SMF2.1:Features and Options

Work in progress, expect frequent changes.

Please see SMF1.1:Features and Options, SMF2.0:Features and Options or SMF2.1:Features and Options depending on the version of SMF you are using.

Features and Options is the section of the Administration Center for editing core forum-related settings.

General

• Poll mode - The dropdown box offers three options:
  1. Disable polls - If you select this, users will not be able to create new polls. Any existing polls will be hidden and their topics will no longer appear in the message index. Such polls (and their topics) are not deleted from the database, which means that if you later choose to enable polls, any existing polls will be displayed again.
  2. Enable polls - Select this if you want to enable the creation and display of polls on your forum. As mentioned above, if you are re-enabling polls, any existing polls and their topics will be displayed again on your forum.
  3. Show existing polls as topics - When this option is selected, users are not able to create new polls. Any existing polls are hidden, but their topics continue to be displayed. This does not delete the polls, so you can later display them again by selecting Enable polls.

     Even when polls are enabled as described above, the poll permissions of membergroups dictate who can create polls, view polls, and other similar abilities. For this reason, if polls are not working on your forum, check that the permissions are configured correctly.

• Allow guests to browse the forum - If selected, guests will have the privilege of browsing your forum. Otherwise, only registered users will be allowed to browse your forum and when a guest tries to access the forum they will see a login screen with a note that the forum is only for registered members.
• Enable buddy/ignore lists - If this is selected, users can choose to add members to their buddy or ignore list. Adding members to these lists helps in controlling the mail and PM traffic according to each user's profile settings. Additionally, posts from users in the ignore list are replaced by a message informing that the member is ignored along with the option to show the message.
• Allow non-administrators to hide their online status - With this option enabled, all members will be able to hide their online status from other users (except from administrators). If disabled, only users who can moderate the forum can hide their presence.

  Note that if a user chooses to hide their online status, their status will continue to be hidden even if you later disable this feature. Such users will not have the option to display their online status either. Disabling this feature just removes the option from the profile, thus preventing anyone from selecting it.

• Enable custom titles - Enabling Custom Titles will allow members with the relevant permissions to create a special title for themselves. This will be shown underneath the display name in posts made by that member. For example:

  Jeff
  Cool Guy

• Default personal text - Sets the default text a user will have as their personal text. This will be shown underneath their avatar when posting.
• Allow moving of topics to read-only boards - This allows members who have the appropriate permissions to move topics to boards where they are not otherwise allowed to post new topics. For example, a moderator on one board may need to move a topic to another board where they do not have permission to post a new topic, such as a read-only board.
• Maximum number of items per page in lists - For lists of various options in the Admin Center, this sets the maximum number of items per page. For example, logs or membergroups list.
• Source for the jQuery Library - This will determine the source from which to load the jQuery Library. Google CDN, jQuery CDN and Microsoft CDN will load the jQuery library from those respective CDN networks. Local will only use the local source.
• Custom URL to the jQuery Library - This allows you to specify a URL for the library, if you selected the Custom option above.
• Minimize CSS and JavaScript files - This option will minimize the CSS and JavaScript files used by your forum, reducing the request calls to your server and speeding up load times for your users.

  You should normally leave this option enabled. The only time you might want to disable it temporarily is while you are in the process of altering the CSS or JavaScript files used on your site (for example, when editing your theme files or developing a modification).

• Search engine friendly URLs - When enabled, queryless URLs are used for forum pages. This means they look like ../index.php/topic,1.0.html instead of ../index.php?topic=1.0. This option was introduced in order to help search engines index forum pages, but there is no longer any reason to use it, as search engines are now capable of indexing both formats. The queryless URL format only works for Apache and Lighttpd.
• Meta keywords associated with forum - These keywords are sent in the output of every page to indicate to search engines the key content of your site. There should be a comma separating each word in the list, and HTML or BBCode should not be used. (Example of meta keywords and how they should be placed: forum, discussion, free, fun, social).
• Default time format - Administrators have the power to adjust how the time and date are displayed on the forum. Registered users can also set a different format in their profile. The conventions follow PHP's strftime function (more details can be found at PHP.net). The following characters are recognized in the format string:
  
  

  %a - Abbreviated weekday name.

