So you've arrived at this Forumsfourfree
forum set up Perhaps you've been looking at the Index or a screen
telling you that you need to register before you can read it and you're
wondering what to do next? Remember we get you set up to remove the hassles
and give you full support along the way.
Well, some forums permit guests to read and post, some permit guests to read
only and some are restricted to registered members. We'd recommend signing up
at any forum that you see yourself using regularly because many of the most
useful features will only become available to you when you do so. Since
Forumsfourfree, however, is such a flexible system that few forums are likely
to be identical, we will start by describing four key areas that we'd normally
expect to be there for you:
- The Main Menu
- The Board Index
- The Message Index
- The Topic
The Main Menu
Supposing you've arrived here as a guest (or have
registered but are currently logged out), the main menu (which appears on
every page) should normally comprise five or six buttons (or text links):
- Home, which takes
you back to the board index.
- Help, which brings
you to this guide.
- Search, which
allows you to search the forums for whatever you're looking for.
- Login, which
allows you to login if already registered.
- Register, which
allows you to register (or sometimes apply for registration) when you wish
to do so.
Once you've registered and logged in, however, the
main menu should look a little different:
- Home (as before).
- Help (as before).
- Search (as
before).
- Profile, which
allows you to make changes to your profile settings.
- Logout, which
allows you to logout again if desired.
Forum administrators should also note the presence of
an additional Admin button.
The Board Index
While the board index (forum home page) is packed
with all kinds of information and links, the core of the interface (at least
in the Forumsfourfree default theme) normally looks something like this:
- The forum name links back to the top of
the board index.
- If the category is collapsible (shown by
the little arrow symbol), clicking the category name collapses or expands
the category as appropriate.
- The board name links to the message
index for that board.
- The board description describes the
board's content, and may also include links to child boards and/or specify
the board's moderator(s).
- The New Posts and No New Posts
icons in the leftmost column show registered members whether there have been
any new posts to the board since they last read it.
- The Mark as Read button enables
registered members to mark all posts in the entire forum as 'read'.
The Message Index
Like the board index, the message
index interface is quite straightforward when reduced to its
essential components:
- Some forums show the navigation tree at
the top in a space-saving horizontal mode.
- The page numbers link to further pages
of the board, and may be accompanied by Go Up and
Go Down buttons linking to the top and bottom of the current page.
- The Mark as Read button enables
registered members to mark all posts in this board as 'read'.
- The Notify button enables registered
members to subscribe to email notification of replies to topics in this
board.
- The Subject, Started by,
Replies, Views and Last post
links enable you to sort the columns by these parameters (with Last
post also toggling between descending and ascending order as
indicated by the little arrow).
- The topic icons in the leftmost column
are explained by the key below.
- The post icons in the next column are
sometimes used to draw attention to the mood or purpose of the topic.
- The topic subject links to the start of
the topic, with extra links for subsequent pages and new
buttons to take registered members straight to their first unread post of
the topic.
- Where the topic has been started or last
replied to by a registered member, their names link to their respective
profiles.
- The Jump to menu provides a convenient
quick method of navigating the forum.
The Topic
Sometimes referred to as threads,
topics are where you find the actual messages:
