Forum Technical Help

[Laurad]

Please post any problems with this Forum in this topic, and we will try to help you. 

Due to a significant amount of attempts by spammers to join the Forum, we have had to add a modification to the registration process in which new members are asked two random questions which they must answer correctly before they can proceed. This does prevent some, but not all, attempts to join by inappropriate persons.

If anyone still has problems registering they can write to window-on-wildlife.com using the admin mailbox address.


Personal or Private Messages (PMs)Please note that if you are sent a PM, you will receive a notification as an email WITH the content of the PM. It will look something like this:-

You have just been sent a personal message by >> membername << on Window on Wildlife.

IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.

The message they sent you was:

....

Please note that you must NOT reply to the PM by email, you MUST log into the Forum to do so. Please be advised that if you click on reply to the email, then a copy of your reply will be received by anyone who is an Administrator on this Forum, thereby losing the privacy of the PM.


Jumping or Jiggling text

You might find that when you're writing a long message the text appears to jump and jiggle.. i.e., the cursor is below the bottom of the text box and you cannot see clearly what you are typing. This is an incompatibility problem with the SM Forum Software and Internet Explorer 8. To rectify this, click on a small button at the top of the browser window which is to the right of the Address bar - it looks like a piece of paper torn in half. You only need to do this one - it should correct the problem.


Do look at your Profile settings, there are lots of options you can set for yourself.

For example, do you want to automatically save copies of PMs? Look at Personal Message Options
Do you want the world to see your email address? If not, look at your Account Related Settings
Do you want an Avatar? Remember, they need to be small and not blinking. Look at Forum profile Information.
Your Timezone is on Look & Layout Preferences.
When you reply to a post, do you want to return to the topic after posting? Look at Look & Layout Preferences.

[CLC]

Jumping or Jiggling text.. 
I remove most unused things from my tool bars but after searching, I was able to stop it by clicking "Tools" scroll down to "compatibility view" and click it. it should show up with a check next to it after.. That fixed it..  

[Laurad]

Terrific CLC and WELCOME to the Forum 

Post all your questions and tips here, everyone.

[hermit]

I don't want my e-mail to show.  I've tried editing my profile, but it's still there.   

[Laurad]

Only you and the Admins can see it hermit.

[hermit]

That's a relief.  Thanks, Laura.   

[Doralyn]

I am thinking others might have the same confusion I had yesterday about email being visible or hidden because you are able to see your own email on the Member List (there is an envelope icon) and also in your Profile Summary at all times. But others cannot see it if you have checked and saved the instructions to hide it in your Profile under Account Related Settings.  Only you can see that, while others will see no icon by your name in the Member List and no email address in your Profile.  If you need to know/be reassured that that is true, just ask another member what they see next to your name in tne member list and in your Profile.  

For example, hermit, on my screen I see no icon next to your name in the Member List, and I see "hidden" in your profile.

If you see an envelope icon by someone else's name in the Member List, then they have not hidden their email and you can click on it and send a direct email, and you can also view their email address in their profile.

This is a change from the secure button we had on the forum where we could click on someone's email button and never see the address until that person responded via email.  If you allow your email to be visible, then it is available to everyone. They can see it in your Profile, and if they click on the envelope icon next to your name in the Member List, they will see it in the address of the email they could send directly to you.

[Dutch Eagle Fan]

Can the forum configuration hide the email address by default ?

Maybe we could have a topic where everybody can "fool around" with all the new possibilities of this forum. A "Test area" so to speak.

EDIT: ""shortcuts: hit alt+s to submit/post or alt+p to preview"" This doesn't work for me. Could be Firefox or because I use Windows7.  

EDIT2: I also noticed that when I post a message I don't get to see that particular post but go back to the topic list. After editing I do get to see my post  . . . . . settings in user-panel or a general forum setting ? ? ? ? ? 

[TakeCare]

EDIT2: I also noticed that when I post a message I don't get to see that particular post but go back to the topic list. After editing I do get to see my post  . . . . . settings in user-panel or a general forum setting ? ? ? ? ? 

If you check in your Profile, under Modify Profile > Look and Layout Preferences - You should make sure that you have checked "Return to topics after posting by default".  That will take you back to your post.   

[Dutch Eagle Fan]

Testing to see if that did the trick . . .  

Edit: Yes ! ! !  Thank you for the help. 

[PattiO]

I found that one last night too!  I hate when you don't go right back to your post!   

[Laurad]

TC thanks for providing some tips, that was kind of you. Some of us are more used to this software than others   and there are lots of things to learn.

DEF, "Can the forum configuration hide the email address by default ? " No, but when Admins register users, we usually tick the box for new registrations, just in case it's unchecked. If a user wants to change it they can go back into their profile and modify it.

[PattiO]

This is a simple question that I should know how to do ... but don't.   

How do you post a 'link' with different words?  Lori and Marcia do it all the time .... like here...
http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?topic=25.0

[Marcia]

PattiO: A short and easy way to post that type of link in bolded text is to type the below into a post and replace the first asterisk with the web address of your desired link, and replace the second asterisk with the words you want to use for your link. (You will also need to change all of the round brackets I used in the examples, to square brackets, as the 'formulas' wouldn't post correctly when I used square brackets ).

(url=*)(b)*(/b)(/url)

PattiO’s Profile


However, in the example you pointed to, I used an enhanced version of the above to select blue as the color of the link and to underline the link.  To use a different color you can change the word ‘blue’ to the word used for any of the other colors available in the posting window.

(url=*)(color=blue)(u)(b)*(/b)(/u)(/color)(/url)

PattiO’s Profile


Then there are even more ways to personalize a link, such as changing the size of type, or even using colors other than those available in the posting window...  

[Dutch Eagle Fan]

<<<SNIP>>> as the 'formulas' wouldn't post correctly when I used square brackets ).

In order to do that you can write it inside the code tags.

Code:

[url=*][color=blue][u][b]*[/b][/u][/color][/url]

A good way to find out how things are done in a message is to click on QUOTE. Then you can see the codes behind it.
Instead of text you can also use an image to "dress-up" a link:

Code:

[url=*][img]url of the (small) image[/img][/url]

It might be a good idea to go into the CSS of the forum and change the font-size for the CODE block. It is rather small right now and could be a problem for some who's eyesight is not like it used to be 

Code:

/* A code block - maybe even PHP ;). */
.code
{
   color: #000000;
   background-color: #dddddd;
   font-family: "courier new", "times new roman", monospace;
   font-size: x-small;
   line-height: 1.3em;
   /* Put a nice border around it. */
   border: 1px solid #000000;
   margin: 1px auto 1px auto;
   padding: 1px;
   width: 99%;
   /* Don't wrap its contents, and show scrollbars. */
   white-space: nowrap;
   overflow: auto;
   /* Stop after about 24 lines, and just show a scrollbar. */
   max-height: 24em;
}

font-size: x-small; should be set to    font-size: small; or font-size: 10px

* I noticed that the buttons for font face and font size have no effect. When I highlight text and click on the "size" button all I get is the default size which is 10 pt. Of course one can change the value then, 14, 16, 18, 24 instead of 10, but there should be a drop-down menu from which to choose. Same for the font face.