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Here we have the new Proboards V5 Admin Panel. As you can tell at first glance, it does not look like Proboards V4! Because of this you might get confused, however, you can change the look of the layout to be similar to Proboards V4. Do you see the four buttons: "Overview," "Basic," "Standard," and "Legacy"? Clicking each one will give you a different layout. The Legacy layout is similar to Proboards V4. For this tutorial, however, I will be focusing on the Overview layout and I will be constantly pointing you to different pages by using the greater than symbol > because if you notice the top of the Admin Panel you can see your Forum's Name > Admin Panel. This is how I will direct you to places in your Admin Panel. Here is a screenshot of the Admin Panel:[break][break]
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SETTINGS:[break]
Here is where you can edit your Forum's Settings, Calendar Settings, News Fader (Feed) Settings, Shoutbox Settings (default chat box for Proboards V5), your Forum's Censored Words Settings, and lastly your Forum's Reserved Names. Let's get into detail, shall we?[break][break]
When clicking on Forum Settings, you will see nine tabs. The one you will see by default will be "Forum." I will explain briefly what you can do on each!
- Forum: Here is where you change your Forum's Title, settings for the Like System, default time zone, settings for hot threads and posts per page, as well as your Information Center settings and Maintenance Mode.
- Login & Registration: Change the colors for your forum's login page and also set a default PM sent to new members and also redirect them to a certain page on registering.
- Navigation: Change what buttons are visible on your Navigation Bar as well as add more!
- Calendar: Disable or enable your forum calendar and set viewing/creating permissions.
- News Feed: Change the speed for your News Fader (Feed), disable or enable!
- Shoutbox: Enable or disable, change the height of your shoutbox, and also change where it appears on your forum (top or bottom).
- Directory: Add your forum to the Proboards Forum Directory!
- Forum Category: Change your forum's category.
- Delete Forum: Self-explanatory, no?
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THEMES:[break]
There are five sub-categories when you enter Themes: Theme Manager, Colors & Theme Creator, Advanced Styles & CSS,
Layout Templates (see Structure), and Theme Library.[break][break]
Let's focus on the Theme Manager for a bit. When going into the Theme Manager you will see at least one Theme already listed, "Default."[break][break]
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It maybe confusing as to how to upload and download Themes. You can upload a Theme by clicking "Create New/Import Theme" and by clicking on your desired Theme, there will be an "Export" tab at the very end. This tab will let you either download your Theme to your computer or export it into the Theme Library. Note that Theme files will end in .pbt!
IMPORTANT! .pbt files cannot be opened by your computer, they are specific to Proboards software. They are meant to be uploaded onto your forum by selecting "Import an Existing Theme."[break][break]
When making a new Theme you have a few options:[break][break]
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How you do edit a Theme do you ask? Well, there are many ways. You can think simple or you can think big and advanced. Let's start off simple and work our way into the advanced stuff, shall we? Good! So, first create a new Theme and you will be brought to this page:[break][break]
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Once you click on "Edit Theme Colors" you will be taken to a new page with a preview of your forum at the right of options to the left. Here are a few of screen shots with directions of what you can do.[break][break]
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Click on "Customize Theme Colors" to bring up the color selector for your Theme.[break][break]
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What are Buttons? Those are your "Edit," "Quote," "Like," and "Options" buttons on Posts.[break]
What is Background 1/2? That is the background color of even/odd Boards and Thread Posts.[break]
What is Pagination? That colors the colors of your pages that appears on Threads and Thread lists.[break][break]
Now that we've changed the colors of your forum, lets change your images! Return back to your Theme Manager and click "Images" on your selected theme.[break][break]
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Let's discuss the Thread Icons. They are bigger and a little different than those of Proboards V4![break][break]
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Now let's take a look at your Forum Icons. There are a few new icons that you should know about![break][break]
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What is that
red question mark next to? That is the Board Description icon. That will appear at the bottom of every board (once clicked and viewing the threads within) and will tell you Statistics for that Board: posts, threads, views, etc.[break][break]
Alright, last set of icons we need to take a gander at are the Wysiwyg/BBCode Buttons! I will just be pointing out the new icons:[break][break]
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Do you want to add buttons to the list or even remove a few? Check out this
plugin by Eton Bones![break][break]
The last thing to discuss when it comes to Themes is Advanced Styles & CSS! How do you find this? Go to Admin > Themes > Advanced Styles & CSS. You will see a preview of your site to the right and a series of drop down links to the left.[break][break]
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If you don't like the Visual Editor and want to get into more detail with styles, click on the "Style Sheet" tab![break][break]
