How to do anything on the message boards.
Or how to get the most out of your posts.

Ok, well not aaaanything. But as I was working on a few tutorials for a fellow boardmember, someone suggested to me that I should start this thread as a helpful tool and teaching aid.

The idea behind this thread is a basic how-to guide. It's directed at new members, the message-board challenged, and anyone who can't quite figure out how people are doing things. (I remember what it was like to be a newbie and it took a while for me to figure some of this stuff out on my own, so hopefully this will help others to post with ease). Each post will be a separate tutorial, and I will try to break it down so far that hopefully even a kindergartner can do it. I'll try to frequently update with new tutorials, but I've learned to make no promises.

I am also up for recommendations and requests. If you need something covered or want to know how to do something, I'll do what I can to cover it. I'll try to do that on a first come first serve basis. And if I don't know how to do it, hopefully someone else does. Also, if my explanation isn't clear enough or you have questions, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to clear up that confusion.

I also strongly encourage people to post their own tutorials. Afterall, there may be somethings that I don't know how to do myself. But if you do, please follow these guidelines:

• Use simple language, jargon
• Break it down as far as possible. Don't assume anyone knows how to do something else already (unless, perhaps, it's already covered in this thread)
• Use pictures whenever possible. Sometimes, words don't explain things enough and some of us are more visual than others.
• Always use tact.

I'm also hoping this thread will have a index feature, with the help of a fellow moderator (Thanks Darth Schrute ). Each link will go to a specific how-to post to aid those who are looking for specific needs:

Index

How to capture your own screen capture

• Link

Anatomy of a Post

• Part 1
• Part 2

Anatomy of a Posting Tool

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

How to create Animated GIF's
Using Adobe Photoshop CS3

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

How to create Animated GIF's
Using The Gimp 2.6.1 (a FREE application!)

• Part 1
• Part 2

How to Search

• Part 1
• Part 2

How to change your member name

• Link

~BlueJeanBaby

Ok, I realize that this isn't probably the ideal place to start, but this is the tutorial that started it all and since I have it handy I'm going to go ahead and post it first.

Anyway, here we go:

HOW TO CAPTURE YOUR OWN SCREEN CAPTURE

1.) You can pretty much play the DVD in any type of player available on your computer and this will work. Pause it at the scene that you would prefer to capture.



2.) To capture the screen you you have two options. A. You can hit Ctrl and Prnt Scrn (near the top right of your keyboard) and it will capture whatever you have on your monitor. Your other option, B., is to hit Ctrl and Alt and Prnt Scrn which will only capture the window that you have on top.

*note* if you have Windows Vista, you can use the Snipping Tool, which is a lot easier. Please let me know if you need any assistance with that.

3.) Open up Paint or any other creative tool in your arsenal (I actually find Photoshop easier to use when trimming the unwanted material, but I realize not everyone has it, so I'll continue this "how to" as if you are using Paint. If you want to use Photoshop and want directions on how to do it there, let me know). Paste (Ctrl V) the screen capture into the program. You should get something like this:



4a.) Now you could just save this file as is and skip to step #5, but you will probably want to trim the fat, so to speak. In Paint, you'll have to pick the rectangular select tool (red circle) and just select the area desired. (If you do have Photoshop, you would just use the crop tool). You then want to Copy (Ctrl C) what's in the selected area. Go up to File and open a new Paint window and Paste the file again.

4b.)There will most likely bee some extra white space below and to the right of the image. Move your cursor over to the corner and you'll see the cross-hairs turn into a diagonal cursor with two arrows (yellow circle). Drag the cursor, while holding down the mouse button until you crop the entire image to just what you want (with no extra white space/information). Save the file to your computer.

Side note: Because Paint is actually kind of finicky, you have to make this extra step (unless there's something I don't know, which is quite possible). If there wasn't stuff up above and two the left of the image, you could probably skip the whole Copy and Paste portion of Step 4a., but that's not likely the case.



5.) So, what you have now is a simple file (most likely a JPEG) of just the screen image you wanted to capture. However, this is not enough to be able to post it on th boards. What you need to do next is upload it to a photosharing account. There are lots of FREE photosharing accounts available on the web and all you have to do is ask around. In this case, I will be referring to Photobucket, because that is the first account I opened and subsequently is my primary photosharing account. I like to keep one account for consistency, but that's me. Many photosharing accounts have sub-folders. If you are an avid office freak and plan on posting a lot on the web, you may want to create an Office subfolder. Just a suggestion.

