User:X pro/Signature Guide

' THIS PAGE IS A HUGE'' WORK IN PROGRESS. EXPECT MANY CHANGES IN THE FOLLOWING WEEKS. '''

Hello and welcome to the Signature Tutorial! You're on this page because you're tired of seeing that boring blue link when you sign your posts. Well, this page is designed to help you create your own, unique signature.

If you're unfamiliar with wiki coding and formatting, then this guide should help you a whole lot. This page is designed to be an active center offering help, advice, and inspiration.

What is a signature, and how do I use one?
A signature, or "sig" for short, identifies you as the person that has left a comment on pages such as Forums or Talk Pages. A signature is meant to be unique, and allows other users to keep track of who they are actually talking to. I'm sure you all know that signing your posts is a must, and doing so couldn't be simpler, all you have to do is type ~ or click the http://www.wikia.com/skins/common/images/button_sig.png button at the end of a statement.

The default signature is a simple link to your userpage, followed by a timestamp: X pro 11:12, December 4, 2010 (UTC)

But a custom signature can be very different. It can include colors, images, symbols, links to multiple pages, and many other things. If you follow this guide in order to create your signature, it should also include a timestamp, making it easier for users to keep track of when your message was posted. For example, my custom signature is: 15:49, December 3, 2010 (UTC)

Making a custom signature
Alright, here's the exciting bit. Even if you're a novice of wiki coding, I'll try to explain everything in this step-by-step section.

Step 1: Design
On a sandbox or userpage, start with what text you want your signature to display.

Example: X pro Talk!

Step 2: Linking
Next, incorporate the links you want to use in your signature.

Example:  X pro Talk!  would result in: X pro Talk!

Step 3: Font, color, and size
This step uses this handy bit of coding:  TEXT 

As you can probably guess, this piece of coding changes the font, or "typeface", color and size of the text featured in your signature.

These pages are a huge help:
 * List of Fonts
 * Color Chart
 * Full list of Colors

Step 3.1: Font
Using the coding and help page mentioned above, you can change the font style of your signature by replacing the "FONT" part of the code to any typeface you want.

Example:  TEXT  results in: TEXT

Step 3.2: Color
Using the same coding as you used to change the font, you can change the color of your signature by replacing the "COLOR" part of the code to any color name or "Hex triplet" you want.

Before I go any further in this section, I should explain the term "Hex Triplet". Color names such as "Red" or "Blue" can be used in the above coding, but most of the colour names that are not featured on the Color Chart, but are featured on the Full list of Colors can't be used. If you want to use a color from the full list, you have to copy-paste the Hex triplet (the 6-digit code used to represent the color). For example, "Air Force blue" hex triplet: #5D8AA8, is a colour that is not featured on the smaller color chart. To use this colour in the above coding, you would have to type "#5D8AA8" in place of the "COLOR" part of the coding.

Example:  TEXT  results in: TEXT

Example 2: "#FFD700" is the hex triplet for "gold":  TEXT  results in: TEXT

Step 3.3: Size
Okay, this is the least complicated part of this coding. By changing the SIZE part of the above coding, you can change the size of the text in your signature. Any whole, positive number can be used, as long as it isn't completely out of proprtion.

Example:  TEXT  results in: TEXT

Example 2:  TEXT  results in: TEXT

That's what I meant by "out of proportion". Here's a little example of size numbers, using "Arial" as a font: 1 2 3 4 5 <font face="Arial" color="black" size=6>6 <font face="Arial" color="black" size=7>7

Step 3.4: Using this code in your signature
To change the font, color and size of your already designed and linked signature you've made using steps 1 and 2, this coding has to go in a specific place. It has to go after the | in your link.

Example:  <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk!   would result in:

<font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk!

Step 4: Symbols
Adding small symbols into your signature can make it that much more unique. Below, I have included a small selection of symbols that you could use in your signature. Using the code  <font face="FONT" color="COLOR" size=SIZE>TEXT , you can change the size and color of the symbols.

Example: <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk!  ♫

Symbol Archive
☺ ☻ ∞ ↄ ≈ ∑ ← ↑ → ↓ ☼ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ ❀ ✩ ♪ ✈ ☎ ♫ ♔ ° ≠ ≤ ≥ ± † ‡ − × ÷ ← → ↔ ⇔ ⇐ ⇑ ⇒ ⇓ ¡ ¿ ¶ ¹ ² ³ ½ ⅓ ⅔ ¼ ¾ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ « » ¤ ₳ ฿ ₵ ₪ ₩ ¥ ®	©	™ α	β	γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ	λ μ ν ξ	ο π ρ ς	σ τ υ φ	χ ψ ω

Moving Symbols and Words
Although, having the musical notes at the end of the signature adds flair, being directly in line with your signature seems awkward. Moving the symbol up or down, can really make your signature stand out. To do this you would type: <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk!  ♫  , which would result in this.

Example: <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk!  ♫

You can also use this command for words. If you want to move the word talk for instance, it would look like this: ''' <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk! ♫ '''

Example: <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk! ♫

Step 5: Pictures
Symbols are a great way to ads substance to your signature. But, if these symbols aren't to your liking, you can add a picture from the wiki to your signature! Of course you don't want to add a full size picture to your signature, so you can scale it down. An example would be: ''' <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk! ♫ '''

Example: <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk! ♫

But, there may not be a picture on the wiki that is to your liking, or you just want a non-Life of Shy Guy picture in it. Although it is against policy to upload them, NO NEED TO FRET. There is a handy site called Photo Bucket, where you can upload your pictures and use that as a medium. An example of this is: ''' http://s798.photobucket.com/albums/yy267/Dan_da_Man36/Pawprintred.png <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk! ♫ '''

Example: http://s798.photobucket.com/albums/yy267/Dan_da_Man36/Pawprintred.png <font face="Forte" color="gold" size=3>X pro - <font face="Forte" color="red" size=2>Talk! ♫

Linking
Although the standard signature, User:X pro, links you to the respective user's page. You can also make links in your signature to anywhere in the wiki! The most commonly used, and useful links are User Pages, Talk Pages and Contribution Pages. An example of this is: