Song Info box and lyrics box

[64Guitars]

I've added a new font called PermanentMarker for the Song Info box's song title. It looks like this:

A Song for my Friends

It should work in recent versions of most browsers, but may default to a standard font in some older browsers. I'm not sure if I'll keep the PermanentMarker font or try some others. But the mechanism is in place now so it's easy to install other fonts.


I've noticed that many members are not using the Song Info box correctly, so I thought I'd try to clarify its usage here.

When you click the Song Info button - in the message editor, the following code is inserted into your message at the current cursor position:

[song=][/song]

The equals sign means that a parameter is expected immediately following it but before the closing bracket ']'. This parameter is your song title. By putting it here, it will automatically be displayed centred on the top line of the box in the PermanentMarker font as shown above. You don't need to add any other BBcode tags such as bold, size or centre to the title. It's all taken care of for you automatically, but only if you specify the song title as a parameter after the equals sign. The rest of the information about your song (recorder, performers, instruments, etc.) should be placed between the opening and closing tags. If you put your song title between the tags instead of after the equals sign, it won't be automatically centred in the PermanentMarker font.



Here's an example:

[song=A Song for my Friends]
Words and music by Geir
6 and 12-string acoustic guitars
Voice through Micro BR mic
[/song]

A Song for my Friends

Words and music by Geir
6 and 12-string acoustic guitars
Voice through Micro BR mic

If you like, you can add other BBcode tags to the song details such as bold, font size, etc. It's already centred in italics by default but you can override that if you prefer a different layout. It's a matter of personal preference. Feel free to layout the song details any way you like.


Some people like to include their song's lyrics in the Song Info box. That's okay, but there is another BBcode specifically for lyrics which you might prefer. Here are the tags:

[lyrics][/lyrics]

Simply paste your lyrics between the two tags. It's especially useful for songs with many lines of lyrics because it has a fixed height and a scrollbar. The lyrics box and song info box are the same width as the MP3 player so you can stack them one above the other like this:

A Song for my Friends

Words and music by Geir
6 and 12-string acoustic guitars
Voice through Micro BR mic

This is a song for all my friends around the world
This is a song for all the friends I've never met
It's not a song about Jupiter and Mars
But if we gather up some airplanes and cars
We could meet in Kari's hut, or in mine

This is a song for all my friends around the world
This is a song for all the friends I've never met
It's not a song about a cold and lonely place
And not a song about somewhere in outer space
It's about a cabin in the woods or a cabin by the sea

This is a song about a dream of meeting up
A song about a cabin or a hut
Seeing friends you've never seen
Having a drink and a laugh and
Singing a song about the city and the sea and the woods
 (and the monkeys)

This is a song I would like to sing with you
This is a song where you could play your ukes
You'd play your Junos, you'd play your guitars
You'd play your mandos, you'd play your baby sitar
And your harp, and your flute, and your self-made jumbo lute
And sing in harmony
Harmony
Ah...

This is a song about a dream that will come true
A dream recurring every time I think of you
When days get darker, and hills are steep
When nights get longer, and valleys deep
We will meet, and have a feast

This is a song for all my friends around the world
This is a song for all my friends around the world
This is a song for all my friends
This is a song for all my friends
This is a song for all my friends
Around the world
Around the world

Time:

0:00

Volume:

50

0

 Stop   Play   Pause   Vol   Vol   Mute   Repeat   Download

If you want to stack them like this and your MP3 file is attached to the message, then the song info box and lyrics box must be the last things in your message. If you put any text after the lyrics box, then that text will appear between the lyrics box and the MP3 player, which is probably not what you want. On the other hand, if you use the [singlemp3][/singlemp3] tags (as I've done above) to link to an MP3 file offsite or in another message, then you're free to add more text after the MP3 player.

[T.C. Elliott]

Sweet... like the marker look. Thanks 64

[64Guitars]

As you've probably noticed, I've changed the look of the Song Info box to be similar to the MP3 player and I've removed the filename display from the MP3 player. This solves the problem we had of the player displaying a sometimes cryptic filename instead of the actual song title. Now it displays no filename at all and you can specify the actual song title with the Song Info box instead. When they're stacked one atop the other, it doesn't look too bad.

I've also made the text default to centred italics. If, for whatever reason, you don't want your text centred, you can always override it by using the [left][/left] tags (there's a button for it above the message editor). I don't think there's a standard BBcode tag to override the italics, but I could easily make one if that's needed. I just wanted to make the Song Info box as easy to use as possible by default so you don't have to mess with any BBcodes to get a nice list of song info with centred italics. Hopefully, that will encourage more people to use it.

[song=A Song for my Friends]
Words and music by Geir
6 and 12-string acoustic guitars
Voice through Micro BR mic
[/song]
[singlemp3]https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8125.0;attach=8180[/singlemp3]

A Song for my Friends

Words and music by Geir
6 and 12-string acoustic guitars
Voice through Micro BR mic

Time:

0:00

Volume:

50

0

 Stop   Play   Pause   Vol   Vol   Mute   Repeat   Download

If you just provide a song title and no details, it will display a blank box under the title.

[song=A Song for my Friends][/song]
[singlemp3]https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8125.0;attach=8180[/singlemp3]

A Song for my Friends

Time:

0:00

Volume:

50

0

 Stop   Play   Pause   Vol   Vol   Mute   Repeat   Download

There's no easy way for me to fix that right now, so I'd suggest that you always include at least the writing credits.

[song=A Song for my Friends]Words and music by Geir[/song]
[singlemp3]https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8125.0;attach=8180[/singlemp3]

A Song for my Friends

Words and music by Geir

Time:

0:00

Volume:

50

0

 Stop   Play   Pause   Vol   Vol   Mute   Repeat   Download

If you're posting a cover and you don't know who the songwriters are, why not take a few minutes to Google it. Or, if you really can't be bothered, then at least put who originally recorded the song you're covering.

[song=Wanted Man]A cover of the recording by Nick Cave[/song]
[singlemp3]https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5982.0;attach=5693[/singlemp3]

Wanted Man

A cover of the recording by Nick Cave

Time:

0:00

Volume:

50

0

 Stop   Play   Pause   Vol   Vol   Mute   Repeat   Download

[Gnasty]

Wow 64! I like this a lot...looks awesome although the smaller words are hard to read for me but i do need glasses.

I`m loving the new look!

[Ferryman_1957]

Cool stuff 64G, thanks for your continual good work on this site.

Wow 64! I like this a lot...looks awesome although the smaller words are hard to read for me but i do need glasses.

Getting to that certain age, eh Eric? It happens to us all.........

Cheers,

Nigel

[ODH]

Nice one, 64G.  I just updated my most recent post with the new functionality;
https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=10485.msg140277#msg140277

You have added to the quality of my life.  Incrementally.

Nick

[AndyR]

Thanks 64 - it looks great. I'd spotted it in one of mine and thought "ello?"

I love how the song box and player line up - I'll just have to go and check them all now . The song I was looking at had a blank line between the song and the singlemp3. I suspect I did them all like that.