Because every photosharing account may be a little different, you'll have to follow their directions on how to upload the image. If needed, I can create a How To post on how to upload to Photobucket and how to post a screen capture on the board so the end result looks like this:

This is my new favorite thread. I lobe tutorials!!!

Great idea for a thread and excellent tutorial Beej! This will come in handy for lots of people.

Yeah! I lobe tutorials, too! Thanks for starting this thread, Beej. Sometimes after a long day of writing tutorials, the last thing I feel like doing is...writing a tutorial!

Uh oh, I forgot we've got a master in our midsts. I hope I do ok by your standards.

Anatomy of a Post Part 1

Before I continue on with the tutorials, I thought it would be wise to identify the different features/aspects of different parts of the boards. I figure this might make it a little easier when describing how to do things. I realize that some of this might appear elementary and I hope I don't offend anyone.

For the Anatomy of a Post, I'm going to use Office_holic's post for the Chat Thread (A.) . It has everything I need in an example. (I hope you don't mind OH )


Here is a general overview of the post:




In the top left corner we find the message board member that made the post and some information about that message board member (B.). If you click on that member's name, you can contact that member, friend them or find out more about them by going to their profile (C.).


Continuing on from the top left to the bottom right of the post . . .

After the board member's name you'll see the date and time that the board member has posted (D.). It might be important to know that the time is set to your time zone or whatever timezone you have set in your own personal controls, not in the timezone that the member is located in. In this case, OH made this post on September 23, 2008 at 5:26 PM Central Time. If you live in a different time zone it might give you a different time.

*****

In the upper right corner is the post number for that thread (E.). This can be handy because, sometimes you might want to reference or direct someone to a specific post. If you click on the number a dialogue box will show up with a url address you can copy and use in a link that will bring you directly to that exact post (F.). (More about creating links in a later tutorial. )

*****

This is what I call the body of the post (G.). It can be just simple text, but may also include links and pictures. (OH's post also has a picture, or screen capture, which is featured in the overview (A.)). I've highlighted two different ways in which a link may appear. In the first highlighted portion (here) is a link with a word or words used to represent the link. The second highlighted portion is just the actual web address itself. Both links work the same by just clicking on them.


Due to image posting restrictions, this tutorial will continue on into the next post.

Anatomy of a Post: Part 2


H.) The Top button brings you to the top of the page (not necessarily to the top of the thread)
I.) The Report button should be used to:

* Report spam (Do not post/respond to spam threads!)
* Report a troll (Do not feed a troll by giving them any attention!)
* Report a spoiler outside the spoiler and speculation sub-forums
* Report flaming or other personal attacks
* Report anything else that violates the forum rules

If you find a particular post meets any of the above criteria, you can report it and it will be reviewed by the moderating team. Be careful when using this feature as it actually goes to every moderator on the NBC boards including the higher ups, like NBC Skampy (not just Office Moderators). So, please, as a courtesy to the moderators choose your reporting carefully. If there's something that you would like done with one of your own posts, consider PMing a moderator to fix it instead. Also note that, because of this button's proximity to the Reply button, members have accidently typed a post in the Report window which will never actually make it to the intended thread. Please choose your buttons wisely. :-)

J.) The Quote button is for quoting the entire post, but does not open up a posting tool/box until you hit Add Reply. Once you hit add reply, all posts in which you have hit Quote for since you have logged on, OR since the last time you had replied to a post will appear. This includes all quoted posts from all threads. It is possible to quote a different post from a different thread in a new thread. This comes in hand mostly when you want to quote many people and have all their quotes appear in the same post. (More about quoting in a later tutorial. )
K.) The Reply button is more specifically for replying to one person's post and will immediately open up the posting tool with that quote.



This last part isn't technically part of the post, but it is the next step in creating your own post. These three buttons are different ways to post.

The Add Reply button can either open up a blank post tool, or it will open up a post tool with all the quotes that you have saved up (refer to part J.). Fast Reply is a quick way to open up the posting tool, it will be blank and will have limited features (like bolding, italicizing, underlining, linking and pictures). It is recommended for shorter, quick posts. It is possible to go to the full reply mode once you are in quick reply if you change your mind.

The New Topic button is exactly what it sounds like. It's for starting a new thread (and will be completely unlinked and unrelated to the thread you might be in).


Next up. . . Anatomy of the Posting Tool.

Anatomy Of A Posting Tool: Part 1

While this is another "Anatomy Of" segment I feel that it is important to note that a lot of these things will not be explained in great details until a later tutorial. I also feel it is important to note that there are a lot of different ways to do the same thing in this too, some easier than others. So, let's just jump in.


