Posted: 02/09/2009 at 6:18pm | IP Logged

Well decided to try and do something after I got some questions from some folks who are pc challenged (how did you find us ). Hopefully those who come behind you can find this tutorial (it'll be a sticky note), but I'll put it as a link in my welcoming message to new members, so maybe that'll help them find it. Also it'll allow my other moderators and members in general to add their input for I know I can tend to talk too far over some heads. I would love to do video tutorials like I did for my mod's on how to manage the forums, but the files would be huge and I don't care for hosting sites personally. Besides, taking the time to explore and try things is in my opinion the quickest way to learn anything, some just need a little boost  Ok, so here's some questions that I was asked recently, so I think I'll let others throw in their 2 cents before I add my penny's worth   If anyone else has questions about how to use the forum, ask away.

Quote: just tried to find the place to type in a subject to hunt for all threads regarding same, i found something bottom screen left that says forum, but i could not get it to delete so i could type my own subject in.

Quote:  oh yeah, what is the avatar?  and i will fill out my signature more.  i think that is the info/tag line at the bottom of the post.

Quote: the way i have my pix posted, doesn't that allow a person to post an answer specific to that pix?

Posted: 02/09/2009 at 8:14pm | IP Logged

Sorry, forge that making it an announcment that nobody could reply to it.

Posted: 03/01/2009 at 1:08pm | IP Logged

Quote: just tried to find the place to type in a subject to hunt for all threads regarding same, i found something bottom screen left that says forum, but i could not get it to delete so i could type my own subject in.

Bottom left is Forum Jump, meaning just that, it allows you to jump to another forum section, it has no search function. To search for all threads regarding a search parameter such as 'console', there's two ways you can go about it. First from whatever post you're in, click on the Search icon at the top of the forum page, type in the search parameter you want (works best with single words) but pay attention to this parameter Search On : < = value=1 name=SM>All Words < = value=2 name=SM>Any Words < = value=3 name=SM>Phrase  as Phrase can be very useful if you want to limit it to specific combination of words such as 'marine grade' or 'winch stand' etc. Another area in that same search pattern is Search In section, it defaults to Message Body, but  you could chose Topic or Username. Username is only if you want to search for posts by a specific user, but a lot of times I want to search by Topic or Message Body. There's also a search button on the post by the user, this is helpful if you want to find all posts made by that user although limited if you find that they posted in a topic that has multiple pages, you might have to view all the pages to find one or more of their posts within that topic.

Posted: 03/01/2009 at 1:24pm | IP Logged

Quote:  oh yeah, what is the avatar?  and i will fill out my signature more.  i think that is the info/tag line at the bottom of the post.

Avatar has nothing to do with the signature line, although you could post just about anything in a signature line in the way of a picture but preferably we hope you don't as that just clutters up the signature line and adds nothing useful for other members to view. We prefer more useful info like where you're from, maybe 1st name, specifics about boat and motor, maybe even your towing vehicle, anything that's useful to the members to help answer questions without them having to repeatedly ask you for that information. Okay now an avatar is basically a pic that's been resized to specific measurements that looks good enough to be clearly defined at such a small pic. For instance, my avatar is 64x64 pixels which is the size defined on this forum. For avatars, you can google it up and eventually find what you want or even use your own pictures like others have, just by reducing the pixel size of it.

Posted: 03/01/2009 at 1:29pm | IP Logged

Quote: the way i have my pix posted, doesn't that allow a person to post an answer specific to that pix?

Well now that all depends on the picture and what did you ask about it in the text portion. None of us are mind readers, and its very important that you're specific about your question or it may never get answered to your satisfaction.

Posted: 03/13/2009 at 11:38pm | IP Logged

eaglase Senior Member Joined: 08/12/2008 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 158

Posted: 03/13/2009 at 9:55am | IP 70.184.227.157 wildcat.. how do you rename the link to a more simple name than using the web link... like you did above for pontoon stuff.... I keep trying and cant get it to work... (sorry..not sure where to ask this ?) __________________ Earl in Topeka, KS 1986 28' Playcraft 95 4.3LV6 OMC 195HP 2000 Ford Expedition XLT 95 HaulRite Dual axle trlr

Copied your post here so I could delete and not clutter up the other thread. Ok, lets use for example a specific product like a console from PontoonStuff. So you can either post the link http://www.pontoonstuff.com/pontoon-boat/20-pontoon-boat-sea ts-designer-helm-stand.asp or to make it shorter we can do a bracket, except now you can add the text of say PontoonStuff's Premium Console and then end it with which ends the link you want to put, so it'll then look like this PontoonStuff's Premium Console. You can get the hints from the Help icon at the very top of the page which will show you the codes and within that help link you'll find another link What are Forum Codes? which will tell you everything you want to know. So folks, don't forget that he help page can probably answer your questions about how to use the forum.

Posted: 03/14/2009 at 12:45am | IP Logged

I do it a little differently. I first type what I want the link to say in the reply box and then highlight it. Then I click on the add hyperlink button. I paste the link there and and hit ok. Whatever you typed and highlighted will be come a link..