Page ManagerDISCUS Administration Instructions

The Page Manager is the most frequently used interface once discussion begins. It gives moderators the ability to manipulate past, present, and future discussions by allowing the configuration of subtopics, about messages, and messages on the pages.

To access the Page Manager, click on "Page Manager" from the administration program main menu. Note that, by default, the first screen from the Page Manager is loaded into the right frame upon accessing the administration program. To begin editing a topic, click on the topic that you wish to edit from the "Page Manager" page.

Navigation

There are a number of methods by which a moderator can navigate through the Page Manager.

Announcement messages

Moderators can specify one "Announcement message" on each page. This message is displayed before all subtopics on the page, so it is the first thing that visitors to your page will notice. Announcement messages are ideal for time-sensitive or critical announcements. Note that About messages can be specified, which appear below the list of subtopics.

To use an announcement message, you must first enable the "Announcement Message" option in the page layout (see Page layout for details). Note that announcement messages are not enabled by default.

The text of an announcement message is specified in the text box under "Announcement Message." In an announcement message, you may use any formatting tags except image uploading. To enter (or change) an announcement message, use the text box to enter your message. Then, click on the "Preview/Save Message" button.

If your announcement message has formatting errors, you will be given an error message and will not have the option to save the message. If your announcement message is free from formatting errors, a preview of your about message will be displayed in a table. You have the option to revise the announcement message (by typing into the text box and then clicking on "Refresh Preview" to see your changes) or to save your announcement message by clicking on "Save Message." You may cancel your editing by using the navigation bar on the top of the page to return to the subtopic you were editing.

Subtopics

Moderators have several options dealing with subtopics. Moderators can delete, move, rename, reorder, or add subtopics from the administration interface. In addition, moderators can create a "subtopic" that is actually a link to a document somewhere on the WWW but not within the discussion board; this is useful for providing static information.

About messages

Moderators can specify one "About message" on each page. This message is displayed after all subtopics but before all messages; this is a way for a moderator to have control over the "first message" on a page. About messages are useful for giving a few lines of text describing the discussion that is expected to occur. Note that Announcement messages can be specified, which appear above the list of subtopics.

To use an about message, you must first enable the "About Message" option in the page layout (see Page layout for details). Note that about messages are not enabled by default.

The text of an about message is specified in the text box under "About Message." In an about message, you may use any formatting tags except image uploading. To enter (or change) an about message, use the text box to enter your message. Then, click on the "Preview/Save Message" button.

If your about message has formatting errors, you will be given an error message and will not have the option to save the message. If your about message is free from formatting errors, a preview of your about message will be displayed in a table. You have the option to revise the about message (by typing into the text box and then clicking on "Refresh Preview" to see your changes) or to save your about message by clicking on "Save Message." You may cancel your editing by using the navigation bar on the top of the page to return to the subtopic you were editing.

Messages

Messages posted by users are key to the discussions. Moderators are given tools to delete, edit, reorder, or move existing messages or to add new messages.

Page layout

Moderators have control over the layout of each page and can specify which "discussion elements" appear on each page. Possible "discussion elements" include an announcement message, a list of subtopics, a "create new conversation" button, an about message, messages, and an "Add a Message" form. Although the moderator can technically specify the arrangement in 26=64 ways, some combinations do not make sense (such as an "Add a Message" form with no messages). Also, many beginners enable all six discussion elements, but this is unattractive within the board unless there are actually an "Announcement Message, "subtopics, an "About Message," and messages on the page, which is very rare.

The page layout is specified by selecting elements to be displayed in the page layout selection table. To include a particular element on a page, check the checkbox next to the appropriate element. When the desired elements have been selected, click on the "Save Page Layout" button to finalize the layout.

There are also three common layouts defined in the page layout selection table. Checking the radio button next to any of these three common layouts automatically updates the discussion elements column. You may also define a custom layout by manually checking or un-checking discussion elements.

When you deactivate a discussion element, the discussion element is hidden on the page by being commented out. Thus, you can deactivate an element and later activate that same element and not lose any of the information that was contained in that element (you can turn the messages off, for example, and later turn the messages on, and none of the messages would have been deleted).

WARNING! Hidden elements are visible to anyone who looks at the source of the page. Therefore, you should not, for example, tell everyone to add their desired username and password in an "Add a Message" form because the messages will be hidden -- anyone looking at the source of the page can see all of the messages that were posted.

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