Exile Game Studio

[Wolverine]

This quick lesson in phpBB is aimed at those of you that have never used this style of form before. This will give you the info on some of the tricks that can make your posting a little easier.

If there is anything you think is missing from this list, then feel free to reply and I’ll add the information to this first post as soon as possible.

(If the images look a little fuzzy at the moment it is because they have been cropped using MSPaint. Better looking images will follow once my new pc is fully setup.)

Double-Posting

The bane of many a forum poster, double-posting usually occurs when you accidentally hit the Submit button twice after writing up your post. Fortunately, it is also pretty simple to fix. All you have to do is click the Delete icon in your second post. This icon can be found next to the Quote and Edit buttons as shown below:


If someone has already posted by the time you go back to delete the previous post you will see the following instead:


As you can see, deleting the duplicate post is no longer an option, but you can still go back an edit the post. It is common practice for people to edit their duplicate post so that it simply reads “Duplicate post” or something similar. This allows readers of the thread to quickly see that your second post didn’t contain any information different from the first and safely ignore it.


Jumping to a Page

Popular threads can go on for more than one page. If you want to jump to a particular page within the thread, you can select it directly from the Thread List by clicking on the appropriate page number as seen below:


If you are already reading a multi-page thread, you can select the page in both the top left and bottom right hand corners of each thread page.


If a thread is exceptionally long, not all pages may show. In that case, just pick the visible page link that is closest to the page you want. You should then be able to select the desired page. You may need to do multiple times for threads of truly gargantuan length.


Creating a Poll

One of the popular features of phpBB is the one that allows you to create a poll that other forum members can vote on. You automatically get the option to create a poll every time you make a new post. If you look at the bottom of the page you will see a section entitled Add a Poll. Once you have filled in the title and body text of your post you can enter a title for your poll and start adding options.

By default, you will only see the field for your first option. To create some more enter the first option for your poll and then click the ‘Add option’ button. This will create a second Poll option field where you can enter your second option. Continue doing this until all options have been entered, you should have something that looks like the image below:


Before you click Submit you can specify the number of days you would like to run for. Once the poll has ended, everyone will be able to see the results but nobody else will be able to vote. This setting only really matters if the poll is specifically time sensitive.


Updating your Profile

The forum is able to hold information about you other than your name, location and email address. You can also enter the details for many instant messaging programs to better help others on the forum keep in touch with you. If you click on the Profile link at the very top of any forum page you will be taken to a form where you can edit the details of your account, as well as add a Signature and upload an avatar to truly personalise your account.

The forum is able to store your ICQ number, AIM address, MSN and Yahoo Messenger usernames as well as the url for you website if you have one. NOTE: entering any of these details is purely optional, and not required. If you don’t want people getting in touch, then you don’t have to enter the information.

What you enter as your Signature is entirely up to you, though most forum operators ask that you keep it to at least a PG level. You can include phpBB code in your Signature just as you would a normal post on the forum, and this does mean you can link to pictures and other websites. Linking to adult sites, or other sites of an offensive nature are frowned upon, as is including text of that nature. It is also recommended to limit the size of any image you include to around 150 pixels in height and 400 pixels in width. This is requested as a consideration to forum users that might still be on dialup, or other slow connections. Also, if the image is animated, please keep the animations fairly simple and the file size respectable for the same reasons.

Avatars allow those reading a forum thread to quickly identify a post as yours. As such, choosing a unique or distinctive avatar can be a great boon. The internet is a great source for options, but bear in mind that any image you choose can be no more than 80 pixels in both height and width and no more than 6kb in size. An image that is too large can be cropped and shrunk easily enough with any one of a number of image editing programs that are available on computers today. If you’re really stuck, you can even shrink images in Microsoft Paint, although the quality of the image might suffer as a result.
_________________
"Nazis. I hate these guys."
-Indiana Jones

Looking for monsters, adventures and other goodies? Check these out!

[John Aynge]

A very useful and well put together entry. I particularly liked the double post thing. The only thing I would point out is that you've done an amazing job taking someone that doesn't know much about this kind of board and showing them the ropes, but I don't actually know what phpBB means. I assume the BB is bulletin board.

Also your pics are looking fine on my system.
_________________
DANGER MAGNET! at WWW.DANGERMAGNET.COM is your source for a FREE Hollow Earth Expedition Electronic Magazine!

[JohnK]

Hullo, Wolverine,

I agree with JohnA that the information in the post was well worthwhile. Good stuff there, but of course the folks who need that kind of information will never find it. Like JohnA, I have no problem with the images and graphics, so...

Keep up the good work.
_________________
"The pterodactyl swooped down and...well, let's just say that Loren
didn't have to concern himself with the brace of rabbits any
longer." - James Farrow, explorer


JohnK
e-mail: johnk100@sympatico.ca
blog: http://jkahane.livejournal.com

[John Aynge]

Etiquette question regarding boards, asks the noob, what is the proper way of handling posts that refer to two boards. I plan on putting up a pic and talking about minis in the THOUGHT OF THE DAY, but there is also an entry for PULP MINIS. Should I post the post in THOUGHT OF THE DAY and then put a link into the PULP MINI category, the other way around, or something totally different?
_________________
DANGER MAGNET! at WWW.DANGERMAGNET.COM is your source for a FREE Hollow Earth Expedition Electronic Magazine!

[JohnK]

Hullo, JohnA,

[Wolverine]

[John Aynge]

Hmm, yupp right there at the bottome. phpBB. Interesting.

Groovy in all respects.
_________________
DANGER MAGNET! at WWW.DANGERMAGNET.COM is your source for a FREE Hollow Earth Expedition Electronic Magazine!

[Kathulos]

Got a question about posting links.
On other boards that I post on I can hit the URL tag and a box comes up that allows me to put in the link address and then over write it with my own script. What I write in the post shows up usually underlined or highlighted to indicate that it is the connection to the link. I cannot seem to get that to work here or understand the system. So the result is that I end up having to put a two, or three line link into my posts.

How do I go about posting a link without having to put in the entire IP address of the link?
_________________
"...but, oh God, the face! A skull to which no vestige of flesh seemed to remain but on which taut brownish-yellow skin grew fast, etching out every detail of that terrible death's head.

Skull Face, by Robert E. Howard

[Wolverine]

Short answer, you can copy-paste the URL into your post. Place [url= in front of it and ](the words you want to appear as the link)[/url] at the end of it.

It's a little bit of work, but after a while you'll get used to it.

I get a better explanation worked up for the first post
_________________
"Nazis. I hate these guys."
-Indiana Jones

Looking for monsters, adventures and other goodies? Check these out!

[John Aynge]

How do I center on the board? [center][/center] does not seem to work.
_________________
DANGER MAGNET! at WWW.DANGERMAGNET.COM is your source for a FREE Hollow Earth Expedition Electronic Magazine!

[Wolverine]

Well, you can use standard .html codes center items, but you need to switch .html on in your options first, as would everyone else that wanted to see it that way. I'll check and see if there's a way to do it with tags.

UPDATE: And no, there is no official tag for centering, sorry.
_________________
"Nazis. I hate these guys."
-Indiana Jones

Looking for monsters, adventures and other goodies? Check these out!

[HarrierPotter]

[Banished_Babe]

[John Aynge]

I just took 4 days off and refused to do pretty much anything, and I loved it.

Doesn't it feel good to do nothing every once in a while? Deadlines be damned!
_________________
DANGER MAGNET! at WWW.DANGERMAGNET.COM is your source for a FREE Hollow Earth Expedition Electronic Magazine!

[JohnK]

Hullo, Banished_Babe,