board switched to vBulletin Version 3.0.0. If I really want to see what’s in there, I select text on both sides of the code box, copy and paste it into a word processor. The coded text magically appears. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/7 "2004-08-31T14:06:35Z")
Well I use IE 6.0, and I have no problems with rendering of the code tag. ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/8 "2004-08-31T18:24:30Z")
Let’s see if I can get this to work… ```auto Iowa 10 3.0% West Virginia 5 1.5% California 50 15.0% Western Australia 10 3.0% ``` ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/code/262317/9 "2004-08-31T19:14:30Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Well, **that** figures! :mad: The key is to compose it in word (courier font) or notepad. If you try to line it up in the reply box, it won’t work, because it’s typeset in Times New Roman.