Tips

[DavidH]

• Approaching the forum
• Jump to the first new post
• Home page
• Subscribe to a topic
• Opening a link in a new tab
• Check your spelling
• Frequently asked questions

[DavidH]

Approaching the forum

There are several ways into the forum. Take a look at the Forum menu at the top of the page:

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• Forum Home: Browse the forum, starting at the highest level
• View New Posts: See which threads have been updated since you last visited (you must be logged in, of course). Forum regulars often use this as their entry point.
• View Active Topics: See only threads which have attracted posts in the last few days
• View Unanswered Posts: See only those threads that are waiting for their first response

[DavidH]

Jump to the first new post

In a list of threads, you can see which ones have new posts since you last visited by the presence of a small icon to the left of the thread title:

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Clicking on this icon will bring you straight to the first new post.

[DavidH]

Home Page

You can have as many "home pages" as you like in your browser. These are pages that open automatically when you start the browser. Why not make the forum one of your home pages so you don't forget to check in every day? The New Posts page is a particularly good one to choose.

[DavidH]

Subscribe to a topic

You don't have to visit the forum to check for new posts. Instead you can get an email notification when a post is added. Say, for example, you want to be notified when a new BargaIn Buy is posted. Open the Bargain Buys thread and look at the bottom left corner of the page. Click on the Subscribe topic link (you must be logged in):

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You will now get an email the next time a post is added to the thread.

There is a similar feature for subscribing to an entire section of the forum (eg Society). Just look for the Subscribe forum link at the end of the page.

[DavidH]

Opening a link in a new tab

If you want to open a link in a new browser tab (keeping the current page open), just hold the Ctrl button while clicking the link. If you are on a Mac, hold the Command button instead.

This works for any site, not just this forum.

[DavidH]

Check your spelling

Poor spelling makes it harder for others to read what you have written. Most spelling errors can be eliminated before you post thanks to spell-check features in modern browsers.

Firefox automatically checks what you've typed into a textarea. The words with the red underline are possible misspellings:

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Internet Explorer doesn't but you can install the Google Toolbar which provides a simple Spell Check button:

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[DavidH]

Frequently Asked Questions

A lot of common questions are answered on the Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have a query about the use of the forum, check there first. Just click on the FAQ link near the top-right of the page:

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[DavidH]

I highly recommend Paint.NET for image manipulation, eg resizing. It's free, easy to use and very capable.

I've put a new limit on image size of 800x800 pixels on the forum to avoid filling up the server with enormous images.