Here is a general overview of the posting tool. I will be using the full posting tool editor (the one found after hitting the Add Reply button on a thread), because it covers everything and therefore, the tools in Quick Reply will also be covered.

For the most part, we'll start from the top left and work our way down to the bottom right corner. But there's one button that changes somethings depending on which mode you are in and we'll cover that one first:

You will find these buttons in the top right hand corner of the posting tool. The two littlle up and down buttons on the left will impact the size of your text box. Pushing the down button will enlarge it, while pushing the up buttons will shorten it. This can come in handy when you type really long posts and find yourself scrolling a lot throught the text box.

The second button switches you from editing/typing in Standard Text and Rich Text. Standard text shows you all the formatting tags and looks more like this:


Rich Text allows you to type your posts more closely to what they would look like in the end result. The same post as above looks like this in Rich Text:


There's also another slight difference you may notice when typing in the different types of editor. Rich Text works a lot like a word document. You can hit the bold/italicized/underlined/etc. buttons (or even use your Hot Keys CTRL B, CTRL I, CTRL U) before and after you type your text to signify when you are using those elements. This will not work in Standard Text. You must either type all of your desired text and then highlight and click the button (Hot Keys wil not work) OR you can press the button, and then click your mouse between the tags and typed the desired text.

In my opinion, it's easier to see your mistakes in Rich Text, but easier to fix some of them in Standard Text. Also, Standard Text allows you more freedom when manipulating your quotes, acronyms, and links.

**side note** A moment of honesty here. I only became fully aware that you could switch between the Standard and Rich Text last night. I had no idea that Rich Text was available and had been typing in Standard for the past year and a half. In some ways, I'm glad this happened, because I feel I better understand how certain elements of posting works, but at the same time, it could have saved me some headache, especially when I was a newer member of the boards. This only highlights why I'm doing this to begin with. :-D


This is the Remove Formatting Tool. You have to be in Rich Text in order for this button to work. Basically, what this button does is remove any of the formatting that you may do (like bolding, italicizing, anything beyond basic typing). In order to utilize this tool, highlight the portion of the text that you want to have the formatting removed and then hit the button.


The Insert Special Items menu provides different formatting options. There are two ways to go about utilizing these options:

A.) You can first go about typing your text and then highlight the text by scrolling your mouse over it while holding the left mouse button down. Next select the Special Item that you wish to use. A small window will open up that looks like this:



B.) Your other option is to not type anything into the body of the posting tool, select the special item that you would prefer and then enter your text into the open space in the window that pops up.

The way the item will look in your posting tool if it were in Standard Text is like this:



The way it will appear in the finalized post looks like this:



For this special item, the text is centered horizontally in the middle of the post. (There is also another way to center the your text that might be a little easier. That will be covered later on in Part 3 of this tutorial).

HOWEVER, The windows that pop up may appear a little different for some of the menu items (Special Items Topic Link, Post Link and Acronym).



For these Special Items there are two text boxes in the window. In this example the text box on the top is where you would copy and past a link to any other webpage. The second box allows you to type how you want the link to appear in the finalized post.

The way it will appear in your Standard posting tool is like this:


The way it will appear in the finalized post is like this:
What's The Scuttlebutt??

**note** See how the name of the link is between the actual tags, while the link is within the tag? If you decide later on you don't like the title of the link, this is where typing in Standard Text can help. Instead of deleting the entire item, going back and re-entering your link, which may mean going back to the original website and copy and pasting the url all over again, you can change the name of the link by highlighting and deleting what is not wanted and adding what is wanted.

This is another one of those instances in which there is more than one way of doing the same thing. Another, and probably easier, way for creating links will be covered in Part 2 of this tutorial. Also, a more detailed tutorial on posting links will be given at a later date.

The other Special Items look like this in a finalized post:

Codebox




A lot of times this is used to show the details of a code or url without having the actual link or image appear in the finalized post. The best example I can think of this being used wisely is in The Mini Vid Thread. By posting the code in a code box, Darth Schrute was able to show people what link to copy and paste so they can save and/or add the file into their own posts/signatures.

Spoiler

Protect spoiler-phobes like me from seeing things that may hints into future plot-lines by hiding them behind spoiler bars.

In order to see what's behind the spoiler bars in a regular post, highlight it with your mouse. Please, when actually posting spoilers about the show outside the The Water Cooler thread and even when using the spoiler bars, please keep the Spoiler Policy in mind. Most people these days use spoiler bars when posting spoilers in the Movie Thread or other like forums where the Spoiler Policy is not so stringent. There are also alternative uses for spoiler bars and you may find other members having fun with them.

