Different ways to view new threads or new posts

SatNavSaysStraightOn

SatNavSaysStraightOn

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How to view New Posts or New Threads on the CookingBites Home Page

There are numerous different ways to view New Posts or New Threads on CookingBites. New Posts are defined as new threads or new replies to existing threads that you personally have not yet viewed (I can't yet tell if you have actually looked at the screen though and read them though!)

So starting with the home page and working deeper in to the site, I'll cover some of your options. This list is not exhaustive.
  1. Green or Grey?
    Just looking at the Home Page, it is instantly possible to see what which forums contain posts/threads you have not yet viewed. These forums are marked in bold. The ones that are greyed out have not had any new replies/threads since your last visit. You will also notice that the icon is different as well.

    upload_2017-6-9_13-26-34.png


    Now you can click on either of the links I have highlighted above. The one on the left will open The CookingBites Cafe unsurprisingly. The one of the right is not as well known or as useful. It will take you to the last entry of the very latest thread updated in that forum. It is not necessarily the last entry you read. So if I were to click on the green link "Your Photos", it would go to @Addie's final entry (which is currently 09/06/2017 @ 1:22pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT+10)). In this case, there are several more above that I have not seen. Not necessarily particularly helpful.

  2. New Alerts
    Looking at the site's homepage further you may also have a list of alerts in the top right hand corner. If there is a red number there, then there are new alerts you have not read yet. These can be, and more often than not are, replies to threads you subscribe to. You subscribe to a thread automatically by replying to it. You can also watch a thread without replying to it and alerts will show here as well. (This is covered in other help files - insert link here.)

    upload_2017-6-9_13-54-59.png


    So I know I have 1 unread alert. It is not necessarily all that there is to be read on the site, it is just that there is 1 unread post (and as the alert says there may be more unread posts after it) of threads that I subscribe to.

    upload_2017-6-9_13-58-24.png


    Hovering over the Alert notice will bring up a drop down menu showing the alerts that I have. The unread one will be highlighted (briefly). If you click on it, it will take you to the first unread post in that thread (so in this case the "Your Photos" thread. Clicking on the link will also mark that thread as read.

    The Alerts can also include
    • that you have been mentioned in a thread (How to mention another member in a post),
    • that a post of yours has been liked, (insert help thread here)
    • that another member has replied to a thread you are watching, (insert help thread here)
    • that another member has quoted you in a thread, (insert help thread here)
    • that someone attached a file to a thread you are watching, (insert help thread here)
    • that someone has replied to a status comment (insert help thread here)
    • that someone has started a thread in a forum you are watching (insert help thread here)
    • etc.

  3. New Threads.
    There is a list of all new threads on the homepage. You may or may not have read these. Its location changes depending on if you are viewing the site on a laptop/desktop/Mac or a mobile device such as a tablet/smartphone/iPad. However, it should either be on the far right hand side (laptops/desktops/Macs) or below the forum list (tablet/smartphones/iPads).

    upload_2017-6-9_14-8-22.png


    Again, clicking on any of the green links, here Bombay Potatoes, What have you been baking?, Lemon and Basil Ice-Cream will take you directly to those threads. You may have already read these threads. It is simply a list of the latest new threads on the site. They may not be new to you. In fact it is perfectly possible that one of them is yours!

  4. Trending Threads
    These are currently active threads that members are viewing quite a lot.

    upload_2017-6-9_14-24-5.png


    As always, clicking on the green hyperlinks will take you directly to the thread in question. You may have already read it some or all of it, but you will be taken to the first post of the thread in question irrespective of where you have read up to.

  5. New Status Updates
    I'll cover these in a separate help file soon, but there is a tad more information about them below under the New Posts button. (insert help thread here)
 
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Using the New Posts button:

Clicking on this brings up a list of all unread new posts from across the entire site including all unread replies to threads you may have previously read. So if you are part way through a thread, it will show in this list, along with new threads you have not yet read.
It defaults to the New Posts tab so we will start there.
  1. New Posts

    upload_2017-6-9_14-54-39.png


    Clicking on the New Posts link highlighted above will give me this list of threads containing unread posts.

    upload_2017-6-9_14-51-17.png


    So currently, I only have 3 unread threads. It is possible that there is more than one reply/post per thread that is unread, so I could have +20 unread replies/posts between the 3 unread threads or just

    upload_2017-6-10_9-13-31.png


    Sometimes you will get a divider in the list of threads containing new posts. In this case it is telling me that I have threads that have unread posts which have not been updated since my last visit to the site. So I didn't read them last time around, but they haven't changed or been active since last time I was here.

    upload_2017-6-9_15-1-43.png


    Once in a thread, you can easily see what is new because the system will automatically take you to the first of the unread replies/posts and, usefully, it marks them as "New" on the far right.

