**We have a new version of our forum, which we can apply for new users.Please contact support@subhub.com to request this upgrade.**
To set up your forum you need to go to the control panel and click on the 'Forum' link.
Alternatively you can add /forum to your site URL.
The first time you access your forum you will see there is already a default category set up with a forum within it. You can replace the default text by editing the category and each forum. You can also add more forums to this category and even add new categories if you wish.
General administration
This section allows you to enter welcome text that sits above the forum, this is optional and you can delete the existing text if you desire.
Set the number of topics shown on a page Number of posts on a page within each topic. Number of minutes in which someone can return to edit their post.
Click ‘Save’ once you have updated this section.
Categories
Categories are used to hold the mini forums, it is unlikely that you will need to use more than one or two categories. To edit the default category you need to click on the green edit button next to the category title: Alternatively you can create a new category by clicking on the 'Create new category' button:
Editing a category
When editing the category you can update the title and the short description that is displayed. If you are going to create more than one category you can order them using the order field.
NOTE: Give a category an order of '1' for it to appear at the top of the page. Click save (or 'create category' when creating a new category) and you will see your changes have been made.
Delete a category
To delete a category, you need to click to edit the category and click on the 'delete category' button. You will be asked to confirm this action.
NOTE: Before you can delete a category you must delete or move any forums that are assigned to it.
Forums are grouped within categories, on your site there will be a default forum already created.
Forum set up
To edit the default category you need to click on the green edit button next to the forum title:
Alternatively you can create a new forum by clicking on the 'Create new forum' button:
There are several options available when setting up a forum:
Title and description
Give your forum a title and short description, which will be displayed in the category it is assigned to:
Access
You can restrict access to the forum and each forum will show an icon dependent on who it is accessible to:
Private (Administrators only)
The forum will only be visible to a logged in administrator
Members only – Only logged in members can read and post in the forum
Limit by member group - If you select 'limit by member group' your existing member groups will appear and you can select the groups that you want to access this particular forum.
Public Access – Anyone can read and post in the forum
Assign to category
The default forum will already have been assigned to the default category 'This is a forum category'.
Any new categories that you create will appear in this drop down list.
Order
As you will be creating more than one forum within a category it is likely that you will want the control to order them.
Enter a number in the order field to determine where the forum appears in your category. The higher the number the lower down the forum will appear.
Highlight admin posts?
As an administrator you may want to highlight whenever you post in the forum.
To do this you need to set the option to 'Yes':
You then need to choose what colour you want your posts to be highlighted with:
Now whenever you post in the forum your posts will be highlighted in this color:
Click save and your changes will have been made.
Delete a forum
To delete a forum, you need to click to edit the forum and click on the 'delete forum' button.
You will be asked to confirm this action:
NOTE: If you delete a forum you will also delete any posts made in that forum, it is possible to move posts before deleting a forum.
Start a forum topic
The visitors who have access to your forum will be able to start a topic within a forum and then others can post within the topic.
NOTE: When your site launches it is a good idea to have a topic started in each forum.