Acronym

TPLOD

The Acronym tool allows you to create a roll-over for a word (to see what I mean, hover your mouse over the word TPLOD underlined in red). It's advertised as an Acronym and is supposed to give a description of what an acronym stands for (like in the example). But that seems kinda silly in this type of forum, because doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of using an acronym anyway? None the less, I can still see it being a fun tool to use.

Topic Link

Ok, I really don't know how to use this particular special feature, and from what I understand it's quite useless to us. From what I understand, you would have to know the number of a topic in order to post the link and I would just use a regular link. I could be completely wrong about this and if someone wants to way-in on it, it will be more than welcome.






Next Up. . . More about the posting tool. Yay!

I had no idea!!! I mean, I know what TPLOD means, but I didn't know you could do that! Thanks!!

I know!!! . I just found out about it while I was doing my research for this post last night. It's kinda cool!!

Ok, I also found this additional information and guidelines regarding using the REPORT button (original post here).

Edit: Info moved into Anatomy of a Post Part 2

ANATOMY OF A POSTING TOOL: PART 2

Just continuing right on through . . .


The next series of options provide more of an aesthetic variety to the words in your posts. By using one or a combination of multiple formats, they can help you define a distinct look to all of your posts or help you make just one post extra special:

This is basically your font menu. Currently there are 19 different fonts to choose from.


There are 7 different sizes.


And 40 different colors.
**side note** Colors are interesting to work with, because different colors can mean different things or serve different functions. Most of us are aware that RED kind of serves as an alert or is meant to draw a lot of attention to a particular word or statement. For some reason (to me at least), BLUE kind of has an 'official' tone to it. Sometimes you will see someone type something in a LIGHT GRAY and it usually indicates that they are whispering (sometimes this color will also be accompanied with a smaller font size). Other times you will get the feeling that someone has typed something in WHITE. Because the background to the post is white, you have to highlight the colored text with your mouse, much like you would to reveal what's hidden behind spoiler bars. When done the right way, colors can add both visual or connotative dimension to a post.


These buttons near the far upper right corner of the posting tool are your Undo and Redo buttons. They basically will undo your last to several last moves in the posting tool (I'm not sure if there's a limit the amount to how many moves it will undo) and then redo them again if so desired (or if you go too far with the undo button).


These are the basic font altering buttons.
b= Bold
i = Italics
u = Underlined


These are additional items that can be used when posting. Although the picture is pretty self-explanatory, I'll show how they appear in a post.

Sub_script
Super^script
Strikethrough

**side note** Sometimes you will see someone use the strikethrough format to purposely indicate an error or a change in mind.


This menu shows you a select number of emoticons. By hitting the Show All button at the top of the menu, a separate window will pop up with your entire selection of emoticons.

**sidenote**Emoticons not only add life to your post but can also help to indicate the tone of your message. Often times a good old fashioned smiley face will help someone decipher if you are being friendly, but an angry emoticon will usually give a different vibe. Sarcasm is also a difficult thing to decipher on the boards and sometimes an emoticon (like a , or ) can help. There is even a specific sarcasm emoticon.

ANATOMY OF A POSTING TOOL: PART 3


These series of buttons are more internet related.

Insert Link

The first button with the green arrow and + is your Insert Link button. Just like in the Insert Special Item menu from Part 1 of the Anatomy Of A Posting Tool, this will post a link to a differnt URL. Just like in the Speical Items menu, you have two ways you can go about posting a link using this button.

A.) When you are ready to post your link, select the Insert Link button and this window will appear:


Either type or paste the URL of the desired link into the box and hit ok. The window will change to this:

Type how you want the link to appear on the page.

B.) You can also go ahead and type how you want the link to appear on the page first, highlight it with your mouse and then hit the Insert Link button. Then only the window in which you insert the url will appear. Paste the URL and hit enter.

Your link may look like this in the post: Visit My Website

A more detailed tutorial on personalizing your links will be given at a later date.


Insert Image

The next button looks like a landscape painting and is the Insert Image button. Basically, it's for posting pictures. In order to post a picture on these message boards, they must have a URL. You will not be able to upload them from your computer. When you click on the Insert Image button, this window will appear:


Paste the URL of the in the text box and hit return.

**side note** Please be curtious when posting images. Large images can mess with peoples bandwiths and take a long time to load. In other cases they can stretch out the board and make them wonky and hard to view. Thank you.

I will give a more detailed tutorial on how to go about getting URLs for images at a later date.

Insert Email Link

The third button with the envelope and green + will link the viewer to an e-mail text box that will send a message directly to your e-mail, if their computer is set up to accept it. By clicking on the button, this window will appear:



Type your e-mail address and hit enter. A second window will appear.



