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Tips on new website

Tips on new website.

If you have any tips, hints, etc regarding the new-look website, please post them here.

I, for one, would be grateful if someone would summarise how 'whisper your comments to' works/what it's for; and how to get an icon/avatar against your name. And also when to use the 'search' that's on the left-hand side of the screen.
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Comments

  • This is an open and visible reply, Jay. Can you see the difference between this and the one above that I just posted using 'whisper'?
  • Thanks, IG. The reply seems to be 'whisper back'. Would you mind posting the gist of the message in this discussion/thread so that anyone else who's not sure can see it, too? Thanks.
  • No worries, Jay. I'll copy and paste the entire content of the message below:

    This is a test whisper directly to you, Jay. As far as I know, nobody else can see it. It will be appearing on your screen with one difference - It should have some mention by the comment or my user name that it is, in fact, a whisper.
    You can reply to me privately by hitting 'reply to whisper' which should also appear on your screen.
    To begin a whispered thread or message, type the person's user name you wish to contact, into the little box directly above the 'Enter your comments' box. This will enable you to contact that person privately.

    As far as the avatar's go, someone suggested to set up an account with Photo Bucket. You can then use their search facility to find a suitable pic or icon and download it into your own Photobucket album. (That's what I did for the palm tree and photo of chocolate on my profile.) You then copy and paste the 'direct' link from your chosen pic into the appropriate section of your personal profile in your Talkback account.

    I hope you understand all that. I'm not too computer literate myself so if I can do it, I'm sure you'll find it a breeze. Let me know how you get on.
  • And any queries on how to do it, see any of Neph's explanations on the subject.
  • Livesearch seems to bring up Google or some other search engine. To search Talkback use the SEARCH button at the top.
    I'm not unduly worried about not having an icon, not at the moment anyway. I do like seeing the others, though.
  • I had a look at photobucket and I have to say it is one of those places I'd be lost in for hours. How did you all find what you were looking for?
  • Mine searches were easy. I searched for 'Palm Tree' and then 'Chocolate'. (Not necessarily in that order)
  • I'm so pleased you asked the question about 'Whisper', Jay, as I was also curious. Island Girl, thank you for answering it so well.
  • My pleasure Verica.
  • LiveSearch seems to return Users, Topics and Comments (not sure what happens if you press return/enter key, though).

    Has anyone found a way to look at all their own posts? If so, how do you do it? If not, is it something we need?
  • I think you hit the 'Show All' that appears on the left under 'Your Options'.
  • Josette - Nephilim's child posted her email address and offers to post an icon for you. I sent a full sized picture of my icon to her and she sized it and downloaded. She's done the same for Carol and others - in fact she says she has done it so often now it doesn't take her much time at all.
    Thanks again NC x
  • Thanks, IG. I went into Account, and found Discussions Started, and Comments Added.
  • I've just done a 'whispered' message to myself, and found that when I typed the letter J only ten names appeared - mine not being one of them. When I added an A, it still showed only ten names - again, mine wasn't one of them. I had to type Jay for my name to be returned/suggested. Is this likely to cause problems?
  • Only if you want to whisper to yourself regularly. Joking aside, as long as it did find your name when enough of it had been entered I wouldn't worry too much. The problem comes from the drop down box only being 10 lines long. There are more than 10 names starting Ja - but with letters that precede Y.
  • Why Jay should you wish to whisper to yourself?
  • Perhaps he wants to tell himself a secret.
  • edited January 2008
    And he doesn't want anyone else to hear it? Don't you ever talk to yourself Stan?
  • It could be a problem if you're not sure how to spell someone's username.
  • Jay. Whispering to yourself, surely a sign of madness. Perhaps we should all try this, we all just a tad mad.
  • I was simply trying out the 'whisper' facility, and didn't want to send a private message to anyone else for no real reason. So what do we think - is having only ten drop-down names going to be a problem?
  • Just check the spelling of the name you want on the thread, then type it in. I tried the system the other day by sending a message to Dorothy, and I didn't notice the drop down until I'd typed the name in.
    Obviously there was only one D, Dorothy.
  • I would have thought Dora's name would come fairly near the top of the D.O's, though.
    Also Daisy, Davaaris and DianaW have been seen very recently, too.
  • It must have gone on the basis of the first two letters then Do...
  • Where is this 'whisper' thing - nothing like that on my screen?
  • Silly me - just spotted it. What is it's purpose?
  • private messages, only show in thread posted in. Person posted to is only one who can see them
  • Betsie, I was only thinking about you this morning! Good to see you!
  • Is Dorothy able to see people when they post now - I don't seem to have that button either!
  • No, Dorothy is psychic, as you well know ...
  • Do Do do -- what?
  • Just realized how you can get an alphabetical list of users.

    Go to Search, leave field blank, click on Users, and then press Search (or something like that). Then go to next page etc..
  • Why should you want an alphabetical list of users?
  • To work out who hasn't posted for a while, or hasn't made the switch to the new site.
  • How to identify new posts

    On the main Talkback discussion page, you will find the word 'New'. Beside it, is a number. Numbers in red indicate the number of new (unread) posts for each discussion/thread (although 'old' discussions/threads brought forward from the previous Talkback system may show everything as unread). If your eyesight is good, you will also see that the background colour is a pale yellow (discussions which have no unread posts have white backgrounds).
  • After you've made a new post, we suggest you check it's actually there and also see if someone's posted anything between the last post you noticed and yours.
  • edited January 2008
    By the way, you can edit even if someone's posted something after your post. (Hmm. Is this a good idea?) Seems that the edit ability is stopped after a certain length of time.

    Smilies, anyone?
  • Here are some smilie key strokes and instructions:

    ;-) or ;) :-) :-(

    The first two are winks: semi colon, hyphen, close bracket (or leave out the hyphen)
    The next is a smile: colon, hyphen, close bracket
    The next is an unhappy face: colon, hyphen, open bracket.

    The following will not work on this site:

    @:-} It means: just back from the hairdresser.
  • (((Graham))) This means a hug, depending on whose name you put in.

    (((Talkbackers)))
  • It looks as if you have fifteen minutes in which to edit a post.
  • If you want to give someone your e-mail address, you can 'whisper' it to them. Jon says Google won't pick it up.
  • Just thought I'd bring this to the top. There may be a few things people would like to add.

    By the way, I've no idea how long you have to edit a post.
  • edited May 2008
    I'm going for 15 minutes, don't quite know why, must have got that from somewhere.

    Going nowhere, idiot female that I am, I am suggesting 15 minutes!
  • Er ... possibly because I said so a couple of posts ago! :-) But I've since been able to edit an item when it was posted over half an hour earlier AND someone had posted something else afterwards.
  • You can change a non-whispered message to a whispered one provided the edit facility is still available. But I suppose someone else may already have read your message.
  • Less of a problem if you change it immediately- you can change the category immediately too.
  • edited July 2008
    Underneath Writers' Talkback is the 'search' facility. You can search for

    topics
    comments and
    users

    To search on a particular page of a thread, do the following:

    Edit (your computer's edit, not the post's edit)
    Find on this page
    [insert word]
    Find next


    Choose your seach/find word with care. If you don't know if it's procrastinates, procrastinate or procrastination, use procratinat
  • Where did this come from?
  • spooky! Quick, let's get back to the batcave, CC!
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