This is the old header display section of Writeup Settings, plus footer settings using the same syntax. This provides slightly greater control over the display than the radio-button-based selection interface that will be the default.

Writeup Header Display

This is where you can choose exactly what information to display in writeup headings. The easiest way to use this is use one of the given defaults, but if you're feeling brave, you can manually type in a coding sequence to specify what you want.

You may use this after you create an account.

Writeup Footer Display

Please enter the word 'nothing' in the 'custom' box below if you wish for nothing to appear in your footer; if it is blank, E2 will assume you want the default setting.

You may use this after you create an account.

Writeups will look a bit like this:


(person) by nate Sat Nov 13 1999 at 8:37:12

Eno has been an enduring influence on music as well as modern art. Taking cues from John Cage, Eno created a genre called ambient music. He also produced excellent artists such as David Bowie, the Talking Heads, Devo, John Cale, U2, James as well as pursuing side and solo projects at the same time. Unfortunately, he also created The Microsoft Sound...


To use one of the given defaults, press the button that describes the default you desire. If you want to make a minor change to one of the defaults, you can also edit it in any text box, but be sure to press the button next to the one you wish to use. After you submit a change, the top text box will have your current setting, which you can further customize. If the top area is blank, you are using the default display setting.

Are you seeing "unknown value" messages? This means you typed something in incorrectly. To try to fix it yourself, see which word it says is unknown, and correct the typing in the topmost text box below. If you aren't sure what is wrong, you can reset to one of the defaults by pressing one of default buttons.

If you decide to type in the setting, the following table describes what you may enter, and what it does. For example, if you enter

l:author,c:vote,r:cshort

then at the top of every writeup you view will display the writeup's author to the left, voting area in the center, and some C! information to the right. Breaking it down, the first l: (lowercase L) says to make the next thing left-aligned. The author part says to display the writeup's author in that area. The , (comma) says start the next section, and the steps are repeated - c:vote to center the voting area, then r:cshort to display the "short" C! area to the right.

codewhat it does
l:sectionmakes the section left-aligned (this is a lowercase 'L', not the number '1') (this is the default alignment)
c:sectionmakes the section center-aligned
r:sectionmakes the section right-aligned
,start a new section on the same line
\nstart a new line (note: type this as a '\' followed by an 'n': this is not a newline character)
addtoShows a link or a pop-up widget (depending on whether you have scripting enabled) to add a writeup to your bookmarks, a category or a usergroup page.
authorshows writeup's author; see also: authoranon and pseudoauthor
authoranononly shows writeup's author if it is yours, or you have voted on it; see also: author and pseudoanon
bookmarkShows a link to bookmark the individual writeup. This will only be displayed when viewing the entire e2node, not the individual writeup.
cfullThis shows full C! information, which is the number of C!s, and who gave them, but only when you're viewing a writeup by itself. If you're viewing the writeups with other ones, this acts just like cshort. (To view a writeup by itself, follow the place/idea/thing/person link.)
cshortThis shows short C! information, which is the number of C!s. This is close to the original way C! information was shown.
dtcreateshows date and time writeup was created
hitsshows the number of hits received since November, 2008
killshows if a writeup is marked for destruction
lengthShows the number of characters, and approximate number of words, in the writeup.
notnewshows if the writeup was created hidden; note: this will only display if it is your writeup
pseudoanonlike authoranon (only shows writeup's author if it is yours, or you have voted on it), but anonymous text links to author's homenode, and the user's name appears if you hover the mouse cursor over the link; see also: author and authoranon
sendmsgProvides a text area where you can send the writeup's author a message. The area acts just like a normal private message (/msg), except you don't need to enter the /msg part, and the writeup's title is automatically prepended to your message. (This is mainly provided as an easier way to send the author a message, without having to bother with copying their name and writeup title.)
typeshows writeup type (idea/person/thing/idea/definition)
typeauthorprintshows writeup type and author (this combination is commonly used, so it has its own code)
voteshows voting area
socialshows social bookmarking buttons

Don't understand what to do? Try following these steps:

  1. Press the "clear to default" button (this just makes sure you have the exact setup as what I'm talking about). Your setting is now the default.
  2. You can look at the visual examples provided below each textbox to give you an idea of what the different set ups look like. Like a little of this one, a little of that one? Mix and match to come up with the perfect solution.
  3. The top box is your current writeup footer display.

Press the "clear to default" button to reset to the normal display; "default: bare", "default: classic", "default: full", or "default: pseudo-anonymous author" to use one of the default values; or "custom" after typing in your own code sequence.
Tip: most people won't need to ultra-customize the display, they'll be fine with one of the defaults.