Type how you want your email to appear in the post and hit enter. This might be how your email link will appear:

Your email (note: not a functioning email link)

Wrap In Quote Tags

The fourth button, with a little dialogue bubble, is your Quote button. Whenever you want to make sure you don't get credit for someone else's words, it is often a good idea to wrap them in quote tags. It also draws attention to those words or helps specify what you might be commenting on.

In order to use the quote tags, highlight the words you wanted quoted with your mouse and hit the quote button. When finished it will look like this in the text box in both Standard and Rich Text:



and look like this in the post:



It is important to note that this doesn't have the exact same effect as using the quote button from a thread outside the posting tool (or from an actual post). By using the quote button within the posting tool, you will not get the name and date of the original post (from the message boards) at the top of the quote. However, often the two ways are combined and used in conjunction with one another. Instead of seeing someone quote one long post, they will break it down into various parts of interest and discuss those areas of interest between quote boxes. The first portion of the quote will have all the information about the original quoted post, while the remaining portions of the quote will just have regular quote tags wrapped around it. It is then assumed that all quotes following the first quote box are from the same post.

A more detailed tutorial about quotes will be given at a later date.

Wrap in Code Tags

This last button with the scroll and green arrow is the Code button. It works much like the Insert Special Item: Code Box (discussed in Anatomy Of A Posting Tool Part 1). In order to used the code tags, highlight the code with your mouse and hit the Code button. When finished it will look like this in the text box in both Standard and Rich Text:



And like this in the post:





These four buttons are basically your paragraph alignment buttons. Generally, when you begin typing in the text box, it is defaulted at a left alignment.

Indent and Outdent
The first two buttons are your outdent and indent buttons. (When typing in Standard Text, you only get an indent tool. In order to outdent, you have to just remove the indent tags).

Highlight the portion of the text you want indented and select the button. The text will move in toward the right just a little in your post (but not quite center). To move the text back, re-highlight the text and hit the outdent button. (Note in Standard Text text will not actually jump inward in the posting tool like it would in Rich Text, but the tags will be visible instead).

Here is an example of what indented text would look like in a post.

To move the text back, re-highlight the text and hit the outdent button.

Left, Center and Right

The next three buttons align your text to the left, center and right just as they would in a program like Word. Highlight the portion of the text you want aligned and select the button(Once again, in Standard Text, the text will not actually jump to teir respective positions in the posting tool).

Here is an example of text that has not been aligned.

Here is an example of what left aligned text would look like in a post. Notice how all lines in this example are flush to the left side?

Here is an example of what center aligned text would look like in a post. Notice how all lines are centered on a common axis point, but no edges are flush?

Here is an example of what right aligned text would look like in a post. Notice how all lines in this example are flush to the right side?

ANATOMY OF A POSTING TOOL: PART 4



These are your List buttons. You can basically list things by numbers or by bullets. In order to use the listing tool, list your items using the return/enter button after each item.
For Example:

Then highlight the list with your mouse and select the type of list you want.
Numeric List Example In Standard Text:

And how it appears in a post:

1. One
2. Two
3. Three
4. Four

Bullet List Example in Standard Text:

And how it appears in a post:

• One
• Two
• Three
• Four

The Toggle Side Panel button creates a diffeent view some of the tools listed above. For instance if you would prefer to have your Special Items readily handy in button format rather than in a drop down menue, then this would be the button you push. It will create a separate pane to the left of your text box and will appear like this:



BB Code Help will open up a separate window that will explain all the different code tags that are available and have been discussed in this thread. It doesn't actually do anything, but it's a great reference tool, especially if you like typing out your code tags yourself for whatever reason. If you want to know more about the message board's code tags, I suggest opening up this window and exploring it further.


This enables different features and will have different results in how your posts are viewed. If enable emoticons is not checked, all emoticons will appear in simple text format (no little yellow faces staring back at you). If you enable signature is not checked, your signature will not be visible. If you want to get a e-mail notification of all responses in a thread, then you want to check that box.


This will go at the top right corner of your post, right by your name and date/time that you posted. It's kinda supposed to indicate the tone of your post.
Example in post:


**edit** I'm one image over the 10 image per post limit, so this last one will have to do without an image.


The Add Reply button finalizes your post.
The Preview Post button allows you to view the post as it will appear without actually posting it. This is a good tool to use, especially if you want to preview errors or look at a picture you are trying to post, just to make sure it turns out. I highly recommend previewing all long posts before hitting Add Reply.


Next up. . . . How to use Quotes.

