panFora Expert Mode Help File

Customizing

Help for Expert Mode

panFora allows you to personalize your viewing of the forum, by letting you customize many of its elements such as font and photo sizes, viewing modes, pagination and user profiles.

Setting Font Sizes

	By default panFora uses a small font size. However, you can change the font size to meet your needs and preferences.
	Changing the font size in panFora will not affect your browser font size setting. Once you select a font size, it will be remembered every time you enter panFora, assuming you are on the same computer and same browser.

	Notes If you login into panFora from another computer you may need to reset the Font size.

	In the Topics Frame:
	Click to decrease the font size in all panFora frames. Click to increase the font size in all panFora frames. Click again or to increase more or decrease more the current font size.

	Notes Decrease Font Size button is disabled when the smallest font is chosen (default). Increase Font Size Button is disabled when the largest font is chosen.

Setting User Options

User options include changing panFora viewing modes, setting Frame View preferences, editing your User Profile, resetting panFora frame sizes and setting pagination preferences.


	To access all User Options
	1. In the Topics Frame, click .

	The Options Window pops up, displaying the list of available user options in your Forum. The complete list of options is listed below. Please Note that the Forum Administrator sets the user options for each Forum, therefore some options may not be available in your Forum.


	Viewing Modes

	There are two Viewing Modes in panFora: Novice Mode and Expert Mode. Novice Mode and Expert Mode display the forum differently to make it easier for beginners, and give more flexibility as well as more features to expert users.

	You are currently in Expert Mode. You can change your viewing mode at any time. panFora will remember your Viewing Options preference every time you log in.


	Select Novice Mode View
	1. Click the Novice Mode radio button to select it.

	Novice Mode always presents the hierarchical structure of topics and threads fully expanded. In Novice Mode you cannot collapse and expand threads and topics. By default, message contents are displayed one at a time. However, users can choose to view all the contents of a thread at once.


	Select Expert Mode View
	1. Click the Expert Mode radio button to select it.

	Expert Mode adds several different ways to view the forum postings: viewing by author, viewing most recent posts and viewing replies to your posts. In Expert Mode you can collapse and expand threads and topics, sort threads by authors or date, and display all the contents of a thread at once, instead of one message at a time.


	Frames View

	By default the Forum uses Frames as an easy means of Navigation. You can, however, turn Frames off without losing any of the unique panFora features set.
	1.Click Frames Off to turn frames off and view the Forum without frames.

	You can revert to Frames On at any time.


	Show User Photos

	To facilitate the connection between a message and the person behind it, users photos accompany their messages.

	Notes The Forum Administrator enables and sets up the Photo choices. Therefore, this option may not available in your forum. Photo Sizes can only be customized in Expert Mode.

	1.Click Small to display small user photos. or click Large to display large user photos. or click None to ovewrite the Forum configuration, showing no user photos.

	Tips On PC based operating systems, pausing your mouse over a users photo will display that users full name


	Resetting Frame Sizes

	To reset Frame Sizes to default
	1. Click to reset frame sizes to default.

	Tips This option is particularly useful if any of the panFora frames became accidentaly hidden while you were dragging its frame borders.


	Editing Your User Profile

	1. Click to access your user profile.
	The User Profile Window pops up to display User Information and Posting Statistics.
	You can only edit your own User Profile.

	2. Enter or modify any user information in the User Profile Form.
	Full Name Email Address (Check "Hide Email" to Suppress Email Address information from other users.) Phone Number Personal Information
	3. Enter or edit your Signature, which you can append to any of your messages.
	4. Enter a path to the image you want to upload, or click on the Browse button to upload your own Photo.
	5. Click Submit.

	Depending on your Forum configuration uploading your own photo may be unavailable. Please check with your Forum Administrator for more information on your forum specific configuration.

	Notes You may leave blank any of the form fields. We recommend you keep the Full Name information. The Full Name information appears in all of your messages, unless you are posting anonymously. Having your full name available facilitates associating your messages with you. You can also access your User Profile Window from the Content Frame, by clicking in any of your own messages.


	Setting Pagination

	Set your pagination preferences for each panFora frame.
	All of the forum content can be broken up into multiple pages. This can be beneficial if you have a slow internet connection and pages take too long to load. It can also make long message threads or topic lists easier to follow, by breaking them up into smaller chunks.

	1. Select the pagination for each panFora frame.
	You can change the settings for pagination by selecting different values in the popup menus. These changes only affect Expert mode. If you switch back to Novice mode, you will be given the pagination defaults set up by the Forum Administrator.

	When the number of items (topics, message threads or messages) exceeds the limits you have set, the information will be displayed in multiple pages.
	A link will appear at the bottom of the list, allowing you to navigate to the previous and next available pages.


	Page Navigation Click < to go to Previous page. Click > to go to Next page. Click << to go to First page. Click << to go to Last page.