Forum formatting

See also: Wiki Formatting

Note that the "Comments" field in the GeekList item itself and a "comment" on a GeekList item also use the Forum Formatting method.

TIP: If you see a forum post which has an effect you want to duplicate, then a neat trick is to click the QuickQuote button to see the source code to determine how the poster coded the effect. Then click the Cancel option to avoid posting a meaningless reply.

The rest of this document explains the various format codes for forum posts.

There is a "universal tag set in forum formatting that can be used for any BGG webpage. It doesn't change domains, but it does open another webpage. Starting with:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13714/qubic
You strip the first part of the url https://boardgamegeek.com and end up with /boardgame/13714/qubic which is used in the tag set.

Although this format would work for any BGG item, it will be shown only for those which there is no other option. Opening a new webpage isn't generally done when you are spinning through pages on the same domain.

Thus the web adress starting with "http:" (or "https:") can be anything. You must manually set the title for the page (On the second link shown the title would be "Alternate Hypertext")

BGG automatically appends an affiliate tag (e.g. ?tag=article-boardgamegeek-20) to URLs to some commercial sites like amazon.com.

A number of special tags are supported to link to BGG and RPG Geek content. These items will link to the appropriate page and subsititute the name of the game, designer, publisher, etc.

Linking to:	Example (Simple)	Result	Example (With an Alternate Hypertext Specification)	Result (Rendering with Alternate Hypertext)
Article by ID# (See Note 1)	[article=806703][/article]	Making of Atolla Modulis	[article=806703]Alternate Hypertext[/article]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Accessory by ID#	[boardgameaccessory=138372][/boardgameaccessory]	Agricola: Mars Board	[boardgameaccessory=138372]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgameaccessory]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Category by ID#	[boardgamecategory=1102][/boardgamecategory]	Civil War	[boardgamecategory=1102]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgamecategory]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Family by ID#	[boardgamefamily=3][/boardgamefamily]	Game: Catan	[boardgamefamily=3]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgamefamily]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Game by ID# (A)	[boardgame=13][/boardgame]	CATAN	[boardgame=13]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgame]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Game by ID# (B)	[gameid=13]	CATAN	N/A	N/A
BGG Game by ID# (C)	[thing=13][/thing]	CATAN	[thing=13]Alternate Hypertext[/thing]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Game Version by ID# (A)	[boardgameversion=130443][/boardgameversion]	Qubic (Qubic Games English/Spanish edition 1953)	[boardgameversion=130443]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgameversion]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Game Version by ID# (B)	[version=130443][/version]	Qubic (Qubic Games English/Spanish edition 1953)	[version=130443]Alternate Hypertext[/version]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Mechanic by ID# (C)	[boardgamemechanic=2048][/boardgamemechanic]	Pattern Building	[boardgamemechanic=2048]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgamemechanic]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Person by ID# (A) (See Note 2)	[designer=1][/designer]	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	[designer=1]Alternate Hypertext[/designer]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Person by ID# (B)	[person=1][/person]	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	[person=1]Alternate Hypertext[/person]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Podcast Episode by ID#	[boardgamepodcastepisode=98653][/boardgamepodcastepisode]	Arkham Horror	[boardgamepodcastepisode=98653]Alternate Hypertext[/boardgamepodcastepisode]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Publisher by ID# (A) (See Note 3)	[publisher=3][/publisher]	Rio Grande Games	[publisher=3]Alternate Hypertext[/publisher]	Alternate Hypertext
