|
|
Enabling the discussion feature on your Manila web site requires two basic steps: choosing a discussion-based theme, and setting up access to the discussion.
To select a discussion-based theme simply follow the instructions for Selecting Themes found elsewhere on this site. Once you have completed this step you are ready to configure access to your discussion group.
By default, full access to the discussion feature is limited on new faculty sites, allowing faculty members to decide when to turn on access and how much access to allow.
- Discussion participation is limited to members of the site.
- Membership is turned off, and no one can join the site.
The discussion feature is not very useful until these settings are changed. Here is what you need to do to permit full member access to your discussion. (Many of these settings can be customized. These settings are recommended as a starting point.)
Membership preferences
- Go to your site and log in.
- Click on the Prefs link in the Editors Only menu at the top of the window to go to the Welcome page.
- Click on Membership in the sidebar to go the the Membership settings page.
- As you go down this page check the following settings:
- Enable or Disable Membership: "Do you want membership enabled for this site?" Click on YES
- Discussion Group: "Is the discussion group open to all members?" Click on YES
- Cookies: "Do you want cookies to expire at the end of the session by default?" Click on YES
- Leave all other settings as they are for now.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Your discussion group is now enabled and members should be able to post.
Editorial preferences
- Click on Editorial in the left sidebar to go to the Editorial settings page.
- Scroll down to Email Notification: and confirm the following settings:
- "Do you want notification sent when a new story or picture is posted?" Click on YES
- "Do you want notification sent when a story or picture is changed?" Click on NO
- "Do you want notification sent when a new discussion group message is posted?" Click on YES
- "Do you want notification sent when a discussion group message is changed?" Click on NO
- (For added security you could click YES for all of these.)
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Discussion Group preferences
- Click on Discussion Group in the left sidebar to go to the Discussion Group settings page.
- Scroll down to Behavior: and confirm the following initial settings:
- "Do you want your discussion group to be topic-based?" Click on YES
- "Do you want a new topic link beneath discussion group message listings?" Click on YES
- "Do you want home pages to appear in discussion group listings?" Click on NO
- "Do you want pictures to appear in discussion group listings?" Click on NO
- "Do you want stories to appear in discussion group listings?" Click on NO
- "Do you want news items to appear in discussion group listings?" Click on NO
- "Do you want to list a single day in the chronological view of the discussion group?" Click on NO
- "How many messages do you want to list in the chronological view of the discussion group?" Type 50
- "How many days do topics remain listed in the topics view of the discussion group?" Type 7 or more unless you have an exceptionally active discussion list.
- "How many days do topics remain active in the topics view of the discussion group?" Type 7 or more unless you have an exceptionally active discussion list.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
At this point your site's discussion feature should be turned on and accessible to students who become members of your site. Links to the discussion should appear in your sidebar if you have chosen to use one of the discussion-based themes. Visitors to your site can click on the Recent Discussion link to see a page listing recent activity in your discussion area, or they can click on Create a New Topic to post their own comment or question. Additionally, a Discuss link should appear on each page at your site; visitors can click to post a question or add a comment on the page.
|
|
|
