By default, the homepage will show a split view: an overview of the main Categories (with their sub-categories) as well as a short list of the Latest conversations in the community. You may update what the homepage first shows you by updating your User Preferences > Interface settings. Regardless of how your homepage looks, you can filter what you see here in a number of ways using the menu line:
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By Category: in the menu line, click the ‘All Categories’ title and a list of all the categories appears.
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By Tag: in the menu line, click the ‘all tags’ title and a list of all the tags will appear.
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By most recent: clicking on ‘Latest’ will give you a larger view of the most recent topics.
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By level of activity: if you click on ‘Top’ the conversation topics will be listed in order of most activity (views and replies) for a specific time period. You can choose whether this is for all time, or select a specific period such as quarter, month, week or just today.
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By what’s ‘New’ to you: by default, new topics are those created in the last week that you have not opened yet to keep the list fresh and relevant. You can change the timeframe of what’s considered a new topic by updating your User Preferences > Notifications. New topics show a small dot next to the topic title:
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By what topics are ‘Unread’: by default, unread topics are those that you have previously opened and read for at least 4 minutes, and that have had new posts (replies) submitted to them. You can change the timeframe for what’s considered a tracked topic by updating your User Preferences > Notifications. Topics with unread replies show a number in a purple circle indicating how many new posts are in the topic:
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By documentation: besides viewing the “Getting Started” Category in the usual way, you can also view these user guide tutorials by clicking on the ‘Docs’ title. This page may be an easier, cleaner method to find or browse help articles.
See who is participating
There are several ways to see who is involved in topics. On a topic list page you will see a selection of avatars (profile pictures) of:
- the user who started the topic (always the first photo)
- a selection of the most active participants
- who created the most recent post (usually the last photo)
- in some cases, the first photo has a purple halo to indicate that the original poster is also the most recent poster:
- in some cases, the first photo has a purple halo to indicate that the original poster is also the most recent poster:
When you visit a topic, there’s a light grey box at the bottom of the original post. This area tells you:
- Who created the post and when
- A count of the replies and views in this topic to date
- A display of the avatars of the most frequent participants
This area may also include a list of popular links from all the replies, as well as an estimated read time for the entire discussion.
Keep scrolling
Click a topic title and read down the list of replies in chronological order, following links or previewing replies and quotes as you go. Use your mouse to scroll the screen, or use the timeline scroll bar on the right which also shows you how far through the conversation you’ve read. On smaller screens, select the bottom progress bar to expand it.
Following the conversation
All posts are shown in the order they are published. However, there are lots of ways to follow the context of conversations:
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If someone has replied to a specific post, but their post was not the next published, their post will include a new link in its header with an image to show what it is ‘in reply to’– clicking that link displays the previous for context.
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Posts with direct replies will include a count of those replies at the bottom - clicking this link displays the content of the replies.
Related topics
Sometimes conversations are clearer if topics are split, where posts are moved to a more appropriate topic, or two related topics are merged. If a post is moved, a link will appear that will allow readers to jump to that comment wherever it has been moved to, and the person who posted it will also be notified. Examples:
At the end of any post you may also see a list of related topics that link to the one you are reading:
