# Test thread — to test things out. Do not lock!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [December 27, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736 "2021-12-27T18:05:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 16

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/305 "2023-03-14T22:21:56Z")

</div>

Yes:

\begin{aligned} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \\ \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \end{aligned}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/306 "2023-03-15T07:42:29Z")

</div>

Deleted

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/307 "2023-03-15T07:46:42Z")

</div>

> [@Topologist](#):
>
> Yes:
> 
> \begin{aligned} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \\ \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \end{aligned}

Cool. Let me try that.

\begin{aligned} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text T} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \\ \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text C} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text L} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text S} \\ \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text N} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text Y} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text M} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text P} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text H} \\ \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text G} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \\ \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text S} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text W} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text P} \end{aligned}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/308 "2023-03-15T07:50:46Z")

</div>

Thanks. I just put that in the Wordle thread.

> [@"Wordle," a strangely compelling word game (Part 1)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wordle-a-strangely-compelling-word-game/956604/9760):
>
> I found this one to be a tough one. Wordle 634 5/6 black_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squaregreen_squareyellow_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareyellow_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareblack_large_squareyellow_squaregreen_squaregreen_squaregreen_squaregreen_square…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/309 "2023-03-15T12:10:13Z")

</div>

Excellent ! Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/310 "2023-03-15T14:09:38Z")

</div>

If you’d prefer the boxes left-aligned, put an ampersand before each line:

\begin{aligned} &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \end{aligned}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/311 "2023-03-15T15:34:16Z")

</div>

Even more excellent! Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/312 "2023-03-15T15:38:24Z")

</div>

We spoiler the solutions in the Wordle thread. Here it is, with better left alignment.

I found this one to be a tough one.

Wordle 634 5/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛  
⬛⬛⬛🟩🟨  
⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛  
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨  
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

(Aligning better than the first time)

\begin{aligned} &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text T} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text O} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text C} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text L} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text S} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text N} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text Y} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text M} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text P} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text H} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text D} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text G} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text S} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text W} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\text P} \end{aligned}

With thanks to @pjd and @Topologist.

But now, is there a way to do this such that all the boxes are the same size, and each line has the same length?

This is tres cool!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/313 "2023-03-15T17:44:16Z")

</div>

Unfortunately, I know LaTeX a lot better than I know MathJax. The \bbox command being used there is a MathJax addition and doesn’t seem to allow specifying a fixed width. The best I could come up with is to use a fixed-width font, by using \texttt rather than \text:

\begin{aligned} &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt I} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt O} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt C} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt L} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt U} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt N} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt Y} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt M} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt P} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt H} \\ &\bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt B} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt D} \bbox[silver,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt G} \bbox[yellow,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \\ &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt W} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt E} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt P} \end{aligned}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/314 "2023-03-15T18:02:43Z")

</div>

Brilliant ! Now we’re cooking with gas !

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/315 "2023-03-15T19:25:12Z")

</div>

You mean with

\begin{aligned} &\bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt F} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt A} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt R} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt T} \bbox[lime,5px,border:1px solid black]{\texttt S} \end{aligned}

Since “gas” has the wrong number of letters. Sadly, so does “flatus” which was the word I really wanted to use here. Oh well.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/316 "2023-03-16T12:52:42Z")

</div>

Looks really good. Light ‘em up!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/317 "2023-03-21T12:57:22Z")

</div>

Image test, from another post

[![](https://images.dailykos.com/images/1171237/story_image/TMW2023-03-20color.png) ](https://images.dailykos.com/images/1171237/story_image/TMW2023-03-20color.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/318 "2023-03-25T14:20:40Z")

</div>

Testing a nested list, using tabs:

Title 21: Food and Drugs  
Subchapter H: Medical Devices  
Part 820: Quality System Regulation  
Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40  
§ 820.40: Document controls.

Nope. Did not work. If you reply to and quote this post, you’ll see the nesting that I’m trying to create.

ETA — this is what I’m trying to get:

[![](https://i.imgur.com/O3AdsSl.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/O3AdsSl.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/319 "2023-03-25T14:36:13Z")

</div>

Another possibility: is there a way to create this arrow character, or something similar (I’ve seen them without the arrowheads)?

