How do I do this? Brainstorming all things technical with our members. > Likes and Comments

Have you ever wondered, how did they do that? How did they get that picture there? I know I have. So here's a place where we can ask questions of other more expert members, and share what we've learnt. It might be about how to navigate around Goodreads or how to use raw html. If you have a technical question, there's probably someone here who can give you an answer!

Like for example if you need to bold your text do this.

Welcome

Use the less than sign followed by the letter b then the greater than sign followed by your text and then end it with the less than sign with a slash the letter b and the greater than sign.

Starting off with one I learnt which is probably still the most useful quick trick. Sorry if it's obvious to most!

NUMBER 1:

SPOILER TAGS:

When you're discussing books and you don't want to reveal something to a reader who's not quite got to that bit, or in a review you're writing, how do you conceal certain facts? You use "spoiler tags". It tells you how to do this in the top right of the comment box, if you click on (some html is ok). It's at the bottom of the list, but it's not really very clear.

Take the sentence "The butler did it." Silly example, but it'll do! I want to hide the words "The butler."

1. Type exactly this:

< spoiler >

in the comments box, but do not include any spaces.

2. Then type exactly this:

The butler

3. Then type

< / spoiler >

again with no spaces.

4. Then type

did it.

If you then click (preview) on the bottom left of the comments box, just to the right of where you click post, you will see that all that shows is the words you want, until you click on the word "spoiler". So whenever you want to hide anything, you just enclose what you want hidden between the two spoiler codes as shown.

Now we have:

(view spoiler)[The butler (hide spoiler)] did it.

It's a great way to make sure we can talk about plots without having lots of separate threads if you're on chapter 28 say, and I'm only on chapter 4! And means our reviews can be uninhibited too.

Here is another basic tip but I had to ask how to do it so there might surely be others who haven't figured it out yet. I always wondered how everyone got the underline beneath a book title so that when you click on the title you go to the GR review of the book.

When you are talking about a book and you are ready to mention the title, simply click on add book/author and like magic the screen will darken and you will see a place to enter the title and click search. You find the correct title (sometimes there are many books with the same title so know your author or the edition you are reading) and then click add. The title will be posted automatically in your comment and you can continue.

Great tips! :)

I have a hard time having pics show up on here so I just link people to the pictures.

HOW TO ADD PHOTOS TO YOUR COMMENTS
A popular question is how do I add photos to my posts. Google "photobucket" (there are many other sources but that's a good place to start). Select the photo you want and to the left you'll see a box that has the "html" text that will allow that photo to appear on other sites. Copy the text and paste it into your post. Preview your post and you will see that the picture appears, not the text.

@Amber see https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I loaded this into another group and lots of poeple find it helpful. I wish these tips had been available to me when I was first in GR:)

Thanks Bette. I tried the picture thing and it didn't work for me so I'm just better off linking others to the picture.

And if you're not quite up to Bette's racing speed, I'll take it much slower, and give you a point by point guide, which is what I always need.

Photobucket for example, I know you think highly of them Bette, but it didn't work out very well for me. I joined them for just this reason, to put pictures in the threads (and now they won't let me go, even though I put their emails in "junk" LOL). Yes, I managed to upload one image eventually - but then they offered all sort of stuff like linking my Facebook images and wouldn't let me do one simple picture at a time ... I wasted a lot of time with them.

Before that though, it's best to learn how to link things without getting goobledegook like "h t t p s : / / w w w .g o o d r e a d s .c o m / t o p i c / s h o / ..." every time, but rather the actual words you would like to show, such as a title, for instance, or the words "Here is a link to some rules".

No, I personally think there's an easier way through html, giving you complete control without using an intermediary.

There are some great tips in Bette's link. But if you are phased by them, please don't worry. It can be a lot easier. I am a person who sat typing at the keyboard and expected the comment to appear on the screen. I had to be told to put the cursor on the comment box. I then had to be told to click the mouse. Duh!! There are such people around, Bette!

