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TinyPortal Feature of the Month, January 2016

Started by Ken., January 21, 2016, 07:25:35 PM

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Ken.

TinyPortal has a number of great features and we would like to introduce you to them through these 'Feature of the Month' Topics. Keep checking back to see whats up next and if you would like to see a feature included just let me know and we'll try to work up some coverage for you.

For January 2016 it's the TinyPortal Blocks.
You can also find some great topics and articles in our TinyPortal Docs Boards.
... this month I'm a little late with this posting, RL sometimes gets in the way.

Blocks are the various boxes of content that can be placed inside each of the panels that are available in your TinyPortal set of features and these panels can be set to display on each side and at the top and bottom of your SMF forum. Your panels and blocks can be mixed and matched in any number of variations depending on your needs and how you want your forum to function.

Blocks can contain content based on HTML, PHP, BBC and other codes to give you a wide variety of choices on just what you would like to display. Go to the TinyPortal 'forum page' to see several Block types in action. 

There are several block types that are very popular and used by many of our TP users and one of those is the ShoutBox, so in this TinyPortal Feature of the Month lets take a look at how the ShoutBox works. When TinyPortal is first installed your Shoutbox and the Left Panel are already on and set to 'Display on all pages and sections' and you can leave it set up that way if you like, or you can edit those settings by going to: TinyPortal > Panels and Blocks... and then edit your panel settings, or block settings. As an example, some forum managers prefer to have their blocks showing in "All Forum related sections", but not on the "Frontpage".

This next image shows that each Shout has two controls just above the Shout, one for Edit () and one for Delete ().
A single Shout can be edited or deleted by using those controls, or you can access all Shouts by going to: TinyPortal > TP Modules > TPShout... and in that control panel you can edit or delete multiple Shouts.



To learn more about blocks and the options, please read:
Blocks Setup & Management
A Detailed Look at Block Settings

To learn more about panels, please read this:
What Are Panels?.
How Do I Configure My Panel Settings?





If at some point your Shoutbox has been disabled you can follow these steps to set it up to be active again.

Go to TinyPortal > Modules and check to be sure that the 'TP Simple Shout' is 'On'.


Next you will need a TinyPortal Block to display your Shoutbox.
First check to see if a Block already exists for the Shoutbox, if there is not one then do as follows:
Go to TinyPortal > Panels and Blocks > Blocks and select the 'Panel' where you would like to display your Shoutbox. Then click on '[Add Block]' and select 'TP Module' and then click 'Save':



That will bring you to the 'Edit Block' control page. Check that the 'Status' is set to 'On' and that 'TPShout' is checked, as seen in this image and then click on 'Save':

Finally, check your Panel Settings, making sure that the desired Panel is turned on.

Now your Shoutbox should be available where you have the Panel and the Shoutbox set to display.


Enjoy... Ken.  8)
" If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti
Yesterday When I was Young.