Forum and posting tutorials

[Muriel]

I thought I'd post a few things to help some people new to forum posting. Topics covered will include

1. Using emoticons (faces)
   
2. Writing bold italic and underlined, _subscript strikethrough and ^superscript.
   
3. Changing the style (font), the size and the colour of writing
   
4. Inserting links (where you want people to be able to click on a word and it will take them to a different webpage)
   
5. Inserting images from a webpage
   
6. Inserting images from your computer
   
7. Quoting a post
   
8. Quoting multiple posts
   
9. Putting a bulleted (or numbered) list into your post
   
10. Changing post alignment (eg to centre the writing)
    
11. Spell checker
    
12. Inserting a Poll into your topic
    
13. My Controls
    
14. View New Posts
    
15. My Assistant
    
16. Changing the layout of topics
    
17. Forum Abbreviations
    

****For some of these you will have to type code into your text. To enable you to see what needs typing I have had to insert an extra space into the code, otherwise it'll just convert it. Whenever you see code, you'll need to remove the space before the ] to make it proper code. Eg for [b ] or [/u ] remove the extra space to convert it into proper code****

We'll start with the basics. Click on 'Add Reply' at the bottom of the page of posts in a topic.

1. Using emoticons (faces)

When you're typing away, sometimes you want to use a little picture to show what you are feeling. In this case, use an emoticon! You can either click on the emoticon button above, or on the emoticons on the left. If you click on 'Show All' above the faces on the left it will give you a longer list with many more emoticons. If you click on any of the emoticons it will insert it into your text. Clicking on 'Show All' will also give you the code you can type to get the emoticon to appear. So you can either click on the emoticon you want, or you can type '' and the emoticon will then appear (they will both look like the typing rather than the picture until you preview the post or add the reply)

2. Writing bold italic and underlined, _subscript strikethrough and ^superscript.

If you want to write something in bold, italic or underlined, you can click on those buttons. This will appear: [b ][ /b] type what you want to be bold in between the ][ in the middle. [b ]type here[ /b]. For italic it will be an 'i' instead of 'b' and for underlined a 'u' instead of 'b'. for the subscript, superscript or strikethrough click on the little arrow and click the one you want, again typing between the ][.

Another way to achieve the different looks is to type the word/sentence you want, select it, and then click on the particular button. So if you want "He thought about how to move the finished house" in italics, you type that sentence, highlight it, and then click on the italics button above. He thought about how to move the finished house That will put the [i ] around the text you highlighted.

3.Changing the style (font), the size and the colour of writing

Very similar to writing in different styles, click on the arrows beside the font, size or colour buttons to change the writing. That will insert the code for you, and you just type what you want between the ][. Or again, you can type what you want, then highlight it and click the button, and it'll put the code around what you've written.

4. Inserting links (where you want people to be able to click on a word and it will take them to a different webpage)

I'm sure you have come across posts with words that are underlined, that you can click on, that then send you to another webpage somewhere. This is how to do it: Click on the 'insert link' button. A popup window will appear. Where it says 'Please enter ful URL' type in the website address. You can copy and paste it from your address bar. Then click 'OK'. Another popup will appear. Where it says 'Please enter the title for this item' type the word you want to appear underlined that people can click on. Click 'OK' again. This will insert the link into your text.

5. Inserting images from a webpage

If you have found an image on a webpage that you like and want to include it in your post, this is how you do it: As with inserting links, click on the 'insert image' button. A popup will appear. Type in the address of the image. (If the webpage just has the picture on it and nothing else, this is the address you need to type. It often finishes with .jpg) If you want to show a picture from a Greenleaf album, then on the right hand side in the gallery when you are viewing a picture, under 'Hotlinking & BBCode' Copy and paste the 'image link' address.

Once you've clicked 'OK' in the popup window your image will be inserted into your text.

6. Inserting images from your computer

Sometimes you might want to display an image that you have stored on your computer, but that isn't on a website somewhere. In this case you use the Attachments section below the window you type in. Click on the 'Browse...' button to bring up a popup with a list of the folders on your computer. Double click on the image you want to put in your post, or select it and click on the 'Open' button. Next click on 'UPLOAD'. It might then take a few seconds or a minute or two for the computer to upload the image to your post. It won't appear in the bit where you normally type though.

You can do things to your attachments from the 'Manage Current Attachments' bit. Click on 'Manage Current Attachments' and it will show the name of the image you have attached. You can then click on the 'delete' button to remove the attachment from your post.

Normally if you just leave the attachment alone it will appear at the bottom of your post. You can click on the 'insert attachment into text editor' button to put the image into your text, so you can type before and after the attachment. If you click that button it will insert into your text window.

Just for info, the Attachment space used is how much you can upload (ie if your file is 64.95K big, it'll say space used is 64.95K of 1000K. That means overall you can upload 1000K worth of files. (That figure will vary according to how much storage space you have left on Greenleaf)

I've been trying to find out exactly what types of files you can attach but haven't had too much luck. I know you can attach jpeg files and think you can attach bmp files too (you can only attach jpg, jpeg, gif and png files in the gallery and as avatars)

7. Quoting a post

Sometimes you want to reply specifically to something someone has said, but if you don't quote them then your reply might get lost amongst other posts. If you click on the 'Quote"' button just below the post, it will take you to the reply page, and will already have put the quoted bit into the typing window. You can edit this - ie you can delete bits that are irrelevant to your answer. You can also type

[/quote ] and type the quote between the ][.

