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The codes you refer to are commonly called [ubb] codes -- named after an early bulletin board package. Nowadays you will still see this technique used ( WebmasterWorld uses them ) but you will also see "Rich Text Editors" or RTE's. There are quite a few of them out there. Doing a search on the keyword phrase will turn up plenty of options. TinyMCE is one that gets lots of notice but there are plenty to analyze and choose from.