HTML image from Shutterstock.

Have you ever wondered how some people are able to format their comments to include things like italics and lists? We’ve put together this handy guide to help you understand how to do this yourself.

Basic HTML coding will work in our comments. We’re not going to cover everything, but here are a few simple tools.

HTML tagging uses the angle brackets (

< and >

) to tell computers how to interpret the information you give them. To modify text, you put tags on either side, like this: <i>text you want italicized</i>. Note that to close the tag, you use a slash inside the bracket.

When you use HTML, it’s always good to use the “Preview” option before posting your comment. That way you’ll be able to see how the text will appear before it gets put on the web.

Quoting

To quote text from another commenter or from the original post, use the <blockquote> tag. Anything between the open and close blockquote (</blockquote>) tags will be inset and italicized, so it will be easily recognized as being quoted.

As an example, this is how a blockquote appears.

Hello world! This is an example of blockquoted text.

It is customary to put “@author” before the quoted text (but outside the blockquote), so that others know who is being quoted. You might also consider adding the date and time of the comment if the person you’re quoting has several comments.

Emphasis

We’ve blocked the ability to use the bold tag because it was causing problems in the comments. However, you can still use italics and underlining. I’d caution the use of underlining, though, since it might be confused with a link.

To italicize text, use the <i> tag. If you put <i> before and put </i> after, the text between the tags will be italicized.

Lists

Making a list is a little more complicated, but still straightforward. For a bulleted list, you need to use two tags. To start the list, use the <ul> tag. For each item in the list, use the <li> tag.

So, this code: <ul><li>Item 1</li><li>Item 2</li><li>Item 3</li></ul> will result in this:

  • Item 1
  • Item 2
  • Item 3

To use a numbered list instead, swap the <ul> tag for <ol> (and </ol>).

Linking

To insert a link, use this code:

<a href=“http://ggwash.org”>Text that appears as the link</a>.

That code would result in a link to http://ggwash.org and the link text would look like this: Text that appears as the link.

Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington area since 2007. He has a Master’s in Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He lives in Dupont Circle. He’s a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and is an employee of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. His views are his own and do not represent those of his employer.