Using your profile's Display Name field to show location.
Mar 19, 2018 1:14:17 GMT -5
CampKohler (Sacramento CA) and Mr_Geo (Louisville, KY) like this
Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 19, 2018 1:14:17 GMT -5
This article gives details about the Display Name field and how to use it to show your location.
I. First some definitions:
II. Use of the display name
By default, the content of the Name field is shown above the avatar to identify a user. Because the Location field is not visible except while viewing a profile, a method of displaying a user’s location is desirable. If the Display Name field is populated, that field's content will be shown instead of the Name field's. To show the user's location, additional text may be added, e.g. city and state.
III. Rules governing how the Display Name field will look
V. Designing the field to suit for location
Note: Parenthesis around the location is optional, but presents a good appearance.
A. Working with a short text in the field
If both the name and location combined show on a single line, you may elect to leave it that way. For example, "Joe1 (Chico CA)" will show on a single line, because the width of all the characters combined will fit the available display space:
Joe1 (Chico CA)
If you desire two lines, you can force a short text to wrap to the second line by artificially increasing the space needed by inserting filler characters other than spaces. For example, "Joe1 ----------Chico CA" will wrap at the first space and appear as:
Joe1
----------(Chico CA)
But forcing the location to the right has an undesirable appearance. By inserting a second space immediately before the location, the text will wrap at the second space:
Joe 1 -----------
(Chico CA)
B. Working with a long text in the field
If the name and location combined exceed the display space, nothing need be done; the location will wrap to the next line at the space. For example "Marsh382436 (Tallahassee FL)" shows as:
Marsha382436
(Tallahassee FL)
Shorter city names might not wrap, leaving the state to wrap by itself:
Overthehillganger (Ione
CA)
Forcing the city and state to wrap together would give a better appearance:
Overthehillganger ___
(Ione CA)
Questions? Pose them publicly by post or privately by PM to CampKohler[/u.
I. First some definitions:
- Additional text - In this article, it means any text added to a field by the user beyond the designer’s intention. Example: Text added to the Display Name field in order to show the user's location.
- Profile - The area of the forum that holds your account information. On the navigation bar at top, click the Profile tab to view it.
- Edit Profile button - Allows changing user information and settings.
- Personal tab - Allows reviewing/editing a user's personal information.
- Name field - A profile field that holds the permanent account name (a.k.a Username) assigned at registration time. In use, it appears above the avatar in one or more lines if Display Name is empty.
- Display Name field - An optional field holding the user's preferred identification text. BB code is allowed. In use, the text appears above the avatar in one or more lines, depending on text width (discussed below).
- Location field - An optional profile field holding the user's location. BB code is allowed. In use, the text appears only when the profile is viewed, so it's not very useful unless someone goes looking for it.
- BB code - bulletin board code is a widely-used markup language providing enclosing tags that will modify text's appearance. The tags of interest are described in this support article if you are curious.
II. Use of the display name
By default, the content of the Name field is shown above the avatar to identify a user. Because the Location field is not visible except while viewing a profile, a method of displaying a user’s location is desirable. If the Display Name field is populated, that field's content will be shown instead of the Name field's. To show the user's location, additional text may be added, e.g. city and state.
III. Rules governing how the Display Name field will look
| Rule | What the rule means |
|---|---|
| BB code and HTML are disabled. | If entered, it will do nothing, but the code will garbage the text. |
| The field holds 30 characters maximum. | If the name is long, any additional text length must be limited to fit. |
| More than one adjacent space will be ignored. | Multiple spaces should not be used between name and additional text. |
| Each text line above the avatar shows about 20 average-sized characters. | What shows on a line depends on the width of the characters used. |
| When a text line exceeds the available space, the text wraps to the next line. | You must experiment to determine line wrapping. Counting characters won't do. |
| If one space is in the line. wrapping occurs there. | Too-long additional text beyond one space wraps to the next line. |
| If two spaces are in the line, wrapping occurs at the right-most space. | Too-long additional text beyond the right-most space wraps. |
V. Designing the field to suit for location
CAUTION: In the examples below, the name within the Display Name field is always followed by a space to isolate it from additional text. This is a wise practice in order to present to the reader an accurate picture of the true Username, which is needed to successfully send PMs. For the same reason, the name should always be the true Username. Altering the case of any characters in the name has no effect on PMs, so doing that is OK. But changing "Joe1" to "BigDog" is misleading to the reader and should be avoided. Such name changes would be better done by changing to a new account with the desired name and deleting the old account.
Note: Parenthesis around the location is optional, but presents a good appearance.
A. Working with a short text in the field
If both the name and location combined show on a single line, you may elect to leave it that way. For example, "Joe1 (Chico CA)" will show on a single line, because the width of all the characters combined will fit the available display space:
Joe1 (Chico CA)
If you desire two lines, you can force a short text to wrap to the second line by artificially increasing the space needed by inserting filler characters other than spaces. For example, "Joe1 ----------Chico CA" will wrap at the first space and appear as:
Joe1
----------(Chico CA)
But forcing the location to the right has an undesirable appearance. By inserting a second space immediately before the location, the text will wrap at the second space:
Joe 1 -----------
(Chico CA)
B. Working with a long text in the field
If the name and location combined exceed the display space, nothing need be done; the location will wrap to the next line at the space. For example "Marsh382436 (Tallahassee FL)" shows as:
Marsha382436
(Tallahassee FL)
Shorter city names might not wrap, leaving the state to wrap by itself:
Overthehillganger (Ione
CA)
Forcing the city and state to wrap together would give a better appearance:
Overthehillganger ___
(Ione CA)
Questions? Pose them publicly by post or privately by PM to CampKohler[/u.