BGG Publisher by ID# (B)	[company=3][/company]	Rio Grande Games	[company=3]Alternate Hypertext[/company]	Alternate Hypertext
Comment by ID# (for Images and Geeklist)	[comment=6999][/comment]	?? wiki format ??	[comment=6999]Alternate Hypertext[/comment]	Alternate Hypertext
Comment on game by URL specification	See linked thread for rather complicated method...
File by ID# (See Note 4)	[file=81441][/file]	Boggle Quick Rules	[file=81441]Alternate Hypertext[/file]	Alternate Hypertext
File Page by ID#	[filepage=72887][/filepage]	Boggle Quick Rules	[filepage=72887]Alternate Hypertext[/filepage]	Alternate Hypertext
Geeklist by ID#	[geeklist=34918][/geeklist]	Tricks of the Geek	[geeklist=34918]Alternate Hypertext[/geeklist]	Alternate Hypertext
Geeklist item by ID#	[listitem=1157423][/listitem]	?? wiki format ??	[listitem=1157423]Alternate Hypertext[/listitem]	Alternate Hypertext
Geeklist item by ID# as a single item	[geekurl=/geeklist/item/1157423#item1157423][/geekurl]	/geeklist/item/1157423#item1157423	[url=https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/item/1157423#item1157423]Alternate Hypertext[/url]	Alternate Hypertext
Geekpoll	[geekpoll=###][/geekpoll]	No such wiki markup	N/A	N/A
Geekroll	[geekroll=####][/geekroll]	No such wiki markup	N/A	N/A
Family tag set	[family=3][/family]	Game: Catan	[family=3]Alternate Hypertext[/family]	Alternate Hypertext
Horizontal Rule	above line[hr]below line	above line below line	N/A	N/A
Image by ID#	[imageid=72808]		N/A	N/A
Image by ID# using a size (See NOTE 5)	[imageid=72808 micro]		N/A	N/A
Image used as a link	N/A	N/A	[boardgame=13714][IMG]https://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1344293_t.jpg[/IMG]Qubic[/boardgame]	?? wiki format ??
InlineIMG	This is an inline [InlineIMG]https://boardgamegeek.com/image/1722264[/InlineIMG]image.	This is an inline image.	N/A	N/A
Media tag set by ID#	[media=98653][/media]	Arkham Horror	[media=98653]Alternate Hypertext[/media]	Alternate Hypertext
Microbadge by ID#	[microbadge=1902]		N/A	N/A
"Out Of Character"	The "Out Of Character" tag set turns text from black to [ooc]grey[/ooc].	No such Wiki markup	N/A	N/A
Property tag set by ID#	[property=2072][/property]	Dice Rolling	[property=2072]Alternate Hypertext[/property]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG by ID#	[rpg=190][/rpg]	Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition)	[rpg=190]Alternate Hypertext[/rpg]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Category by ID#	[rpgcategory=2108][/rpgcategory]	Sourcebook (rules/options to enhance play)	[rpgcategory=2108]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgcategory]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Family by ID#	[rpgfamily=192][/rpgfamily]	Dungeons & Dragons	[rpgfamily=192]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgfamily]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Genre by ID#	[rpggenre=183][/rpggenre]	Science Fiction	[rpggenre=183]Alternate Hypertext[/rpggenre]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Issue by ID#	[rpgissue=62566][/rpgissue]	Utter Drivel (Issue 7 - Apr 1987)	[rpgissue=62566]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgissue]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Item by ID#	[rpgitem=43370][/rpgitem]	Dungeon Master's Guide (D&D 4e)	[rpgitem=43370]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgitem]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Mechanic By ID#	[rpgmechanic=2114][/rpgmechanic]	Cards (Standard French-suited deck)	[rpgmechanic=2114]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgmechanic]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Podcast Episode by ID#	[rpgpodcastepisode=13650][/rpgpodcastepisode]	Kratzenbaum	[rpgpodcastepisode=13650]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgpodcastepisode]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Series by ID#	[rpgseries=2498][/rpgseries]	Shadowrun Missions	[rpgseries=2498]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgseries]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Setting by ID#	[rpgsetting=240][/rpgsetting]	Greyhawk	[rpgsetting=240]Alternate Hypertext[/rpgsetting]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG System by ID#	[rpgsystem=467][rpgsystem]	d20 System	[rpgsystem=467]Alternate Hypertext[rpgsystem]	Alternate Hypertext
