Bulletin Boards

The Bulletin Boards portlet can be used as a discussion area for participants to post their own messages or read messages that may have been posted by others.  Replies can be sent via personal messages (email) back to the person who originally posted the message.

The highest level of grouping displayed on a bulletin board is called a Category.  Each Category can have multiple Topics associated with it.  You are able to view several components:

• topic (click on it to display all messages related to that topic)

• within the topic, you quickly see the various posts as well as the author (click on the header to sort by author), the date of posting, and the number of times the post has been viewed

Note:  The Bulletin Boards portlet is very similar to the Forums portlet and actually displays some links more relevant to its not too distant cousin.  See Forums topic for more details.

Preferences

• Default Screen Topic

  Select a topic that will be displayed on your default screen.

• Messages Per Page

  Select the number of search results that will be displayed on a page.

Functions

You can Post a Message or Subscribe to a Topic by clicking on the appropriate link.  

There are two main menu options available from the Bookmarks portlet:  Manage and Search.  The following options are available from the Manage menu:

• Add a Category

  Click on Add a Category from the Manage menu

  Enter a label for the new category

  Enter a description for the new category

  Identify the position for this category that will determine where it will be displayed in the list of categories

  Click on the to expand your user view and display the Principal Selector Control.  Select the checkbox next to the roles or users that will be able to view your new category

  Click the Save button

• Edit a Category

  Click on Edit a Category from the Manage menu and then choose the category you wish to edit

  Make the necessary changes

  Click the Save button

• Order Categories

  Click on Order Categories from the Manage menu

  Change the numbers for each category to indicate the sequence in which they will be ordered

  Click the Save button

• Add a Topic

  Click on Add a Topic from the Manage menu

  Enter the name of the new topic

  Enter a description of the new topic

  Select the category in which this topic will be displayed

  If the topic does not fit into an existing categories, you can click on the Add Category link and create a new category from this screen

  Select the position of this topic within the category

  Select the Start and End dates and times for this topic to appear

  Choose to have the topic become a 'read only' topic or be deleted when the end date and time has been reached

  Click on the to expand your user view and display the Principal Selector Control.  Select the checkbox next to the roles or users that will be able to view your new topic

  Click the Save button

• Subscriptions

  Click on Subscriptions from the Manage menu

You can select from two types of Search options:

• Click on Search from the Manage menu

• Enter the text for which you are searching

• Select one of the results radio buttons

OR

• Select the name of an author

• Choose one of topics in which to search

• Select a date range

• Click the Search button

Subscriptions:  Within a topic, you can decide to subscribe to that topic and thus all of its posts.  Once subscribed, the new posts are emailed to you so that you can stay informed.