  %A - Full weekday name.

  %b - Abbreviated month name.

  %B - Full month name.

  %d - Day of the month (01 to 31).

  %D - Same as %m/%d/%y. *

  %e - Day of the month (1 to 31). *

  %H - Hour using a 24-hour clock (range 00 to 23).

  %I - Hour using a 12-hour clock (range 01 to 12).

  %m - Month as a number (01 to 12).

  %M - Minute as a number.

  %p - Either "am" or "pm" according to the given time.

  %R - Time in 24-hour notation. *

  %S - Second as a decimal number.

  %T - Current time, equal to %H:%M:%S. *

  %y - 2-digit year (00 to 99).

  %Y - 4-digit year.

  %Z - Time zone name or abbreviation.

  %% - A literal '%' character.

  * Does not work on Windows-based servers.
  
  

• Forum default timezone - This is the default timezone, which is used to display the time throughout the forum.
• Enable who's online list - Checking this option allows users to see who is browsing the forum and what they are doing.
• User online time threshold - This shows (on the board index page) who has been active during the last x number of minutes . The default is 15 minutes.
• Track statistics - This will allow users to see the latest posts and the most popular topics on your forum. It will also show several statistics, such as the most members online at a time, recent new members, and recent new topics.
• Track daily page views (must have stats enabled) - When checked, this adds another column to the stats page with the number of pageviews on your forum.
• Don't allow post text in notifications - When this is enabled, it removes the profile option to receive the text of replies and posts in notification e-mails. Members are often tempted to reply to the notification e-mail, which, in most cases, means the webmaster receives the reply.
• Allow AJAX desktop notifications for alerts - This option allows your members to receive AJAX notifications. This means that members do not need to refresh the page to receive new notifications.

  DO NOTE: This option might cause a severe load on your server when there are many users online.

• Automatically delete read alerts - Once an alert has been read, it is rarely needed again. For performance reasons, it is a good idea to automatically delete them after a while.
• Alerts Per Page - This sets the number of alerts per page.

Bulletin Board Code

• Enable bulletin board code (BBC) - Selecting this option will allow your members to use Bulletin board Code (BBC) throughout the forum, allowing users to format their posts with images, text formatting and more.
• Enable basic HTML in posts - This will allow the posting of some basic HTML tags:
  Allowed Tags: <b>, <u>, <i>, <s>, <em>, <ins>, <del> <a href=""> <img src="" alt="" /> <br />,<hr /> <pre>,<blockquote>
• Automatically link posted URLs - Check this if you would like posted urls to automatically be posted as a link with out having to format it in tags.
• Enabled BBC tags - Check the bbcode tags that you want to allow members to use in their posts.

Layout

This page contains the following settings:

• Limit number of displayed page links - When enabled, this will just show a selection of the number of pages.
• Contiguous pages to display - This affects the way in which page numbers are displayed. For example:

  "3" to display: 1 ... 4 [5] 6 ... 9

  "5" to display: 1 ... 3 4 [5] 6 7 ... 9

• Members per page in member list - Enter here how many members per page you would like to show in the member list.
• Enable shorthand date display - You can choose to show "Today" or "Yesterday" instead of the date.
• Show online/offline in posts and PMs - This will show an icon to indicate whether the member is online or offline.
• Display time taken to create every page - This will show at the bottom of each forum page the time (in seconds) SMF took to create the page. For example, "Page created in 0.132 seconds with 7 queries."

Signatures

The Signatures page allows you to configure what is allowed in signatures. If you want the changes you make here to also affect existing signatures (not only new ones), you must click the link at the top of this page ("Apply changes now.").

