Finding your way around the forums

[Rachel]

You've registered and have posted an intro thread, now what? If you're unfamiliar with this style of forum you may find yourself feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'm going to try to simplify it for you.

Let's start with the site navigation box. If you are on the home page you will see this on the upper right. This section will allow you to go directly to a specific section of the forum or take you to the entire forum.

This box also gives you the ability to go to the forum blogs or to your personal area which is listed as User CP (user control panel). The CP area lets you configure your preferences, change your avatar (the picture that will display below your forum name), add a signature (please refer here for signature guidelines Forum Rules, Tips, Info, and more...), as well as other possibilities.

Please note that you will only see the site navigation box on the forum home page.

[Rachel]

Once you are viewing the forums (not the forum home page) the look will change and your site navigation box will no longer appear. Here you have the navigation bar. This is located at the top of your screen.

The navigation bar will allow you to edit your personal settings by accessing your User CP. It can take you to the forum blogs, search the forums (if you are looking for a specific topic or post by keyword this may help), view new posts (posts will show as new until you mark the forum 'read'. I will get to that in a later post.), log out and other options.

[Rachel]

At the bottom of the forum page (specifically at the bottom of the off topic section) you will see two links. One of which is 'mark forums read'. Clicking this will basically clear the forum. No threads or forums will show up as being new anymore. Until you click this, any unread threads or posts may continue to show up as being new. It is a personal preference to use this feature but it can be helpful for some. If you choose to clear the forum before leaving, when you return any new posts or threads since your last visit will show up as new.

[Rachel]

The difference between new and old threads and posts.

If a section (example: The Lounge - located within Off Topic) has a new thread or post it will show up on the main forum page as having a distingly different color than those which have not had activity since your last visit.

Within specific areas, new threads or threads with new posts will show up in bold lettering. Threads which are not new and do not have new posts since your last visit will show up in regular font/style.

*The picture below are three screen shots chopped and put together in one image to show how each style displays new and unread posts (Default, Element Blue, and Smart Blue).

[Rachel]

Changing your forum style.

At the bottom you will see a drop down menu. This allows you to change the style of the forum. One style may be easier to navigate than another. Choose which works best for you.

[Rachel]

When posting you have several options.

Quick reply, advanced reply ('Go Advanced'), Quote, MultiQuote and new thread.

When creating a new thread: within each section, at the top left of the page and below the navigation bar there is a button to create a new thread (example: go into The Lounge and you will see a "New Thread" button at the top left below the navigation bar). *image 1 below*

Within threads:

Quick reply - this gives you quick and simple reply options *image 2 below*

Advanced reply - this gives you more options and features such as smilies (click the 'more' link below the smilies window for more smilies). *image 3 below*

Quote - this allows you to quote a single post. This is best used for fast moving threads or an older post which you want to make sure the quoted person or others are aware of what you are talking about.

Multiquote - this gives you the same option as quoting one person but you can quote several people within one response.

[vicky980]

Wow! That was great! Thank you so much.