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WikiaThe Croc Wiki's forums are adapted wiki pages that are automatically organisedorganized with index pages. Using a forum is simple. Each forum has an input box that allows you to type a title for a new page and press a button to create it. The page is loaded with a template, which ensures that the page has the correct category for indexing. It's important not to delete this template when you write your message.
Once the page is saved, it will show in a list of all pages in that forum. Other contributors can then add to the page in the same way as to other wiki pages. Pages with new messages are shown in the listlisted as bold and with an [[Image:Forum new.gif]] icon. You can also view recent changes for the forum by clicking the link above the forum list.
==Adding new forums==
A new forum can be added by editing [[Forum:Index]]. This isn't necessary to make the forums work, as the two default forums are ready to use, but it can be useful in an active community.
To add a forum, the following code (copied from this page, not from the source) should be added to '''Forum:Index''' on your Wikia, after the previous <nowiki></forum></nowiki> tag if there are any.
<nowiki><forum>
Once this is saved, there will be a link to the new forum page. This can then be edited to add the following:
<nowiki><div class="forumheader">'''Forums:''' [[Forum:Index|Index]] >→ {{PAGENAME}}</div><br />
[insert text here]
[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:Special:Recentchangeslinked/Category:{{PAGENAME}}}} View recent changes for this forum]
{{forums search box}}
[[Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:{{PAGENAME}}|View recent changes for this forum]] | [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|View alphabetic list of topics]]
----
<table width="100%"><tr><td><!-- You could create (or transclude) a forum header here --></td><td width="50%"><createbox>
<br style="clear:both;" />
break=no
<table class="forumlist" width="100%"><tr style="background-color:#EEE; color:#000;"><th class="forum_title" align="left">Topic</th><th class="forum_edited" align="left">Last edit</th><th class="forum_editor" align="left">Last author</th></tr>
prefix=Forum:
preload=Template:Forumheader/</nowiki><span style="color:red"><nowiki>{{PAGENAME}}</nowiki></span><nowiki> ▼buttonlabel=Add new topic
</createbox></td></tr></table>
<table class="forumlist" width="100%"><tr><th class="forum_title" align="left">Topic</th>
<th class="forum_edited" align="left">Last Edit</th>
<th class="forum_editor" align="left">Last Author</th></tr>
<forum>
▲preload= Template:Forumheader/</nowiki><span style="color:red"><nowiki>{{PAGENAME}}</nowiki></span><nowiki>
namespace=Forum
category={{PAGENAME}}
[[Category:Forums]]</nowiki>
Nothing usually needs changing in this text. ''However, there is sometimes an issue with '''<nowiki>{{PAGENAME}}</nowiki>''' in the '''preload=''' section (hilightedhighlighted in red). If you find the template not preloading, changeor thisits tothreads use a different category than the forum name ofitself, use the {{t|Forum header}} template specificallyand add the forum name after the pipe (|). SoIf the category name is different, add a second pipe followed by the category name. For example, if the Forum name is '''Forum:GossipVideo games''', createwhich theuses preloada templatedifferent as Template:Forumheader/Gossip andcategory, change the preload line to '''<code><nowiki>preload=Template:Forumheader{{forum header|Video games|Video game threads}}</Gossip'''nowiki></code>, although this can also be manually added.''
===Step 3===
The last thing to do is to set up a template to be loaded when someone adds a page to the new forum. This should be at "Template:Forumheader/Name of forum", changing the name to the same forum name you used in the index. This should contain the following:
<nowiki>{{ForumheaderForum header|</nowiki><span style="color:red">Name of forum</span><nowiki>}}
<!-- Please put your content underbelow this line. Be sure to sign your edits with four tildes ~~~~ --></nowiki>
Again, "Name of forum" needs to be changed to the new forum's name. Once this is saved, the forum is complete.
As with many elements of Wikiathe Croc Wiki, many aspects of this can be changed. The layout, the template style, the items shown in the index, the new messages icon.... you could, for example, have an image appear automatically at the top of each page added, or have new messages show in red text. It's also possible to use the same code as above to make subforums such as "Forum:Help/technical". For this, the first code should be put into the parent forum page instead of the index. The inputbox forms can also have an instructional template above with the editintro parameter (See [[m:Inputbox]] for info).
[[Category:Help|Forums]]
[[Category:Forums|*Help]]
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