In one of my google searches I found a cute little piece of freeware that can write and preview in BBcode, the code we use here for almost anything (comments, author's notes, forums). You can write and preview your messages offline with ease. It has a great feature to manage the forums topics directly from its window, but it's not compatible with DD forums (it is with most forums though). DD forum is attached to the site… hence why. There are a few differences between DD's BBcode and standard BBcode though, eg: the “code” tag doesn't work in DD, and the “quote” tag is a bit different.

Here's the link to download the BBcode studio.
http://www.download.com/BBCode-Studio/3000-2381_4-10450431.html

Feel free to ask me about BBcode in DD and in general.

WHOOO HOOOO!