Information is exchanged on NCCommunities in Resource collections and Forums. In addition, special interest groups collaborate in their own space using Group Posts.
Contents
1. Guidelines: Resource item vs. Forum post vs. Group post vs. Calendar event
2. Email notification of content changes
3. Participate in a special interest group
4. Participate in Forums
5. Add an item to a Resource collection
6. Filling out the form to add content
7. Edit
8. Comment
9. Reply
10. Send email to another user within NCCommunities
11. Change personal information (password, email address, email contact setting, and more)
12. Find posts
1. Guidelines: Resource item vs. Forum post vs. Group post vs. Calendar event
- Resource items are handouts, brochures, documents, presentation slides, and other materials that you use and are willing to share with others.
- Forum posts are questions/problems for which you'd like advice, notices, and ongoing discussions.
- Special interest groups can have a section of their own. Group posts are added to the group page, blog style, most recent first.
- Post a Calendar event for a meeting, conference, workshop, program, or training session you think will be of interest to others and to which others are welcome.
2. Email notification of changes
Notifications of changes in NCCommunities.org are emailed to your mailbox allowing you to keep up with current content. You can change the frequency of notification, the types of posts you want to be notified about, and whether or not you are subscribed by default to groups you join. You can also disable email notification, for example, if you are going to be away for an extended period.
- Click My account in the left sidebar.
- Click the Notifications tab.
- To change the frequency of posts, under Overview, click Edit your notifications settings. Scroll down and under Default send interval, select the interval you prefer from the dropdown list.
- To temporarily disable notification, under Overview, click Temporarily disable all your subscriptions.
- By default, you are subscribed to groups you join. To change this default from the Notifications page, click Edit your notifications settings. Scroll down and under Default send interval, uncheck Automatically enable notifications for any groups that I join.
3. Participate in a special interest group
Click Groups in the left sidebar to see a list of special interest groups. Click the name of a group to see its page. You can view Group information without joining, but you need to join a group to post. To post, click Create Group post, then follow the instructions for adding content below. Group posts are added blog style to the group's page. Group members receive email notifications of new group posts unless they chose to disable notifications. If you'd like a new group, click Contact us in the left sidebar and describe the group you'd like to have.
4. Participate in Forums
Forums(also called "discussion boards") allow you to ask questions and to post ideas, opinions, and information in an organized way.
It is very easy to participate in Forums. Click Forums in the left sidebar. You will see named collections of related subjects. Notice three columns on the right — number of topics, number of posts, and when the last post was made and by whom.
Click a subject that interests you. You'll see a list of topics, with the number of replies, when the topic was created, and when the last reply was made and by whom. Click a topic that has at least one reply to see the post, comments, and replies. If you have something to say about this topic, you can click Add new comment to comment on the original post or reply to reply to a particular comment. NOTE: You can edit comments and replies that you post.
To ask a question or otherwise start a new discussion, create a new forum topic:
- Click Forums in the left sidebar.
- Determine which subject the topic belongs in and click that subject.
- Click Post new forum topic.
- The Forums dropdown menu shows the forum where your topic will be posted.
- Follow the instructions for adding content below.
You can also create a Forum topic by clicking Add information in the left sidebar, then clicking Forum topic. You will need to chose the forum topic in the Forums dropdown menu.
5. Add an item to a Resource collection
- Click Resources in the left sidebar.
- Click the section, and perhaps subsection, where you want your item placed.
- At the bottom of the page, click Add child page.
- Follow the instructions for adding content below..
You can also create a Resource item by clicking Add information in the left sidebar, then clicking Resource item. You will need to click Book outline and select the Book (major section) and Parent item (subsection) where your item should be placed. You don't need to specify Weight.
6. Filling out the form to add content:
The steps for adding content are pretty much the same for all types of posts. Items marked with a red asterisk (*) are required.
- Type in a Title or Subject.
- In the Body text area, type in the content.
