Thank you for your interest in this forum. Its purpose is to provide a means for people associated with our Bowl's Club, a way to interact online with each other. The forum is open for anyone to read what we are discussing, but only registered members of this website can add new posts or add comments to what is already there. To become a member, use the "Login/Sign Up" button on the forum home page.
The Forum home page consists of the following areas:
Forum Header
Forum Description
Category List
The Forum Header contains, from left to right:
an address bar
a search field
either a "Login / Sign On" button if you are not logged on
or the Member's Link area if you are.
The address bar shows where you are within the forum hierarchy. You can use this to navigate quickly from the page you are on in the forum, to a page higher up in the hierarchy. The search field allows you to search the whole forum for the term that you type into the search field. It will display the results of that search in the main area of the page. The "Logon / Sign on" button will initially take you to the Registration page so that new visitors can register to join the website. This Registration page also contains a link to the Login page that a member would use to sign onto the website. (Eventually, when more members have registered with the website, then this flow will be reversed so that the "Logon / Sign on" button will take you straight to the Logon page). This Member's Link area has three buttons:
a wheel shaped icon that takes you to the Manage Categories side bar page (See Categories below)
a bell shaped icon that takes you to your Notifications page
your portrait picture contained in a square or circular container.
Your portrait picture is a header menu which if you click it will show a drop down menu of your private pages in members area. Typically, this contains an entry for your "My Profile", "Settings" pages and "Logout".
The Forum Description just describes the level in the forum you are at. It usually includes a background picture and some text describing that level.
In the Category List you will see a list of categories contained in this forum, and an indication of how many posts have been made in that category, and how many views it has had. A category is really just a subject area. Currently we have 4 defined:
General Discussion where you can share stories, ideas, pictures and more
Feature Request where you can ask for a new feature in the website
Self Distancing where you can let us know how you are coping with the current lock-down, and shout if you need help
FAQs where you can ask a question on how to use this site
You can add new categories as you need them e.g. hobby related, interest related or whatever, by clicking the wheel shaped icon in the Forum header bar which displays the Manage Categories side bar page.
The forum also has a notification system such that if you are interested in a particular topic, or post, or what another member says, then you can "Follow" them, and you will receive notifications when a change or addition occurs.
Clicking on a category in the Category List will take you one level down the forum hierarchy and display the list of posts in that category. Use the pagination buttons, if any, to display subsequent or preceding pages of entries. The header to this list contains a sort button and a button to create a new entry in this category (This may be a discussion entry or a question or a mix of the two depending upon how the category has been defined).
Clicking on an entry in the Category List will open that entry and you will see the full history of that post and all its responses. Here, you can either add a new response to the original post, or reply specifically to an entry.
Got something you want to get off your chest? Then, post it in this forum.
Stay safe.😃😃😃
Thank you for this Trevor, very comprehensive. I hope that the members repay your effort by using it.