After you have sucessfully logged into the Forum Message Board, you will see a screen such as the one shown below. The screen consists of 4 main parts, The top part is the Board Title, Image, Description and a Search Form with Search and Advanced Search Buttons.

On the top row of the second part there is a link called 'Board Index'. This will be described later.

The second row contains, on the left-hand side, two links, one to the User Control Panel which will be described in the 'Other' and 'Modify Profile' Menu Options in the Forum Instructions Menu and the second will link to all of your Messages. Between the two is a status record indicating any new Messages.

On the right-hand side are 3 links, the first to a Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) page, the second will bring up a membership list and the third shows a 'Logout' link with the name of the currently logged in username.

The middle part is labeled 'Your First Category' and contains all of the objects of this level. These objects are described below.

The last part is a status screen with a number of pieces of information which I will describe elsewhere.

The Forum Message Board objects are 'Forums', 'Subforums', 'Topics' and 'Messages'. This screen shows the 3 currently defined top-level 'Forums' inside the 'Your First Category' frame. As you descend through 'Forums', 'SubForums' etc, this part will either show a different label or may disappear completely.

On this screen we see the 3 main Forums, 'Announcements', 'Information' and 'Discussion'. In any Forum, clicking on the name of the Forum will show a screen with the SubForums and Topics which go under that particular Forum.

The first of these Forums, 'Announcements', is for the use of the Administrator only to place various announcements pertaining to the operation of the Board. These will only occur at infrequent intervals. At the bottom of the section, you will notice the name of a subforum. By clicking on this, you will be given the list of SubForums which belong to this main Forum.

'Information' is for various additional items of information relevant to the Board as a whole.

'Discussion' is the Forum for members to communicate with other members.

(If you can't see the entire screen, use the scroll bar at the bottom to move it to the left.)

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The next screen shows the SubForum and Topics found by clicking on the Announcements Main Forum.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The Following screen shows the Posts belonging to the 'Accessing This Board' Topic found by clicking on the 'Information' main Forum and the 'Getting Started' SubForum. In this particular case there is only a single Post. Multiple Posts would be available by clicking on a 'Next' buttom. Only a small portion of the actual Post is shown.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The Next Screen shows the Topics and Forums of the 'Discussion' Main Forum. This Forum is the primary one to use for communicating between members of the Forum. Other Forums may be added later. The Topics shown are in reverse order by time of posting.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The next screen shows the Topics found by having clicked on the 'Introduce Yourself' SubForum in the screen above. In this case, there is only a single Topic. This particular SubForum allows Topics to be added by clicking on the 'NewTopic' button. The list of Topics shown here will grow as New Topics are added.

Next to the Newtopics button, there is a blank fill-in form entitled 'Search This Forum' and a Search Button.Searching will be described in the 'Other' Menu Option on the 'Forum Instructions' Menu.

To the right of the screen is a 'Mark topics read' Button and information about the number of Topics in the Forum as well as a page number. This indicates the number of pages of Topics and will increment when there are too many Topics to be shown on a single page.

Below the list of Topics, there is a navigation section. On the left is a link to take you to the Top Level Forum list, the same as which you see when you first login. On the right-hand side is a pull-down list, allowing you to select any Forum or SubForum on the Board and jump immediately to it.

Below this is a status line which lists users currently logged in, and below this is a list of the functions which you can do in this particular Forum. Note that this Forum allows you to post 'New Topics', but does not allow 'Reply's to existing 'Topics'. All of the 'Discussion' Forums described below do allow this.

At the bottom of the screen is another section which will be described in 'Other' Instructions.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The next screen shows an actual Message. As mentioned in the previous section, this particular SubForum doesn't allow 'Reply's. Otherwise, you would see a 'Reply' Button here as you will when the 'Get Together' Topic in the 'Discussion' SubForum is described below. Note that this particular Message contains links to external web pages. If you click on these, you will have to use the 'Back Button' of your browser to return to this page. If you close the external web page or use links on it, you will lose connection to the Forum and will have to restart it. The right-hand side of the screen gives minimal information about the poster of the message.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The next screen shows the Topics found by having clicked on the 'Get Together' SubForum in the previous screen. The SubForum at this point has no Topics. The screen after this one will show how to add a Topic.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

This next screen shows a completed New Topic posting. You will note the subject line and the body of the message. Below the body of the message are three Buttons, 'Save', 'Preview' and 'Submit'. The 'Save' will be described elsewhere. The 'Submit' allows you to examine your posting before it is submitted to the Forum and of course, the 'Submit' submits it. As owner of the Message, you may later Edit it or even Delete it.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

This next screen shows what the Preview looks like. This is only the top part of the screen. The remainder is identical to the previous one and allows you to examine and repeat the Preview process until you are finished with it and submit it.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

The next screen shows the actual submitted message. You may at this point, either Edit it or Delete it. You may also come back to it later and Edit it or Delete it. You or others may use the 'Quote' button to copy part or all of this message in a Reply. Other members seeing this post will not see the 'Edit' or 'Delete' buttons.

Use the scroll bar at the right to continue with the instructions.

This last screen shows an example of the common top part of every screen. It has a number of features. First, below the title page, is a line which displays your position among the various Forums and Topics on the board. By clicking on any of these, you can immediately go to the chosen Forum or Topic. 'Board Index' is the Top level and shows the list of Forums which is normally the first shown when you login. The next level down shows the particular SubForums and Topics that you are currently examining or working in. Following that is the currently selected SubForum and Active Topics of that SubForum and, finally, the last selected Topic from the current session.

When a posting is being displayed, (if the user is logged in, otherwise they are not displayed.) there will be on the same line as the position indicators are two icons, a printer icon which allows the current posting to be printed, and an email icon which allows you to send email to anyone provided you know their email address. As well as the message that you type in, the message will indicate that the message refers to a particular post on the Message Forum Board and gives a link to that post.

At the right-hand side, there is an clickable icon which looks like an 'A' with down-and-up pointing markers to the left and right. By clicking on either of these, you can change the font size of text up or down one level on all screens for more convenient display. The new font size will remain in play for the remainder of the session on all screens.

The next line has two parts. The first part on the left has a clickable link to the 'User Control Panel'. This will be described in detail in the 'Modify Profile' portion of the Forum Instructions. On the right hand side, the second part contains three clickable links, one to the standard 'Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)' for the Board, one to access the list of members, and the final which allows logging in or out of the Forum.

This ends the Reading and Posting Instructions