This article provides an overview of the pages, views, and components that can be found in the Forum tool, as well as their interconnections.
Common Components
This section of the article provides details on the common components of the Forum tool – those components that can be found on most or all pages.
Quick Forum Stats
The first of the two cards at the top of the page, this module contains three quick statistics regarding the overall usage of the tool: the number of topics started, the number of posts made, and the number of users that have participated.
This module also contains a button labeled View Forum Stats which leads to the Forum Stats View.
My Stats
The second of the two cards at the top of the page, this module, similarly to the previous module, contains three quick statistics regarding the current user's personal usage of the Forum tool: the number of topics started, the number of posts made, and the last time the user had visited the forum.
This module also contains a button labeled Edit my profile which leads to the user's My Details page.
Breadcrumbs
Found at the top and bottom of most of the views, this breadcrumb shows the current forum view's 'address', so to speak.
Depending on the page's depth in the forum hierarchy, this may show between one and three sections (separated by a » double arrow):
- The Forum Home button, leading to the Forum Index,
- The name of the current forum, leading to the Forum View, and
- The name of the current topic.
Function Tabs
Most pages in the Forum tool contain a row of buttons that allow for some functionality. The buttons that are displayed here will vary, depending on the current view, and the viewing user's account group (Administrators have further functionality).
New Post Icons
Forums, topics, and posts all have corresponding icons that depict whether or not that item contains unseen content from the perspective of the viewing user.
When the user finally views the content, the icon is replaced with a faded version, indicating that no new content has been added since the last time it was opened.
Who's Online Now
The bottom of every view in the Forum tool contains a bar, showing a list of users that have accessed the tool within the previous 30 minutes.
Forum Index
The Forum Index is the initial view provided when accessing the Forum tool. This page acts as a starting point for accessing content in the tool, listing all the forums available to the viewing user, organised into categories.
Each individual forum listed on this page shows, in addition to its name and description, the number of topics that exist in that thread, the total number of posts, the number of times it has been viewed, and the last time a post was made in the forum.
Forum View
When the name of a forum is clicked in the Forum Index, a view of that forum is displayed.
This view primarily provides access to the topics that have been made within it, showing a list of the topics and its various details such as the time of its latest post, number of replies inside the topic, number of times it has been viewed, and the name of the user that created the topic.
These topics are sorted in descending order of activity, meaning that the topics with the most recent activity are at the top of the list. For ease of browsing, this view segments the list by only showing 20 topics at a time. When there are greater than 20 topics within the forum, page jumpers are provided above and below the list, allowing you to jump to a specific page of the view, pressing the Next button, or Previous button.
Topic View
When the name of a topic is clicked, a view of that topic is displayed – the innermost view of the forum hierarchy.
This view presents all the posts that have been made under that topic, sorted in chronological order. Each post listed in this view includes a number of details, including:
- Poster's account group
- Poster's profile picture
- Poster's name
- Poster's post count
- Subject
- Timestamp
- Post contents
- Forum signature
- Quote button
Like the forum view, this view will also segment the list into multiple parts when the number of items exceed 20, forcing the rest of the contents onto an additional page.
Profile View
This view is accessible only by clicking on a user's name as it appears in the Forum tool, be it as the poster of a topic, poster of reply, or in the Who's online now section of the page.
This section displays a number of details about the user, mainly about their forum usage, but also a small blurb about themselves, as well as any Achievement Awards gained.
Forum Stats View
Accessed through the View Forum Stats button in the Quick Stats module at the top of the page, this view shows detailed statistics about the tool's overall usage, including Top 10 lists for the following criteria:
- Posters (users that have submitted the most posts)
- Topic Starters
- Most Viewed Topics
- Most Replied to Topics
- Locations Contributing
- Areas Contributing
- Countries Contributing
- Most Viewed Profiles
The bottom of this page also contains an interactive graph, showing the trends of post and topic creation for the previous six months.