We've finally found a message board software provider that allows posting and voting in polls without the need to register. Many people are understandably reluctant to disclose personal details on the internet and most providers seem to require more than seems strictly necessary.

Our goal has always been to provide a means for bridge players to discuss hands and exchange ideas, with the minimum amount of fuss. We think this provider has the best solution.

If you're happy to just browse the board and vote in polls, with maybe the occasional post, then registration isn't needed. However we don't want to put you off registration altogether, as there are significant advantages in becoming a member - we've set them out below.

Registration advantages

• No-one else can post with your user name
• You can edit and delete your posts
• You can see at a glance which threads you have already read
• You can receive email notification of replies to topics (subscribe to thread)
• You can receive email notification of new topics being started (subscribe to new threads)
• You can set your own time zone for date display (e.g. GMT-5)
• You can communicate with other members by private message (PM)
• There are several user settings which you can customise

Basic tips on using the messageboard

If you click on the unread icon itself, it will take you to the first post that you haven't yet read, rather than the first post in the thread - very useful in a long thread, where you're not sure yourself where you're up to!

There are a number of different options as to what order threads are displayed in each forum. You can choose between:

• Subject - Subject alphabetical order
• Replies - Ordered by number of replies in each thread
• Last Post T - Date of last post order (descending) - this is the default setting
• Last Post U - User last reply alphabetical order

N.B. If you click on the actual number of replies in each thread, a popup will tell you who has posted in that thread and how many times.

On the main page (forum index) there are links in the last column to "First Unread" and "Last Post", so that you can go directly either to the first post that's unread by you, or the last post made in that forum. The menu on the left contains links to the last 5 posts made on the board. These shortcuts and the "quick jump" box on the thread listing page, make navigation anywhere around the board very quick and easy.

Voting: Click on your chosen option and then click the "Vote" button.

Posting a message: Click on the "Add Reply" link (or the "New Discussion" link if you want to start a new topic) and the message posting screen will appear. If you are registered and logged in, your username will automatically be displayed on the posting screen. Otherwise, you will see a blank space there, so just type in the username of your choice - it can be either your real name or a "screen name" as it's called.

Type your message in the message area and then click the "Submit" button.

As an unregistered user, you won't be able to either edit or delete your message, so please bear that in mind when posting. You can preview your message first though before finally submitting it.

More about posting

If you wish, you can insert an "emoticon" from the drop down list at any point in your message - you just need to click the one you want.

Then there are the codes, which you will find in the "Select a Code" box and which give you options to quote text, or make it colored, bold, italic or underlined. You can also include a link to a web page or email address. The "Hidden Text" code is used to post text that is not immediately visible. To read it, viewers have to click the Hidden Text box and "highlight" the text with the mouse. This is a useful tool if, for instance, everyone is posting their solutions to a bridge problem and they don't want to "give the show away" too soon.

The Bbcodes are accessed (as are the emoticons), via a drop down select menu. To use a code, just click on it and the appropriate opening and closing tags will appear in the message window. For example, suppose you want to make some text bold. If you click on the "bold" code, this is what will appear in the message window:

[B] [/B]

Just type the text you want to be bold inbetween the two bracketed bold tags. All of the codes can be used in this way. You can also use more than one code at once: for example, if you want some text to be bold and underlined, this is what the finished text would look like on the posting screen:

[B][U]This text is bold and underlined[/U][/B]

UPDATE: You can now apply codes to selected text: simply select the text you wish to format and then click on the code(s) you want, one at a time. For instance, you might want to make one word bold, colored and underlined. If you select the word with your mouse (so that it's highlighted), you can then click on each code you want, i.e. Bold, Color and Underline and the system will place all necessary tags around the word so that it appears like this.

Here is a full list of the codes and what they do:

• Quote: The text will be indented in a panel with "Quote" above
• Code: Text here will be unformatted with no other codes converted
• Whisper: Only the person to whom you "whisper" will see the text
• Hidden Text: "Hidden" text - see above
• Image: You can post an image with this code - it needs to be hosted on the Net somewhere
• List: You can post a list like this one
• Action: Example: "racks brain for correct system bid"
• Bold: Makes the text bold
• Italic: Makes the text italic
• Underline Underlines the text
• Pre: Preserves all spacing - useful for setting out hands or bidding
• URL: You can insert a link to a web page here
• Email: You can insert an email address here
• Size: You can control your text size here - choose anything between 1 (tiny) and 4 (very large)
• Color: This makes your text colored - standard colors or hex codes
• CountURL: You can insert a web page link which will count all the times it is clicked by a user
• Marquee: Will make your text scroll across the page
• Glowtext: Will make your text appear to "glow"
• Font: Will display your text in any font (defaulted to Arial)
• Border: Will center your text with a border around it
• Suit Symbols: These can be inserted wherever necessary when posting hands
• Table: A green bridge table image to insert between North and South hands

The "Select Action" box

• Reply: this is an extra reply link, in case you happen to be in the middle of a long thread. It will save you scrolling back to the top of the page in order to add a reply
• Quote: If you wish to quote another poster's message, select this option. The entire text of that poster's message, together with their name and the time of posting, will then automatically be inserted into the message posting screen for you. This is a great time saver!
• Last Posts: If you select this option, up to the last 100 posts made by that poster anywhere on the board will be displayed

The "Search" feature

User Control Panel (Options)

A couple of useful options are for users to choose to see new posts only and to return to the forum after replying, rather than the thread

Receiving and Replying to Posts by Email

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