The general operations of any online message board are that registered users
login via a unique userid and password and post messages – be they new messages
or replies to other registered users’ messages. Typically, different forums are
present to cater for different kinds of message – one forum might be called
General Forum and another might be called Improvements Forum for example. Also,
registered users are normally split into different user groups, such that some
users may be able to perform administrative tasks, whereas others may only be
able to read and post messages.
The Discussionweb contains all of the above functionality - registered users
either have administrative status (administrators) or they do not (end-users).
End-users can only read, post, reply to and delete their own (provided an
administrator has set the option) postings - they cannot perform the additional
administrative tasks that administrators can, for example they cannot add/remove
new discussion forums or administer the various features of the Discussionweb.
The Discussionweb also contains a selection of extra features beyond the basic
functionality of a message board. These features are categorised below in terms
of those only actionable by administrators and those actionable all users:
Administrators:
New users can be created/existing users can be maintained.
Existing users can be deleted.
Any posting can be deleted (see Appendix L).
Discussion forums can be created and deleted.
The Discussionweb’s recent headlines (the titles of recent messages posted) can be emailed to all users.
User’s access to forums can be managed.
Functionality-dependant parameters can be changed.
Display and layout parameters can be changed.
All Users:
Provided an administrator sets the option, unregistered users have the ability to create new accounts for hemselves from the login screen.
Provided an administrator sets the option, end-users have the ability to delete their own postings (see Appendix I).
The last message that was posted to a forum can be quickly accessed from the main forums screen (see Appendix A).
Postings can be searched for containing a specific user-supplied search parameter (see Appendix M).
Postings to a discussion forum can be organised by the time period in which they posted from the current date.
A file can be uploaded with any posting (new message or reply) – see Appendix J.
A file uploaded with a posting can be viewed by all users with access to that discussion forum (see Appendix K).
Email can be sent to the authors of all messages within discussion forums that the user has access to (see Appendix K).
Two users have been created by default for the Discussionweb (as highlighted in
section 3.4). One user is called administrator and the other anonymous. Their
default login credentials are as follows:
administrator: Username "administrator", password "password"
anonymous: Username "anonymous", password "anonymous"
By default the administrator has administrative status, and so after logging
into the Discussionweb, will have the access rights to change the
Discussionweb’s settings and appearance, as well as create discussion forums.
These tasks can be accomplished by using the two hyperlinks Create Forum and
Administer Board, located at the bottom of the main forums screen (as shown in
Appendix A).
From the Administration Console (accessed via the hyperlink Administer Board at
the bottom of the main forums screen) the settings and appearance of the
Discussionweb can be modified, new users can be created, existing users can be
maintained, discussion forums can be deleted and the Discussionweb’s recent
headlines can be emailed to all users (see Appendices C and D, E, F, G and H
respectively).
If the option Allow new users to create their own account? (under the heading
General Board Parameters in the Discussionweb Administration Console – see
Appendix C) is set to Yes, then anyone (including unregistered users) can create
non-administrative accounts from the login screen. The result of setting the
option can be seen in Appendix I.
The user anonymous is a default end-user that can be used to login to the
Discussionweb anonymously. If no userid or password is submitted, users are
automatically logged in as anonymous. Please note: by default, the password
cannot be modified for this user from the login screen.
When a new user is created they are by default granted access to all of the
Discussionweb’s discussion forums. If there are no discussion forums in
existence at the time of a user being created, then the user is still created,
but they won’t be able to view any discussion forums when they login to the
Discussionweb. In the same way, when a discussion forum is created, all users
are by default granted access to that forum.
It is thus up to an administrator to revoke unwanted user access to forums after
the creation of a new discussion forum or user. This can be done via the
Maintain User option in the Administration Console (see Appendices D and F).