[![](https://i.imgur.com/mv8zNds.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/mv8zNds.jpeg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/320 "2023-03-25T14:36:42Z")

</div>

If you’re willing to accept the non-proportional font and tinted background, you can create a nested list with tabs by enclosing the whole thing in ``` = triple back-ticks. Discourse treats that as computer code. if you put the leading back-ticks on a separate line above your outermost item it’ll give you weird color-coding that only makes sense to programmers. To avoid that, put the leading triple back-tick on the same line as your first list content. Like this:

```plaintext
	Subchapter H: Medical Devices
		Part 820: Quality System Regulation
			Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40
				§ 820.40: Document controls.

```

The other way to make nested unnumbered / unbulleted lists is to abuse the HTML unnumbered list notation. You don’t get the weird font and background tint, but you do get your nested list double-spaced whether you want that or not.

Title 21: Food and Drugs
Subchapter H: Medical Devices
Part 820: Quality System Regulation
Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40
§ 820.40: Document controls.

The key is that each item starts with a \<ul\> tag and do not use any \<li\> tags anywhere. Then end the whole thing with however many \</ul\> tags to wrap up and restore normalcy for your subsequent text.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/321 "2023-03-25T14:46:01Z")

</div>

Trying this (apostrophe; available on iPhone keyboard)

‘‘‘Title 21: Food and Drugs  
Subchapter H: Medical Devices  
Part 820: Quality System Regulation  
Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40  
§ 820.40: Document controls.  
‘‘‘

Or this (apostrophe)

’’’Title 21: Food and Drugs  
Subchapter H: Medical Devices  
Part 820: Quality System Regulation  
Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40  
§ 820.40: Document controls.  
’’’

Or this (back ticks pasted from LSL’s post) —

```plaintext
	Subchapter H: Medical Devices
		Part 820: Quality System Regulation
			Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40
				§ 820.40: Document controls.

```

Do these work? No, only the back ticks work.

Thank you, @LSLGuy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/322 "2023-03-25T14:58:31Z")

</div>

Regular apostrophes do NOT work. Gotta be the back-tick otherwise known as the accent grave. I have no idea how to get that from an Apple keyboard.

As to your arrow symbols, see here:

> **[Arrows (Unicode block)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrows_(Unicode_block))**
>
> Arrows is a Unicode block containing line, curve, and semicircle symbols terminating in barbs or arrows.
> The Arrows block contains eight emoji:
> U+2194–U+2199 and U+21A9–U+21AA.
> The block has sixteen standardized variants defined to specify emoji-style (U+FE0F VS16) or text presentation (U+FE0E VS15) for the
> eight emoji, all of which default to a text presentation.
> The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Arrows block:

You can display any of those characters with the notation “&#x” followed by the 4-hexdigit code then a semicolon = “;”. So for example:

&#x21b3; produces ↳ while &#x21b2; produces ↲ Of course, once you can see the symbol on preview, there’s nothing to prevent you from copying that and pasting it directly into your post: ↲↲↲↲↲↲↲↲. Or easier yet, just copy the symbol right out of the wiki page.

For future refernce, this giant wiki page covers all the symbols, weird letters, foreign stuff etc. All of which are copy/pastable into Discourse’s edit window:

> **[List of Unicode characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unicode_characters)**
>
> As of Unicode version 15.0, there are 149,186 characters with code points, covering 161 modern and historical scripts, as well as multiple symbol sets. This article includes the 1062 characters in the Multilingual European Character Set 2 (MES-2) subset, and some additional related characters.
> HTML and XML provide ways to reference Unicode characters when the characters themselves either cannot or should not be used. A numeric character reference refers to a character by its Universal Characte...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/323 "2023-03-25T15:01:32Z")

</div>

Including links, which should work. And, correcting.

```auto
	[Chapter I: Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I)
		[Subchapter H: Medical Devices](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-H)
			[Part 820: Quality System Regulation](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-H/part-820?toc=1)
				[Subpart D: Document Controls; §820.40](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-H/part-820/subpart-D)
					[§ 820.40: Document controls.](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-H/part-820/subpart-D/section-820.40)

```

No. Links do not work with the triple back ticks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-thread-to-test-things-out-do-not-lock/956736/324 "2023-03-25T15:03:51Z")

</div>

Nope. Because the back-tick programming format tells Discourse to ignore anything in there that might otherwise be a command to Discourse to do other sorts of formatting. Like turning URLs into something clickable.

There is no free lunch for indented unnumbered unbulleted lists. Unfortunately. Or more precisely, there’s no easy way I’ve found.

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