HONK(5)

💅 HONK(5) — status composition 🎀

okay bestie, so this is the honk manual page — like, the file formats manual one, and it's literally all about composing status updates. buckle up 💖

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✨ NAME ✨

honk — status composition, and yes that's the whole vibe 🦋

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Status updates composed in honk have many features beyond just plain text. like, it's giving "more than meets the eye" fr fr.

The process begins by pressing the button marked “it's honking time” to activate the honk form. that's the entry point, bestie 👑

Honks are posted publicly. no cap. everyone sees it 🌈

🎀 Basics 🎀

A subset of markdown is supported. here's the roster:

• bold — **bold text**
• italics — *italicized text*
• quotes — > This text is quoted.
• code — inline code fragments with single ticks.

/* triple tick code blocks support syntax highlighting */ int main() { return 0; }

wait, let me just give you the block cleanly, because triple tick code blocks support syntax highlighting 😌

/* triple tick code blocks support syntax highlighting */
int main() { return 0; }

• headings — heading lines starting with #.
• lists — lists of items starting with either + or -.
• tables — table cells separated by |.
• images — inline images with img tags:

<img alt="Lifecycle of a honk" src="https://example.com/diagram.png">

also a src of a single number (1, 2, etc.) may refer to an attachment. iconic.

• links — URLs beginning with “http” or “https” will be autolinked. slay, no extra work 💅
• rules — exactly three dashes on a line, ---, will become a horizontal rule.
• spoilers — hide blocks of text between triple colon delimited regions:

::: warning
text that should be hidden behind a warning
:::

oh and this part is so important: if the first line of a honk begins with “DZ:” (danger zone) or any other combination of two letters and a colon, it will be used a summary and the post marked sensitive. like, the colon is doing a lot of heavy lifting there 🫶

Mentioning a specific user such as (@user@example.social) will send a copy of the message to them. several forms are supported:

• @name will work using the short name from the honkers table and be expanded automatically.
• @handle@domain will work for anyone.
• @https://example.com works as well.

and when honking back, the author of the parent post is automatically mentioned. convenient ✨

🦋 Extras 🦋

Custom emoji may be included by colon wrapping the image name. like (:hellsyeah:) — obsessed.

A meme (sticker, reaction gif) may be included with the meme operator followed by the file name:

meme: honk.mp4

A full list of emoji and memes may be found in the funzone. see honk(8) for more about the funzone 🧚

Custom flag emoji may be generated on the fly by specifying comma separated hexadecimal RGB values, one for each stripe:

flag:306,002,dcf

Vertical stripes may be selected by specifying "vert" for the first value. main character flag energy fr fr.

There are no length restrictions, but remember, somebody is going to have to read this noise. 😭

One may attach a file to a post. images are automatically rescaled and reduced in size for federation. a description, or caption, is encouraged. text files and PDFs are also supported as attachments. other formats are not supported. multiple files may be attached to the some post, but be wary of depending on a particular presentation order. (that's the original wording, "the some post" — not me, i swear 🙈)

One may also live dangerously by posting assassination coordinates 💀 the available fields, all optional, are name, url, latitude, and longitude. by default, location data is rounded to approximately 1/100 decimal degree accuracy. pressing the check in button a second time will refine this to more a precise location. lowkey spy behavior but okay 🕵️

Adding a time to a post turns it into an event. supported formats for start time are HH:MM or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM. a 24 hour clock is assumed, unless am or pm are specified. the duration is optional and may be specified as XdYhZm for X days, Y hours, and Z minutes (1d12h would be a 36 hour event). math slay 🔥

Clicking the pretty circle face will open the emu peeker to add in the selection of emus. yes. emu peeker. i don't make the rules 👑

When everything is at last ready to go, press the “it's gonna be honked” button. periodt 💖

⭐ Advanced ⭐

Some additional fields exist which modify the post's metadata:

• cc — to add a recipient without inlining their address.
• link — to add an http Link to the post.
• name — to give a title to the link.
• tags — to add additional hashtags without cluttering the text.

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

(Slightly dated screenshots.) — their words, not mine, but iconic either way 🎀

Composing a new honk with an attached image and location.

screenshot of honk composition: screenshot-compose.png

After posting.

screenshot of honk after posting: screenshot-afterpost.jpg

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

honk(1)

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💀 CAVEATS 💀

Markdown support is implemented with regexes. Preview is recommended. like, seriously bestie, hit preview. regex-based markdown is giving "chaotic neutral" 🫶

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okay that's the whole page!! source/version and date: this is from Debian, with the date placeholder $Mdocdate$ — so go forth, press “it's honking time”, and honk responsibly 💜✨🎀