Lay My Hat Forum

[paolo]

How to post a message
Now that you are ready to join in the discussions, there are two ways to add your post to the forum.

If you want to add something to an existing thread, you click on the 'post reply' button at the top and bottom of each page of messages.
If you want to start a new topic of discussion, you click on the 'new topic' button at the top and bottom of each pages of messages.

In both cases you are taken to the message screen.

If you are posting a new topic, make sure you write a descriptive Subject for it, as this will appear in the list of topics. If you just write 'Help!' people are unlikely to read your message. If you write 'Advice wanted on French management companies', you will attract anyone who may be able to help. Writing in the form of a question is also a good idea: 'Is my management company ripping me off?'

When you are posting a reply and not starting a new topic, it is not necessary to fill in the Subject field, but you can if you wish.

Formatting your message:
The easiest way to format your text is to highlight the text you want to format with your mouse, and then click on one of the buttons:
- bold
- italic
- underline

What the other buttons mean:

- this is for quoting from another post. Copy and paste the text you want to quote into your message. Then highlight it and click on the 'Quote' button. In your message the quote will appear in its own box, letting people know you are quoting from elsewhere.


- this is used in the same way as the Quote button, but for lines of html code (you are unlikely to need this function!)


- this indents a list so it is neatly lined up a little way in from the margin:

Apples
Pears
Apricots

- if you want to insert a picture into your message, you type or paste in the url for the picture, e.g. http://www.laymyhat.com/picture.jpg, highlight it and click 'Img'. The image will appear in your message:





- to add a clickable link to a website, type in or paste the url for the site, e.g. http://www.laymyhat.com, highlight it and click on 'URL'.


Adding emoticons

Emoticons, also known as smileys, are those little yellow faces that express surprise , joy , sadness , etc. You can insert them in your text simply by clicking on them. If you are not sure what each one means, hold your cursor over one and its meaning appears.


'Notify me when a reply is posted' If you tick this box you will be sent an email to tell you when someone has posted a reply to your post.


Editing your post

Once you have finished your message you can click on 'Preview' to check how it will appear, and 'Submit' to get the message posted to the forum.

Even once the message is up on the forum, you can make changes, correct errors, or add new information- go to your post and click on the 'Edit' button to the right. This takes you back to the posting form where you can make your changes, and click 'Submit' when you are happy.

To delete a post, click 'Edit' and check 'Delete this Post'. Click 'Submit' to finish deleting the post. You may not delete a post if it has been replied to (i.e. it is not the last post in the topic)
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Paolo
Lay My Hat
http://www.laymyhat.com