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And the masses rejoiced, for looming on the horizon was the golden splendor of . . .
Character Editor Help v.2.0! Hurrah!
Welcome, my befuddled buddies, to the new and vastly improved Character Editor Help page. In this exciting installment, we'll learn everything we need to know about making works of art out of simple HTML. But first, let's start with the basics:
(Note: Whenever I refer to a "character," I'm talking about the technical aspect, the little name on the list, the bit where you enter in all the information - also known as a puppet, tag, or handle. When I refer to a "cee," I mean the actual character/persona/individual).
The first thing ya gotta do is get to the character editor page. Located in the menu to the left on Silvercrossing's main page is a link (Under the heading "My Profile") called Character Editor. This is . . . the character editor! Clicking this will take you to a list of your currently created characters, plus a bunch of pretty buttons and some other stuff. Here's what they do:
- Edit: Clicking this will bring you to the page that lets you fill in the info fields for your cee. More on that later.
- Deactivate: If you've got a character that you don't use very often but don't want to just plain delete, you can deactivate them - they'll still be saved, but they won't show up on your character list in the chat rooms. A very useful tool if you've got lots of cees and it takes you ten minutes to find the one you want to actually use. All you do is choose the character's name from the list to the left, then hit the "Deactivate" button.
- Activate: It's like the "Deactivate" button, only not! To be used when you want to activate a character that's been deactivated.
- Delete: Used when you want to delete a character. Very simple stuff.
- Make Default: SC gives you the option of automatically picking a character that you want to use whenever you enter a chatroom. Most people set their default character to their "OOC" handle. If you don't set a default character, than you'll automatically come into a chat room as the first character on your list.
- Add: This one is slightly different, in that it's got a field next to it. Because this is where you create your character! You type in a name or a simple phrase that describes your cee, then click the "Add" button. If the phrase of name you've chosen has already been taken by someone else, than you'll get a little popup that says so, and you'll have to pick something else to call the character.
So! Make a character, and then select it from the menu and hit your "Edit button." Now, we come to the hard part. And by "hard," I mean "slightly harder compared to the first bit, which was really, really easy, but not actually very hard at all." Even so, there are many, many little fields and things that can confuse the unwary beginner. In that vein, I have thoughtfully created for you an incredibly low-res and blotchy graphic! Behold! The Anatomy of a Character Tag  1. The Character Name
2. Image/Graphic/Pic
3. Gummy
4. Character Tagline
5. Character Title This is an example of what a character tag will look like in the chatroom (after it's been cropped, shrunken, and horribly pixellated). Clicking on the links in the list above will jump you to the portion of the help page that pertains to the feature.
- Image Link: If you've got a picture to go with your cee, this is where you type in the URL. That's pretty much all you need - just make sure that whoever is hosting your pics allows hot-linking. Many free webspace providers do not. If you need someplace to host your pics, you can always donate! and get 5 MB of space to host your pictures (plugplug!).
- Image Height/Width: Don't worry about these. They're filled in automatically.
- Gummy: This is one of many wee little graphics that you can pick to put in your character tag. Just pick one from the list (picking a gummy will cause a preview of it to pop up right next to the list). It appears in the upper left-hand corner of your character tag
- Character Biography: This is where you put all the information about your cee that you want people to know, without having to make a character tag four frickin' pages long. This will not show up in the chatroom, so feel free to do whatever-the-fig you want to do with it. Graphics, family trees, personal history - go crazy. This page can be accessed by clicking on the gummy in your character tag.
- Character Tagline: This is the stuff that goes in italics, in the parentheses at the bottom of the character tag. Lookit the graphic again for a better explanation. Most people don't put the bulk of their character tag in this field, but rather their OOC/Mun name, e-mail address, webpage URL, stuff like that. Totally up to you, though!
- Character Title: This is where most of your actual HTML and tagline stuff will most likely go, because it gives you the most freedom. Because you can do so much here, I'ma break out of the list format and devote an entire section to this one field alone. Are you ready? Watch for it!
Tips for the Character Title Field
The first thing you should do is put </b> </b> in the box, 'cuz otherwise everything else you put in there is gonna be in bold. And it's gotta be twice, too! Why? I don't know. It's a mystery of life, or possibly just the way the system is set up. Whichever! Once you do that, you can pretty much just go on however you'd like, with all the HTML and words and things that your little heart desires.
However! The thing is, your character name (the word you entered into the "Add a Character Field" and #1 in the picture) at the very beginning is going to show up automatically in your character tag, right up there in the upper left next to the gummy. Unless you modify it, first, of course. If you just want to move the character name to be at the bottom of the tag, than all you have to do is type NAME (all caps, or it won't work) wherever you want that character name to show up. This is particularly helpful if you couldn't get the original name you wanted, and had to use some sort of descriptive noun, instead. For instance, let's say that the character name "Merlin" is already in use (because it is! By me!), so instead, I chose the character name "news." To get a tag like the one in the picture, you'd enter the following code into your Character Title field: </b> </b> <font size=4> Merlin </font> <br> <font size=3> <i> New rooms, help pages, and NAME </i> <br><a href="mailto:merlin@silvercrossings.net"> merlin@silvercrossings.net </a> or <br> <a href="mailto:newrooms@silvercrossings.net"> newrooms@silvercrossings.net </a>
Another little trick you can do is make the character name disappear entirely, so it doesn't show up. You'd do this by typing in <font size=NAME> </font> Just like that. In fact, you can copy-paste that right into your Character Title box, if you want. This command will make your character name disappear, leaving you a clean slate to work with. Here's another example, because I know you love them so: </b> </b> <font size=NAME> </font> <font size=4> Merlin </font> <br> <font size=3> <i> New rooms, help pages, and news </i> <br> <a href="mailto:merlin@silvercrossings.net"> merlin@silvercrossings.net </a> or <br> <a href="mailto:newrooms@silvercrossings.net"> newrooms@silvercrossings.net </a>
And that, folks, is pretty much it! If you've got any questions, or anything you want to add, I can be reached at merlin@silvercrossings.net
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