| <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" |
| "http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/REC-xhtml1-20000126/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> |
| |
| <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> |
| <head> |
| <style type="text/css"> |
| /* <![CDATA[ */ @import "/branding/css/tigris.css"; /* ]]> */ |
| </style> |
| <script src="/branding/scripts/sc.js" type="text/javascript"></script> |
| <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/branding/css/print.css" media="print" /> |
| |
| <title>About the Project Home page</title> |
| </head> |
| |
| <body class="docs" onload="self.focus()"> |
| <div class="docs" id="projectdiscuss"> |
| <h2>About the Project Discussion Forums</h2> |
| <div id="toc"> |
| <ul> |
| <li><strong><a href="/nonav/servlets/HelpTOC">Help index</a></strong></li> |
| </ul> |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/Learning.html">Learning about projects</a></li> |
| <li> <a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectMemberResources.html">Project resource |
| for members</a> |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectHome.html">Project Home Page</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectNews.html">Project News</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectMemberList.html">Project Membership</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectMail.html">Project Mailing Lists</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectDocuments.html">File Sharing</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectSource.html">Project Source Code</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectIssues.html">Issue Tracking</a></li> |
| <li>Discussion Forums |
| <ul> |
| <li><a href="#add">Adding new forums</a></li> |
| <li><a href="#search">Searching forums</a></li> |
| <li><a href="#subscribe">Subscribing to forums</a></li> |
| <li><a href="#viewing">Viewing messages</a></li> |
| <li><a href="#posting">Posting messages</a></li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| </ul> |
| </li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/hostedtools.html">Hosted tools</a></li> |
| <li><a href="/nonav/docs/ProjectAdd.html">Creating a new project</a></li> |
| </ul> |
| </div> |
| <p>Project Discussion Forums allow project members to communicate without transmitting |
| any sensitive information over email. Members can post new messages, add attachments, |
| reply to existing messages, and read messages from other project member. The |
| discussion forums operate similarly to bulletin board.</p> |
| <p>Clicking the <b>Discussion forum</b> link will take you to the Discussion |
| forums page for the current project. On this page, you can see all of the |
| forums associated with the project. You can add new forums, search forums, |
| subscribe to forums, or select a forum to view. </p> |
| <h3><a name="add">Adding new forums</a></h3> |
| <p>To add a new discussion forum, click the <b>Add new forum</b> link on the |
| Discussion forums page. This link will take you to the <b>Add discussion forum</b> |
| page. Enter a name and description for your forum in the fields provided and |
| click the <b>Add forum</b> button. An email message will be sent to all members |
| of the project notifying them that a new discussion forum has been created.</p> |
| <h3><a name="search">Searching forums</a></h3> |
| <p>To search for information in discussion forums, click the <b>Search forums</b> |
| link on the <b>Discussion forums</b> page. This link will take you to the |
| <b>Search discussion forums</b> page. Enter the keywords you wish to search |
| for and click the <b>Search</b> button. Keywords must be more than three characters |
| in length and entered <i>exactly</i><b> </b>as they appear in the discussion |
| posts. Search will return results for all messages that contain the entered |
| keywords in the subject or body of messages across all forums to which you |
| have access.</p> |
| <h3><a name="suscribe">Subscribing to forums</a></h3> |
| <p>You can subscribe to a forum by clicking the <b>Subscribe</b> button on either |
| the <b>Discussion forums</b> page or the <b>Discussion forum messages</b> |
| page. Once you have subscribed to a forum, you receive an email notification |
| each time a new message is posted to the forum and messages in the forum will |
| appear in the <b>My discussion forums</b> section of your start page. This |
| gives you quick access to those forums you are most interested in. You can |
| view forum messages from your start page by simply clicking on the subject |
| name. </p> |
| <p>You can unsubscribe from any discussion forum by clicking the <b>Unsubscribe</b> |
| link anywhere within the forum.</p> |
| <h3><a name="viewing">Viewing messages</a></h3> |
| <p>To view and post messages in an existing forum, click on the forum name on |
| the <b>Discussion forums</b> page. This link will take you to the <b>Discussion |
| forum messages</b> page where you can view, sort and post messages. This page |
| provides drop down boxes that allow you to customize your view and sort messages. |
| The <b>Show</b> drop down box allows you to choose the level of detail you |
| wish to have displayed in the message list. To change your list view or sort |
| messages, select the desired view and click the <b>Update view</b> button. |
| The following options are available:</p> |
| <dl> |
| <dd> |
| <dl> |
| <dt>Overview of discussion threads</dt> |
| <dd>This view shows the threads of discussion within the forum, the number |
| of replies to each thread, and the date of most recent posting within |
| each thread. </dd> |
| <dt>Summary of all messages</dt> |
| <dd>This view shows a list of all messages in the forum with the subject, |
| poster, and date Depending on the sorting paramaters, the list may use |
| indentation to show replies. Unread messages are marked with an "unopened |
| envelope" icon. Message with attachments show "paperclip" icons for |
| each attachment. </dd> |
| <dt>All messages with body text</dt> |
| <dd>This option displays the poster, date and body test of all messages |
| in the forum. </dd> |
| </dl> |
| </dd> |
| </dl> |
| <p>You can sort messages in either ascending or descending order by selecting |
| one of the sort options from the <b>Sort by</b> drop down box and clicking |
| the <b>Update view</b> button. The available sort options are <b>Thread/subject</b>, |
| <b>From</b>, and <b>Date</b>.</p> |
| <p>In all views and sorts, unread messages have a closed envelope icon beside |
| them. When you view a message, it is automatically marked as read and the |
| icon disappears; however, you may want to mark a message as unread so that |
| it will continue to appear in the list of unread messages on your start page. |
| Likewise, you may wish to mark an unread message as read to remove it from |
| your list of unread messages. To mark messages as read or unread, click on |
| the check box next to the message then click the <b>Mark as read</b> or the |
| <b>Mark as unread</b> button.</p> |
| <p>To view an individual message, click on the subject name. The full message |
| is displayed along with a listing of all messages in the thread. Messages |
| that you posted will also include the Message tracking tab where you can see |
| which other project members have read your message. The message tracking tab |
| lists all members for who the message is marked as read, whether the member |
| has read the message or manually marked the message as read.</p> |
| <h3><a name="posting">Posting messages</a></h3> |
| <p>You can post message to a forum either by starting a new thread or replying |
| to a previously posted message.</p> |
| <div class="courtesylinks"> |
| <p><a href="#toc">Top</a> | <a href="/nonav/servlets/HelpTOC">Help index</a></p> |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| </body> |
| </html> |
| |
| |