AKF Site FAQ

Media Main Page Overview

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:34:55 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:34:55 PM

Media Main Page Overview

The primary function of the Media main page is to provide you with access to all of your community’s media files. You will note that the center of the page contains a list of media files.

You can access your community’s Media main page by doing any of the following:

Clicking Media on the Control Panel from any page in the community.

Clicking View all media from your home page.

The Community Server Media main page looks like this:

Media Sorting Functionality

Community Server also allows you to manipulate how forums content displays on the Media main page. For example, you have several media sorting options:

Name – Lists the media files in alphabetical order.
Most Recent – Lists the media files according beginning with the one most recently loaded to the page to the oldest.
Most Downloads – Lists the media files beginning with the one that has been downloaded most to the least.
Most Popular – Lists the media files beginning with the one that has been most viewed.
Most Comments – Lists the media files beginning with the one that has generated the most comments to the least.

Browse Media Functionality

The Browse Media section displays in the left sidebar.

The list of media groups in this section describes the media files that are available to community users for viewing or downloading.

Tags Functionality

You can also browse media files by tags. The Tags section contains the list of tags used by the media files. The more common the tag, or the tags used with the most media files, display with the largest font. For example, the 2006 Company Meeting and Corporate Office and CS Dev Summit tags are the most used in the Community Server media files, as shown in the tag cloud below.

When you click on an item in the tag cloud, Community Server opens a page with the list of all forum posts that use the tag. For example, if you click CSModules in the tag cloud, Community Server opens a page that lists all of the media files that use the CSModules tag.

The breadcrumbs just below the Control Panel remind you that you are looking at the media files that use the CSModules tag.

Media Files Functionality

You can open a media file by clicking on the media file name or icon.

The options you see here may be available to all users within the community depending upon the administrative privileges. The following table describes the functionalities:

Functionality	Description
Stop emailing replies to me Email me when someone replies	Specifies whether you are notified by email from someone replies to the file. When you click the link, Community Server resets this setting to its opposite.
Download	Downloads the file.
Add file to favorites Remove gallery from favs	Adds the media file to your favorites list. After you add a file to your favorites list, the Remove gallery from favs also displays. You can click on it to remove the file from your favorites list.

Uploading a Media File

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:34:30 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:34:30 PM

Uploading a Media File – Community Users

You can upload a file to your community media page where it will be available to other users to download.

Procedure

Navigate to the media gallery to which you want to upload the file.
Click Upload.

The Upload File page displays.

Click Specify File/URL. The Upload File modal window displays.

Browse from a file or multiple files or type the URL for the file you want to upload.
Click Save to close the modal window.
Complete the remaining media file information, such the name, description, and tag.
Click Save.

About Tags

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:34:04 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:34:04 PM

About Tags

A tag is a keyword or term associated with a post which provides a link to related information. Tags give you flexibility in structuring your Website and help you map information. They also make the information in your Website more accessible to users.

For example, a tag cloud, which is also a Community Server pre-packaged widget, displays in the left or right sidebar of your Web page. The tag cloud contains a list of tags that link to any post within a forum, group, or blog that has tags. The following example shows the Community Server Blogs home page with a tag cloud in the right sidebar.

Community Server ranks tags by the number of posts with which the tags are associated so that the most used tags have the largest font size. In the tag cloud in the example above, the Chameleon, Software Development, Community Server, and Telligent tags display with the largest font and therefore are used with the greatest number of blog posts.

When the user clicks a tag, Community Server displays the list of posts that use the tag. So if the user clicks on the Chameleon tag, Community Server opens a browser page that lists all of the associated posts.

Viewing Your Conversations

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:33:40 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:33:40 PM

Viewing Conversations

Users can use Community Server to have conversations with each other. When you sign in to Community Server, you can check for conversations.

Procedure

Click the Your Conversations link.

If you have no private messages, the Your Conversations pane will be empty. If you have messages, Community displays a list.

Click the hyperlink title of the message to open it. The message content looks like this:

Reply to Conversation

Type your response in the text field and click Reply.

Delete Message

To delete the message, click Delete in the conversation list pane.

View Public Profile of Sender

To view the public profile of the other party in the conversation, click the username in the With column.

