There are several sections on the main page of a forum: the Forum header, My Menu, Category Listing, and a Statistics section.

In the forum header, the following will be displayed: the name of the forum, and the number of new messages since the user’s last visit, any news posted by the Administrator, and the main navigational bar, which offers links to other features within the forum, such as: profile, help, my forums, calendar, refresh, and logout, as well as quick links to the latest topics and statistics.

The “profile” link will direct users to their personal profile, where they can update their personal information and password, update their location and other miscellaneous information, and personal settings.  (Refer to “User’s Profile” for more information.)The “help” link will initiate the online Help documentation.  “My forums” lists information about a user’s posts, his/her favorites, identified keywords, a list of specified “ignored users” and general statistics regarding his activity within the forum.  The user’s calendar will display the events as set by the Forum Administrator. (Note: a user may add entries to his own calendar if granted permissions that authorize him to do so by the Administrator.)

In the user’s personal navigation menu or sidebar, which is located in the left pane, the member’s username will be displayed, as well as a list of his categories (if he is not on his “Home” page of the forums), and a search bar.  The user can hide the side bar if he/she wishes to.

In the Category Listing pane, members can view a listing of their categories and their Private Topics (if Private Topics has been enabled by the Administrator).  An RSS link is also available for members who prefer to read the latest messages/topics through their RSS reader.  General statistics relating to the categories are also provided for viewing, such as the number of topics posted within each category and when and who made the last post within the corresponding category.

In the Statistics pane, the number of users who are registered to the forum will be displayed, as well as the number of users who are currently logged into the forum.  A link to find the users is available.  Specific to the member, the statistics pane will identify the number of messages that he/she has posted to the forum, and if the member is a global user, the overall number of messages that he/she has contributed in all global forums.