Guide to Using the Forum

How to Use the Forum:

This forum works like an ordinary forum. But I suspect some people might not be too familiar with forum functions (*cough* old farts) so I thought it best to go over them. Remember that you can be logged into the forum numerous times in different windows. So if you are making a post and want to refer to this information, simply open a new internet window, go to the forum, and open this thread. Then you can toggle between both windows -- your post and this thread -- as needed.


Posting:
There are two types of posts: posting a "New Topic" and posting a "Reply." To post a "New Topic," select the sub-forum you would like to post in. Your window will show the list of current topics (known as "threads") and have the option "New Topic." Click that and make your thread. To reply within an existing thread, open the thread and hit the "Reply" button.


Private Messages:
This forum allows you to send Private Messages (aka "PMs") which function like email. Of course it's up to you whether you would rather just send an email instead of a PM, but it can be a very useful feature because it amounts to a single, reliable email address for everyone in the family. To access the PM feature, go to the messages section at the top, among the row starting with "Home" and immediately to the left of "Log Out." Within this private messages section, you can write PMs using Usernames -- which should be family members' first names.


Quoting:
Quoting helps emphasize that you are responding to a specific post within a thread (i.e. to something specific someone said). It's a nice tool for making discussions easier to read. However, be mindful that quoting too much text -- and large pictures --
To quote a post, do not use "Post Reply" and instead use the "Quote" button (located lower, about even with the post header, and to the right). Then cut any extraneous text/pictures from the quote and write your reply.
If you would like to space the quoting so that you can respond to comments individually, you can copy/paste the opening and closing code as desired; these are [**quote="name of poster"]text[/quote**] (WITHOUT the ** which I had to use to keep it from making a quote).


Editing:
You can easily edit posts after you have posted them. You can also reduce the need to by previewing your post (hit "Preview" instead of "Send") so that you can see how it will turn out. Just don't forget to actually post it after previewing!


Text Formatting:
Formatting your text is pretty simple. Immediately above the text box for writing a new post are a variety of text options -- including Bold, Italic, Underline, Size (the second-to-the-last scrolldown menu), and Color (the last scrolldown menu).
ANNOYING QUIRKS: there are two annoying issues with formatting: (1.) the post autoscrolls to the top after any formatting and (2.) you need to reset the font Size back to "Normal" after modifying text (just put the cursor at the bottom of the page and select normal) because the scrolldown menu (not the text size itself) gets stuck on the new size.


Inserting Pictures into a Post:
Please, please, please do not insert (aka "embed") large images in posts: they can make the thread take a long time to load, which is very annoying to anyone who wants to see the thread. If you have large pictures -- or entire galleries! -- just link the URL. Posting small (printed picture size, or smaller) images is fine and here is how to do it.
To embed an image into a post: .
This can be done manually, or by writing the URL, highlighting it, then clicking the "Image" (NOT "Insert an Image") formatting option.
For example, I have the forum's tree icon hosted at Photobucket.com (one of hundreds of sites that host pictures for free). The address for the picture is https://2img.net/h/i77.photobucket.com/albums/j73/adamholroyde/tree.jpg. If I add after, then the picture gets displayed here in the post:



Inserting Video into a Post:
Embedding a YouTube video in a post is fine: it shouldn't make the thread load slowly since the video won't load/play until you activate it. Embedding Flash Videos, however, will slow down the forum because they play automatically.
To embedd a YouTube video: click the tool icon in the 2nd row, 5th icon from the left side, and then insert the URL of the YouTube video you want to embedd.


Customizing Links:
You can customize links so that they are words rather than a URL. For example, here is a link to a picture of a fat dog: http://www.bestpills4weightloss.com/images/fatdog.jpg This link can be customized as Picture of Fat Dog, a nice way to insert links while keeping text fluid.
To customize a link: [url=put the url here]write the text you want[/url]