Subscribing to an RSS Feed

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:33:12 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:33:12 PM

Subscribing to an RSS Feed

An RSS feed provides you with mirrored content from another Web page or Web site. Community Server allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds so your Web site is updated when the associated Web site is updated. You can subscribe to external feeds or feeds within the community, such as forums, posts, and information from the public profiles of community friends.

Community Server provides you with links and icons that when you click them allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds. Whenever you see on one of your community pages, you can click it on it to become an RSS subscriber. For example, you can subscribe to a friend’s community activity.

When your friend publishes a post or comment or uploads a new file, for example, your Friends’ Activity section will note it.

Community Server provides RSS Syndication links in the sidebars so you can subscribe to blogs, specific posts, and comments. If you want to subscribe to a blog, you click on RSS Syndication in the Blogs section of the sidebar, as shown below:

Or, from inside a post you click on RSS for Posts in the Syndication section of the sidebar:

You can subscribe to post comments by clicking on RSS for Comments in the Syndication section.

If you want to subscribe to a forum post’s RSS feed, you can select RSS at the bottom of the forum post page.

Procedure

Click on the RSS feed icon or an RSS link. Community Server displays the RSS feed page:

Click Subscribe to this feed. A modal window displays.

Accept or modify the feed name and folder.
Click Subscribe. A confirmation window displays.

If you click View my feeds, Community Server shows you the feeds to which you have subscribed.

Adding to Your Favorites List

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:32:45 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:32:45 PM

Adding to Your Favorites List

When you find a forum discussion, post, or media file that you really like, Community Server allows you to identify it as a favorite. It will then display in your favorites list on your dashboard page.

Procedure

The following steps describe how to add a media file to your favorites list. The steps will be similar when you want to add a forum or post to the favorites list. You must open the forum, post or media gallery file to access the favorites functionality.

Navigate to the Media home page.
Open the file by clicking on it.
Do the following:

Click Add file to favorites; or,
Click Add gallery to favs.

After you make your selection, Community Server displays an additional link that allows you to remove your selection from your favorites list.

When you return to your home page, you will see your selection in the Favorites list.

Editing Your Public Profile

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:32:18 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:32:18 PM

Editing Your Public Profile

Community Server allows each user within the community to edit the user’s public profile.

Procedure

From your home page, click Edit in the upper-right corner of the page.

The Edit Your Profile page displays.

Edit your public profile properties.

Community Server also provides two other tabs which contain editable settings.

Site Options

Sign-in Information

Click Save to retain changes.

Changing Your Password

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:31:42 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:31:42 PM

Changing Your Password

Use the following procedure to change your community login password.

Procedure

1. Open your public profile for editing. The Edit Your Profile page displays.

2. Select the Sign-in Information tab.

3. Click Change Password.

A change password page displays.

4. Make your changes.

5. Click Change Password.

6. Click Save.

Signing Into Your Account

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:31:20 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:31:20 PM

Signing Into Your Account

Use the following procedure to sign in to your account.

Procedure

Click the Sign in hyperlink in the user menu area. If Sign in is not displayed, then you are already signed in.

When you click Sign in, you are given a choice to use a username and password or an openID.

Do one of the following to sign into your account:

Click Name/Password.

If you have forgotten your password click the (I forgot my password) link. You will be asked to supply the email address you used when you created your account. Click Recover Password. Instructions will be emailed to you.

If you are not a member of the community, you can join by clicking the Click here to Join link.

Click OpenID, which does not require a different user name and password for each site. Click here for more information about openID.

Click Sign in.

Note the user menu area is updated.

To sign out click the Sign out link.

Creating an Account

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:30:54 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:30:54 PM

Creating an Account

To create an account for the community simply click the Join hyperlink at the top of the Web page.

The sign-in page displays.

To create an account and join this site you must provide the following information.

Sign in Name - Your user account name. The name must be unique within the community. Community Server will display it with any contributions you make to the site, such as forum posts.
Choose Password – You account password. This should be something memorable to you.
Email Address – Your email address. This must be in a valid email address format and should be an account that you actively use. Using a false email address will prevent you from gaining some of the benefits of this community. The email address you use here will only be visible to yourself within the community. If you are concerned about providing a correct email address and possible misuse then you should contact the site owners for their privacy policy.
Time zone - Your time zone.

When you have completed all the information, click Join Now.

The administrator may have configured the site to require that all users be approved before they can use the site. If this is the case the following message appears:

Periodically check your email account for the email address you supplied during registration because when your account is approved you will be notified via email.

