Site Guide

[Alex]

Understanding what a Forum is:
Ok, I'm going to run the basics first. The big headers on top of a bunch of links that say things like Help on them is called a Category, the links below them go into Forums, inside Forums are posts or threads, whatever you like to call it, and inside that is the message and all the Replies it got.

How to post links:
Ok, when you go to post there is a button with a chain link on it, click it and type the site adress in the box next to the chain link, if you want it to come up like "Click here" and here being the link, you will need to type "here" in the box next to the chain link and the letter A behind it, the box means link text.

Another, and more efficiant way to me, is typing HTML code, here is how.

Link-[url]web adress here[/url]

Named Link (Like click here, here being the link.)
Example using here-[url=web adress here]here[/url]

How to post pictures:
When you go to post, there is a button with a photo behind a floppy disc, that is where you upload an image to servimg, to upload, click browse and find the picture on your computer, and double click the picture or select "open" and it should be in the text box after that, you can resize the image but that usually doesn't work for me anyways, then press "host it" and when it is done uploading press the copy button next to Image and if a warning message comes up and says "allow this site to acess your clipboard?" press yes or allow whatever it says.

Once you have done that, press the button with just a picture alone on it and paste the image URL in the text box that comes up and press ok. Usually a big bunch of text will come up, it is HTML code, and the image will be wherever that text is, and this is where a bug comes in where it posts the code at the beginning of the post instead of the end, if this happens to you just highlight it, right click it and select copy, delete the HTML text, and paste the code where it needs to be, I am working on that bug.

Another way of posting instead of using servimg you can use the image URL if you know how to do that. You can usually get the Image URL of an image by right clicking the image and selecting Properties and highlight and copy the text next to "Adress (URL)" and then pasting the URL in the text box that comes up after you click on the button with a picture on it and pressing ok.

Another way is to wright HTML code in the way shown below, I personally think it is better than using servimg.


How to post Screenshots:
Go to your Bungie.net account and find your hi-res Screenshots, then click on the Screenshot (not the link to the right of it but the picture) and when the pop-up window shows up press the button and click "Save As" and save it then follow the "how to upload pictures" rules above. (Note, for good Screenshot quality, resize the image to "1024px width wallpapers")

How to post maps and variants:
Ok, you will need a Bungie.Net account to do this.
Go to your own profile and go to your own Fileshare, then click on the link to the map or variant you want to post, then copy the URL on the top of the page, then post the link however you want, then people can go to your map or variant. You can also post pictures of your map by taking Screenshots of your map in Halo3 and then going to your Bungie.Net account, going to your Hi res screenshots clicking on the picture (not the link next to it) and when the new window pops up, press the button and download the screenshot and then Uploading it on servimg by pressing that button and make sure it says Resize to "1024px wallpapers" for best quality. More on how images work is in the "How to post pictures" part of this guide, you will need to read that to fully understand this if you haven't already. You may also want to see "how to post links" to see how to post a good link.

How to post videos:
Ok, usually if you post the raw Embed Code of a video it will work, however if this does not work, use the button with a film strip on it to post the video. Do this by copying the Embed from the site and pasting it in the text box on the window that pops up.

Oh, and when posting videos, no matter what kind, you need to make sure the button with a/A is not shining red and has the close tags link next to it. This button will need to be toggled many times if you post videos, it basically activates/deactivates HTML, Embed, and BBcode.

How to post Flash:
To post things like Flash Animations and Flash Games, use the button with an f in front of a piece of paper, copy the Embed, HTML, or BBcode from the site and paste it into the text box that comes up rhen pressing the button. Take note that sometimes it may be better to post the code alone than using the flash button, this is most commonly true with Embed code, so if it dosn't work with the button try posting the bare code.

How to make Polls:
A poll is like a computer multiple choice question. To make one, when you post, look below the place where it says "Preiveiw" and "Send" there is "Options" and "Add a Poll", if the or - sign to the far right of it is click on the to bring out the Poll Options. Now enter the Poll Question where it says to and type in a poll question. Now before you make options, if you want this to be multiple choice you need to go to where it says "Multiple Choice?" and select Yes.

To make poll options, type an option in the text box and to make more options press enter once to skip down a line and type the next option (It says seperate with a line break, a line break is doing what I just said).

Sticky and Announcement Options:
Well first of all, these options are usually only for the site Staff, but in an ocassion where you can, when you are posting go under "Preview" and "Send" there should be a box that says Options, like the polls, if it has a on the far right of the box that says Options click it to pop-out the Options. Then you simply select what kind of post you want it to be.

How to change text color:
This is actually quite easy, just highlight the text you want to change the color of and go up to the button with a bunch of colored sqares and select what color you want the text you just highlinghted to be, if you want to have the color be something as you type, just click the button and select the color you want to type, to go back to White simply select "White" after you click the button again.

How to use Bold, Italic, and Underline:
To type in Bold, Italic, and Underline text, press the B button for bold text, the I button for Italic, and the U button for Underline.

How to use Emoticons (smiles and such)
When you go to post, click on any of the viriaty of Emoticons on the left of the text box to add them.

The rest of the buttons I usually don't use so if you know how to use them do so but I can't explain any more options.

Profile Options:
These are your personal profile options, you can edit these to your hearts desire, but there are three options I would like to point out.

The first one is Forum Signatures, many people seem to wonder how we make it so it puts our Gamertag/Halo3 Stats after our posts, the signature is what that is, you can use html code to make these work.

Recommended Sites to get Forum Signatures from:
Battle Record
HaloTech
MyGamercard.net

Navigating on the Site:
These are the pages and links on the site:

Home-The Forum

Portal-The first page you see when coming to Halo Nation, it has the news and stuff posted all over it.

Video Portal-Videos are in this, your profile is not in this so you will need to make a seperate profile, you can Upload without a username though.

Gallery-The image Gallery

FAQ-The FAQ provided by the web host (I didn't make it)

Search-Search the site

Memberlist-The list of all of our members

Usergroups-List of all the site's Usergroups, you can send messages to all the members of a group if you have a good reason, (Administrators, Webmasters, Moderators, etc.).

XAT Chat-A chat that even people who are not registered can use, it is better than the regular chat too!

Bungie Group-The Halo Nation Bungie.net Group!

Site Guide-Your reading it!

Profile-Your Profile Options

Messages-Goes to your private messages (PM)

Register-For non members wanting to become members (Does not appear for logged-in members)

Log in/out-Log in and out of the site.

Editing your Profile:
To edit your Profile, go up to Profile at the top of the screen under the banner. Your Avatar is your picture for your account and your signature is for forum posts. Make sure the option "Always attatch my signature" in the Preferences is set to "yes" when using a Signature.

HTML Codes:

Link: [url]web adress here[/url]

Named link: [url=web adress here]link text here[/url]

Image:

Flash: [flash]flash code here[/flash]

Embed:

embed code here

Youtube Videos: [youtube]Video embed code from Youtube here[/youtube]

Also, the a/A button activates/deativates HTML, so if it is glowing red, press it to Activate HTML, if you want to just post the Embed code for peope to use, use the Code Display button (Buton with a Piece of paper with <> in front of it) to display the code.

As a final note, please set your Screen Resolution so that you can fully view the Portal page without having to use the left and right scrollers for the best expierience on the site. You can do this by right-clicking your Desktop Wallpaper, selecting "Properties", going to the "Settings" tab when the new screen comes up, and using the Slider. Note: Higher Numbers = Smaller.

If you have any additional questions please let me know!

Thanks for coming to the Forum!
Hope this helps!

-Axl777 (Site Founder)