• Enable signatures - This allows administrators to set whether signatures are allowed in the first place.
• Maximum allowed characters - The maximum number of characters that a user can have in their signature (0 for no max.).
• Maximum amount of lines - The maximum number of lines that a user can have in their signature. A line is measured in terms of hitting the "Return" key to start a new line (0 for no max.).
• Maximum font size allowed in signatures - This allows you to specify how big the maximum font size can be in a signature. The number must be expressed in pixels (0 for no max.).
• Allow smileys in signatures - This allows administrators to set whether smileys are allowed in signatures.
• Maximum smiley count - The maximum number of smileys allowed in a signature (0 for no max.).
• Maximum image count- The maximum number of images allowed in a signature, excluding smileys (0 for no max.).
• Maximum width of signature images (pixels) - The maximum width allowed for any image in a signature (0 for no max.).
• Maximum height of signature images (pixels)- The maximum height allowed for any image in a signature (0 for no max.).
• Enabled BBC tags - Here administrators can decide which BBcode tags will be allowed in signatures.

Profile Fields

In the Profile Fields section, administrators have the option of creating and modifying custom profile fields as well as modifying some basic settings for the built-in profile fields.

Standard Profile Fields Table

This lists the standard fields which administrators can enable or disable as desired, by checking or unchecking the checkbox in the Active column. The column to the right contains more checkboxes which allow you to select which profile fields should be displayed during registration. Once you have finished making changes, click the Save button to apply your changes.

Custom Profile Fields Table

You are not limited to the standard profile fields as mentioned above; you can also create your own. These custom fields act in the same way as the standard fields. Here you can view your existing custom fields, customize them, and add new options.

This table contains the following columns:

• Field Order - The arrow buttons in this column allow you to put the profile fields in whichever order you like.
• Field Name - The name that was given for the field. This is used for identification.
• Field Type - The type of field. For information on the different types of fields, see the explanation below.
• Active - Shows the status of the field, whether it is active or not. If the field is not active, it will simply have no effect on your forum and will not be shown.
• Placement - The position where the field will be shown.
• Modify - Simply a text link to customize that field.

You can customize existing profile options by clicking Modify in the far right column of the Custom Profile Fields table. To create new profile options, click the New Field button at the bottom of the same table. The options you will find there are explained below.

Display Settings

• Name - This is the name that will be displayed for this field.
• Description - This is a short description explaining what the field is for, and it also indicates to members what to put in the field. For example, if it was for an instant messenger program then you could enter an explanation about how to obtain the program, and also what information has to be entered for the field to function correctly.
• Profile Section - This is the section of the profile where the field will be placed. You have four options: None, Account Settings, Forum Profile, and Look and Layout. The option None can be useful when used in conjunction with Show on Registration (see below), whereby users would be able to enter the information for the field during registration, but they would not be able to modify this field later.
• Show on Registration - When this is enabled, the field will be shown during the registration process.
• Show on Topic View - Checking this box will show the field in the user's posts. For example, if you are using Phone Number as the name of the field, and the member has this field filled in, it will show Phone Number: <phone number>. All fields that have this checked will be displayed below the user's post count in their posts.
• Show on memberlist - Checking this option will add a new column to the Members List table, displaying the value which is set there, for each member.
• Choose Placement - This defines where the field will be displayed: in the standard position (at the end of the "poster information" section), with the icons (Profile, email, PM, etc.), or above the user's signature.
• Show Enclosed Within Text (Optional) - Very simply put, this encloses the user input between some text or HTML. Practically, this is how an administrator begins to create an input mask. There are many uses for input masks on the internet, but here in SMF this allows you to add more instant message providers or images. For example: <a href="http://website.com/{INPUT}"><img src="{DEFAULT_IMAGES_URL}/icon.gif" alt="{INPUT}" /></a>

  The following variables can be used:

  1. {INPUT} - The input specified by the user.
  2. {SCRIPTURL} - Web address of the forum.
  3. {IMAGES_URL} - URL to the images directory in the user's current theme.
  4. {DEFAULT_IMAGES_URL} - URL to the images directory in the default theme.

This, and the Advanced Settings section further below give the theory and definition of each option. The page, Custom or Advanced Profile Fields, shows a step-by-step process which new administrators might find easier to start learning this advanced feature.