Otherwise your account will be automatically created and you will be welcomed as shown:

Home Page Overview

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:30:26 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:30:26 PM

Home Page Overview

When you login to your community, Community Server displays your user home page. The home page provides you with an overview of your activity within your Web community.

The home page appearance will differ from one Web community to another based on theme and other site settings. However, the Community Server user home page below is a typical example of what you will see when you log in to your community.

You can launch all of your community activity from your home page. You can also access the community blogs, media, forums, and groups from the Control Panel at the top of the page.

Control Panel

The Control Panel is located at the top of home page workspace.

You can navigate to any of the main pages of your community by clicking on the Control Panel item. The Control Panel displays on every page of your community. It is worth noting that the only item on the Control Panel that is specific to your data is Dashboard. When you click on Blogs, however, your community’s main blog page displays. The same holds true for Media, Forums, and Groups. If you want to access your blogs, you can do that from your public profile.

Public Profile

Your public profile provides other users in your community with the personal information about yourself that you want to make public. Your public profile is editable, so you can update or delete information as you need to.

In this example, the user has a placeholder where the personal avatar would normally display. When you download a personal avatar, which you can do from your profile, it will display instead of the placeholder.

You can click on View public profile to view your public profile data.

Your biographical information displays in the upper middle of the page. One of the major distinctions between your public profile page and your dashboard page is the detailed information about your activity and any activity by other users that is related to you. For example, you can see more information about your friends in the community as well as functionality for adding friends, sending messages and emails, and adding announcements.

When you click on your friends’ username, their public profile opens. Although user jbrown Shared Favorites section is empty, you can indicate to visitors of your public profile sites you want to share with them.

The Shared Feeds section is similar to the Shared Favorites section. It displays RSS feeds that you want to share with your visitors.

The Announcements section contains special information you want to headline or want to stand out. You can add an announcement by clicking Add an Announcement below your avatar or avatar placeholder.

The My Groups section shows the groups to which you belong.

The My Files section allows you to download files to upload and link files to your profile that you want to share with your friends and visitors.

Finally, the My Activity section provides you with a summary of your community activity. It will present the date and time on which you published a post or comment and when you joined a group or added a friend.

In the example above, on May 16 jbrown joined a group (My Football Team), uploaded a file (Sunset.jpg) and created a blog. The My Activity section even notes when jbrown joined Community Server.

You can update your profile by clicking Edit profile. Click here for more information about editing your profile.

Conversations

One of the features of the Web community is the ability of community members to converse with each other. The conversations section of the home page lists your conversations with other members of your community. You can begin a conversation by clicking Send a Message from your public profile.

When you receive a message from another community member, it displays in the Your Conversations section.

You can click on the conversation title to open a dialog window from which you can reply to the message.

Click here for more information about conversations.

Forums, Blogs, Media, and Groups

The Forums, Blogs, Media, and Groups sections provide you with links to your most recent discussions, postings, media downloads, and groups to which you belong. You can also access the main page for each of these sections. When you go to the main page, you will find a list of all the activity in the community. For example, the main blog page may look something like this:

You can read additional information about forums, blogs, media, and groups.

Favorites

The Favorites section displays the list of forums, posts, and media that you have specifically identified as a favorite.

When you find a discussion, post, or media file that you really like, Community Server allows you to identify it as a favorite simply by clicking a link. For example, as shown above, you have not selected any favorites. But suppose that when browsing through the forums you find a post that you want to add as a favorite.

When you click Favorites, you can specify whether to add the forum or the post to the favorites list. The item then displays in the Favorites list on your home page, as shown below.

Click here for more information about how to add favorites.

Your Groups

The Your Groups section lists the groups to which you belong as well as provides a link so you can view all groups in the community.

A group is a mini-community with its own membership consisting of up to one blog, media gallery, and forum. All of a group’s content is accessible by members of the group.

Your Files

The Your Files section lists the files you have uploaded to the community and provides a link that will take you to a file download page if you have permissions to download files.

As you can see from the example above, you have not uploaded any files. If you click View all and upload files, and if you have upload permission, Community Server takes you to a download page from which you can download a file. The file will then display in the Your Files list.

Click here for more information about downloading files.

User Action Links

The user action links always appear in the upper-right corner of every page in the community.