Bette - please don't be offended - it's a great link! But the first time I saw it a few months ago, there was just too much to take in, and it's not all explained. I think it might be an idea to take technical tips slowly, or else some of us just give up.

LOL! Amber got there first!

:) LOL.

@Jean You can type out the 'html' method for me! I don't like having to open another link but that's the way I way taught:P

NUMBER 2:

DIFFERENT TYPEFACES:

1. Basically, now you know how to use spoilers, it's simple. You use exactly the same technique, of enclosing the text you want to look different between two "codes".

2. There are are various initial letters used:

b = bold print
i = italic print
u = underlining your text
s = strikeout (put a line through) your text

3. So the word "wicked" could look like this:

wicked
wicked
wicked or
wicked

4. The codes are the same. Remember for the spoiler tabs you used < spoiler > (but without the space) before the words you wanted to hide? Well this time, for the bold "wicked" you use:

< b > (but without the spaces) before the word "wicked" and then

5. < / b > after the word wicked. You can enclose as much or as little as you like between these two codes, depending on how much of the text you want to make bold.

6. So what you now have looks like this (without the spaces, though, remember) :

< b > wicked < / b >

7. For italics, underline or strikeout, use the initial letter instead of the "b", as shown.

8. You can even combine them, so if you really want to stress your "wicked" word, use both the code for bold plus the code for underline. Just put the 2 codes next to each other, like this:

< b > < u > before, and

< / b > < / u > after the word "wicked". It will then look like this:

wicked

Have fun! :) (And be sure to ask if there's anything I haven't made clear.)

Thank you all! 8:D

You're welcome Sandra. Hope it's useful :)

NUMBER 3:

LINKING TO BOOKS AND/OR AUTHORS:

1. Goodreads provides us with a handy shortcut, where you don't need to use html.

2. Look at the top right hand side of the comment box (where you type your posts.)

3. Click on where it says "add book/author". A box will appear.

4. The default setting is "book". Type the title of the book you want to appear in your post in the long box. (Be careful to do it exactly or it will not work.)

5. Click "search", just to the right.

6. Look down the list until you find the right book. Click "add".

7. It will come up in your typed post as a link.

8. If you then want to add the author of it, you don't need to type that in separately.

9. Just click on "author" where it says "add a reference" in the box.

10. After you have clicked, the box will disappear automatically until you want it again.

11. If you want a different cover for your book, click on "other editions" just under the "add" tab.

12. Look at the bottom of the box. It says "link" and then "cover".

13. The default setting is "link". This links to the title. Make sure this part is filled in, otherwise it links to a picture of the cover, which not everybody can see (if they are using an app.)

14. If you do want to link to show a pretty picture of the cover, then click on "cover". Remember it will revert to the default as soon as the box disappears.

15. If you just want to add a particular author to your post, not a title, then click on "author" at the top, under "add a reference", when the box pops up, rather than on "title".

I don't think those options are available on the app. I also can't see photos through the app.

So in this case point number 13 is very important indeed! Lots of people link to the cover picture by mistake.

I hope the above will be useful to some members, or everybody who doesn't know how to, whenever you can get to a computer. (It would only have taken me a minute to show you, if you were sitting here next to me, but because I said I'd take "baby steps" in print, it looks far longer!)

You know, Jean, when I first started in GR, the biggest downfall is that they had no basic instruction site for how to do this entry. And not everyone knows how! I spent ages in threads thinking "how do you get the book titles in that funny color and underlined". Then some kind soul helped me:)

Oh I know Bette! :(

I sat up late last night compiling that last bit, and making sure it was complete so I didn't assume anything. And others will be doing this too in all different groups - and yet it could be done centrally by someone in just as easy steps!

Hope someone is using these instructions anyway, even if most are using apps.

Oh thank you for saying, Stephanie :)

Thank you Jean for all your hard work.

