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Retirement Savings: How Much Should I Save Each Month?New Features to Improve the Blog and Forum at DepositAccounts.com
We have added two new sidebar modules to the blog and forum sections. Unlike the forum, it can be difficult to notice the latest comments on blog posts. The first new sidebar module for the blog and forum is intended to help with this. It shows the ten most recent comments from any blog post. You can see it at the bottom right of the main blog page and the main forum pages. The list shows the name of the commenter and the title of the blog post. You can quickly view the comment by moving your cursor over the title. This will show the first part of the comment. Click on the title, and it'll take you to the blog post where the comment was made.
The second sidebar module shows the ten most recent blog posts. This is located in certain forum pages below the comment sidebar module.
Both sidebar modules are shown in the discussion forum in the "Featured Threads" page, in the "Latest Threads" page and in the "Latest Posts" page. For regular readers, you can use these pages as the hub of DepositAccounts.com where you can see all the latest activity.
Forum Overview
The forum is a little different than the blog. The forum is intended to make it easy for everyone to be able to highlight financial news stories, alert others of new deals and to start new topics of discussion. Here's an overview if you're a little unsure about how the forum works:
First, it's important to understand forum terminology. A forum thread is like a blog post. However, any forum member can start a thread. Wikipedia has a useful overview of a thread and how it differs from a forum post:
A thread is defined by a title, an additional description that may summarize the intended discussion, and an opening or original post (common abbreviation OP, which can also mean original poster) which opens whatever dialogue or makes whatever announcement the poster wished. A thread can contain any number of posts, including multiple posts from the same members, even if they are one after the other.
An important aspect of our forum is the two basic types of forum pages:
- Main Forum Page
- Recent Posts Forum Pages
Main Forum Page
The Main Forum Page is the top-level view that allows you to see the sections and topics that make up the forum. Forums are arranged this way to keep things organized. Start from the Main Forum Page when you want to start a new post. For example, if you learn that your bank has just come out with a new CD deal, here are the steps to start a forum thread:
- Starting from the Main Forum Page, identify the most appropriate section for the thread. For this example, a new bank deal would go in the "Bank or Credit Union Specific" section under the "Rate Changes and Deals" subforum. There are additional subforums under "Rate Changes and Deals" subforum. Choose the "CD / IRA" subforum.
- At the lowest level subforum, there will be a "New Thread" button on top of the table of thread titles. Note, you need to be logged in to post in the forum.
- For threads on specific banks, you will be prompted for the bank's web address (URL) that displays the deal. If there isn't one, just leave it blank and click continue. If you don't enter a URL, you'll be prompted to enter the name of the bank. Use this to search and select your bank.
- Finally, you'll be provided a form where you can enter the subject or title of the thread and the text of your post.
Recent Posts Forum Pages
The Recent Posts Forum Pages show the latest posts regardless of the topic. Just like the blog, the latest posts are shown on top. These pages are useful to stay on top of the latest forum submissions.
We have three types of Recent Posts Forum Pages:
- Featured Threads - This page shows the latest featured threads. Anyone can submit a thread, but I only give featured status to those that I feel are most noteworthy.
- Latest Threads - This page shows the latest threads regardless if they have been given featured status.
- Latest Posts - This page shows threads with the latest posts. So if you comment on an old thread, this will move the thread to the top of this page. This thread won't be shown on the other two Recent Posts Pages.
If you spent most of the time on one of these pages, you might have missed new blog posts or new blog post comments. With the new sidebar modules, you can now quickly spot new blog posts and comments without leaving this page. So it can be your DepositAccounts.com hub page where you can keep track of all the latest activities on the website.