The Web Forum program was upgraded in January 2003. Click on the links below for highlights of the new features.

New User's Registration Process
Enhanced Features added
Logout Button added
Spell Checking added

Web Forum, Haverford's web-based discussion group software, contains message boards devoted to academic work and campus-wide discussions (including non-academic messages such as For Sale announcements).

To access this site, go to http://webforum.haverford.edu/cgi/webforum/WebX? (case sensitive), or follow the Haverford Web Forum link from the ACC Home Page (http://www.haverford.edu/acc).

Getting Started: Creating an Account

• At the top of the Web Forum main page (the URL shown above), you will see a line reading:
  
  You have guest access to browse, login, or register. Click on register.
  

• You will be prompted for your full name and your full email address. You will enter this name each time you log on and this name will appear with all of your postings. You must also choose a password. Enter this information and click the register button.

• Once you submit your information, the Web Forum program will immediately send you an email containing a URL in the confirmation message. YOU MUST ACCESS THIS WEB PAGE TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION AND BECOME A FULLY REGISTERED USER. Until you access this web page you will not be able to post any messages to the forum.

Logging In and Out

Once you register, and have confirmed your registration via the URL, you can login to the Web Forum system. From the main Web Forum page, click on the login button. You will be prompted for your full name and password. Enter this information exactly as you did during registration and select the login button.

Once you are finished with Web Forum, click on the logout button located in the middle right hand side of the screen. This will protect the security of your account.

Navigation

After you have logged on to Web Forum, you will see a list of the files within the main folder. The Web Forum uses folders to designate discussion topics. Clicking on Conferences will open the conferences folder, which contains two folders: Course Conferences and Non-Course Conferences. These folders contain the discussions and messages of the Haverford Web Forum. An online tutorial is available for new users, called A Guided Tour of Haverford's Web Forum.

A clickable path directory appears at the top of each page. This shows your location within the Web Forum, and can be used to navigate between folders. For example:

The above shows that you are in the Spring 2003 folder, which is within the Course Conferences folder.

Posting Messages

Once you are fully registered (i.e. accessed the URL from the Web Forum email you received), you can contribute to Web Forum by posting messages and replying to messages. There are Web Forum buttons for these commands:

	Post a new message to add a message to the current discussion
	Respond to a message if you have comments about it

Web Forum does not give subjects to messages, but it treats the first line as a subject, when viewed in outline form. Try to make the subject line (or the first line of a message) as descriptive as possible.

When you are done typing, click the Post Message button to submit your message.

Web Forum has a built in Spell Checking function. To access this feature click on the Check Spelling button after you have typed your message.

Message Formatting

Web Forum recognizes several editing codes when placed at the beginning of a message line. The letter codes must be followed by a space. Caution: use caps to begin a sentence to avoid creating unintended formatting. The Web Forum formatting codes are:
b - bolds to the end of the current line (space needed).
i - italics to the end of the current line (space needed).
c - centers alignment to the end of the current line (space needed).
* - forms a bulleted paragraph to the next blank line (no space needed).
] - indents the paragraph to the next blank line (no space needed).
> - indents to the next blank line (no space needed).

Web Forum will also accept HTML tags in posted messages. Include the HTML code when writing your message. HTML code can be used, for example, to add links or text editing to your message:

Other Features

The buttons shown below can be used to enable more Web Forum options and features.

	Alter messages or discussion that you have created (available for 30 minutes after posting).
	Remove messages or discussions that you have created.
	Places a bookmark for the current item in your Web Forum Message Center.
	Subscribe to current discussion (if you already subscribed, a Cancel Subscription button will appear). Used with Check Messages.
	Shows unread messages in subscribed discussions.
	Changes the appearance of Web Forum, your Personal Information, or your Password. After you have set new preferences, click the Cancel button to exit.
	Contains your bookmarks and messages.
	Conducts a keyword search on the whole forum or your current location.
	Logs you out of the Web forum account.
	Sends an email to Haverford’s Web Forum System Operator (see Troubleshooting below).

Clicking on a user's name will display the person's registration information, and an email link to send an individual message.

Troubleshooting

If you receive an error message when logging in, such as:
The name or password you entered was incorrect - please try again.
Make sure you have entered the correct username and password. If the problem persists, your password may need to be reset. Send an email message, including your Web Forum username, to wf-sysop@haverford.edu and request that your password be reset.

If you have questions about Web Forum, the Lab SAs, Helpdesk SAs, and the RCCs are all familiar with the program and can assist you further.