It is simple, FPSB and its user live for the news! We all read it, we all like it, we all comment on it. What would we do without it? Well the problem we are coming across is the fact that the news is becoming a lot less user involved! What I mean by this is just what it says; the user is not doing any thing. Simple, copy and paste. Many of you fight for news, and then debate over why yours was trashed and the others was approved; I have an answer for you! Simply just follow these guidelines and you will be on your way to hitting the front page of the FPSB in no time! Lets get started:
Sure, you love to bring news to FPSB. You source it, you link and all the goodies. It's not good enough any more. You are now required to write a 3-5 sentenced paragraph for your news. Some things you can write about are:
Explain the changes in the update.
Write a short summery of the news.
Use English grammar rules for this.
Put it in terms anyone can understand!
And remember, don't copy paste the news word by word. Its ok to copy paste the change log and/or quote but not copy the news. Summarize it in your own words.
NOTICE: A summary is not the first two or three fixes in a change log. How about contributing more effort.
Any effective, and useful way to get your news across to the users is how organized it is! You must use these tools listed below to maximize an easy flow through your news submission.
Use of a fieldset & legend can work strongly, but it can also look horrible on a page. I suggest rarely using a fieldset, as it adds a white box around all the text that is already in table type format. This is really unneeded. If you were to use a fieldset, please see the example after the legend explanation.
Using a legend, inside of a fieldset tag is strongly suggested. It not only breaks the white box around the text, it draws attention to its self because of doing so. It should generally be used as a title for the text in the fieldset, and nothing more or less.
An example, with code following:
Example of the code is here:
<fieldset><legend>title here</legend>News post goes in here</fieldset>
One of the most easiest ways to indent a paragraph or text is by using a blockquote. You can use it around the entire news, you can use it multiple times in the news (remembering to close each on though), or you can use it as just a indention for a quote. I am using blockquote's all over this page.
An example, with code following:
Today in the news, FPSB was hit with a major spike in spam. The servers crapped out all sorts of mess and janitors did not know what exactly to clean it up with. One said:
"Well it was like this yellow, sticky looking crap
Code:
<blockquote>Today in the news, FPSB was hit with a major spike in spam. The servers crapped out all sorts of mess and janitors did not know what exactly to clean it up with. One said:<blockquote>"Well it was like this yellow, sticky looking crap</blockquote></blockquote>
A simple way to list a change log for any mod release, patch, update, ect... it to use an <ul> tag. It simply indents the text (much like a blockquote), but you can add a <li> tag to make "bullets" to help guide the reader along.
An example, with code following:
The change log for Patch v1.0:
Fixed CTD bug
Fixed GameTracker bug
Added new menu items
Code:
<ul><li>Fixed CTD bug</li><li>Fixed GameTracker bug</li><li>Added new menu items</li></ul>
Notice the </li>?? You must include this before starting a new <li> tag. In some browsers it requires it there, or the list will bulk on top of its self.
One of the most seen, and used tags around FPSB is the <div> tag; I doubt you know you use it as much as you do. Think about every time you quote a post, it reads: <div>Posted by X
post.message</div>. You just used the <div> tag and used HTML in your post. All it simply does it create a darker fieldset and darker background (where with fieldset, the background is transparent). Uses of the <div> tag are generally used for quotes, and should not be applied around an entire news post.
An example with code following:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Code:
<div>We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.</div>
This is simple, provide an image with almost any update that includes an image. Do not be lazy, because a mod will check your source (or should) and see an image posted. They (should) not approve your news, but let you know that you should include any image (or group of images) included in the news post. See about stealing bandwidth.
This is so important! One of the biggest issues I run across as a news mod, is two different news posts with different change logs and only one with a source!! What am I to do?? If you do not provide a source (linked with correct HTML), you can almost grantee 100% it will not be approved! We need something to base your news off of. Include a source, make our [news mods] job easy.
Alright, this is a hot topic now with my since so many of the news submissions are abusing them. Any more uses of the <hr /> tag, WILL NOT be approved. You read that?? They do not do anything then send a line across the page and possibly in a different color other than grey; purposeless!! Please stop including these in your news posts.
Next thing: stealing bandwidth - if you EVER, I mean EVER post any sort of image (small or large) and it is not hosted off of ImageShack, PhotoBucket, CSSColbat, or any other image hosting site, but is linked to the source of your news you are committing a crime! It is illegal to use their images without consent from the owner / founder of that website. Please, please do not commit this crime.
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