Web Forum Sites Click here to print

This page contains information about Web Forum sites, which enable users to develop documents and share information in a secured environment on POL.

This page contains the following help information:


What is a Web Forum site?

A Web Forum site is a collaboration site on POL that enables users to share documents and information in a secured environment.  Each Web Forum site has an established coordinator who manages content within the site and decides who has access to that content.

Web Forum sites are based on a template established by Corporate IT.  A site can consist of several rooms, each having different security requirements as necessary.  Users can set up meetings and create documents within the rooms via the Web browser.  These documents can contain text, Web links, attached documents (Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), and imported Microsoft Word documents.

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How do I set up a Web Forum site?

If you are interested in setting up a Web Forum collaborative site on POL, contact Doug Punchak at 216-896-2098 or dpunchak@parker.com.

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Security overview

The identified coordinator of the Web Forum site manages content within the rooms of the site and decides who has access to that content.  For example, one room can be available to all employees, another to trading partners, and another to selected individuals.  Security within the rooms can be specified as editor, author, or reader.

Reader - abilty to read and download documents.

Author - same as Reader plus ability to contribute documents and edit only the documents contributed by that author.

Editor - same as Author plus ability to edit all documents in the room even if created by someone else.

The coordinator establishes security preferences when setting up the Web Forum site by sing the Configure area of the site.  Search engines will recognize content security, and POL will allow people interested in the forum to "subscribe" to the site giving them immediate visibility to any documents recently added to the site through their MyPOL pages. 

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Accessing a Web Forum site

You can access Web Forum sites from the POL home page.

Sign on to POL to display the POL home page.

Click the Directory tab (shown below) to display a list of available Web Forum sites.

Click the site name in the list to display the desired Web Forum site (example below for Enterprise Messaging).

The home page of a Web Forum site contains the following sections:

  • Information - Contact information for the Web Forum site coordinator
  • Web Meetings - 30-day meeting schedule for individuals associated with the Web Forum site
  • Recent Documents - A list of documents recently added to the Web Forum site

Click the desired room tab at the the top to display folders in that room (example below for the General Information tab).

Click the folder name to access folders and documents in that folder (example shown below).

To edit an existing document, click the document name (example shown above) to open the document.

Once in the document, click Edit Document and edit as necessary.  Refer to the instructions below about adding text and including attachments for additional editing information.

Note: Your Internet browser should be updated to at least Internet Explorer version 5.5 SP2. Please contact your IT staff to receive the latest supported version of Internet Exporer.

To create a new basic document, go to Setting up a Web Forum document.

To set up a meeting, see below.

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Setting up a meeting

Forum Coordinators are able to set up a meeting within the Web Forum site. Web Meetings are handled by PlaceWare (recently renamed as Microsoft Office Live Meeting). Click here for details about using PlaceWare (Live Meeting).

At the Web Forum home page, click the Meetings room tab to display a screen similar to the following:

Click Create a new meeting to bring up a screen similar to the following:

Enter the necessary information in the following sections:

  • 1 - What is the meeting about?
  • 2 - What is the size of the meeting?
  • 3 - When will it take place?
  • 4 - How will people hear the meeting?

 Place your cursor over the at each field for additional information on that field.

Click Submit to schedule the meeting.

The meeting will appear under the Current section of the Meetings room.

To set up a Web Forum document, see below.

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Using the Search feature

Using the Search feature of the Web Forum site, you can find requested text contained in the forum's documents.   When a match is found, a star rating is assigned to the document indicating how well the document matches the search criteria.   The following table indicates how the star rating is applied.

Rating:Search words: Found in:
(no stars) Any of the requested words   Document BODY only.
Any of the requested words   Any search field (ABSTRACT, AUTHOR, FOLDER, SUBJECT).
All the requested words   The AUTHOR field or the ABSTRACT field.
All the requested words   The FOLDER NAME.
All the requested words   The SUBJECT of the document.

NOTE 1:  The Search feature does not search the text of an attached file.

NOTE 2:  The Search feature will not expose documents for which the requestor has no security access.

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Setting up a Web Forum document

Within the Web Forum site, you can create and edit documents including text and attachments.  You can also add Web links and import Microsoft Word documents for conversion to HTML for direct viewing via the Web browser.  This help section contains the following information:

NOTE: While there is no specific limit to file sizes stored in Web Forums, consideration must always be given to the bandwidth required by the user's connection in order to download relatively large (>5 Mb) files. For very large files (>100 Mb) such as video, consider storing the file on the Parker videostreaming site and linking to it from the forum page. See Optimizing PDF Files for some tips on managing file sizes.

Creating a new basic document

Note:  Your Internet browser should be updated to at least Internet Explorer version 5.5 SP2.  Please contact your IT staff to receive the latest supported version of Internet Exporer.

