When opening a forum's Admin Control Panel, there is a welcome page. On the welcome page, the following items at the center of the page:

The following applies to SMF 2 only:

Quick Search

In the Quick Search box, the admin can type in keywords to search for a few different things that make it easier to find certain things on the forum. There is a selection box to the right of the keyword input box where they can select what type of search they want to perform. The current options include searching a task or setting in the admin panel, searching for a member registered on the forum, and even searching the SMF Online Manual.

Current News from SMF - "Live from Simple Machines..."

This box located in the center of the admin panel shows a news feed that is taken directly from the Simple Machines website. It shows all the latest SMF news. They are all in a brief summary format, but each news item's title links to a topic that goes into much more detail about it. The date the news item was originally posted is included next to each item's title.

Support Information

Shown in the Support Information box located to the right of the news box, is the following information:

The latest version of SMF, along with the current SMF version that is installed on the forum. It also includes a link underneath this information so the admin can check each of the forum's files. The SMF version number is there, so the admin can see if each file is up to date with the currently installed version of SMF. Also found in the Support Information box is a list of all of the Administrators on that forum. This includes people who only have partial access to the Administration Center.

Quick Links

There are also some links to some of the more important admin pages toward the bottom of the page, below the Live from Simple Machines and Support Information boxes. Each of these links go to an important section, and include a description of what can be done in each area. The admin is able to return to this page at any time by clicking Administration Center under the Main tab if the 2.x series is installed, and if the 1.x series is installed, there is a menu on the left-hand side of every admin page.

The navigation links

On every admin page, there are navigation links on either the left side (SMF 1.x and 2.x serieses) or at the top (SMF 2.x series) of every page of the admin center. These links include the Quick Links mentioned on the Administration Panel main page, but also include links to every section of the admin panel.

The following applies to SMF 2 only:

The admin can toggle the option to view the navigation links in a box-styled list on the side, or a drop down menu on the top in two ways:

• Navigate to Features and Options and select the setting Use a Sidebar instead of Drop Down Menu
• Select the double area icon () and () located next to each menu on any page of the admin panel.

Alternatively, the admin section on the Online Manual is directly modeled from how the admin panel on the forum is.