Input Settings

• Field Type - You will see the following options. They are described below.
  1. Text - This is a simple text field, similar to the one that you use when you log into your forum. You can define the maximum number of characters that users can enter in the field. The default is 255, or use 0 for no limit. It is also possible to choose whether to allow BBCode.
  2. Large Text - This is what is known as a text area, or the bigger text boxes. Maximum length is the maximum number of characters permitted in this box. Dimensions, in rows and columns, represent the height and width (in characters) of the box. Select Allow BBC if you want to permit the use of Bulletin Board Code.
  3. Select Box - With a select box (also known as a dropdown menu) you can add multiple options, and users will be able to select only one option. The configuration page displays three fields which you can fill in, with a link to add more. Empty fields will not be added. Select boxes are good to use if you have many options to choose from, similar to the time zone select box.

     The option that has the radio button checked on this configuration page will be the default selection for users. To remove an option from the select box, simply empty the text field for that option - all users with that selected will have their option cleared. You can reorder the options by moving text around between the fields. An important note: you must make sure you do not change the text when reordering options as otherwise user data will be lost.

  4. Radio Button - With radio buttons you can display various options in a similar way to polls. Users will be able to select only one of the options. This configuration page includes three fields which you can fill in, with a link to add more. Empty fields will not be added. Radio buttons are good for 2-4 options, but if you need to add more it is recommended to use a select box (see above).

     The option that has the radio button checked on this configuration page will be the default selection for users. To remove an option, simply empty the text field for that option - all users with that selected will have their option cleared. You can reorder the options by moving text around between the fields. An important note: you must make sure you do not change the text when reordering options as otherwise user data will be lost.

  5. Checkbox - With a checkbox, users are able to click to either enable or disable the option. You can select whether the Default State should be enabled or disabled.

Advanced Settings

• Input Mask - The input mask is important for your forum's security. Validating the input from a user can help to ensure that data is not used in a way you do not want or expect. The options are as follows:
  1. No HTML - This is the default option for input masks and it prevents users from entering any form of HTML in the custom field.
  2. Valid Email - Selecting this option will require users to enter an "at" (@) symbol and a period (.) or the member will get an error message.
  3. Numeric - This option will only allow users to enter numbers in the custom field. Any other characters will be rejected.
  4. Regex (Advanced) - This option enables you to enter your own regular expression in order to control what users are allowed to enter in the custom field.
• Privacy - Selects who can see and edit this particular field:
  1. Users can see this field; owner can edit it.
  2. Users can see this field; only admins can edit it.
  3. Users cannot see this field; owner and admins can edit it.
  4. This field is only visible to admins
• Searchable - Determines whether the contents of this field can be searched for in the memberlist.
• Active - This box must be checked or the field will not be displayed anywhere and it will not be editable. If it is unchecked, the data will still remain in the database, but it will not be displayed. It is recommended to just uncheck boxes to deactivate fields instead of deleting them. That way, if you want to bring them back then the members will not have to reinsert their data.

Likes

The Like button can be found at the bottom-left area of any message not posted by you. It consists of a small thumb-up icon together with the word "Like". Users can click it to show your support for the content of the message. If three people click it under a particular message, you will see "3 people liked this.", which will be a text link. Clicking on it opens a box showing the names of the people who "liked" it.

• Enable Likes - This turns on the feature for the whole forum.
• Membergroups allowed to like posts - This lets you set which membergroups can use it.

Mentions

This sends either an alert or email, depending on user settings, when someone types another member's @name in a message. The @name also becomes a text link which opens that member's profile.

• Enable Mentions - This turns on the feature for the whole forum.
• Membergroups allowed to mention members - This sets which membergroups can use this feature.

Notifications

Choose which options you would like your users to see by default, when they open Profile > Notifications, for the first time. They can change the settings to whatever they wish. But these settings will be their initial defaults.

General Settings

• Receive forum newsletters, announcements and important notifications by email. - You should not enable this by default, because it violates the GDPR and other privacy laws in some countries.
• Timeout for Alert desktop notifications - This sets the amount of seconds which you want Alerts to remain on your users' screen. They can change it if they want to.