You are very welcome, really Tracy! It just occurred to me that if everybody is using apps, maybe there was not much point in me spelling it all out! But as long as one person finds it useful then that's fine :) I know how slowly I personally have to go with this stuff.

Oh a tip, if anyone is trying to work from my instructions ...

open another tab at the top, so you can switch between what you're actually doing and the instructions.

Don't try to "remember" it all! After you've done it a few times it will come easier.

And apologies if I'm stating the obvious.

Jean wrote: "You're welcome Sandra. Hope it's useful :)"

Very! 8:D

That's great - thanks for saying! I try to write down what I need myself, and know I need to be told everything! Some people seem to have a sort of computer instinct, but I don't, so I wanted to help those of us. It drives me mad when manuals go from point 1 to point 3 or 4 and I haven't a clue what point 2 would have been!! If you get what I mean ...

I have a question about the pictures used for our profiles. Is there any size they need to be formatted to? On a game site I was on where we could post pics, they had to be who remembers what by who knows what....just curious if Marco will have to do any juggling when I am finally ready to upload a picture and get rid of my anonymous little grey ghostie....which might be this week....Thanks!

I think it just adjusts automatically. But one tip is to crop it on your computer (in "paint" or something) before you upload it, as it's not possible afterwards. I did that with my earlier pictures to get more of my face in, but with this summer's picture I decided the water lilies behind me were nicer! LOL!

Okay, cool...thanks, Jean!! And I like your picture! =))

Maybe I should swap it for the one in my pictures which is just waterlilies then? Or me as a baby - that's a thought! LOL!

I'm looking forward to seeing yours, Debbie :)

Well, I must give a Spoiler Alert here....my picture won't be of me, not this first one, anyway. It will be of something I bought at the State Fair after I got home from my trip. But it is SO cute I want to share!!

Aw :(

Now I want to know what it is though :D

I think they just write the quote down from it in their reviews and use quotation marks too.

And I just write my reviews when I finish by just telling what the story is about in my own words then what I thought of it in mine.

NUMBER 4:

QUOTATIONS:

1. Sometimes I wonder if there's a quicker way, such as cut-and-paste if you have all the text on your computer, but I'm afraid I have no shortcuts for adding quotes. I just type it all in, letter by letter. But then since it must be a quote I really like, that's not too bad :)

2. I did decide a couple of months ago though, that quotes look better in italics (or some use bold), and for this you can just follow the instructions in message 14 (how to number 2)

3. I've often typed a quote in already as I added the page number to my update progress. Then I cut and paste it for my actual review.

4. If you look at the book page, on the right hand side, and follow the column down, sometimes (especially with classics) you find that there are quotes people have already selected, and it's surprising how often they coincide with something you noticed too! Then you can just cut-and-paste, or cut-and-paste part of one. The only trouble is that many of them are duplications - and also it can take just as long to find the one you want as to type it in!

5. Something I only started doing very recently was to add quotes to the database. If you click on the quotes, then click to show all of them in tiny print at the top, middle right, it says "add a quote" and you just follow the instructions. That's how all the quotes got on the book page in the first place :)

NUMBER 5:

WRITING A REVIEW:

After losing a couple when the internet went down, I now always write a review offline on my computer.

1. It means I can have the print size/font I like.

2. I have my own copy "just in case" it gets deleted or something.

3. Like you I can't get it all together straightaway. They usually take me a couple of days or more to write.

4. My internet connection is very dodgy ...

5. When it's ready, I cut-and-paste, and that's the point at which I do the italics etc - when I'm actually online on Goodreads.

Hope this helps. I think your reviews are getting really good Stephanie :)

You are very welcome and LOL - I felt as if you were shouting thanks at me!

I enjoyed your test - but you can always try it out by clicking the little "preview" (in brackets to the right of where you click "post") if you want to have a look at it first :)

;)

Aw, thanks, and you are welcome Sandy! Goodreads have put up some instructions, but they seem to miss steps out sometimes, and it's confusing then, unless you're very used to computers.