Thread by ID#	[thread=1][/thread] (Forum thread within the forums)	User Review	[thread=1]Alternate Hypertext[/thread]	Alternate Hypertext
Thing tag set by ID#	[thing=13714][/thing]	Qubic	[thing=13714]Alternate Hypertext[/thing]	Alternate Hypertext
Tweet, by Twitter #	[twitter=405766909708083200]		N/A	N/A
URL Link	[url]http://yahoo.com[/url]	http://yahoo.com	[url=http://yahoo.com]Yahoo[/url]	Yahoo
URL Link to Geek page	[geekurl=/boardgame/13714/qubic][/geekurl]	/boardgame/13714/qubic	[geekurl=/boardgame/13714/qubic]Alternate Hypertext[/geekurl]	Alternate Hypertext
user= can be used in several ways, as the following rows show:	BUG: user= fails if the username has exclamation mark (!) and possibly other unusual characters	Note: user= does not magically notify or summon the user; it simply displays their name/etc here in the thread.
Username as link to user's avatar (A)	[user=Aldie]	Scott Alden (Aldie) United States Dallas TX Aldie's Full of Love! Patron Badge for 2004 through 2023	N/A	N/A
Username as link to user's avatar (B)	[user=Aldie][/user]	Scott Alden (Aldie) United States Dallas TX Aldie's Full of Love! Patron Badge for 2004 through 2023	N/A	N/A
Username as link to user's avatar (C)	[username=Aldie][/username]	Scott Alden (Aldie) United States Dallas TX Aldie's Full of Love! Patron Badge for 2004 through 2023	N/A	N/A
Username as link to user's profile (A)	[user=Aldie]Aldie[/user]	Aldie	[user=Aldie]Aldie[/user]	Aldie
Username as link to user's profile (B)	N/A	N/A	[username=Aldie]Aldie[/username]	Aldie
Username as a hypertext geek mail link	N/A	N/A	** Hack ** [geekurl=/geekmail/compose?touser=herace&subject=Another%20Property%20Tag]herace[/geekurl]	herace
Videogame by ID#	[videogame=102195][/videogame]	Realm of the Mad God	[videogame=102195]Alternate Hypertext[/videogame]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Character by ID#	[videogamecharacter=5927][/videogamecharacter]	Elvira	[videogamecharacter=5927]Alternate Hypertext[/videogamecharacter]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Genre by ID#	[videogamegenre=2165][/videogamegenre]	Puzzle	[videogamegenre=2165]Alternate Hypertext[/videogamegenre]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Expansion by ID#	[videogameexpansion=96263][/videogameexpansion]	IndyCar Circuits Expansion Pack	[videogameexpansion=96263] Alternate Hypertext[/videogameexpansion]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Franchise by ID#	[videogamefranchise=6288][/videogamefranchise]	Aladdin	[videogamefranchise=6288]Alternate Hypertext[/videogamefranchise]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Hardware by ID#	[videogamehardware=65756][/videogamehardware]	Xbox 360	[videogamehardware=65756][/videogamehardware]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame HW Mfg by ID#	[videogamehwmfg=1326][/videogamehwmfg]	Nintendo Co., Ltd.	[videogamehwmfg=1326]Alternate Hypertext[/videogamehwmfg]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Mode by ID#	[videogamemode=2149][/videogamemode]	Single-Player	[videogamemode=2149]Alternate Hypertext[/videogamemode]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Platform by ID#	[videogameplatform=4977][/videogameplatform]	Windows	[videogameplatform=4977]Alternate Hypertext[/videogameplatform]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Rating by ID#	[videogamerating=2393][/videogamerating]	SEGA: 18+	[videogametheme=2393]Alternate Hypertext[/videogamerating]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Theme by ID#	[videogametheme=2264][/videogametheme]	Thieves' World	[videogametheme=2264]Alternate Hypertext[/videogametheme]	Alternate Hypertext
Videogame Series by ID#	[videogameseries=10252][/videogameseries]	Single-Player	[videogameseries=10252]Alternate Hypertext[/videogameseries]	Alternate Hypertext
Weblink within a game by ID# (BG, RPG or VG)	[weblink=143307][/weblink]	?? wiki format ??	[weblink=143307]Alternate Hypertext[/weblink]	Alternate Hypertext
Wiki page link (A)	[wikipage=Glossary]	Glossary	N/A	N/A
Wiki page link (B)	[[Glossary]]	Glossary	N/A	N/A

NOTE 1: A thread refers to a series of posts made within the either the main forums, or the game forums. An article is a particular post within a thread. The article may or may not be the first post in the thread. The article ID number for the first post in a thread will almost certainly be different than the thread ID number.

NOTE 2: Links to a BGG person work for both the designer tag and the person tag. There is not an artist tag set. The person/designer tag sets don't check if the "person" in the BGG database is a designer, artist, or just someone famous within the board game community.

NOTE 3: Links to a BGG publisher also work for the company tag.

NOTE 4: You should use Filepageid for files, not fileid. Filepageid is the number of the filepage. Most of the time the number in [fileid=NUMBER] needs to be different from the number of the file page. If you want to use fileid for some reason, you can find the fileid when looking at the HTML source of the file page, search for the filename or description and you will see something like <span id="result_88465_filename"> on filepage 78382, so you need to use [fileid=88465].

• Embedding Images In Posts - New Format Commands
• Wiki_Image_Sizes

It is not possible to have an automagically generated TOC in a forum post. You can of course create one manually.

It is not possible to have automagically generated Sectional Headings in a forum post. You can change text size and color to create them manually.

When typing a forum post, there are many useful controls to format the forum post as shown below.

Control	Function
Emoticons	Notes: Click on "View more Emoticons" to get a larger list. Use can use your browser to get the web address for the image of any emoticon. For example this is useful for polls where emoticons can't be used, but images can.
	creates [b][/b] tags around the selected text to bold it.
	creates [i][/i] tags around selected text to italicize it.
	creates [u][/u] tags around the selected text to underline it.
	creates [-][/-] tags around the selected text to strikethrough it.
	creates [center][/center] tags around the selected text to center it.
	creates [COLOR=#xxxxxx][/COLOR] tags around the selected text to change its (foreground) color.
	creates [BGCOLOR=#xxxxxx][/BGCOLOR] tags around the selected text to change its background color. The light blue background for forum posts and such is color F4F4FF.
	Opens a dialogue to upload an image to your Image Gallery and simultaneously insert a link into the forum post.
	creates an [ ImageID=xxxxxx] tag to display an image hosted at BGG. Note that you can also give an optional argument (micro, square, small, medium, large, original) in the brackets to set the image size, e.g. [ ImageID=xxxxxx original]. The default is small. See this thread by Aldie: Embedding Images In Posts - New Format Commands.
	creates [IMG][/IMG] tags to display an arbitrary image at any URL (eg [IMG]http://foobar.com/zzz.jpg[/IMG]) Note that there is also [INLINEIMG]http://foobar.com/zzz.jpg[/INLINEIMG] to display an image in the line of text instead of putting it on its own line.
	insert a poll
	insert a quiz
	insert a Youtube video id - id only (only the characters after watch?v=, not the full url). To start the video at a specific point, add "&start=" and the offset in seconds (e.g., "&start=66" will start the video at 1:06). Note: as of 2020 it is confirmed that the "&start=" functionality is no longer supported, see this thread.
	insert a Vimeo (via its URL)
	insert an mp3 (via its URL)
	insert a Geek link from a multitude of different types into the post. User monkeyhandz has created a post with screen shots showing step by step how to make Geek Links with the forum editor. See: How To: Create Links to Everything (with screen shots)
	creates [q][/q] tags around the selected text to display quoted text. Markup: [q]This text is quoted[/q] Renders as: You can also can attribute the quote to a specific user. Nice for indicating what you are referring to in a post. Markup: [q="herace"]I edited the post a number of times[/q] Renders as: You can additionally link to a specific post or site by including [ geekurl=bgglink]link text[/geekurl] or [url=link]link text[/url] instead of "herace" as attribution: Markup: [q=[ geekurl=/article/18368626#18368626]Aldie[/geekurl]]I'm pleased to announce that the 'Geek just surpassed 1 million registered users![/q] or [q=[url=https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/18368626#18368626]Aldie[/url]]I'm pleased to announce that the 'Geek just surpassed 1 million registered users![/q] Both render as:
	creates [o][/o] tags around the selected text to make a text box that hides the spoiler text. The user must click on the spolier header to reveal the "spoiler" text. Useful for discussing movie surprises, quiz results, etc. Example image of spoiler text in a post: (The above example is just an image of the forum spoiler markup. Since this is written in the wiki it doesn't work. For a working example of Spoiler text see: Forum Formatting Example - Spoiler Text)
	creates [c][/c] tags around the selected text to make a block of text print in fixed-width font with no automatic formatting. Useful for showing program source code, simple tables and charts, ASCII art, etc.
	creates [url][/url] tags to make a pretty link to a URL. E.g. [url=http://google.com]Google[/url].
	Inserts a system generated dice roll into a forum post. See: Geek Randomizer Guide
	Drop down list to create [size=xx][/size] tags around the selected text to change its display size. For other sizes you can change size number inside the tag. Tiny = 7 Small = 9 Normal = 10 Large = 18 Huge = 24

Note that the Game button's functionality has an annoying problem that it shows about the first 50 titles that have the search text anywhere in the title. So looking for a game like "Set" or "Nim" fails, and you must open a separate tab/window to use the main BGG game search (which more conveniently shows games that start with the search string first) to find such games and then copy the gameid to the forum post.
This is a reported bug: https://boardgamegeek.fogbugz.com/default.asp?213_jv0g

There are four x{}x color tags that can be used by handcoding them. These tags can't be generated by the editor, but of course the color picker could generate the colors.

You can see an example of these tags being used here: Forum Formatting Example - x{ }x Tags to specify text colors

There are at least named colors below that can be used with foreground or backgound color tags, such as [color=Color_Name][ /color]. Again the forum editor won't generate the colors by name, but it could create the corresponding colors.

You can not use html tags in a forum post. BGG strips what could be html code from forum posts to keep spammers from being able to do anything nasty with embedded javascript. So if you use a < symbol followed immediately by some character (ie no space), then BGG will strip the post looking for the end tag. The "feature's" behavior is nasty because the preview doesn't strip the text, but the stripping does occur when the text is actually posted.

Case 1 In this case since the < is followed by the space character, there is no detecti><</nowiki>h1> as a html tag since the < is followed by the character h. In this case the parser strips from the < to the matching > from the text. Likewise the parser detects </h1> as a html tag and strips it too.

Case 3 The parser detects x<2 as a html tag since the < is followed by the character 2. In this case there is no ending > so the parser strips the < and the rest of the text in the post.

Text emotic> :< Frown

           ^<_<  High Five

           <:-|  Dumb, dunce-like

<*)))-{ ><(((*>  Fish, something's fishy

            ><>  Christian fish

         *<|:-)  Santa Claus

             <3  Heart

            </3  Broken-heart

On 2016-03-09, it was discovered that "<" followed by "on" appearing on the next line causes truncation (even though it doesn't with space between them on the same line!)

E.g.:

<
on
>

becomes

<
>

See: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/22061402#22061402

Any text put in double curly brackets will be stripped when previewing or posting. For example if the following has no space between adjacent { { and adjacent } }:

{ { this will be removed } }

Even though you can't use html tags, you can use some html markup to create special characters. The "substitution" is only made in the view of the post, not in the post's markup. So you can edit the post's markup multiple times without causing a problem.

A full list can be found here: https://dev.w3.org/html5/html-author/charref

Lists are not easy to create. There is no automagical list formating available. You have to manually create the list using the [c][/c] markup tags which save spaces and use a monospaced font.

[c] 
* Item A  
* Item B  
  - Item B-1
* Item D
[/c]

* Item A  
* Item B  
  - Item B-1
* Item D

If you want numbered lists, then you must do number also. See some list examples here: Forum Formatting Example - Simple list using [c][/c] tags.