The username link (jjones in the example above) always takes you to your public profile. Edit opens the Edit Your Profile page. Sign out signs you out of the community. Help opens the Support launch page.

Unsubscribing to a Group

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:26:26 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:26:26 PM

Unsubscribing from a Group

Use the following procedure to unsubscribe from a group.

Procedure

Open the group from which you want to unsubscribe.
Click on Unsubscribe from group in the right sidebar.

The link changes to Subscribe to group.

Subscribing to a Group

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:25:59 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:25:59 PM

Subscribing to a Group

When you subscribe to a group, Community Server notifies you of any activity in that group.

Procedure

Open the group to which you want to subscribe.
Click on Subscribe to group in the right sidebar.

The link changes to Unsubscribe from group.

You can unsubscribe from the group by clicking on the link.

Requesting Group Membership

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:25:16 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:25:16 PM

Requesting Group Membership

You can request membership to a group in the Web community if the group is public. If the group is private, the request membership option will not be available to you. The request membership option displays when you open the group you want to join.

When your request to join a group is accepted, you receive an email notification confirming your membership and the group displays in the Your Groups section of the right sidebar on your Home page.

Procedure

Open the group you want to join.
From the main page, scroll down the right sidebar to the Join This Group section.
Click Join This Group. Community Server displays a confirmation message that you have become a member of the group.

The group displays in the Groups section of your Dashboard.

Creating a Discussion

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:24:53 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:24:53 PM

Creating a Discussion

As a registered user of your community, you can launch a forum discussion in any group that has open membership.

Procedure

Open the group for which you want to create a discussion.
Click Discussions in the right sidebar.

The Discussions page opens with the list of open discussions displaying.
Click on Write a New Post.

The Post a message page displays.
Compose your message and specify the post properties.
- Subject – specify the post title.
- Enter the post content in the text space.
- Tags – enter the tags you want to use with the post.
- Do not allow replies – Specifies whether you want to allow other users the option of replying to your post.
- Email me replies to this post – Specifies whether you want to be notified when a user replies to the post.
- Post Icon – Select an icon to display next to your post title; or None if you do not want an icon to display.
- Displays a list of discussions launched in the group.
- Previews what the post will look like before you publish it.
Click Post.

Groups Main Page Overview

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:23:36 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:23:36 PM

Groups Main Page Overview

The primary function of the Groups page is to provide you with access to all of your community’s groups. A group is a mini-community with its own membership consisting of up to one blog, media gallery, and forum.

Community Server allows the site administrator to set up three types of groups:

Public Open Membership – Community users have visibility of group members, group activity, and additional group information in the sidebar.
Public Closed Membership - Community users have visibility of group activity and additional group information in the sidebar, but not of group members.
Private - Community users have no visibility of users or group activity.

Some group activity and functionality may be invisible to you based on group type and your group membership status. All of a group’s content is accessible by members of the group. You will note that the Your Groups section contains a list of the groups to which you belong.

Non-Members - In private groups, non-members cannot view or interact with any content. In public groups, non-members can view (but not interact) with the group's content.
Members - Members can view and reply to existing content (blog posts, media files, forum threads) and view pages. If enabled (via the "Edit Group" form), members can also start new forum discussions or post their own media files.
Managers - Managers can do everything that regular members can as well as the following:
- Post new pages
- Edit and delete their own pages
- Post , edit, and delete blog posts
- Start new forum discussions (including sticky posts, announcements, polls, and video)
- Edit, delete, and moderate forum posts
- Post, edit, delete, and moderate media files.
Owners - Owners can do everything that managers can do as well as edit the group and group theme, add and remove members, and edit pages.

Theming Groups

You can theme each individual group, similar to the way you theme blogs. The owner of each group can select a theme for the group and configure any options exposed by that theme via the Edit Group Theme link in the administrative sidebar of the group.

Customizing Group Themes

The group-related themes are located in the web/themes/hubs/ folder (groups are called hubs within the API and themes). Within theme files, you can use the same <CSMedia:, <CSForum:, and <CSBlog: controls that are used for media gallery, forum, and blog content outside of groups to reference the group's content from these application types. Additionally, the <CSHub: control prefix identifies group/hub-specific data and functionality.

Accessing Groups Functionality

To administer a group, you must log on to Community Server.

You can access your community’s Groups main page by doing any of the following:

Clicking Media on the Control Panel from any page in the community.

