Getting Started
So, you have arrived at a forum powered by SMF! Perhaps you've been looking at the Board Index or a screen telling you that you need to register before you can access the forum.
Some forums permit guests to read posts or even post their own messages, while other forums only allow registered members to see the posts. At some forums, many of the most useful features will only become available to you when you become a registered member. Because SMF is such a flexible system, permissions will vary considerably between forums. Here are four key areas that are normally available for you.
User Box
Just below the forum banners, logos, and titles, is a user box which contains information about you, links to unread messages, and a quick search box. The user box can generally be collapsed (hidden) or expanded (shown) using the Upshrink icon 
Main Menu
You've arrived here as a guest (or have registered but are currently logged out). The Main menu (which appears on every page) should normally contain five or six buttons (or text links):
However, once you have registered and logged in, the main menu should look a little different: 
Forum administrators should also note the presence of an additional "Admin" button, which will lead you to a page where you can manage and administrate your community.
Board Index
Please see Board index for further information. When the SMF default theme is used, the board index normally looks something like this:
- The navigation tree helps with navigation. On this page, it consists only of the forum name, and links right back to the top of this board index.
- The Mark as Read button enables registered members to mark all posts in the entire forum as 'read'. This will clear the list of posts in the Unread Posts section of the userbox
- Category names are highlighted with a category name background.
- If the category is collapsible, clicking the category name collapses (hides) or expands (shows) boards that belong to this category.
- The Unread Posts link connects you to a list of all the posts from all the boards in this category which you have not yet read.
- Within each Category, you will see listed one or more boards.
- The board name links to the message index for that board.
- The board description describes the board's content, and may also include links to child boards and/or specify the board's moderator(s).
- The New Posts
or No New Posts 
icons, usually in the leftmost column, show registered members whether there have been any new posts to the board since they last read it. Some boards have child boards within them and in this case the "new posts in child board" icon shows that there are new posts, but only in a child board.
Message Index
Please see Message index for further information.
The essential components are:
- The navigation tree, usually in a space-saving horizontal mode.
- List of Child Boards, if any, in a format similar to that of the Board Index.
- Board Description, if enabled by the administrator.
- Page numbers, linking to further pages of the board. Go up and Go Down links to the top and bottom of the current page of the message list.
- The Buttons:
- Mark as Read - members can press this button to mark all posts in the currently viewed board as "read".
- Notify - pressing this button enables members to subscribe to email notifications of replies to topics in this board.
- New Topic - this enables members to start a new topic.
- New Poll - users can click on this button to create a new poll.
- The message header contains Subject, Started by, Replies, Views and Last post to enable users to sort the columns by these headings. The Last Post heading toggles between ascending and descending order.
- The message columns are:
- The Topic icons, explained by the key below, provide information about whether this topic is a poll, is locked, has gotten a lot of responses, and whether you have posted to it.
- The Post icons can be set by the poster to say something about the post -- is it a question? Is it solved?
- The Topic subject links to the start of the topic, and is followed by links to subsequent pages and a "new" button to take registered members straight to their first unread Post of the topic.
- If quick moderation is enabled, double-clicking in a blank area of the Topic subject column will allow you to edit the title of the topic straight from the message index. You can enable quick moderation in your Profile, and edit the subject of any posts you have permission to edit.
- In the Subject column, the "Started by" name links to the member's profile (for registered members).
- Last post lists the date of the most recent post, the name of the member who made that post, and a link
to that post. - Below the list of messages, the Jump to menu provides a convenient quick method of navigating the forum. It will allow a user to quickly "jump" to any Board that they have access to view.
