NOTE: Some of these examples of images will only match our dark Blue layout because this guide was written before we made the 2014 layout, but the functions and ideas remain the same on both. If you're having trouble figuring out anything please send a PM to the Administrator to ask for clarification.

INDEX (front page of the forums)

On our main index if you hover your mouse over something that says "posted over 1 hour ago" a little box pops up telling you the exact post time of that post; just in case you have a specific need to know the exact minute of a recent post. (exact time is also displayed IN each post, btw)

At the bottom of the main index, on the lower right side, you'll see some small links. Two commonly requested links are the "mark all forums as read" and the "forum team" links. The team link shows you the people in charge around here and has a button for you to PM them if you need to. Over time, all GMs or "show managers" will be placed into the management section for easy access if any roster members need to get a hold of them.

Toward the bottom of the index page you will see the current time, displayed in whatever timezone you have set. Keep in mind that all RPing deadlines are 12 Noon PST.

Whenever you see this it means you can collapse the table it's connected to. This might be useful if you're sick of looking at the sidebar with QOTM and recent posts on it, or if you want to just hide the OOC section from view, etc... You can open them back up by clicking the arrow again.

The "Widescreen" link in our top menu allows you to stretch and shrink the website to find the best looking width for your screen.

The top right corner of all board pages displays your username when you're signed in, and can be expanded by clicking that little "left" arrow. Inside the expanded menu you'll find a link to your User Control Panel (User CP) where you can access several options including profile, avatar, signature, and many more. Another link in that top right expanded menu is the "friends" link which shows you a popup window if clicked, and anybody you've added to your friend/buddy list is on it. Easy access to see which of your friends are online right now, and easy access to sending them a message without having to find their account on the forum.

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If you go to somebody's profile you will see links for adding them to your friend list or blocking/ignoring them.

If you start typing somebody's name into the name field of a PM, it shows you a list of best guesses to auto-complete the name you're looking for.

If you go to a thread you created and you click on its title, and hold the button down, after a second or two it will allow you to edit your thread title right there without even having to enter the thread.

If you go into your User CP and click on Edit Profile, you will see several options for customizing the profile that people see if they click on your username. This is where you can also set your custom title/status, which is a short message that appears right under your name on all of your posts.

There is a link to subscribe to threads at the lower left corner of an open thread. That means anytime somebody replies in that thread, you get an instant email sent to you that there's a new reply in that thread. You can also subscribe to a specific subforum which will email you a general report of new threads in that section, but it's not an instant email.

If you see a post that you think should be looked at by staff, either because it personally attacks somebody else or violates our rules in some other manner, please click the report button and submit the report to us and we'll check it out ASAP.

If you want to show appreciation for something somebody said, you can click the "like" button right under their post. Great if you don't feel like actually replying or if you want to show extra appreciation. Likes given and received are kept track of by our site and are viewable through a person's profile.

If you think somebody deserves to earn a point on their Board Reputation, you can click the rep link and give them a +1. You can also give people a -1 if you believe they're acting obnoxious in a post of theirs, or if you just feel they deserve it for some other reason. You can give a reputation that is directly connected to a specific post by using the Rep link on that post... or you can give an "overall" Rep to a user from their profile. If they said something particularly memorable I recommend using the Rep link attached to their post so people can look at it later if they wonder what the +1 or -1 was for.

Every user has the option of setting up a "Backstage Page" which is basically a clean slate for you to put just about anything on. You might notice that the main profile sections don't allow you to use HTML or other code, but the backstage page does. You can set it up to play a video for your character or to be an advanced profile page you hand-built with coding, complete with music and all. You can have this be a spot where you archive links and short descriptions to all of your RPs, and just add to it as time goes by. You can use this as a special "go to" landing page if you want to have it be the ending of a story, much like how the ending of "LAST Impact" saw Shane 's ending statement turn into a link you could click. From there, that link took you to 's Backstage Page which is going to be left that way for a long time as to not interfere with how that show ends. You could easily use a similar idea in your RPs though or even tie this into News/Rumors posts. The possibilities are ENDLESS and we'd love to see some creativity on those backstage pages if you do choose to activate them. People who come up with really creative and appealing backstage pages might get featured on the front page or rewarded in some other fashion!

To activate your Backstage Page, go into your User CP and scroll down on the left hand side. You'll see a link for the Backstage Page where you can enter the content and save it. Keep in mind when you save it, all that happens is the screen flashes. If you actually want to SEE your page, you'll need to go to your profile and click the link for your Backstage Page that will now appear directly under your username at the top of your profile.

If anyone knows of any good features that I forgot to mention, please reply and let us know!

Did you guys ever notice how some layouts have the post author's name and info on the left side, and some have it all along the top above the post itself?

Did you know you can decide which one you want on the 2014G - Primary layout?
This DOES NOT apply to the Blue XWF layout; all posts on the Blue layout will ALWAYS have the post author on the left side.

In the 2014G layout, go to your options which you can find in your user control panel (cp) or you can just click here for the quick shortcut: http://xwf99.com/usercp.php?action=options

Once you're on that page, look on the right side at the various Thread View Options and find the option that talks about displaying posts in CLASSIC MODE. Check or uncheck the box depending on which post style you like better.

Classic = The thread author info is all on the left side of the post
Uncheck the box to put the author ABOVE all posts as long as you're in the 2014G layout.