Clicking View All Groups from your dashboard.

The Groups main page may look like this:

Browse Groups by Category Functionality

The Browse Groups by Category section displays below the Your Groups section. You can click on any of these groups to navigate to the group’s Web page. From there, you can pursue additional functionality, such as a request for membership to that group.

Groups Functionality

When you open a group, you will see additional functionality.

The Most Recent Content section contains the recent forum and blog posts published in the group. Note the icons to the left of each post indicate whether the post is located in the group forum or the group blog. You can click on the post title to open the post.

The section in the upper-right sidebar contains additional functionality.

The following table describes these functions.

Function	Description
Home	Returns you to the Groups main page.
Blog	Displays the group blog page.
Discussions	Displays the group forum page.
Pages	Displays the group pages.
Members	Displays the group members.
Contact	Displays a member contact page so you can contact a group member.
Cancel Membership	Displays on when you are a group member. Click on the link to cancel your group membership.
Subscribe to group Unsubscribe from group	Specifies whether you are a group subscriber. If you have a Subscribe to group link, you are not a subscriber and you can click the link to subscribe. If you are a subscriber, the Unsubscribe from group link displays. You can click the link to unsubscribe.

Viewing Users Online

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:22:23 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:22:23 PM

Viewing Users Online

Because one of the main uses of forums is to allow you to enter into discussions with other community members, you may want to know who is online when you are online. Community Server allows you to view a list of users who are signed on to your community.

Procedure

Navigate to the Forums main page.
Click on the Who is online link in the Shortcuts section in the sidebar.

The Who is Online page displays with the list of users who are signed in to the community.

Subscribing to a Forum

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:21:11 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:21:11 PM

Subscribing to a Forum - Registered Users

When you subscribe to a forum, Community Server notifies you of any activity in that forum.

Procedure

Navigate to the Forums main page or to a forum.
Click on the Forum Subscriptions link in the Shortcuts section in the sidebar.

The Forum Subscriptions page displays with the list of forums.

Yes and No in the Subscribe list indicates whether you subscribe to a forum.

Click on No to subscribe to a forum or Yes to unsubscribe. Community Server will reset the subscribe value.
Open your Public Profile and select the Site Options tab.
Scroll down to the Email Configuration section.
Ensure that your private email address is entered and correct.
Click Save.

Community Server will send you email notification of any activity in the forums to which you are subscribed.

Sorting and Filtering Through Forum Posts

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:20:49 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:20:49 PM

Sorting and Filtering Forum Posts

The sorting and filtering functionality allows you to sort and filter forum posts based on the criteria you specify, such as post date, thread author, total replies, and more.

Procedure

Navigate to a forum.
Click on the Sorting and Filtering link.

The sorting and filtering criteria fields display.

Enter your search criteria.
Do one of the following:

Click Apply to apply the sorting and filtering criteria only for this instance. The next time you return to the forum page, the list of posts will display in their original order, before you applied the sorting and filtering criteria.
Click Apply and Save to retain the sorting and filtering criteria for future views of the forum post list.

Searching for Users

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:20:26 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:20:26 PM

Searching for Users

The user search functionality allows you to get a list of users in your community based on the criteria you specify, such as user role, date on which they joined your community, and user status.

Procedure

Navigate to the Forums main page or to a forum.
Click on the View all users link in the Shortcuts section in the sidebar.

The Browse People page displays.

Enter your search criteria.
Click Search. The usernames with avatar displays at the bottom of the page. The following example shows the results of a search. The criteria used for the search display in the data fields.

Rating a Forum Post

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:20:01 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:20:01 PM

Rating a Forum Post

As a community user, you have the opportunity of rating the value of forum content. Community Server uses a star rating system, which looks like this:

If you find a post that you particularly liked or found valuable, you can give it a high rating by highlighting four or five stars; or you can mark fewer stars for a post that you did not find useful at all. The more stars you highlight, the higher the rating. These ratings can be useful to remind you of the value of the post or to alert other members of the community to its value.

Procedure

Open the forum post you want to rate. The rating functionality appears in the upper-right corner of the post.

Rate the post by pointing the cursor at the first star on the left and dragging the mouse to the right. When you have highlighted the number of stars you want, click with the mouse.

The rating box displays in the forum post list when you close the post.

