1. Mini’app’les Forum
   

2. Mini’app’les uses Forumer.com as our Forum site.
   

3. Mini’app’les Forum Home Page
   

4. Mini’app’les Forum Index Page
   

5. Article: Getting Started with Forumer.com. 
   

Some of the following is repeat info but it does includes forum organizational information.

1. The Forum Home Page vs Index Page
   

2. There are two ways to arrive at the Forums. Both links are posted on the previous Activities page.
   

3. The Home Page includes a summary of posts and other interesting information about the Mini’app’les Forums. On the far left of the Home Page, under the section labeled Board Navigation is a link to the Mini’app’les forums. This link takes you to the index or top level of the Forum.
   

4. Or you can go directly to the Index Page by using the link listed above or on the previous Activities page.
   

5. Registration Info
   

6. Go to the New Mini’app’les Forums. At the top of the page under the Mini’app’les Forum banner are several links, including a Register link. For getting started info see this this link in the forum and be sure to read the Getting Started with Forumer.com article which illustrates the steps to get registered.
   

7. You can read all of the messages in the public forums, but you will not be able to post a message until you are registered. To register, click on the register link at the top of every page and submit your email along with a user name and password. One of the forum administrators will verify your membership and then you'll be notified that your membership has been activated. Very simple and fast.
   

8. Registered Guests
   

9. If you are a Guest (not a Mini’app’les member), once registered you will be restricted to posting in the Guest Forum. However all of the public forums are accessible (read only) to all guests registered or not.
   

10. If you are familiar with online forums, you'll feel right at home. This forum uses phpBB software and is hosted by Forumer.com. This company has made a business of providing free bulletin board/forum hosting. The price of free admission are the adds that run across the top of most pages. While Mini’app’les does not officially endorse add blockers, if ads really bug you, the Firefox browser has add-ons that will prevent these ads from running.
    

11. When you arrive at the Mini’app’les Forum Index (the top level of the forums) you will see a list of forums. The top section is Mini’app’les Central which includes all of the Mini’app’les related forums. The Second section is All Things Macintosh including General Apple Topics & News, Hardware, Software, and a Beginner's Corner. The bottom section is the Miscellaneous which includes a general topic forum called Off Topic, Buy & Sell, and Apple II.
    

12. The first thing to do is click on the Mini’app’les & SIG News and read the Forumer.com Terms of Use and then browse through the Forum FAQ message. The Forum FAQ has a long list if items regarding common questions.
    

13. Navigating the Forum
    

14. Navigation of the forums is easy. Simply look at the Navigation Bar located at the top of each page. If you are currently reading the Forum FAQ, the Navigation Bar will show something like:
    

15.         Mini’app’les forum Index >> Mini’app’les News & Newsletter >> Forum FAQ.
    

16. The first item (Mini’app’les Forum Index) is the top level of the forum, Mini’app’les News & Newsletter is the forum, and Forum FAQ would be the current post you are reading. All of these items are clickable links taking you back to either the Index level or the Forum level.
    

17. Difference with First Class
    

18. If you are familiar with First Class, our old BBS, you'll notice some differences. First off messages are better organized in this new forum. If you think about the FC Mac Software section, you'll remember that all of the message topic replies are all mixed together. In this forum each message has it's own section, so when clicking on a post to read, you'll only see replies to that post.
    

19. Keeping Track of New Posts
    

20. One thing that won't be in the new forum are permanent message flags showing a message as read or unread. If you rely on this, you will have a period of adjustment. However the Mini’app’les forum does notify you of forums with new posts by presenting those Forums in a highlighted color (a green apple in the default layout) after you have logged in. This notification only works when you are logged in with your user name and password. And when you click on the forum, the thread with the new reply will also have high lighted text designating it as new reply since your last visit.
    

21. However, if you don't look at all of the new messages before logging out, they will no longer be highlighted when you return. But this is not the only way to see new messages. If looking at a Forum like Mini’app’les News & Newsletter, all of the newest posts are listed at the top. In addition to the far right is the Last Post Column, showing the person and date of the last message posted to a thread. Last but not least this forum allows you to subscribe to any post that interests you. What this means is that every time a reply is posted, you will receive email notification. In busy forums, this method of new post tracking is a must.
    

22. Return to Activities page.