At the top of each forum list there are two rows of controls which tell Forum how to display the messages:
Search for
This allows you to enter a keyword or phrase and only show the threads or messages that contain matching keywords. For example, enter "cats" as a keyword and you will be shown all of the messages that relate to cats. This is a per-forum setting.
View
These forums can display the messages to you in a variety of ways. Select the view you'd like to use and click on Set Options to change to that view. Currently you can choose from the following views:
| View | Description |
| Normal | Messages are displayed as a tree, with replies to messages appearing directly below the parent message. Clicking a message loads it from the server. |
| Expanded | As normal view but all messages are displayed at once. |
| Dynamic | As normal view but all messages are downloaded at once so clicking a message displays the new message instantly without a trip to the server. Requires a Javascript enabled browser. |
| Dynamic Memory | As dynamic view but you can can have more than one message open at any one time. |
| Threaded | Only parent message subjects are shown with the message itself and all replies displayed on a separate page as a tree, with replies to messages appearing directly below the parent message. Clicking a message loads it from the server. |
| Threaded Expanded | A combination of threaded view and expanded view. |
| Threaded Dynamic | A combination of threaded view and dynamic view. |
This setting affects all forums.
Per page
Tells the forums how many messages to show on each page. This setting affects all forums.
Messages Since
You can choose to only display messages posted within a certain time-frame, for example messages that have been posted in the last week or month. Select the option you want from the drop down box and click on Set Options to filter your messages. This setting also affects all forums.
Note: if you see the message count for a forum displayed like "Messages 1 to 4 of 4 (Total 10)" then that is indicative that there are more messages in the forum that are older than your currently selected Messages Since setting.