Step-by-step: How to create a forum post

This step-by-step guide will provide a quick way to use the openUcommunity forum.

Let’s get started!

Firstly, open the forum category that fits the topic of your post. You can do this by going to https://openucommunity.com/forum and browsing through available categories.

Once you have found the category that fits the topic you want to write about, click on the category name to enter.

If there are no posts in the category yet, you will see the following screen:

If there are existing posts in the category, the page may look like this:

In this case, the “Create New Post” button moved to the top right corner, just below the category's name.

Click on the Create new post to start a new post.

You will see a screen similar to this:

• On the right side, you will see category guidelines, which allows you to quickly see rules that allow to maintain a respectful and inclusive atmosphere while writing your post.

  • You may hide the category guidelines by clicking on “Hide Guidelines” button above.

• On the left from the category guidelines you will see the post creator box.

Let’s start by giving a title to the post:

You can start typing right away or you may want to add some additional media to the post.

You can do that by pressing the plus button on the right side:

This will expand the menu that mirrors the icons visible at the bottom of the post creator.

There are 8 icons:

• Add image - allows you to select and add an image from your library

• Add file - allows you to select and add a file from your device

• Add divider - allows you to add a divider line to the page which makes post clearer if you decide to write about different topics in one post

• Add emoji - allows you to add emoji to the post which is a great way to share emotions

• Add GIF - allows you to add a GIF image from the library. This is another way to share emotions or additional meanings that are hard to explain using just words

• Add expandable list - allows you to add an expandable list where the content is visible only after user interaction. This allows for keeping the post clearer when there is a huge amount of information for each point made

• Add poll - allows you to create a pool where users can vote for the options set by you. This allows you to get feedback on how many people prefer one option over another

• Add code snippet - this allows for adding code snippets if you want to share code with other users. The code will not be executed.

You can change the formatting of the text by highlighting the text you want to format. This will show the menu that provides options to format the text:

In this example, let’s make the selected text bold so it stands out. You can do this by pressing the “B” icon.

If you have a comma-separated list of options you can use bullet-points to make it look clearer.

You can do that by adding each element of the list to new lines and then highlighting all of them:

This will pop up the format menu seen before. You can transform selected lines into a bullet-point list by pressing the icon on the very right side.

Great! Now we have a bullet-point list in our post!

Now, let’s add a divider to make the post clearer. You can do that by pressing the “+” icon on the left side and selecting Add Divider in the place you want it to be:

Now, let’s add a poll, so people may vote to express their opinion. You can do that by clicking on the “+” button in the place where you want the poll to be. Then select the Create a Poll icon:

You will have three options:

• Simple list - list of text options

• Image and list - list of text option plus an image under the title of the poll

• Image grid - every option will have its own image

Let’s select simple list for now.

You can add a title on the top and options for the poll by clicking on the “Add answer” button.

You can also change design of the pool by pressing the “Design icon” on the pop up menu that you can see after you select the poll:

This will open a new panel on the right side which allows you to change the background and other design elements of your poll.

In the “Settings” tab, you can select who can see the results of your poll. It’s up to you if you want to encourage people to vote before they know what others voted for:

To save your changes you need to press the “Save” button in the bottom right corner

It is time to publish the forum post! If you are happy with the look of your post you can publish the post.

You can do that by clicking the “Publish” button in the bottom right corner.

Done! Congratulations! 👏 You have posted your first forum post on the openUcommunity!

Come back later to see the vibrant discussion below 🥂