Marking a Forum Post as Read

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:19:28 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:19:28 PM

Marking Posts as Read

When you open a post, Community Server automatically marks it as read. Icons provide graphical representations of read and unread posts.

For example, when you navigate to a forum, the post list may look like this:

The icons to the left of the post title tell you whether or not the post has been read. A read post is indicated with this icon:

An unread post is indicated with this icon:

You do not have open a post to mark it as read. You can use the Mark as read functionality to do this for you.

Procedure

Navigate to a forum.
Click on the Mark all read link.

Note that the looking to moderate post icon now indicates that it has been read.

Adding a Forum Post

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:18:56 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:18:56 PM

Adding a Forum Post – Registered Users

Not all users have administrative permissions to write a forum post. Your community administrator can restrict users from writing post to all forums or to specific forums.

If you have administrative permission to write a forum post, you will see a Write New Post link when you open a forum.

Procedure

1. Click Write a New Post. The Post a Message page displays.

2. Specify the forum post settings on each tab.

Compose

- Subject – Specifies the post subject.
- Tags – Specifies tags used for the post. You can click Select Tags to find tags that have already been used with forum posts.
- Email me replies to this post – Specifies whether you will receive notification when a user replies to the post.

Options

- Add/Update – Allows you to upload a file to the post.
- Do not allow replies – Specifies whether users can reply to the post.
- Stickiness – Specifies whether a post is sticky, and if so, for how long. A sticky post displays first in the forum post list. You can specify how long you want a post to be sticky. After the expiration date, the post resets to Not sticky.

Poll

- Include a Poll in this Post – Specifies whether you want to include a poll question with your post. When you click the checkbox, additional fields display on the page.

- Question – Specifies the poll question.
- Description – Describes the poll question.
- Answers – Provides the user with options for answering the poll question.
- Add Answer – Allows you to add a poll answer.
- Expires – Specifies the number of days the poll question will display with the post.

Related

Lists posts that are related to, or published in, the forum.

Preview

Shows you what the post will look like before you publish the post.

3. Click Post.

Forum Icon Descriptions

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:18:19 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:18:19 PM

Forum Icons

Community Server uses icons for to indicate the status and type of forums in your community.

Here are descriptions of the common icons you will see in Community Server forums.

private forum no new posts

private forum new posts

non-private forum no new posts

non-private forum new posts

Forum Main Page Overview

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:08:35 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:08:35 PM

Forums Main Page Overview

The primary function of the Forums main page is to provide you with access to all of your community’s forums and discussions. You will note that the center of the page contains a list of forum posts.

The Browse Discussions section at the bottom of the main Forums page lists the forum groups and the forums contained in each one.

The above example shows two forum groups: Administrators and Sample. The forums contained in each are in smaller font beneath the forum group title. You can enter a forum by clicking on the group or a forum.

You can access your community’s Forums main page by doing any of the following:

Clicking Forums on the Control Panel from any page in the community.

Clicking View all discussions from your home page.

The Community Server Forums main page looks like this:

Forum Post Sorting Functionality

Community Server also allows you to manipulate how forums content displays on the Forums main page. For example, you have several forums sorting options:

Most Active – Lists in descending order the forums that have generated the most replies.
Unanswered – Lists the forums that have not generated any replies.
Unread – Lists the forums that have not been read.
Your Discussions – Lists forums in which you have participated in discussions.

Shortcuts Functionality

The Shortcuts section displays in the right sidebar.

View all users – Opens the Browse People page, from which you can search for other users in the community. Click here for additional information.
Posts you have not read – Lists the forum posts you have not read. When you open an unread post, it is removed from this list.
Forum Subscriptions – Opens the Forum Subscriptions page, from which you can subscribe to a forum and view the list of forums to which you have subscribed. Click here for additional information.
Who is online – Opens Who is Online page, which displays all the users currently online. Click here for additional information.

Tags Functionality

You can also browse forums posts by tags. The Tags panel contains the list of tags used by the forum posts. The more common the tag, or the tags used with the most forum posts, display with the largest font. For example, the Blog, Blogs, CS 2.1 and CS 2007 tags are the most used in the Community Server blog posts, as shown in the tag cloud below.

When you click on an item in the tag cloud, Community Server opens a page with the list of all forum posts that use the tag. For example, if you click themes in the tag cloud, Community Server opens a page that lists all of the forum posts that use the themes tag.