How to make Animated GIF's
Adobe Creative Suite 3 - Photoshop

Description
The purpose of this guide is to walk you through the steps necessary to create a basic Animated GIF using Adobe Photoshop CS3. An Animated GIF is nothing more than a number of static images (JPG, PNG, TIF, etc…) compressed into different layers of a single image file and displayed to the screen in sequential order. In my unofficial opinion, there are two basic "types" of Animated GIF's:

1. Mini-Vid Style
2. Bill-Board Style

The purpose of the Mini-Vid style is to emulate video by giving the illusion of motion in a similar manner to the way a flip-book works. Have you ever taken a note book, drew a stick-figure in the corner of one page and then drew the same stick-figure in a slightly different position on the next several pages before flipping through each page quickly to make it appear as though the figure were walking? This methodology is very similar to the way Mini-Vid's are developed.

Examples:



The purpose of the Bill-Board style is to display multiple images that kind of tell a story. The individual images used in this style typically are not similar enough to give the illusion of motion. This style is very similar to some of those commercial billboards you might see on the freeway that change from one static image to another as you're driving by.

Examples:



Source Images
Regardless of the style you are developing you will need multiple source images that are all approximately the same size in pixels (Height/Width). This guide assumes your source images are the same size and does not cover where to get them or how to resize them.


Creating the GIF
This section will describe the simplest way to create an Animated GIF using Adobe Photoshop CS3. It would be easiest if all your source image files were located in the same directory and named in the order you want them displayed. But if they are not, don't worry, you can reorder them in PS later.




1. Open Adobe Photoshop CS3

2. Go to File, Scripts, Load Files into Stack…



3. Click <Browse>



4. Click the <Use Adobe Dialog> (If it's not clicked already)


(To be continued...)

How to create Animated GIF's using Adobe Photoshop CS3
(Continued...)

5. Navigate to the folder containing your source image files, select the very last image file (the one you want to be displayed at the end of your Animated GIF), hold down the SHIFT key and select the very first image file (the one you wanted displayed first in your Animated GIF) and click <Open>



6. Click <OK>



7. Verify that all of your Layers are in the order in which you want them displayed in the Layer window. If they are not, drag and drop them into the correct order. Keep in mind that the bottom-most layer will be the first one displayed in the GIF and the top-most layer will be displayed last.



8. Verify that the Animation Window is visible, go to Window and check-mark the Animation button



9. In the upper-right corner of the Animation Window, click the pulldown menu arrow and go to Make Frames From Layers



10. Note how each individual image file (Layer) now appears as a separate Frame in your Animation Window.



11. Now you'll need to change the Delay between Frames. Delay is the amount of time that the GIF will pause its display of a specific image before showing the next image. This time is in milliseconds. In the Animation Window select all Frames by left-clicking on the first Frame, holding the Shift button down and left-clicking on the last Frame.



12. Change the actual Delay time by left-clicking the down arrow next to "0 sec." beneath any Frame and selecting the desired time.


(To be continued...)

How to create Animated GIF's using Adobe Photoshop CS3
(Continued...)

13. Notice how the new Delay time is displayed directly underneath each Frame



14. Time to save your Animated GIF! Go to File, Save for Web & Devices…



15. Click <Save>



16. Select your file-name and location and verify that file type is set to "Images Only (*.gif)"



17. At this point you are finished, but I recommend saving your workspace into a Photoshop PSD file, just in case you need to change anything. If you don't, you will still be able to make some changes to the GIF file itself, but changes such as image scaling will have very poor results because of how GIF's are optimized (compressed) for web download and display. To save the workspace as a PSD file go to File, Save



18. Select the file name and location and verify that the Type is set to "Photoshop (*.psd)



19. Here is the Bill-Board style GIF I created while making this How-To:

I love this topic, guys! Thanks for all the tips. Although, I must confess, that every time I read the thread title I read to myself "How to do anything on the message boards (and get away with it)!"

How 'bout we change it to just "How to get the most out of your post!" Hey that rhymes!

How to make Animated GIF’s
The Gimp 2.6.1

Description
The purpose of this guide is to walk you through the steps necessary to create a basic Animated GIF using The Gimp 2.6.1. The Gimp is an awesome open source (read FREE!!!) program that manipulates photos in a similar manner to Photoshop. It's not as robust at Photoshop but it is still a very powerful tool once you get the hang of it. Oh, and did I mention it's completely free too????

Windows users can download it for free from here: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ (Note: this is not trialware or freeware or adware. It's completely free, no strings attached.)

For a description of an Animated GIF and some examples see my Adobe CS3 post above.

