An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages.

They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes visible.

Forums have a specific set of jargon associated with them; e.g. a single conversation is called a "thread".

A discussion forum is hierarchical or tree-like in structure: a forum can contain a number of subforums, each of which may have several topics. Within a forum's topic, each new discussion started is called a thread, and can be replied to by as many people as wish to.
Depending on the forum's settings, users can be anonymous or have to register with the forum and then subsequently log in in order to post messages. On most forums, users do not have to log in to read existing messages.

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This is a short guide to things you will see around the forum to ensure you have a full understanding about how VillAge works.

Topic: A topic is a new message or thread that will be created.
For Example: If you wanted to post a new message asking if Facebook is a recommended software
1. You would click the "New Topic" button in the relevant Topic area (in this case it would be Communication Websites>Facebook).
2. Enter a subject (Title) for the message
3. Enter text into the message area
4. Click Send
By following these steps you will have created a new topic/message that others will be able to see and reply too.

Notice: A notice is a message that is important and will remain at the top of a topic list.
For example: This topic is labelled a notice due to it being important and by making it a notice it will remain at the top of the topic list so that users can see it easily. (Only Admin can create a notice, however if you make a post worth making it a notice the admin can do this also)

Post Reply: This button will allow users to reply to a topic with their own message.

Locked: When a topic is locked, users cannot see it nor post topics in that area.

The key concept of this internet forum is the structure being easy to get around.

If you are stuck on how to get to a certain topic or category, here is an example of what you would need to do:

Example situation: User wanting to find the Skype download link (assuming registered user):

1. User logs into their account
   
2. Scrolls down to category: Facilities
   
3. Clicks on "Communication Software" forum
   
4. Click on "Skype"
   
5. Click the sticky post - "Download Skype"
   
6. Read thread, click link and away you go
   

As you can see, the forum is based on a tree like hierarchy, you click a forum on the home page, this then opens up a list of sub forums which are all related to the main topic you clicked, then you can click another sub forum which will lead you either to more sub forums about the topic or threads where you can read information on the related topic.

You can zoom in on any web page on the internet using this strategy:

With the browser open, Press Control (Ctrl) on your keyboard and then:

Whilst holding Ctrl down, Press the + to ZOOM IN
or
Whilst holding Ctrl down, Press the - to ZOOM OUT

When you select to post a reply or create a new topic, you will see this area:



1 - Topic - When you create a new topic, this is the title that will be seen by others in the list of topics
2 - Edit and insert - These buttons allow you to edit your text even more, I will go into more detail below
3 - Close tags - Tags are how you edit your text
4 - Text Box - Enter text into this area
5 - Emotes - By clicking these emotes you insert that image into your text
6 - Preview - Preview how you post will look (this is useful when checking whether you have used the correct tags)
7 - Send - This button will post your topic/reply

Further information #2 - Edit and Insert

When you type in the text box (4) you can make the text bold/underlined etc and even insert web links and images. This is done by inserting tags. Tags allow the forum to recognise you are editing or inserting something different to regular text. To start a tag you insert something between [] these brackets and to close a tag you simply do the same but put a / before the text inside the []. E.g. and are the open and close tags for creating bold text.

Below is a list of what all of the buttons in the number 2 tool bar do and their open and close tags. (Starting from the left and going to the right)

Click the image below to view the table:

One you have created an account by registering, in the top toolbar (where you see: HOME, FAQ, SEARCH etc) click on the PROFILE button.
There are several different menus within your profile to edit different parts, These are: Information, Preferences, Signature, Avatar, Friends and Foes, Topic(s) being watched and Favourites.

Information
Information is all the standard information that you may wish to display about yourself online. Such as your gender, date of birth and your common interest that others may also have. It also allows you to display your contact details and websites that you are a part of so that others may see it too.
Most importantly from this menu you can CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD AND EMAIL if you wish to, this is useful in case you forget it or feel like updating it.

Preferences
These are settings that you yourself can change. If you do not want to receive email updates about certain areas of the forum, you can select No and you will not be sent any emails about them.

Signature
A Signature is a message/image that will display after every post you make. It is completely up to you whether you have one or not.

Avatar
An Avatar is an image that will be displayed next to your username with every post you make. This can be a picture of yourself or anything you wish. You just need to select the file and click save and then it will be updated.

Friends and Foes
You can create a friends list and a foes list. If you add friends, you will be able to see easily what that user is doing, whereas foes means that their messages will not be displayed to you.

Topic(s) being watched
These are topics that you have posted in or taken an interest into. This allows easy access to viewing anything new on the forum.

Favourites
You can add favourite topics or threads so that you can easily access them through this menu.