8. Quoting multiple posts

Sometimes you want to quote multiple posts and different people. Rather than doing a separate post for each quote, you can combine them into one post. Under each post, click on the 'MultiQ+' button. It will change colour and the + will change to a -. When you have selected all the posts you want, click on the 'Add Reply' button at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the reply page with all the different quotes already inserted into the text box. You just need to type your reply under each specific quote.

**Ooh, I just found out through trial and error that you can click MultiQ in one thread, and then MultiQ in another thread, and if you then click Add Reply it will quote the posts from the different threads! Clever.

9. Putting a bulleted (or numbered) list into your post

You can insert lists into your post. These will either be numbered lists (click on the number list button) or bulleted lists (click on the bullet list button).

Clicking on the button will

1. Make a popup appear. In this case you type the text you want on each line into the popup box. After you type what you want on the first line, click 'ok' and then type in the next line. When you have finished, click 'ok' and then 'cancel'
   
2. Insert [list ][/list ] into you text for a bullet list or
   1. [/list ] for a number list. In this case you click between the ][ and add your list. Put [* ] at the start of each line. This will insert a bullet or number before what you are writing.
      [list ]
      [* ]Greenleaf
      [* ]Corona
      [* ]Dye cut
      [* ]Laser cut
      [/list ]
      will look like this:
      

• Greenleaf
  
• Corona
  
• Dye cut
  
• Laser cut
  

10. Changing post alignment (eg to centre the writing)

If you want to have the writing in your post centred either click on the 'align centre' button or type [center ][/center ] into your text and type the writing you want centered between the ][. Similarly for left or right alignment you can click the button or type [left ][/left ]or [right ][/right ]

11. Spell Checker

Not so sure of your spelling? When typing a post you can click on the 'spellcheck' button.

The first time you do so, a popup will probably appear saying "ieSpell not detected. Click Ok to go to download page." Clicking on OK should open a new window. Follow the installation instructions (about half way down the page) to install the program. You will probably need to close the window and open another one for the download to take effect.

After you have installed the program, clicking on the spellcheck button will check your spelling. If it is all ok it will just pop up 'the spelling check is complete' and if not, give you suggestions.

12. Inserting a Poll into your topic

If you want to do a poll where people can choose answers you can only do this when you are creating a new topic. Click on 'New Topic' and just under the topic description is a link beside Poll Options 'Click here to manage this topic's poll' Click on this link.

Type in a title for your poll. Click on 'Add Poll Question' and type in your question. Then click 'Add Poll Choice' to add an answer. If you click on the box beside 'multiple choice question?' people replying can choose more than one answer. You can have a total of three different questions and each question can have up to 20 answers. You can delete a question by clicking on the red cross beside the question.

13. My Controls

Clicking on this link brings you to your control panel. Along the left hand side there are various links and most of these are self explanatory.

A few useful ones are under OPTIONS towards the bottom

[*]Manage your attachments This link allows you to easily delete files you have attached to a post directly from your computer. There is a limit to the total amount you can attach, and at some point you will probably try to attach a file and come across a message saying you don't have enough space or memory or something like that. If this is the case, you can delete some of the files you may no longer need attached.

[*]Manage friend list This link allows you to accept friends, or if you then click on 'Manage your friends list (launches new window)' you can see who your current friends are

[*]Email Settings Clicking here you can change how you get emails. This is also where you tick the box to enable you to get an email telling you you've got a new PM (private message)

[*]Board Settings Here you can change options for viewing the Forum. You can for example chose not to see people's signatures or avatars, or disable the personal messenger.

14. View New Posts

Clicking on this link will bring up a list of topics that have had new replies since you last visited the forum. Clicking on 'Mark all forums as read' resets this as if you'd read all the new posts.

15. My Assistant

Clicking here opens a popup which gives you various info like who the forum moderators are, who is the top poster, a list of new posts etc.

16. Changing the layout of topics

Sometimes the posts in a topic are one below the other, all open and laid out. Sometimes the first post is open, and the replies are links that you have to click to read. To change the layout, click on 'Options' and click on the one you want under 'display modes'. All open and laid out is Standard mode.

17. Forum Abbreviations

This list is taken from Mini Man's topic in the FAQ section:

Here are some commonly used abbreviations:

LOL - Lots of Laughs or Lots of Love

ROFL - Rolling On Floor Laughing

ROFLMAO - Rolling On Floor Laughing My *buttocks* Off

PM - Private Message

BTW - By The Way

IMO - In My Opinion

IMHO - In My Honest Opinion/In My Humble Opinion

TMI - Too Much Information

DH/DW - Dear Husband/Darling Wife (also DS and DD - son and daughter)

PIL/SIL/DIL - Parent in law, son in law, daughter in law

dh - Dollhouse

BRB - Be Right Back

TTYL- talk to you later

OOAK- one of a kind

I hope this helps those not familiar with forum posting and newcomers, and if you've got any questions ask away. I'll try and help, and I'm sure others on this lovely forum will help too if they can.

[Roxxie2]

How do I stay Logged in? I have Remember Me checked in the log in box but every time I leave the site I have to log back in! Is this how it us suppose to work for security? Thanks

[havanaholly]

Sometimes I have to log back in, especially after an "upgrade", but lately it's been remembering me.

[Selkie]

It will also bump you out if you have your temp folders set to automatically clear your cache each time you close/leave a site.

It's a security feature some folks have set on purpose so there isn't a tracking/trail left of cookies on your computer.

Perhaps yours is set to that.

[Roxxie2]

I clear my history and cache often.....maybe that's why!

[CheckMouse]

I clear my history and cache often.....maybe that's why!

That's probably what's doing it. I never "sign out" - I just hit the X at the top of whole page. That might make a difference, too. When I come back I'm already signed in.