Alert Preferences

Boards and Topics

• Follow topics I create and reply to - Check this if you have some reason to want your forum members to follow topics by being notified about them. Remember that they still might change it if they want to.
• Receive message body in e-mails - If you have enabled Features and Options > General > Don't allow post text in notifications, this option will not appear, either here or in user profiles. If you did not disallow post text or message body in notifications, you could discourage your users from seeing it by leaving this unchecked. Nevertheless, they still might choose to see it, and accidentally reply to a notification email.
• How frequently to tell me: - If you want to encourage your members to be notified by the above two options, this sets when the alerts will come.
• Notify me of: - If you want to encourage your members to be notified about these things, this sets exactly what they will be notified about. Keep in mind that they still could change this, though.
• When a topic I follow receives a reply, I normally want to know via... - This sets the default means for your members to receive these notifications, although remember thay your members might change this.
• When a new topic is created in a board I follow, I normally want to know via... - This sets the default means for your members to receive these notifications, although remember that your members might change this.

Posts

• When my @name is mentioned in a post - If you have not enabled Mentions for your forum, this option will not appear. If you have enabled Mentions, you can encourage your members to be notified either by Alert or Email. As with everything on this page, your members may override this.
• When one of my posts is quoted - If you have some reason for your members to be notified one way rather than the other, when one of their posts is quoted, you can set it here. Remember that they may change this in their own profile though.
• When a reply is made to my unapproved topic - If you want to encourage your members to be notified one way or the other (or both) when they receive a reply to their unapproved topic, choose it here. Keep in mind they can change this themselves, in their profile.

Personal Messages

• If enabled, notify me of personal messages from: - If you have some reason to choose which personal messages your members are notified about, choose it here. Keep in mind that they can change this.
• When I receive a new personal message - If you have some reason to want to choose how your members are notified about personal messages, you can choose it here. Just remember that your members can change this.
• When I receive a reply to a personal message - If you have some reason to want to choose how your members are notified about personal messages, you can choose it here. Just remember that your members can change this.

Moderation

• When an unapproved attachment is created - If you want to choose how your moderators are notified about new attachments, you can do that here. Keep in mind that they can change this though.
• When an unapproved topic is created - Here you can choose how your moderators are notified about new unapproved topics, however, remember that they can change this.
• When a post is reported - Choose whether your moderators are notified by Alert or Email, when a post has been reported. However, remember that they can change this if they want to.
• When a post report I've replied to receives another reply - If you want to choose how your moderators are notified about post reports, you can choose it here, however, keep in mind that they can change it.
• When another member's profile is reported - If you want to choose how your moderators are notified about profile reports, you can do that here. Remember that they can change this though.
• When a member report I've replied to receives another reply - Here you can choose how your moderators are notified about replies to reports. Your moderators can change this though.

Members

• When a new person registers - Choose how moderators and admins are notified when a new member registers. But remember that they can change this.
• When other members receive a warning - Here you can choose how your moderators are notified, when another moderator or admin issues a warning to a member. Keep in mind that they can change this if they want to.
• When other members add me as their buddy - As admin, you can set the default for how members are notified, when someone adds them as a buddy; although they can override this choice in their profile, if they want to.
• When it's my birthday - Members can be notified on their birthday, and this allows you to choose how they are notified, by Alert or Email. They can change this in their profile, though.

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As an administrator

Main

• Administration Center
• Support and Credits
• News and newsletters
• Package manager

Configuration

• Features and Options
• Anti-Spam
• Languages
• Current Theme
• Themes and Layout
• Modification Settings

Forum

• Boards and Categories
• Posts and Topics
• Calendar administration
• Search (admin)
• Smileys and Message Icons
• Attachments and Avatars
• Search engines

Members

• Members
• Membergroups
• Permissions
• Registration
• Warnings
• Ban List
• Paid subscriptions

Maintenance

• Server settings
• Forum Maintenance
• Scheduled Tasks
• Mail
• Reports
• Logs

Miscellaneous

• Security Tips
• Building Your Community
• Performance enhancements
• Modifications - A mod broke my forum what should I do