  2. New Profile Posts

    The New Posts button on the green top bar also gives access to New Profile Posts as well. This is a list of new status updates and replies/comments to these status updates.

    upload_2017-6-9_15-7-6.png


    It also gives you the option to see who has replied to whom and allows you to comment or like (or both) these status updates. Status updates are simply random 'thoughts' that show on your profile page. They can be about anything, though obviously being a cooking forum we encourage you to update your status with something relevant to cooking or food in general.

    You can also reach this list from the home page by clicking on the Recent Status Updates link.

    upload_2017-6-9_15-29-37.png


  3. New Media

    I'll cover "New Media" in more detail in another help file (yet to be written) but here are a few little pointers. From the "New Media" tab, you will get pictures instead of threads, after all, new media is a photo gallery. Here you have like the photos, comment on them, vote on them and more.

    upload_2017-6-9_15-18-22.png
 
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Forum View

Another very quick and easy way to know if there is something new in a forum is simply by looking at the front page lists. Below, you can see that 2 of the forum are in bold darker text. Their icon on the left is "fuller" and green, not grey.

upload_2017-6-9_17-30-37.png


Currently, there is something new in General Cooking Discussions and something new in Kitchen Appliances and Cooking Equipment. But I have read everything that is under Health and Nutrition, Vegetarian and Vegan, Free From and Special Diets and so on.

If I look at the very latest update on the right hand side, I can see that in the forum General Cooking Discussions, What did you cook/eat today (June 2017) was last updated 24 minutes ago by @Yorky.

I can also see that I was that last person to update one of the forums (there are 4 forums under Health and Nutrition, (Health and Nutrition, Vegetarian and Vegan, Free From and Special Diets and Fats and Oils).
 
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Whilst I have been writing this, another thread has been updated. I want to show you this one, because it is in a sub forum.

On the home page, it now shows like this.

upload_2017-6-9_18-5-49.png


If I click on the Health and Nutrition forum and go into it, I will get to see this.

upload_2017-6-9_18-7-46.png


I don't actually need to go into the forum because I could click on the link on the home page instead and go straight to the sub-forum I want, or even click on the link on the right, or in my alerts. But it allows me to show you different aspects of the site. They all get to the same thing eventually.

So what am I seeing. Well, I am seeing that the forum I am in has 3 sub-forums. The forum I am in has no unread threads but the sub-forum Vegetarian and Vegan has something new in it. I don't know how many items are new, how many threads are new or anything else except for that the very latest reply/post is from @Cookie on the Creamy Vegan Lemon Bars thread. To see more information I would have to click on the sub-forum link and get to see what else, if anything, has happened.

upload_2017-6-9_18-14-36.png


As it turns out, the Recipe for Creamy Vegan Lemon Bars is the only thing I haven't read in the Vegetarian and Vegan sub-forum.
 
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New Replies/Posts within a thread

Finally, what has and hasn't been read in the actual thread itself? I'm continuing with the Creamy Vegan Lemon Bars. Clicking on that link will take me to my first unread post which in this case is this posting by @Cookie, Cookie's reply,

There are a couple of clues as to what is a new reply/post. The first is that if you have clicked on the alert update or gone to the thread from the New Posts option, or any way other than clicking on the link called the Latest, you will be taken to the first unread post/reply in the thread. You can scroll up and down as normal, but the system will have taken you to what it believes is the last post you read. That is quite a big clue really.

upload_2017-6-9_18-21-39.png


You will see that I have highlighted 2 other clues. The one on the left - Go to First Unread allows you to be taken back to the first unread post. The one on right is just an indicator so you have a visual confirmation of what is and isn't new/unread according to the forum software.

Please note that the Go to First Unread box disappears once you have no unread posts/replies so you will not always see it!
 
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