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New Features On the New Pethobbyist Forums (Message Boards)
By PHPuma
CatHobbyist.com Content Leader

Most of the differences are that a lot of things that used to be fixed are now preferences - you'll be able to decide between options for how you want to see results displayed, such as threading ("sub-threads" or "no sub-threads"), chronological order display ("new to old" or "old to new"), and display method ("expanded" or "collapsed"). You'll also be able to create your own a signature and decide whether you want the original message included in your follow-up messages.

You can now come to the forums and ask to see only that day's posts, or posts since your last log in or the one before, or any particular time frame. This can be done for the whole site or for just an individual forum.

You can email a post or thread to yourself or someone else. You can sign up to be notified by email if someone replies to your message.

There are new features such as the "Tools and Toys" page, signatures, user profile editing, emoticons, marquee code (the scrolling messages), and quite a few others that are not earth shaking, but make things a bit more fun for users who want them. And the posting window is larger, so that you can see more of your post without scrolling.

The search function is MUCH better - you can search by date and time, by username, by keywords, and the search will look at ALL messages (on the site or in a specific forum), not just the archived ones as is currently the case.

On the back end, there are a lot of changes that won't directly impact the users, but one nice feature is that hidden posts can be restored, so if a post is accidentally pulled, or if someone appeals and we change our minds, it can be put back.

Probably the biggest change is navigation. The whole thread is now visible from every post IN the thread, so you can move around a discussion easily, with no backtracking and no dead-end sub-threads. When viewing from "Today's Posts" or searching by date, you get additional navigation features that make it even easier.

You can also report abuse directly from a post.

The "Tools and Toys" feature provides a page that describes the "modified HTML" tags to use in order to get bold / italicized / underlined / colored text, how to display a picture or web page link, include emoticons, etc. Just click on the words "Tools and Toys" on the User Preferences or message posting screens to have that page displayed.

You may also want to check out the following two web pages for a color selection guide or for free clip art:

http://www.pagetutor.com/pagetutor/makapage/picker/
http://www.clipartconnection.com/

User Preferences

You must login before you can edit your user preferences.

Once you're logged in, a page of user preference options is displayed.

First, the date and time of your 2nd Last Login, your Last Login, and your Current Login are displayed. You cannot modify these numbers; they're provided for information purposes only. (You may be interested in this information if you want to search for messages posted after your current, last, or 2nd last login.)

The rest of the page provides options you can specify as your preferences.

Some of the options below show you what the defaults are - e.g., the way the pages will display at first - but you can change that option temporarily while viewing the forum pages. The "Expanded View," "Thread Order," and "Use Sub-Threads" options are of this type.

For the other options, this page is the only place you can alter their settings. This includes the "Quoting," "Reply Order," "Header Style," and "Signature" options.

Quoting:: This option controls whether the original message should be included in the reply window when you reply to a discussion.
Expanded View:: "Yes" will select the Expanded View as the default, and "No" will select the Collapsed View as the default. The Expanded View shows both the topic and all the responses under it, while the Collapsed View hides the responses but has red text after the topic telling you how many replies are actually in that discussion.
Thread Order:: Select between "Newest To Oldest" and "Oldest to Newest" for your default.
Reply Order:: Select between "Old To New" and "New To Old" to determine whether you want to see the newest or the oldest replies at the top of the page.
Use Sub-Threads:: Select the layout style of the replies to a message. "Yes" will select the Sub-Thread layout; when you reply to a post in this layout, your message isn't put as a reply to the MAIN (initial) post, but as a reply to the specific post you were viewing when you selected "Reply To Discussion." "No" will select the Non-Threaded layout, where your reply to a post is put as a reply to the MAIN post.
Header Style:: Select between "Classic" and "Grey Tone." The top of each post is formatted slightly differently with these two different styles. The "Classic" is very similar to the existing format, while "Grey Tone" offers some coloring and different placement of the fields. A display of the two different styles is available from the user preferences page.
Signature:: Specify your own signature; by default, this will be attached to the end of all messages you post (unless you deselect that option on the message posting screen). You can use color, bold, underlining, marquee, or images in your signature, using "modified HTML tags". You can also specify your email address, provide an email link (without showing your email address), and specify a web page. (Be careful to type the "closing" tags correctly so that the special effects that you choose won't "bleed" onto the replies other people post after you.)