Creating the GIF
As in the previous guide, this one assumes your source images are already the same dimensions and does not cover where to get them or how to resize them. But it will describe the simplest way to create an Animated GIF using The Gimp. It would be easiest if all your source image files were located in the same directory and named in the order you want them displayed. But if they are not, don’t worry, you can reorder them in The Gimp later.

1. Open The Gimp

2. Go to File, Open as Layers


3. Browse to the folder containing your source images and click the image you want to appear first in your Animated GIF.


3. Hold down <Shift> and select the image you want displayed last in your Animated GIF.


4. Click <Open>


5. Go to Filter, Animation, Optimize (for GIF)


6. A new window will appear with your image in it as a new untitled file. Go to the Layers toolbar/menu and double click on the title of the first layer.


7. Change the text from 100ms (1/10 of a second) to the number of milliseconds you'd like the image to be displayed on the screen before the next image is displayed. In my GIF I'm making this 2000ms or 2 seconds. Also, change the word (combine) to (replace). This will cause each layer to replace the previous layer when it's being displayed in the browser instead of combining it with the previous layer.


8. Now go to Filter, Animation, Playback


9. Press the Play button and verify that your image displays the layers the way you want it to. Your looking to see if the layers are in proper order and the speed is nice and not overwhelming. If anything needs changing, close this Playback window, make the necessary change and come back to the Playback menu to validate the change.


10. If everything is the way you'd like it, go to File, Save As


(To be continued...)

How to create Animated GIF's using The Gimp
(Continued...)

11. Type in the file name with the ".gif" extension and click <Save>


12. Check the "Save as Animation" button and click <Export>


13. Uncheck Interlace (if it's checked), enter anything you want in the GIF comment field, checkmark Loop forever, uncheck the bottom two boxes and click <Save>


14. Here's the end product of the GIF I made while creating this tutorial:

Wow Darth! This was so easy. I made this Gif using some Avatars made by Shornt at LiveJournal.

^^^That was a really good first attempt Beej!! Was it really easy to do? Anything I should change in the tutorial?

I really like the latest version of your Avatar! That was a heart wrenching scene (that I absolutely adore) and you captured it's essence very well. Great job! You've done me proud.

Thanks!

The only thing I would suggest is that you show a small picture to point out where you can preview the gif. I did figured it out on my own, however. (Unless you already did that and I skimmed over it somehow. Sometimes I get ahead of myself).

**edit** I also wanted to let everyone know that I've pretty much written all of my quotes tutorial, I'm just having a hard time figuring out how I want to do my screen shots. Hopefully it won't be much longer, I have a pretty easy week/weekend ahead of me.

I'm so full of crap. So, obviously, I didn't get to this sooner than later and now Harvey (my laptop) is sick and is going to have to go to the computer hospital, along with all my files for The Quoting Tutorial.

But have no fear, I've written (and completed) a whole new tutorial on the family desktop. This one is ready to go.

I just hope you all don't mind the double posting, because I want to give it it's own post, to keep things nice and clean.

HOW TO SEARCH: Part 1

There are a few reasons to perform a search, both for the old and new members. For instance, one member might be trying to locate a specific post that they once saw in order to review it or use it as a reference. Another instance would be to search for another possible thread to see if a similar topic has already been started, before starting your own (thereby reducing clutter on the forum). It is always considered polite and a good idea to perform a search before starting a new topic/thread.

That being said, searching can sometimes be frustrating, if you don't know about all your options. One might feel that they get too many hits on a search topic to bother to sift through. This tutorial is to show you not only how to perform a search, but where and what you can do to help narrow that search down.

The Specifics

There is one basic rule that applies to all searches and that is that all search words must be over three characters in length (For instance, you can't search Jim or Pam or even JAM). Also, the more specific you can be in your search (while still being accurate) the more that you will narrow down your search. Searching 'Dwight' is probably not a good idea, because it will yield numerous results as it is likely that nearly every thread in The Office forum will contain the name Dwight. Something more specific is most likely going to need to be used. Think about what the thread or the post is about. Do you remember a specific and not so generic word that was used?

For example, let's say I was looking for the What's The Scuttlebutt?? thread, but I didn't remember it's name. But I do remember that the thread had to do with making captions for screen captures. I might want to search the word "caption" because it is more specific to my needs.

It is important to note here, that there are various ways to perform this search and each way will yield different results. I will explain the different results and how you can get them to work for you

Location, Location, Location

First off, there are three places on the message board that enables you to perform a search. The first two are pretty simple, but not nearly as helpful (imo) as they only perform the most basic of searches.