I just try to tell it how it makes sense to me, and know I have to have each step written down! When I watch little kids as young as 3 or 4 and their "intuitive" handling of computers and the like, it makes me realise how future generations' brains are going to be different from ours. It's a bit spooky though, isn't it?

I watched a tiny tot at the supermarket the other day, playing with a gadget on a poster - an iPad or something. She had all the movements off pat, and seemed to know exactly what to do, even though it was just a picture!

LOL! I think at that time although Chris had one of those clunky typewriters, I was still at the stage of gazing at the keyboard in search of each letter! :D

This is now in the technical tips folder of the book club. Enjoy!

Hey! does anyone know if on the page for a book it says the genre anywhere. I can't seem to find it but I feel like the genre is something they would put on a books info page

Hi Jessica....on the right side where it say Readers Also Enjoyed, underneath that is Genres....it seems to list whatever genre the book you are looking at fits...at least that is what I saw just now...you made me curious!

Oh yeah! I never even noticed that before! Thanks Debbie :)

I always seem to get very argumentative when I look at what people file something under ... LOL! Mostly it's right though.

Good to know. I actually had that question myself.

Do you like your profile page and your friends' home pages to show every single comment you make in every single thread? Or your results whenever you take a quiz? Or vote on a poll or listopia title? Or would you prefer to keep some aspects of your GR life a little more to yourself?

I don't like to have every single move I make reported and I just figured out how to avoid that. When you click on Edit Profile you will see a row of tabs offering different options. Click on 'feeds' and you will see a column of options, all pre-checked. Simply go down the column and remove the check marks from any that you do not want displayed on your profile page. Click 'Save feed settings' and you're done.

If you decide to un-check the 'Comment on a book or group discussion board' you can still click 'Add to my Update Feed' for an individual comment you make in any of the threads, but comments will be no longer be published automatically. I might be too much of a hermit, but I like that idea.

I do this regularly, Debbie, but it doesn't seem to have enough options for me. Most of what I would choose to hide is comments I make in various threads. If I go through all my groups and comment on, say half a dozen in each, then we are into dozens of comments all exported to my friends! What is most annoying is that we can't select which ones we think are worth sharing. Only the recipient can decide that - and only with all their friends or none, and not on an individual basis.

I also tried not ticking the "add to my update feed" at the bottom of the comment box, but all that does is stop it coming up on your own feed. Your friends still all see it! How stupid is that?

This has been a problem for me only this week. A good friend - friends in other ways too - got so fed up with all my comments in groups that the only way she could think of to stop them, was to unfriend me! I think she has rethought and is now skimming through, but other than her resetting her own feeds, or me sitting on my hands, there's not a lot we can do.

Also, if you untick some of the boxes, the posts still go through. Lets try an example. My box for "add a book" is NOT ticked. However, Chris tells me that he always sees when I add a book. This afternoon I bought a book from a charity shop. I am now going to add it. You should NOT be able to see what it is. by my settings. But I'll bet the Charles Dickens Encyc. - Pap comes up on your newsfeed from me Debbie!

Sorry to rain on your parade, and thanks for posting it. It's certainly worth a try for anyone who hasn't seen it. You can see what options you can theoretically keep secret - like voting etc. But it doesn't alter the "chat" or comments in discussions - like this one. They all still go through :(

Congratulations, Jean....I could NOT see your newly added book on my newsfeed so something is working properly for you. And this comment should not appear on your newsfeed from me since I have unchecked the box in the edit profile page and have not checked Add To My Update Feed at the bottom here.

However, this comment should appear and drive everyone crazy wondering why...simply because I clicked Add To Update Feed. =))

It is also possible to delete a comment from your own update feeds by looking at your profile and clicking the gray x at the right of any comment. It will remind you that the item will be deleted from your page and from your friends' feeds and ask if you want to continue. I did this a lot until I found the listing under edit profile. Hopefully my annoyance with this sharing feature will be taken care of now. Hope it will for you too.