At the Web Forum documents page, place your cursor over New Document (circled in screen example of the documents page above) to display the following box:

 

Select Create a basic document to display a screen similar to the following:

To add text to the Web Forum document, see below.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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Adding text to a document

While in the new document, type text in the Text area (indicated in the screen example above). 

Use the text toolbar (shown below) to edit text as necessary.  If you type a Web address (such as http://www.parker.com), it will set up a link to that address.

To save changes, click Save at the top of the document.

To cancel recent changes and return to the previous screen, click Cancel at the top of the document.

To include attachments, see below.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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Including attachments  

PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN FILE NAMES OF UPLOADED DOCUMENTS. THIS HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CAUSE ISSUES WITH ACCESSING FILES LATER.

Attachments in a forum document are files that are stored by the forum for display only.   Attachments cannot be directly edited within the forum but must be detached, edited, then attached (or imported) again.

Anyone with access (either as an Editor, Author, or Reader) to a forum room can download a copy of a forum attachment.    However, only Editors and Authors can re-attach (or import) the updated document.

When you click on an attachment in a forum document a local copy of the file is opened in the appropriate application program (Word, Excel, etc.).  If you make any changes to that local copy you will be prompted to save the document (your local copy) when you close the document or exit the application program.  You cannot save your local copy directly into the forum.   Typically, you would save the changed version to a folder on your local drive then go into the forum and attach (or import) the document into the desired room and/or folder.

Click the Folder icon in the Attachments area (indicated in the screen example above).

The Add File box displays for you to search for the file you want to attach.

Search for and select the desired file (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and click Open.

The file icon displays in the Attachments area.  The document will open in the Internet browser when the user clicks the attached file icon.

To delete a file, select the file and click the Delete icon.

To save changes, click Save at the top of the document.

To cancel recent changes and return to the previous screen, click Cancel at the top of the document.

To add a Web link, see below.

See Optimizing PDF Files for some tips on managing the size of file attachments.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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Using folders to organize documents

Within a room you can use folders and sub-folders to provide additional organization for your documents.

Type the name of the folder in the Folders text box (shown in the screen example above).

Sub-folders can be created under a folder by typing the full folder path using the backslash character (\) to separate the folder name from the sub-folder name.

Example:  First Level Folder\Second Level Folder

NOTE 1:  Forward slashes can be used in the name of the folder as shown in the screen example above (Cellular/Wireless/Mobile).  A backslash will automatically create a new sub-folder.

NOTE 2:  Folder names are case sensitive.  If you create a folder with the wrong name you can rename the folder by either clicking the Rename Folder link or changing the name of the folder while editing the specific document with the wrong folder name.

When a folder or sub-folder is empty it is removed from the folder list.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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Changing the displayed text for a hyperlink

In order to provide a meaningful description rather than the URL, you can change the text displayed by a hyperlink.  To avoid activating the hyperlink, it's usually best to use the keyboard to select the text you want to change.

Click somewhere just outside the text of the hyperlink.

Use the arrow keys to move your insertion point immediately to either the left or right of the text you want to change.

Select the entire text of the hyperlink by holding the SHIFT key and pressing the appropriate arrow key.

Type the new text.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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Adding a Web link

At the Web Forum documents page, place your cursor over New Document (circled in screen example of the documents page above) to display the following box:

Click Create a link to an Internet URL to display a screen similar to the following:

Type the full Internet address (including the "http://www" portion) of the Web site in the URL box.

For example, http://www.parker.com.

To save changes, click Save at the top of the document.

To cancel recent changes and return to the previous screen, click Cancel at the top of the document.

To import a Microsoft Word document, see below.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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Importing a Microsoft Word document

Note:  You must have Office 2000 installed on your PC to import a Microsoft Word document.

At the Web Forum documents page, place your cursor over New Document (circled in screen example of the documents page above) to display the following box:

Click Import a Microsoft Word document to display a screen similar to the following:

Click the Folder icon in the Document area (indicated in the example above).

The Add File box displays for you to search for the file you want to import.

Search for and select the desired Microsoft Word file and click Open.

The file icon displays in the Document area.  The document will open in the Web browser when the user accesses the document from the Web Forum page.

To delete a file, select the file and click the Delete icon.

To save changes, click Save at the top of the document.

To cancel recent changes and return to the previous screen, click Cancel at the top of the document.

NOTE: Bookmarks (internal links to locations within the same document) in Word documents may not import those links properly and can cause access problems.

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Import mail from my Notes mailbox

At the Web Forum documents page, place your cursor over New Document (circled in screen example of the documents page above) to display the following box:

Click Import mail from my Notes mailbox to display a screen similar to the following:

In the Folders drop-down box, select the folder that contains the desired e-mail document(s).

Click the checkbox next to the e-mail you want to import.

Selecting multiple checkboxes will allow you to import multiple e-mails at the same time.

To save your selections, click Save at the top of the document.

To cancel importing Notes documents and return to the previous screen, click Cancel at the top of the document.

Back To Setting Up A Web Forum Document Menu.

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