The breadcrumbs just below the Control Panel remind you that you are looking at the posts that use the themes tag.

Regardless of how you sort the forum posts, Community Server shows the tags used by each post underneath the post synopsis:

Forum Posts Functionality

You can open a post by clicking on the post title.

The options you in the example above are available to all users within the community regardless of administrative privileges. The following table describes the functionality available from the forum post page:

Functionality	Description
Stop emailing replies to me Email me when someone replies	Specifies whether you are notified by email from someone replies to the post. When you click the link, Community Server resets this setting to its opposite.
Reply	Opens a reply page so you can respond to the post and begin a discussion.
Send to friend	Opens a modal window so you can send a link to the forum post to a friend in the community.
Favorites	Adds the forum post to your favorites list.
Contact	Gives you the following options: Remove the post author from your friends list Send the author an email Launch a conversation with the author View the author’s public profile Search for all posts by the author
Report Abuse	Sends an email to the site administrator to report something inappropriate in the forum post.
Quick Reply	Sends an allow to everyone in your friends list.

If someone replies to the post, Community Server displays the reply below the post content so it is viewable to everyone in the community.

Note the Edit link in the reply section. You can click on it to edit the reply text and add edit notes.

Editing a Tag

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:05:51 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:05:51 PM

Editing a Tag

To edit a tag, you must be able to write a blog post (in other words, you must be the blog owner).

If you do not have blog write permissions

You can edit a tag by clicking Edit Tags, which displays below the post synopsis.

A tag modal window displays.

Do one of the following:

Rename or edit the tag by typing over it in the text field.
Add a tag by clicking Select Tags. Another modal window displays with a list of tags that have already been used.

Check the checkbox for the tag you want and click OK.

After you have made your edits or selected a new tag, click Save. The new tag displays beneath the blog synopsis.

If you have write permissions

You can edit a tag the same way as users without write permissions (described above) or you can edit it from the Control Panel.

Open a post which uses the tag you want to edit. If you have write permissions for the blog, a link to the Control Panel displays in the sidebar.

Click Control Panel. The Write page displays.
Navigate to Manage > Posts. The list of blog posts displays in the workspace.
Click Edit for the blog post you want to edit. The Write page displays.
Do one of the following:
- Rename or edit the tag by typing over it in the text field.
- Add a tag by clicking Select Tags. Another modal window displays with a list of tags that have already been used.
After you have made your edits or selected a new tag, click Save.

Editing a Blog Post or Page

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:03:30 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:03:30 PM

Editing a Blog Post or Page – Registered Users

Not all users have administrative permissions to edit a blog post or page. Your community administrator can restrict users from editing post to all blogs or to specific blogs.

If you have administrative permission to edit a post or page, you will see a link to the blog in the sidebar, as shown in the example below:

You will see the links when you click on the post title (My Life as a Blogger in the example above) or on the blog’s home page. You can click Home to open the home page for the blog (testblog in this example), which contains all of the posts published to the blog.

You must be able to access the Control Panel to edit a post or page. If you do not see this link, contact your site administrator to request write permissions for the blog.

Procedure

Click the Control Panel link in the sidebar. The Write page displays.
Navigate to Manage > Posts or Manage > Pages. The list of blog posts or pages displays in the workspace.
Click Edit for the blog post or page you want to edit.
Modify the blog post properties. Click here for a description of the properties.
Click Save.

Adding a Blog Post or a Blog Page

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:02:17 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:02:17 PM

Adding a Blog Post or a Blog Page – Registered Users

Not all users have administrative permissions to write a blog post. Your community administrator can restrict users from writing post to all blogs or to specific blogs.

Blog posts are displayed by date and show on the home page of the blog (depending on the date or tag filter defined). Blog pages support the same options as blog posts but do not show on the home page of the blog; instead, you must link to them directly through a blog post, a link in the sidebar, or via search results.

If you have administrative permission to write a post or blog page, you will see a link to the blog in the sidebar, as shown in the example below:

You will see the links when you click on the post title (My Life as a Blogger in the example above) or on the blog’s home page. You can click Dashboard to open the home page for the blog (testblog in this example), which contains all of the posts published to the blog.

You must be a blog owner to write a post or page. If you do not see this link to the Control Panel, contact your site administrator to request write permissions for the blog.