Select "(Tools and Toys)" to display a page describing the modified HTML tags to achieve these effects in your signature. You may wish to check out the following web page for a color selection guide:

http://www.pagetutor.com/pagetutor/makapage/picker/

Main Forum / Board Page

Special links on this page - General User Support:

Registration Help - display a page of registration FAQs.
Site Rules/Terms of Service - display the Site Rules / Terms of Service.
Questions? Read the FAQ! - read FAQs about posting and reading forum messages.
Report Forum Abuse - report abuse of site rules / terms of service in the forums.
Register Here to Post in the Forums - register a nickname for posting in the forums.
Lost Password? - request help when you can't remember your password.

Action Options on this page - Applying to All the Forums:

User Profile - edit your user profile (you'll need to specify your username and password).
Today's Posts - display page identifying the forums to which messages were posted today, with the threads with today's posts identified (by their subject), the total number of replies to the initial post, and the number of new messages (posted today); this page includes searching capability.
Find New - display page identifying forums and pertinent threads containing new posts (messages posted since some date and time specified by the user).
Search - search for posts meeting specified characteristics.
Login / Logout - select to login or logout, depending on your current status.

Lists (links):

Each Forum under each category for a specific "site" - each category of forums has a title, picture, and list of related forums.
Today's Hot Topics - for each "hot topic," the thread name (underlined) and forum name is given.
Top 10 Forums By Posts - the forums with the most posts are identified, with the number of messages in each listed forum.
Last 10 Forums Posted In - the forums containing the most recent posts are identified.

Search Capabilities

Searches can be performed across all forums or across a single forum.

Content searching includes a search (for text you specify) in the message body, message (title/topic), or author of messages, or else in all of these.

Date/Time searching includes a search for messages posted after your current login, your last login, your next-to-last login, or after a user-specified date and time.

The search pages also provide links to areas of special interest, like the Questions forum.

Individual Forum / Board Page

Action Options:

[Login]/[Logout] - select to login or logout, depending on your current status.
[User Prefs] - edit user preferences.
[Search This Forum] - specify and perform a search across messages posted in this forum.
[Back to Main Page] - return to the main page.
[Post A New Message] - enter a new message to post on this forum.
[Today's Posts] - display page identifying the threads in this forum with posts entered today identified (by their subject), the total number of replies to the initial post, and the number of new messages (posted today).
[Find New] - display page identifying threads in this forum that contain new posts (messages posted since some date and time specified by the user).

Total x messages in y threads, now displaying threads n - m ... This identifies the threads of the current forum that are displayed on the current page, where x represents the total number of messages in the current forum, y represents the total number of threads in the current forum, and there are currently (m + 1 - n) threads displayed on the current page, starting with thread #n.

View Option - "toggle" between [Expanded View] and [Collapsed View]
Sort Option - "toggle" between [Sort New-to-Old] and [Sort Old-to-New]
Thread Option - (available only with the Expanded View)
"toggle" between [Threaded View] and [Non-Threaded View]

If this forum contains more than one page of messages, a list of the page numbers is provided, with the number of the current page displayed in bold. Clicking a page number will transfer to a display of the selected page.

On the remainder of the page, messages are listed.

In the "collapsed view," the topic, author, and date/time of the initial post for each thread is listed, but not for any of the replies. However, the total number of replies to the initial post is given, as well as the number of new replies (posted today).

In an "expanded view," the topic, author, and date/time of the initial post and of all replies are given, with the replies listed in chronological order and indented under the initial post. In the "threaded view," replies to any post (whether the first or later message in the thread) are indented under the message to which they're responding (much like Pethobbyist's previous sub-threading on forums, except that all the posts in the thread are accessible). In the "non-threaded view," all the replies are listed under the initial post of the thread, with all subsequent messages indented at the same level.

New (posted today) messages (whether they're initial posts or replies) are identified as such via the keyword "NEW." Posts with images are identified via the keyword "Image."

To read a message, click on the underlined topic of that message. You'll be taken to a Message Display page for that message.

Message Display Page

On this page, the content of a single message is displayed, preceded by lines providing the topic of that posting, a group of action items, and identification of the poster and the date and time of that posting.

