I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you to some features of the forum. This is by no means an exhaustive list of features, but it's something I plan on adding to.

SM.NET radio
Our radio player allows you to listen to your favourite radio stations whilst participating in the forums. You'll find the link to launch the radio player at the very top of each page.

Contacts, Friends and Ignore Lists
The ability exists to add other users to your contacts or to ignore them. If you add a user to your contacts, you also have the option as adding them as a friend. Your friends will show up in your profile to anyone viewing it.
If you choose to add a user to your ignore list then you will not be able to receive private messages from them. In addition posts made by users in your ignore list will not show in forum threads. You may optionally allow or disallow ignored members from viewing your blogs and photos.

Social Groups
Social groups are a new feature which allows you to create, or to join groups of members. For instance, you may wish to create a new group for Madonna fans (well, maybe not but bear with me as an example). You can set up the group up to be a public group in which anyone can join, an invite only group (you invite people to join), or a group in which you (as group owner) can approve or reject users who join up. You can set up or join social groups from your profile, or your user control panel. Social group pages contain a shared picture album and a feature for group messaging.

Pictures and Albums
Members now have the ability to add picture albums. Adding pictures is pretty easy. You can have as many albums and pictures as you like. Each picture can have a caption / small description. You can access your pictures and albums from your profile, or from your user control panel. Other users can comment on your pictures (feature coming soon) - you can elect to show you pictures to anyone or just people on your contacts. You may set any picture in an album to act as the album cover. You can also add pictures from your albums directly to social groups.

Blogs
Each user has a blog. Using your blog however is completely up to you. Blogs can be set to private so only you may see them, or so that anyone can see them, or just people on your contact list. You may control who can comment on your blogs, be it anyone, no-one or just people on your contacts list. You may also opt to approve comments before they are made public. You can mix the permissions here and for instance allow anyone to view your blog, but only people on your contacts list to post comments. You can give your blog a title, and a description and you may divide your blog into categories. When posting a blog entry you can assign it to one or many categories.

The feature exists to subscribe to individual blog posts (so you are notified of replies) or to a users entire blog (you are notified of new blog entries and replies). You can subscribe to your own, or other peoples blogs.

Private Messaging
Users may send private messages to other members. For reasons of spam prevention we have limited this to a maximum of 5 recipients per message. If you receive a private message that was sent to multiple users then you have a 'reply to all' function available to you. You may set up unlimited custom folders in which to file your private messages. Additionally, when sending a private message you can request the message be tracked - a read receipt will be sent once the user has read the private message if they elect to issue one - the user may decline to issue a read receipt.

Printer Friendly Versions
For those times when you need to print off threads (such as from the educational resources area) there is a 'printer version' of each thread. You will find this option among others under the 'thread tools' menu at the top right of each thread as shown here:-



Email a Friend
If you see a thread that you know would appeal to a friend (for instance, they may be working on an essay relating to a certain thread topic) then you will find an 'email to friend' option under the 'thread tools' menu at the top right of each thread as shown in the image above.

Similar Threads Feature
Similar threads are automatically found for you when viewing any thread. This is particularly useful at times when you need relevant threads (you may be carrying out research for example and need similar threads to the one you are looking at). To see similar threads to the thread you are reading, simply scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Long Threads: Jump to page
For threads that span multiple pages there is a 'jump to page' feature. To use, just click the down arrow next to the page links as shown in this image:-



Thread searching
Obviously you can search the entire site for posts and threads but sometimes, especially on long threads the ability to search within a thread is important. To do this, click on the search thread option next to the 'thread tools' link as shown in the image below:-




Attach files to posts. (and private messages: new feature coming soon)
When posting a thread, or a reply to a thread you have the option of attaching files from your computer. This may be an image, a word document, power point slide, or whatever. Some files are blocked for security such as .exe files. If you really need to attach a file that the site is blocking, then add the file to a zip file and attach the .zip file instead. To add an attachment(s) to a post just scroll down below the message box where you type you message and you'll see an 'additional options' area under which there is a 'manage attachments' button - clicking this will allow you to add your attachments. You cannot add attachments from the quick reply box, you must click the 'post reply' button, or the 'go advanced' button from within quick reply (to preserve any text you may have already typed for the reply)

See which of your contacts are currently online
You can see which of your contacts are currently online by viewing your list of contacts, or a better way would be to open your contacts pop up. The contacts pop up is available from the 'quick links' menu at the top of every page.

There are many many more features and this thread will be added as soon as I have them documented (in due course).

__________________
Rob (Co-founder & Technical Director)
StudentMidwife.NET
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Have you just been offered a place? If so and you want a mentor please post in post this forum (also post here if you would like a mentee)

You know the calendar thingy at the top of the page? Is that a personal one to add stuff to, or a group one please????

__________________
Midwifemissy x

Student Midwife 2007
Student uni rep
Educational Resources Manager

Please help us raise funds for a bereavement room in Honey's memory by taking part in the SMNET Auction & Raffle here thanks x

Its visible to everyone, but use it however you like

__________________
J
StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

"You're braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. And smarter than you think."
Christopher Robin in Pooh's Grand Adventure

Please help us raise funds for a bereavement room in Honey's memory by taking part in the SMNET Auction & Raffle here thanks x

That's what I thought, thanks J ™. x

__________________
Midwifemissy x

Student Midwife 2007
Student uni rep
Educational Resources Manager

Please help us raise funds for a bereavement room in Honey's memory by taking part in the SMNET Auction & Raffle here thanks x