subject: Coming Up With A Forum [print this page] To a new user or designer, the terminology surrounding forums can be tough to understand. Discussions, boards, forums, threads and posts - what do they mean? Before coming up with a forum, initial understand the terminology and hierarchy of content.
The simplest means to learn is to affix a few forums created from totally different forum software, and start experiencing how a forum is structured.
To urge you going, here are some tips.
How a forum is structured
A forum is split into hierarchies, or levels, of content. These hierarchies of will be best be described in the subsequent manner.
1. Forum sections. A forum section includes a name and sometimes a descriptor. Within a forum section, there might be several forums covering related issues. Usually, these are created by the administrator only. The most behavior of sections is for a member to choose a appropriate forum, and start their journey.
2. Topics. Beneath every forum are topics. Topics have a name, descriptor and author. The idea is to start out topics that are controversial enough to draw attention, and become 'sticky'. The most behavior of topics is for a member to read, or contribute a new topic.
3. Sub topics (also referred to as threads). Beneath each forum are topics (or threads, same issue). Topics have a name, message, author and creation date. The objective is for a member to continue reading, or contribute a brand new topic.
4. Replies (additionally decision posts). Beneath every topic, are replies to the topic (technically the act of posting includes any content added to a forum). By default the terribly first reply is displayed 1st, and the most recent reply on the last page. This is so users will follow the thread of debate from its inception. Users ought to be inspired to reply themselves either to the latest post, or to an older one. Some forums break replies into a query / answer, which offers users added comprehension.In the end, replies are where the volume of content is anticipated to be created.
5. Authors. Given most forums solely allow members to write content, reading replies provides users granular info on the personalities within the forum. Judging by the means posts are written, profile information available on a user and what each user has embedded in their signature, members will begin to induce a way of the social dynamics of the community. Author signatures, like photos, are a permanent stamp that the user leaves on their post. Rather than it appearing as a picture, it normally links to their blog, forum or similar internet entity.
6. Similar topics. Some forum software is sensible enough to recognise similarities in content, and draw a connection. Rather than the user journey ending, with the author, the system is sensible enough to suggest similar topics and jump users to a replacement topic. The objective is to keep users on the site longer, improving the probabilities they will contribute a post.
Coming up with a forum
All forums share the same hierarchy of content. What makes forums different, for higher or worse, is how they mash the content to create a page, and the associated tools accessible to the user at every page.For instance, page one could display forum sections and forum topics, with some statistics. Some administrators may feel this is often enough to indicate, and anymore can crowd the page.
Alternative styles may be additional formidable, sacrificing white house to fit a lot of, in a bid to indicate more. Here, page one displays a description of the topic, individual sub topics, and the most recent posting to this topic. Just by scrolling through page one, a discerning user could skip pages and post additional quickly.
There is one thing to be said for inserting more content on page one. The more content page one has, the a lot of doubtless search engines can focus their indexing on this page, yielding a higher search ranking for the forum.
Selection of forum software
Much of what will and cannot be done comes down to what type of forum software is implemented. The large discussion is around whether to use vBulletin(annual fee hooked up) or a free version called phpBB. Each have a support community. There are lots of forums debating the professionals and cons of both.