Action Options:

[Login]/[Logout] - select to login or logout, depending on your current status.
[User Prefs] - edit user preferences.
[Search This Forum] - specify and perform a search across messages posted in this forum.
[Back to Main Page] - return to the main page.
[Back To (forum-name)] - return to the individual forum / board display page.
[Reply To Discussion] - post a reply to the currently displayed posting.
[Post A New Message] - post a new message, beginning a new message thread, to this forum.

[Report Abuse] - report abuse of site rules / terms of service in the forums.
[Email Message] - mail a message to the member who posted the displayed message. (You will not see the member's actual email address, but your email to him/her will be sent automatically.)

Following the display of the posted message, there is a [Reply To Discussion] button.

The next section of this page contains a list of all of the messages in this thread. The currently displayed message will be highlighted and designated with a gold block arrow.

The "next" and "previous" topics are then identified and provided as links (unless this is the first or last topic in this forum, of course).

Finally, there is a section titled: Reply to this in "name of forum goes here" Forum. This section contains the forms/windows to be used if you wish to reply to the message displayed at the top of the page. In fact, clicking on the [Reply To Discussion] button that follows the message will take you to this Reply section at the bottom of the page. This section contains fields/windows for the Subject and Message of your reply, as well as fields/windows to insert a link, to specify the address of an image to be included, and to select an image from a drop-down list of images you have stored in the Pethobbyist photo gallery. These areas are described in the section about posting a new message.

Posting A New Message

When you select [Post A New Message], the message you write will start a brand new thread.

Action Options:

[Login]/[Logout] - select to login or logout, depending on your current status.
[User Prefs] - edit user preferences.
[Search This Forum] - specify and perform a search across messages posted in this forum.
[Back to Main Page] - return to the main page.
[Back To (forum-name)] - return to the individual forum / board display page.
[Post A New Message] - post a new message, beginning a new message thread, to this forum.

The following fields / windows are used to specify your message. These same windows (or fields) are provided when you reply to a discussion, except that the Topic window is labeled as the Subject there.

Topic:: Specify a topic/subject of your message. If you're replying to a discussion, a default subject (Re: topic of message to which you're responding) is displayed, but you can change it if you wish.
Message:: This message or reply window is larger than on the original Pethobbyist forums. This is where you type your message and include any smilies, pictures, marquees, or links, and where you can use color, bold, or underlined text. Click "(Tools and Toys)" to display a page describing the modified HTML tags and smilie codes you can use to get these effects. (Be careful to type the "closing" tags correctly so that the special effects that you choose won't "bleed" onto the replies other people post after you.)

If you're relying to a message and have the "Quoting" option selected in your user preferences, the message to which you're replaying is included in the Message window when this page is first displayed. You may, if you wish, delete any portion of that original message from your message window.

Message Options: There are two check boxes under the message window, allowing the user to select/deselect these options:
Receive an email notification when a reply is made?
Automatically attach your signature to the bottom?

If you have created a signature in your user preferences, the second box (signature) is initially checked, by default. Simply click that box to remove the checkmark and change your selection if you don't want your signature to be included with this post.
Link URL:: You can specify the URL of a link you want to provide. But this isn't what readers of your post will see - specify what you want displayed for this link in "Link Title."
Link Title:: You can specify the words you want displayed for a link (e.g., See My Cat). This wording will be underlined, to signify it is a link. When someone reading your post clicks this underlined wording, they will be taken to the web address you specified under "Link URL."
Image URL:: Specify the web page address of an image you want displayed with your message. You can, for example, use the URL of one of your pictures in the photo gallery.
Select Image From Photo Gallery:: If you have any images stored in the photo gallery under the current user nickname, you will have a drop-down list of those images. You can select one of them from this list, and that image will be included with your message.

Posting Options:

Post Message - post this message now. (You will not be able to make any changes to this message after clicking this button.)

Reset - reset the form and "undo" any changes you made.

Preview Message - preview your message before you post it. After viewing your message (along with marquees, color, smilies, pictures, links, etc, you'll have the option to Post the message or to further Edit it. You should probably use this Preview option a lot at first. When you become more experienced with these forums, you may want to post a message without previewing it. The Preview option is very helpful while you're experimenting.

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