The first search location is pretty much immediately available and you'll find it in the bottom left hand corner of any forum or specific thread. It is important to note where you are performing your search (which forum or subforum or thread specifically) because it will yield different results.




In order for me to find the specific thread I'm looking for, I must be in the correct subforum. For example, I need to search the Office Olympics subforum, in order to find What's The Scuttlebutt?? If I am in the main NBC or The OFFICE forum, the search will only be performed on pinned threads and threads immediately available on that page. So, for the sake of this example, I would basically have to remember that it was a 'game' thread for The Office in order to find it (and thus, know it is in the Office Olympics subforum) in order to find the thread I am looking for.

These are the results I yielded:




The results are shown in topic/thread form; meaning, if the word appears in the thread, the thread is shown. You will not see the specific word, but it will give you the list of threads in that subforum that contain the searched word.

Words searched in a specific thread (note how the yellow button next to the search box changes from 'search forum' to 'search topic') will yield results shown in post form. Each post in that thread that contains that word will be shown and the word will be highlighted. It may look something like this:



The results are listed in chronological order starting with the most recent post and finishing off with the earliest post. It will list the person who posted it, when they posted it, and what the post number is along with a link to the actual post (ex. Post Preview: #3070455). Also, in case you had forgotten, it will tell you what thread it is in, what it subforum it is in as well as how many times that thread has been viewed or replied to).


The second location to perform a search is through My Assistant, which is located in the upper right hand corner of the message board (highlighted in yellow):




When you click on My Assistant, this window pops up:




You want to be on the search tab in order to perform your function. This type of search will go through all forums on the NBC message board site. As you can see, the word 'caption' yielded at least 1000 posts.




Just as in the above search example the results are shown in post title form. As you can see, even though I was in The Office forum, I received results for Days Of Our Lives, Passions and some other forums. The results are put in chronological order with the thread with the most recent post at the top of the list.

The third search option can be found in the top left hand corner of the message board and may prove to be the most useful of all the search options.



When this link is clicked, this window pops up:



As long as the 'Search this forum only' is checked, this search function operates much like the first search option. I would need to be in the correct subforum in order to find the thread I was looking for. However, unlike the first option, it will not search for a specific post in a specific thread. Instead, the search will resume in the most local subforum. If the box is not checked, then it will search the entire NBC forum and yield result like the second option.

However, if one were to click on the link for more search options (highlighted in yellow) suddenly there are a plethora of choices in order aide one in finding what they are looking for.



There are numerous ways to expand and narrow down your search. Your options include:

• Searching by Member Name

§ Do you remember who posted what you are looking for?

• How long ago or recent the post was made

§ Do you remember roughly when the post was made?

§ Are you looking for a recent hot topic to see if a thread has already been started?

• Searching a keyword by title or by post

§ Are you looking for a thread of a similar topic?

§ Do you remember the name of a thread you are looking for?

§ Do you remember a specific word or topic of the post?




Then if that weren't enough, you have options in how your results are viewed. You can:

• Sort results by their posting date

§ Ideal for looking up more up to date information or a really old topic.

• Sort results by their number of replies

§ Ideal for looking up hot topics or popular threads.

• Sort results by Poster Name

§ Good for looking up a post or topic specifically by someone, when you can't remember their name exactly, but you have a good idea.

• Sort results by Forum Name

§ Good for when you think you have an idea where a topic might be in the subforums but you are unsure. (Some topics seem to be covered by more than one subforum).

• Show results as topics

• Show results as posts

There is even a way to modify or specify the area in which you perform your search:




You can be as general or as specific as you would like. If you want to search only The Office forum, you click on The Office. If you want to be more specific but remain somewhat general you can search Funtivities and all its subforums (Office Olympics and Office Premiere Parties) will be included in your search.


Well, I think that just about covers everything about searching. I hope it helps people with their searches and makes it more of a useful option rather than a daunting task. Let me know if I missed anything.

How to change your Member Name

To change your member name you must do so through MyNBC's Account Settings page: http://my.nbc.com/accounts/settings

Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your new name twice in the "Choose a new username" section. Be sure you've picked a "keeper" because you can only make this change once!

Example:


If you chose a name that is already in use you will receive a red error message and be forced to enter a different name.



If you use any illegal characters in your name (including spaces) you will also receive a red error message and be forced to correct it.



After entering your new name twice, click "Update Username" to proceed. The update will take a few moments to complete during which time you will see a "Please wait" message on your screen. When it is finished you will receive a message saying "Username updated successfully":



You will need to logoff the message board and log back in again to see your updated name.