Formatting options: Above text areas, there are formatting options — you can select text and format it using the icons, for example B for bold. You can paste text into the text area using Ctrl+V — you will see a popup window with "Do you want to allow this webpage to access your clipboard?" Click "Allow access." You may need to do this twice.
If you prefer to do your own formatting using HTML, below the text area, click Switch to plain text editor.
- Log message is sometimes used when editing to summarize changes. You can leave it blank.
- You can include photos. In the toolbar (beneath the word Body and above the textbox), click the "Insert/Edit Image" icon on the far right. A new window will open. Click the Upload tab at the top of the window. Click the Browse button. Find the picture on your PC and double click it. Click the "Send it to the Server" button. When you see the message "Your file has been successfully upload," click OK. If it is a large photo, it will be scaled down. The Image Properties window shows the URL for your photo, its width and height, and how your image will be displayed with sample text. You can resize the image. The "Align" dropdown menu lets you align the image. Click the OK button. Your photo will then appear in the textbox. You can press the Enter key and add more text. Or you can add another photo following the above procedure.
If you edit the page, you can make changes to the image — right-click the image and select Image Properties.
- If you would like to provide attachments, for example a Microsoft Word document or a .pdf file, click File attachments, click Browse, find the first file you want to attach and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Browse button. Click Attach and the file will be uploaded. You may then attach another file, if you wish. After you submit the item, when you view it, you will see, at the bottom of the page, a table showing the attachment file names and sizes.
- When you think you are done, click Preview, at the bottom of the page. You will then see the formatted page with your original content below, which you can edit. You can edit and preview as much as you like. When you are done, be sure to click Submit at the bottom of the page. After you submit content, you can click the Edit tab to edit.
NOTE: If using Internet Explorer, you may lose the content you are working on, so create content on your personal computer as a plain text file (.txt) and copy and paste it into the form.
7. Edit
You may edit Resource items that you contributed and your own posts to Forums. If you are allowed to edit a page, you will see an Edit tab at the top of the page. Click the Edit tab and you will see the form that was submitted. You can change the text and other options. If you do not see the Edit tab, you are not authorized to edit the page.
8. Comment:
If you would like to comment on something you see on NCCommunities:
9. Reply:
You can reply to a Comment. Below the comment, click Reply. Then follow the instructions above for making a Comment.
10. Send email to another user within NCCommunities:
To send email to another user within NCCommunities:
- In the left sidebar, click User list.
- Click the user.
- Click their Contact tab. NOTE: Users (in their account settings) can turn their personal contact form off (and back on). If you don't see a Contact tab, the user you want to contact has probably turned it off.
- Complete the form.
- If you'd like a copy, check Send yourself a copy.
- Click Send email.
11. Change account information:
You can change your password, change your email address, upload a photo, provide a signature to be included in comments, disallow personal contact by email, and disable the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor so that you can use HTML as default for your posts.
- Click My account in the left sidebar.
- Click the Edit tab. In the Account settings section:
- You can change your email address. Type in your new email address. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
- You can change your password. Type your new password in the Password text area and again in the Confirm password text area. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
- You can use the picture option to upload a photo or other image. Click Choose File, find the image you want to use, and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Choose File button. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
- Under Comment settings, you can provide a signature that will be included with your comments. You can enable or disable rich-text formatting for your signature. Type in your signature. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
- You can disallow personal contact by email — under Contact settings, uncheck the box Personal contact form.
- Near the top of the page, click Rich Text Editor settings. In the dropdown menu under Default state, you can select enabled or disabled. Select enabled if you will normally want to use a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor when entering text. Select disabled if you will normally want to use HTML. Ignore the other options unless you know what you're doing.
12. Find posts:
You can find items that have been posted in a few different ways:
- Click Recent changes in the left sidebar.
- Enter terms you want to search for in the text box on the top of the page and then click Search. Note: Indexing is done hourly, so you won't find new items immediately after you post them.
- Click User list in the left sidebar, click a username, and then click the Track tab.
Contact us if you have questions or problems using this website.