Instant Messages can be formatted to improve the format of the message. This includes headings, Colours, Bullet Points, Hyperlinks, Images and Bold/Italic/Underline options,

Headings

Use the # to make heading lines:

Example;

# Heading Size Extra Large
## Heading Size Large
### Heading Size Normal
#### Heading Size Small

Open

Text

Use the * either side of text to make it italic. Use  ** either side to make it bold. Use *** to make it bold and italic.

Use a curly bracket before some text to set a colour, and put the text you want coloured inside regular brackets. e.g. 
{red}(Red text) gives Red text

Combine these effects to produce large amounts of variety. You can even combine these affects with headings.

There are a large number of colours to choose from by name, but if that is not enough, you can choose any colour at all by working out is RGB value in Hex and entering it with a #.  e.g 
{#20175A} gives dark purple.  See more colours here.

Example:

Colours: Normal {Red}(Red) {Blue}(Blue) {Green}(Green) {Yellow}(Yellow) {Orange}(Orange) {Brown}(Brown)

Bold: **Normal** {Red}(**Red**) {Blue}(**Blue**) {Green}(**Green**) {Yellow}(**Yellow**) {Orange}(**Orange**) {Brown}(**Brown**)

Italic: *Normal* {Red}(*Red*) {Blue}(*Blue*) {Green}(*Green*) {Yellow}(*Yellow*) {Orange}(*Orange*) {Brown}(*Brown*)

Bold Italic: ***Normal*** {Red}(***Red***) {Blue}(***Blue***) {Green}(***Green***) {Yellow}(***Yellow***) {Orange}(***Orange***) {Brown}(***Brown***)

Open

Lists and Separators

Create bullet points by putting a - and space in front of your list items.

Create a numbered list by putting a number followed by a . and a space in front of your list items.

Create a block in a monospaced font by enclosing the text in ` (backticks)

Create separators by adding *** on a line on its own.

Example:

- Unordered
- List

***

`Monospaced Text`

1. Ordered
2. List
1. The numbers don't matter, any number works

Links

You can add hyperlinks to your message by putting the text for your hyperlink in square brackets and then following that with the link you want to jump to in regular brackets. 

You can add images to your message by starting the line with an exclamation point, then putting a friendly name for the image in square brackets, followed by a link to the image in regular brackets. The image must be available on the open internet without credentials being required. Not all images will work and some experimentation will be required to get the effects you want. 

Example:


[Hyperlink](https://softwareofexcellence.com)