Forums Support

Welcome to the BrillBaby + BrillKids Forum Help Pages! Perhaps you were looking at a page in our forums and were drawn to one of the topics - you wanted to join in the discussion but you didn't how to do just that.

Well, our forums permit guests to read, but downloading files and posting replies are restricted to registered members. We recommend registering because many of the most useful features will only become available to you when you do so.

Let's start by describing four key areas that you might need help with:

	The Main Menu
	The Forum Home Page
	The Message Index
	The Topic

The Main Menu

Supposing have not registered and logged in, the main menu (which appears on every page) should normally comprise the following buttons:

	Home, which takes you back to the Forum Home Page.
	File Downloads, which will ask you to sign in before you are able to view the content of this page.
	Gallery, which will ask you to sign in before you are able to view the content of this page.
	Search, which allows you to search the forums for whatever you're looking for.
	Members, which will ask you to sign in before you are able to view the content of this page.
	BrillBaby, which redirects you to www.BrillBaby.com.
	BrillKids, which redirects you to www.BrillKids.com.
	Help, which brings you to this Help guide.

Once you register and log in, the main menu should look the same, but the upper right hand corner of your forum page will look a little different:

	Home, (as before).
	File Downloads, which will show you all available free downloads from BrillBaby and BrillKids.
	Gallery, which brings you to a photo gallery of all users and forum members.
	Search, which allows you to search the forums for whatever you're looking for.
	Members, which brings you to a list of members registered in our forums.
	BrillBaby, (as before).
	BrillKids, (as before).
	Help, (as before).
	Account, (found on the upper right hand) which allows you to make changes to your profile.
	Logout, which allows you to logout again if desired.

The Forum Home Page

The forum home page is packed with all kinds of information and links, and normally looks something like this:

	The forum name links back to the top of the board index.
	Each category is collapsible (shown by the little arrow symbol), and clicking the category name collapses or expands the category as you like.
	The board name links to the message index for that board.
	The board description describes the board's content, and may also include links to the forums inside it and specify the names of the moderator(s).
	The New Posts and No New Posts icons in the leftmost column show registered members whether there have been any new posts to the board since they last read it.
	The Mark as Read button enables registered members to mark all posts in the entire forum as 'read'.

The Message Index

Like the board index, the message index interface is quite straightforward when reduced to its essential components:

	Our forums show the navigation tree at the top in a space-saving horizontal mode.
	The page numbers link to further pages of the board, and may be accompanied by Go Up and Go Down buttons linking to the top and bottom of the current page.
	The Mark as Read button enables registered members to mark all posts in this board as 'read'.
	The Notify button enables registered members to subscribe to email notification of replies to topics in this board.
	The New Topic and New Poll buttons are for starting new topics and polls, as described in the posting help.
	The Subject, Started by, Replies, Views and Last post links enable you to sort the columns by these parameters (with Last post also toggling between descending and ascending order as indicated by the little arrow).
	The topic icons in the leftmost column are explained by the key below.
	The post icons in the next column are sometimes used to draw attention to the mood or purpose of the topic.
	The topic subject links to the start of the topic, with extra links for subsequent pages and new buttons to take registered members straight to their first unread post of the topic.
	Where the topic has been started or last replied to by a registered member, their names link to their respective profiles.
	The Jump to menu provides a convenient quick method of navigating the forum.

The Topic

Sometimes referred to as threads, topics are where you find the actual messages:

	Some forums show the navigation tree at the top in a space-saving horizontal mode.
	Some forums may also be configured with previous and next topic links.
	The page numbers link to further pages of the topic, and may be accompanied by Go Up and Go Down buttons linking to the top and bottom of the current page.
	The Reply button enables you to reply to the topic.
	The Notify button enables registered members to subscribe to email notification of replies to the topic.
	The Mark Unread button enables registered members to mark the topic as 'unread', which means that it will still be listed as new and can be effectively 'saved for later'. Note that this button changes to Add Poll in the bottom button set for users with permission to add polls to existing topics.
	The Send Topic button enables registered members to send a link to the topic by email.
	The Print button creates a simplified, printer-friendly rendering of the page.
	The author name links to the author's profile.
	The author details in the lefthand column may be accompanied by further personal information.
	The topic subject links back to the start of the topic.
	The Quote button enables you to quote the post.
	Further Modify and Delete options are normally provided to enable registered members to edit their own posts.
	Report to moderator enables you to report abusive or wrongly-placed posts to the forum staff.
	Logged indicates that the IP of the author has been logged. The actual IP is only available to board administrators.
	The Jump to menu provides a convenient quick method of navigating the forum.

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