Procedure

Click the Control Panel link in the sidebar. The Write page displays.
Select the Write a blog post tab. You can write a blog page by selecting the Write a page tab. From this point, the procedure is exactly the same for writing a post or a page. Another Write page displays.
Specify the blog settings on each tab. Click here for a list of settings properties.
Click Save.

Blog Basics

kenpoist — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:01:17 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/6/2008 2:01:17 PM

Blogs Main Page Overview

The primary function of the Blogs main page is to provide you with access to all of the blog posts that have been published in the community. But Community Server also allows you to manipulate how blog content displays on the main page.

For example, you have several blog sorting options:

Most Recent – Sorts blogs chronologically, beginning with the most recently posted blog.
Most Viewed – Sorts blogs in descending order, beginning with the blog that has been visited most.
Most Commented – Sorts blogs in descending order, beginning with the blog with the most comments by community users.

You can open the blog post by clicking on the blog post title.

You can access your community’s Blogs main page by doing any of the following:

Clicking Blogs on the main navigation from any page in the community.

Clicking View all blog posts from your home page.

The Community Server Blogs main page looks like this:

Blogs Section

Finally, another important section on the Blogs main page is located beneath the tag cloud and is simply headed Blogs.

This section contains two links that are worth noting. When you click RSS Syndication, Community Server opens the RSS feed page, where you can subscribe to the blog page as an RSS feed.

When you subscribe to a feed, Community Server adds it to the Common Feed List. Updated information from the feed is automatically downloaded to your computer so you can view it in Internet Explorer and other programs.

Click here for more information about content mirroring and RSS feeds.

When you click on Blogs on this Site, Community Server opens a statistical page that breaks out blog data such as the total number of posts, articles, comments, and trackbacks in the blog.

How to embed Youtube videos

kenpoist — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:10:06 GMT

Current revision posted to AKF Site FAQ by kenpoist on 10/5/2008 6:10:06 PM

In the post bar, you will notice an icon that looks like a strip of film with a plus sign. Click this, in the Media URL box, paste th youtube URL, click OK. Done!

AKF Site FAQ

Media Main Page Overview

Media Main Page Overview

Media Sorting Functionality

Browse Media Functionality

Tags Functionality

Media Files Functionality

Uploading a Media File

Uploading a Media File – Community Users

About Tags

About Tags

Viewing Your Conversations

Viewing Conversations

Subscribing to an RSS Feed

Subscribing to an RSS Feed

Adding to Your Favorites List

Adding to Your Favorites List

Editing Your Public Profile

Editing Your Public Profile

Changing Your Password

Changing Your Password

Signing Into Your Account

Signing Into Your Account

Creating an Account

Creating an Account

Home Page Overview

Home Page Overview

Control Panel

Public Profile

Conversations

Forums, Blogs, Media, and Groups

Favorites

Your Groups

Your Files

User Action Links

Unsubscribing to a Group

Unsubscribing from a Group

Subscribing to a Group

Subscribing to a Group

Requesting Group Membership

Requesting Group Membership

Creating a Discussion

Creating a Discussion

Groups Main Page Overview

Groups Main Page Overview

Members - Members can view and reply to existing content (blog posts, media files, forum threads) and view pages. If enabled (via the "Edit Group" form), members can also start new forum discussions or post their own media files.

Managers - Managers can do everything that regular members can as well as the following:

Post new pages

Edit and delete their own pages

Post , edit, and delete blog posts

Start new forum discussions (including sticky posts, announcements, polls, and video)

Edit, delete, and moderate forum posts

Post, edit, delete, and moderate media files.

Owners - Owners can do everything that managers can do as well as edit the group and group theme, add and remove members, and edit pages.

Theming Groups

Customizing Group Themes

Accessing Groups Functionality

Browse Groups by Category Functionality

Groups Functionality

Viewing Users Online

Viewing Users Online

Subscribing to a Forum

Subscribing to a Forum - Registered Users

Sorting and Filtering Through Forum Posts

Sorting and Filtering Forum Posts

Searching for Users

Searching for Users

Rating a Forum Post

Rating a Forum Post

Marking a Forum Post as Read

Marking Posts as Read

Adding a Forum Post

Adding a Forum Post – Registered Users

Forum Icon Descriptions

Forum Icons

Forum Main Page Overview

Forums Main Page Overview

Forum Post Sorting Functionality

Shortcuts Functionality

Tags Functionality