Guide - Forum Overview & Introduction

[Emz]

You have a choice to either watch our video talking you through our forum or scroll down to read our forum overview and introduction with helpful images showing what we are talking about. Both have the same information.

{ INSERT VIDEO HERE }


The Forum Overview and Introduction - Quick Links
1) The Navigation Bars
2) Categories and Boards
3) Stats and Footer
4) ChatBox
5) Board Area

[Emz]

The Navigation Bars



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

1) Website Nav Bar
We have our website navigation bar, or navbar for short, above the forum. We have also coloured the background the same creamy colour of our website to give it that familiar feel.


2) Forum Nav Bar
This is the forum navbar. At the far left we have menu buttons all members can see and some even guests can see, like that of 'Help'. On the far right are menu buttons for the signed-in user/member.

Quick links - Clicking this will open up a drop-down menu (3). Here you can click each one to see all your posts, all new posts since your last visit (works best if you log out after each visit), unread posts (any posts you haven't read), unanswered topics (all topics on the forum that have no replies to them) and active topics (the most posted in).

Members - This opens up the member list of all the registered forum members. In the member list, you'll see a member's avatar, username, rank, how many posts they have done, their full name, location and a link to their about me topic. Plus when they joined and were last active. You can search for members by clicking 'Find a member' or using the 'a-z' and 'other' buttons.

ChatBox - This is the forum's chatbox, think of it as our version of Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Every registered member can access this and people can instantly chat with whoever is around. For more information, see our Chatbox section in this topic.

Help - Our help page, please come here first if you are having any problems/issues or need help.

Notifications - If you have any new notifications a red circle will appear with the number of new notifications inside. Clicking this will drop down a list of the most recent notifications with the words 'See All' at the bottom which takes you to the notifications section of your user control panel. Clicking settings will take you to the area within your user control panel where you can edit what you are notified about. For more information, see our Notifications section in the User Preferences & Settings Guide.

Private Messages - Clicking this will take you to the private messages section of your user control panel. For more information, see our Private Messages Guide.

{USERNAME} - You will see your username at the end of the navbar, clicking will drop down another menu (4) with the following links. 'User Control Panel', 'Profile' and 'Logout'. Clicking profile lets you see what other members will see when viewing your profile. The user control panel is all your preferences and settings for your account. For more information, see our User Preferences & Settings Guide.


5) Breadcrumbs
This area is called breadcrumbs, no I did not name it. You'll see this area change as you navigate the forum, telling you where exactly you are. For example, if you are viewing the member list, it will change to 'Home < Members' clicking each breadcrumb will take you to that area/page.


6) Search Bar
Type in anything to search our forum. Clicking the circled gear in the image will take you to the advanced search page. Allowing you to narrow down what exactly you are searching for. For more information, see our Searching The Forum Guide.

[Emz]

Categories and Boards



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

1) Mark Forums Read
Underneath the navbards and the text telling you of the current day and time and your last visit, is a link entitled 'Mark forums read'. Clicking this will mark every single topic and post on our forum as read. This means they won't appear in the 'Quick links' pages of new posts or unread posts. Be sure before clicking this as there is no way to undo once done.


2) Category Titles
Our forum, like most others, is divided into categories. In the category bar you'll see the category name and a button on the far right (4). Clicking the '-' allows you to collapse the category, to get it back simply click the '+' that appears on all collapsed categories.


3) Boards
In each category you'll find boards (sometimes known as forums), each board will have its image icon, title and description. If they have subboards (boards within them), they'll also have links to quickly get to those areas. (5) For each board you'll be able to see how many topics and posts each one has, also information about the latest post. Letting you know the topic title where the post is located, which member posted and when it was.

[Emz]

Stats and Footer



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

1) Tabbed Stats
At the bottom of our forum you'll see our stats table. It's in the style of tabs, clicking each tab will show you different information. For the 'Birthdays' tab it'll list anyone who has a birthday or have the text 'No birthdays today'. If there's any birthday/s coming up in the next 14 days, these will be listed here too.


2) Who's Online
As you can gather by the title, this area tells you who is online, both registered members and guests. Underneath is the most users online at one point. Before displaying all usernames of current members signed in. (Some members may have it set up in their preferences to remain hidden from the stats).


3) Legend Colours
Here you'll see our member groups, from our staff accounts of 'Admin & Founder' and 'Forum Moderators' to our member groups. Each group has their own colour to easily see which group they are part of when seeing them around the forum.


4) Footer Bar
It'll be rare if you ever interact with the footer bar, but incase you do or are curious about it we'll go over what's here. You'll have a handy 'Home' button on the far left, while this looks similar to the breadcrumbs home at the top of the forum this is just a home button.
'Contact us', will take you to a page where you can contact the forum admin, Emily. This will send a email to the nightingales email address and you can select whether you wish to have a copy of the email too.
'Delete cookies', clicking this deletes all the cookies that phpbb (our forum software) sets.
'All times are UTC', which means our forum is set in the UTC timezone. Also known as Greenwich Mean Time or Western European Time.


