# task bar inactivated



## Bonjules

I have recently noted (as it appears right now writing this) that the Task Bar on top doesn't light up (stays muted),
making it impossible to do Bold, italics etc.  First I thought it happened just on edits, now it seems it can happen right off the bat.
Maybe I'm not clever enough and there is some way to activate it but clicking around so far I haven't found it.
Are others having the same problem?
Could it be a problem with my particular device?


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## Paulfromitaly

You simply clicked the Toggle BBcode *[ ]*


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## Bonjules

Paulfromitaly said:


> You simply clicked the Toggle BBcode *[ ]*


Thanks Paul - I thought I tried to click on that - repeatedly! to no avail.
Right now everything is working fine!


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## Yendred

Paulfromitaly said:


> You simply clicked the Toggle BBcode *[ ]*


It makes no sense to forbid to do Bold, italics etc. when on BBcode.


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## Bonjules

Yendred said:


> It makes no sense to forbid to do Bold, italics etc. when on BBcode.


Actually, me being somewhat of a cyber-dummy, I have no clue what BBcode is or how to use it.
Looking it up on Google doesn't leave me much more enlightened.
Is it something really cool   ?


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## Peterdg

Yendred said:


> It makes no sense to forbid to do Bold, italics etc. when on BBcode.


Yes, it does. When you go to BBcode mode, you actually say to the system that you will do it, so the system says: "OK, I won't interfere".


Bonjules said:


> Is it something really cool  ?


Yes 

When you are looking at this post, you will see everything above this line without the BBcodes exposed but interpreted.

Under this line, I will post the same thing, but now how it looks if you are in BBcode mode.

[QUOTE="Yendred, post: 19807028, member: 618080"]
It makes no sense to forbid to do Bold, italics etc. when on BBcode.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, it does. When you go to BBcode mode, you actually say to the system that you will do it, so the system says: "OK, I won't interfere".
[QUOTE="Bonjules, post: 19807051, member: 48816"]
Is it something really cool :oops: ?
[/QUOTE]
Yes :D


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## Peterdg

@Bonjules

I'm continuing in a next post because I don't want to mess up my carefully   constructed previous post.

You may wonder how I was able to post the part that shows how the previous post looked in BBcode mode. In order to be able to do that, I needed to go into the BBcode mode and manually insert some BBcode. Otherwise, it's impossible.

If you want to learn more of what is possible with BBcodes, you can click on the "Rules/Help/FAQ" option in the top menu bar and then click on "BB codes" in the left side menu list.


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## Bonjules

@Peterdg
Thanks for spending the time Peter.
Yes, I was wondering what the real-life practical advantage of using this mode would be for the average poster.
Maybe to avoid annoying situations the system sometimes creates, like mixing different poster's quotations into one blue box, actually having one inside the other or packing text of yours together with the quote into the blue box?
would this code allow you to pull these things apart? (like after the fact?)
I will look at what the leads you gave me say about this, thanks again


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## Peterdg

Bonjules said:


> Yes, I was wondering what the real-life practical advantage of using this mode would be for the average poster.


The general design objective of a site like this is that the average user would suffice with what the menus offer. But, that would leave the more advanced user unsatisfied or even frustrated.



Bonjules said:


> Maybe to avoid annoying situations the system sometimes creates, like mixing different poster's quotations into one blue box, actually having one inside the other or packing text of yours together with the quote into the blue box?
> would this code allow you to pull these things apart?


Yes, exactly. But it offers much more. E.g. when you want to change the color of some text, the menu only offers a very limited number of colors. With BBcode, you can configure the color yourself to something you may find more appropriate. There is also stuff to make tables, refer to dictionary entries, ...

It also allows you to post technical BBcode stuff (like I did).


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## lauranazario

Yendred said:


> It makes no sense to forbid to do Bold, italics etc. when on BBcode.


It is not forbidden... but if you choose BBCode then you must write in that code's particular 'syntax'.
Don't know how? Then choose Toggle BBCode (touch the [ ] icon, make sure you are not in Preview mode) and all the shortcuts to bold, italics, underline, etc. appear for you to utilize.
Simple as that.


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