The TACE forums are located at http://tacesoutheast.org/forum/index.php. In order to participate, users must create a login ID.
When you first visit the site, you are presented with a login screen similar to the one below:
Image 1: Splash Screen
If this is your first visit, you will need to register an account by clicking the Register button (highlighted yellow in Image 1 above). This will lead you to a page that explains the terms and conditions for using the forum. Once you have read the terms, click the button labeled “I agree to these terms” to continue.
The next page will ask you to provide the following information:
Image 2: Registration Screen
Once you submit your registration, you will receive an e-mail notification to the address you provided that confirms your submission. However, you must wait for an administrator to activate your account. A second e-mail will arrive when your account has been activated with the headline “Account activated”. At that point, you can log into the TACE forums using the username and password you chose at registration.
Login is located at http://tacesoutheast.org/forum/index.php just like registration. In the center of the page are input forms for Username and Login:
Image 3: Login Page
Simply enter your username and password, and press the Login button to the right.Once you log in, you will be presented with a list of forums. Image 4 below shows a sample login screen with several features highlighted by number.
Note: The boards shown below are for example purposes only. Your listings may differ based upon your user level or other options.
Image 4: Forum Features
The red numbers in the image above highlight important features of the forum home screen:Many of these features may not be important to you, but it is helpful to understand the information presented on the main screen. Once you have familiarized yourself with them, you can begin reading and submitting posts.
Clicking on a forum will provide you a list of active topics within that forum along with several pieces of information not accessible from the home screen:
Image 5: Forum Screen
You can navigate to any topic by clicking on its title. This will also update the breadcrumb trail at the top of your screen.
Submitting a new topic is quite simple. Press the New Topic button from within the forum to which you are submitting a new post. A WYSIWYG editor will open similar to the one in Image 6.
Image 6: Post a New Topic
The two most important aspects of a new post are a subject and content. Each of these must be present in order to commit a new post. On the subject line, provide a short description of the topic to be discussed. Be sure to make it clear to other users what the subject is referring to.
Once a subject is present, simply type in the content of your post like you would in any text editor. The line of icons along the top of the content window provides basic functionality such as bold, italic, and underline. There are also a few more specialized options which bear mentioning. We will discuss each of these options under the BBCode section.
Once you are satisfied with the content and format of your post, click the Submit button. Your post will now be listed in the forum as a new subject.
Reading topics is as easy as clicking links in a browser. When you click each topic’s subject, it will navigate to that topic’s thread. Threads are a means of organizing topics and their responses. The first post in any topic provides the main idea. Subsequent posts by other users are all responses to the original topic or follow-ups. These are listed in the order in which they are posted, along with the name of the user who made the post and a time stamp.
Image 7: Forum Topic
In Image 7, you’ll note that the name of this topic is “Submitting a topic”. Directly beneath the topic’s subject is a button which allows you to submit your own response to this topic, and a search box. The first post is by daveklein_tace, the topic’s creator. Note that a blue box surrounds daveklein_tace’s entire post. The second blue box is a response by bwalker. Every subsequent response is highlighted in this way so that you can easily tell where one post ends and the next one begins.
Note the time stamp information on both posts. Daveklein_tace made his original post on August 02, 2010. Bwalker followed up with a response on August 17, 2010. When searching old forum posts, it is much easier to find the information you are looking for if you have a rough idea of when it was posted.
To post a reply, simple click on the Post Reply button highlighted in Image 7. This will open a window identical to the one used to construct a new topic. The subject will be filled in using Re: and then the current topic subject. Once you have typed in your response, press the Submit button to commit your post.
This How-To Guide is intended to give you a head start on learning how to interact using the TACE Forums.You can also customize your forum experience using the User Control Panel. Features of the UCP are beyond the scope of this article, but feel free to contact us at trainingcore@coa.gatech.edu if you have any questions or require assistance.