5) Statistics
Clicking this will showcase the forums stats, with the total topics, posts and members. It'll also list our newest member.
Underneath this you'll see the stats of the Activity over the last 24 hours. Clicking the '+' will show all registered users that have visited in the last 24 hours.

[Emz]

Chatbox



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)

The ChatBox can be found in two locations, at the bottom of the forum index/home page and on it's own page which is linked in the navbar. As stated earlier in this topic, the ChatBox is our version of Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Every registered member can access this and people can instantly chat with whoever is around.


1) ChatBox in Navbar
Clicking 'ChatBox' or the arrow beside it will drop down an additional menu. 'ChatBox Page' will, as you gather, take you to a page with just the chatbox on it. 'Archive' will show you an archive of 100 messages and will be sorted by newest to oldest. 'Sound' will tell you whether you have the sound on or off, a sound will go off every time someone messages/posts in the ChatBox. It's handy to leave on so you know when someone is there. 'Enter sends the message' lets you know how to send a message and if clicked will load the index/home page of the forum.


2) Number of People
If anyone is chatting in the ChatBox, a number will appear in [ ] showing how many next to the 'ChatBox' button.


3) Typing/Sending a Message
Messaging is easy, type in the text box and click the arrow or press enter on your keyboard.


4) Smilies & BBCode
If you wish to, you can add smilies to your messages. Clicking the smiley face will open up all our smilies we have here on our forum. Ready to be clicked and inserted into any message.
You can also add additional items or style your text by using BBCode, clicking '</>' opens it up. (can be used to style text, for example styling some text to appear bold.) Hovering your mouse over any of the buttons will show you how to use the BBCode and what it is for.


5) In The ChatBox
In the stats at the bottom of the index/home page of the forum, you will see 'Who is in ChatBox'. It will show you how many members are in the ChatBox and list their usernames. This same information will be displayed under the ChatBox on its own page.

[Emz]

Board Area



(Need a closer look? Clicking the image will open it up, right-click and select 'Open Link in New Tab' to not leave this page.)


1) Category Title
When going into any board area (sometimes known as forums), you'll see the title of the board near the top.


2 & 3 Subboards
Not all board areas will have subboards (sometimes known as subforums), but if they do they will be listed just underneath the category title. They will have the same look and display as a board on the index/home page of the forum, complete with the option to collapse the area. Above you will see (2) 'Mark subforums read'. Clicking this will mark every single topic and post in these subboards as read. This means they won't appear in the 'Quick links' pages of new posts or unread posts. Be sure before clicking this as there is no way to undo once done.


4) New Topic
Clicking this will allow you to create a new topic in this board, (please note there are some boards members can not start new topics in, like this subboard of 'Guides'.) This button is also featured at the bottom underneath the topics displayed on the page.


5) Search
If you are trying to find a particular topic or post in the board you are viewing, you can use that board's search bar. Just like on the index/home page, there is the option to click the 'advanced search' to help narrow down your results, (looks like a gear).


6) Mark Read, Topics & Pages
Just like with subboards and the index/home page of the forum, there's a mark read button. In this case, 'Mark topics read'. Clicking this will mark every single topic and post in this board as read. Next to the button it tells you how many topics are in the board and on how many pages.
Right now none of our boards have more than one page, when we do it'll look something like this :

You can click the numbers to jump to those pages, the far right arrow for next page or click first/left arrow that will display a drop-down allowing you to type in a number and jump to that page.
Everything in this little area will appear at both the top and bottom of each page of topics.


7) Announcements
Announcements are a type of topic that only some staff members can create and appear at the top of boards. They contain important information for the board you are currently on and should be read. You can see how many replies and views each announcement has got, plus who was the last person to post in the topic and when it was.


8) Stickys & Topics
Stickys are a type of topic that only some staff members can create and appear above all normal topics. Topics are something all members can create (as long as they have permission to do so on the board they are in, for example, members can't create topics in this subboard of 'Guides'.) Just like with announcements, you can see how many replies and views each sticky/topic has got. Alongside who was the last person to post in the topic and when it was. Clicking the arrow next to the username of said poster will take you to that last post directly.


9) Display and Sorting Options
Clicking this button will make a drop-down menu appear. You'll notice you can change what is displayed and how topics are sorted with this feature. You can display all topics or topics within a particular time frame. You can sort by, post time, author, replies, subject or views. Direction changes which way you wish for the results to be displayed, whether ascending or descending.


10) Jump To
A handy little button that appears on most pages of the forum. Clicking this will display a drop-down menu of all the areas of the forum. Clicking one will 'jump' you to that area.


11) Legend
Most boards will display this, it's a handy little reminder of what topics are which.


12) Forum permissions
This will change depending on what board you are on and what permissions you have there. These permissions are set by the forum admin.