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Tada! That's it for Themes! Read on to learn more![break][break]
STRUCTURE:[break]
Within Structure there are four categories: Categories & Boards, Headers & Footers, Custom Pages, and Layout Templates. I will go through each so you know how to use them![break][break]
First, let's talk about Categories & Boards![break][break]
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There are many settings you can add to each category and board. When you create one, this is what you will see:[break][break]
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For the Settings tab you see to the right of as well as Permissions and Moderators, here is another screen shot![break][break]
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Next in Structure is Headers & Footers. Just like in Proboards V4, adding codes to the Headers & Footers adds it to the entire site, the main page, or to a certain Header or Footer on a certain Board. However, with Proboards V5, it is discourages to add all your coding to the Headers & Footers unless you want whatever it is you are adding to effect all your Themes on your Forum. If not, you should add your code into your Layout Templates which I will be talking about soon! Here is a quick screen shot of the Headers & Footers page:[break][break]
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Second to last are your forum's Custom Pages. These are pages that can hold a simple page of text, HTML, or many different widgets![break][break]
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Creating a new Custom Page?[break][break]
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Once you create your Custom Page you will have formatting options. At the bottom of this page make sure you have "Embed custom page in Forum Wrapper (recommended)" checked yes otherwise your Custom Page will not look like your forum.[break][break]
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Editing your Custom Page is simple with the widgets Proboards V5 has added![break][break]
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What is next? Saved best for last, Layout Templates! This is how you change the formatting and physical appearance of anything on your forum.[break][break]
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I will show you the Mini Profile template and use it as an example of how to change things and also how useful the "Loops and Variables" side bar is![break][break]
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I have highlighted each code separately for you in the template so you can see the separate parts. You can re-arrange your Mini Profile by moving these codes around and even style them by giving them <span style="styles"></span>! The Loops and Variables section to the right gives you hundreds of different variables that can make a user's birthday appear, age, registered date, etc.! For each Template, the Loops and Variables section will change to show you what you could do for that Template![break][break]
PLUGINS:[break]
What are plugins? Think of them as external programs you can add to your forum. While many plugins you can avoid by doing the coding yourself manually within the Layout Templates, there are few plugins that I think are very worth the while, most being mass plugins that require keys (storage).[break][break]
Here are a few that I would suggest!
- Yootil Library
- Monetary System
- Awards System
- Hide Avatar Builder
- Presto Box
- Tabbed Tables In Posts
- Different On/Off Icons For Different Boards
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Now how do you add Plugins? Click on "Manage" and "Import Plugin"! Note that all plugin files end in .pbp![break][break]
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MEMBERS:[break]
There are a few new settings for Members. [break][break]
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First we have the Member Groups:[break][break]
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And then the Member Ranks![break][break]
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There is a brand new feature to Proboards V5 and it's amazing! Have you ever wanted to add something to your Mini Profiles before? Maybe a relationship status or job? Well you can now with Custom Fields![break][break]
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Here are your options for Text Fields:[break][break]
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Lastly, is your forum's Default Avatar. You already found out how to change the Default Avatar for a certain Theme, but setting your Default Avatar here will change it for all Themes:[break][break]
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SECURITY:[break]
Everyone wants a secure forum. Proboards V5 has made your new forum as secure as it can be! Within this category there are five: Security Log, Ban Members, Censored Words, Forum Cleanup, and Reported Posts. I'll explain what you can do with each. No screen shots necessary:
- Security Log: See all activity on your forum by all members.
- Ban Members: Of course, ban any member on your forum and give notes as to why as well as set the length of ban time.
- Censored Words: Add censored words to your forum. I'd change them all to "puppies" if you ask me.
- Forum Cleanup: You can delete mass posts, threads, and personal messages by certain members from a certain date.
- Reported Posts: All reported posts will appear in this list were you can decide what should be done with them.
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MARKETING:[break]
This section tells you how to promote your forum and also see statistics for page views and more![break][break]
UPGRADES:[break]
Here you can make your forum Ad-Free, give your site a Custom Domain, manage your forum's File Storage, manage your forum's Attachments, change your forum's URL, and lastly, manage your own personal submissions with Proboards!