There are two methods to create links to wiki pages.

• If the page does not exist already, a user following the link will be taken to a blank page.
• If the webapge has a _ in the name as a filler for a blank, then either [[Forum Formatting]] or [[Forum_Formatting]] will work.
• Following a link to a wiki page transfers the user to the wiki page within the same window.

As mentioned above, the [url] ...url address... [/url] markup can be used as a "universal" method to access a BGG webpage. There is a bit more to the whole picture. BGG has 3 domain names registered. You actully access the same servers, so the content of the wbesite is exactly the same.

The BGG examples in the above table have been coded here so that you can test the various links yourself.
Forum Formatting Example - Geek Domains

NOTES:
(1) RPG uses http://rpggeek.com/ and http://www.rpggeek.com/

(2) VGG uses http://videogamegeek.com/ and http://www.videogamegeek.com/

There are three methods to create links to external webpages.

• Following a link to a outside webpage page opens a new window. Don't use the outside page format for an internal link unless you want the user to get another window. Good web design usually has pages from the same spinning in the same window.

• The Wayback machine link copied from the browser uses an odd sort of link. For example:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080705045808/http://www.melankolia.net/bgtg/archives/001049.html

to get the link to work in BGG remove the characters "http://www." thus:

https://web.archive.org/web/20080705045808/melankolia.net/bgtg/archives/001049.html

Links (especially many Wikipedia links) may contain some "control" characters which do not translate properly by the forum parser.

enclosing the "bare" web address in url tags might fix the problem

(1) The comma is used as a separator for a GeekMail message going to multiple users. If a user has a comma in their name, then you need to use the escape sequence %2C to work around that problem.

(2) Wikipedia links also should not have the trailing "/" character as the page will not load properly from the wiki link.

See some examples of URL problems and the fixes here: Forum Formatting Example - Control Characters within a URL

In the "master" table various links for forum pages and posts have been documented. You should also read Note 1 in the end of the master table.

Markup Example	Result
[img]http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/logo/images/920905.jpg[/img]

If you add an image that is over 600 pixels in width, then the site automagically selects a smaller size image and shows +/- magnifying glasses above the image. Clicking the + magnifying glass will blow up image to full size, and clicking - magnifying glass will shrink it again.
See an example here:: Testing image width

The inline parameter can be used for an internal image to help control formatting. See examples here: Forum Formatting Examples - Inline parameter for internal images.

The floatleft, floatright and clear tags provide additional control for positioning. Although typically used for images, the floats could be used for text, for example to build a table. Examples of the tags are provided in the table below.

You can see some examples of using floats here: Forum Formatting Example - Float and Clear Tags

There are two tricks to force a column width. This might be handy if you don't want floated or inline images to collapse if you change the size of the browser window.
(1) small inline images with no column width forcing. You can resize browser window and force repositioning of images.
See an example here: No defined column width

(2) You can use an image to force a column width of up to 600 pixels. Make the image it 1 pixel thick and up to 600 pixels wide.
See an example here: 600 pixel browser width forced by image.

(3) You can use the code tags to add a line of spaces. This will work for over 600 pixels in width.
See an example here: Forcing column width with code ([c], [/c]) tags

How To : Upload images to your gallery and Embed and resize images in posts (with screenshots)

Using the "center" markup to create a caption.

The code tags, [c][/c], use a monospaced font and preserve spaces. So they can be used to manually format a simple table.

In early 2020 the behavior of c was modified concerning other forum code within the c block. A similar code tag [code][/code] was added which passes through most text literally without interpreting it.

[c]
 Numbers   Letters  Directions 
 1         A        North
 2         B        South
 3         C        East
 4         D        West
 5         E        Down
[/c]

 Numbers   Letters  Directions 
 1         A        North
 2         B        South
 3         C        East
 4         D        West
 5         E        Down

See this implemented at: Forum Formatting Example - Simple table using [c][/c] tags.

For a fancy method to make tables using floats see:
How to make Tables

• Tricks of the Geek
• More Tricks of the Geek