Upon entering the front page of the Personals/Classifieds, users are greeted with a list of the individual message areas. These have been set up by the administrator (with the exception of the default area, which is really there for example purposes).
Select an area to enter by clicking on that area.
Once inside an area, users will find a list of previously posted messages/ads (labeled by subject line). Clicking on the message brings up a page with the contents of that message. Users can respond to a message by clicking the reply button.
Following are brief explanations of each of the functions available to users:
Posting a New Message
Clicking on the "post" button brings up the message posting page. This can be done either from the message area level or once inside a specific message. Posting a new message, however, is just that -- a new message. It will not be threaded to any other messages until someone replies to it. There are four fields and one button on this page. Users are prompted for their name (or nickname), a password to use, subject line and message, all of which are entered in the corresponding data fields. All fields must be filled out.
Replying to a Message
After reading a message, some users will choose to respond to that message. To do so, they click the "Reply" button. Replying involves the same fields as posting but without the password. The original message is also displayed. A reply is not viewable by the public. Only the person who posted the original message will be able to view replies to that message. When replying, users need to include some form of contact information such as an email address or phone number so the original poster can reach them. Without this information, there will be no way for the poster to reach the replier.
Searching
Users can search the message areas on whatever keywords they choose by clicking on the 'search' button. All the data entry fields (name, subject, and body) are scanned in these searches. The search engine searches through all the discussion areas with each search. Search results can be limited in the number of results they return (10, 25, 50 or 100).
Help
The 'help' button leads to a help guide that will explain how to utilize various functions of Personals/Classifieds.
Category
This button will take you to the menu of all message topics that are a part of Personals/Classifieds.
Summary
This button takes you to the summary of messages within a particular category. It is inactive only when you are on the Category menu.
Previous Message
This button will take you to the previously posted message. When it is inactive, you are either not viewing a message or that message is the first in its area.
Next Message
This button will take you to the next message in the current message area. When it is inactive, you are either viewing the last message in an area or not viewing a message.
