Directly above the text box to enter a comment at this blog, there exist new buttons you can use to help format the appearance of your comment.
To make something bold, italic, or blockquoted (note for the html illiterate: blockquoted as it is set off in gray when I quote someone else’s work), highlight the words or phrases you want to format and click the needed button. The code will appear in the textbox. To check the definition or spelling of a word, highlight the word in question and click “Dict.” It will open a new window of a dictionary site to define the word and spelling for you.
It appears this erodes some of the functionality of the comment preview feature — italics, bold, and links will not appear in the preview any longer, but the blockquote will. If anyone knows how to override this quirk, please let me know.
Open thread to annoy me with the new comment formatting toy.