Posting on Front Porch Forum

Navigate to frontporchforum.com. On the homepage, check if you’re logged in or not by opening the links list dialog (Insert + F7) and pressing M and look for My Account. If you can’t find My Account on the links list, you’re not logged in. You’ll find a link to login in the links list if you hit M.

General Instructions for Filling in Forms

Use tab and shift + tab to move forward and backwards through the form
Use the up and down arrows to change the selection of drop down boxes
Use the space bar to check and uncheck check boxes

Creating a Post

On the homepage, open up the links list dialog (Insert + F7) and press C until you find Compose Posting and press enter.
This will load a new page with a blank form where we’ll be able to create a new post.
After the page loads, use the quick key F to move down to the first form field on the page and press enter to activate forms mode. Alternatively, you may also open the form field list dialog (Insert + F5) and move to the first control on the page.

Select posting category that best applies:

The initial form field on the page is a dropdown box where you’ll be asked to choose a posting category. There are a number of options here. Choosing event will give us additional fields to fill out, so we’ll cover that type of post below. For now, assume we are not creating an event.
Use the up and down arrows to move through the items in the dropdown. When you have your choice selected, press tab.

Posting subject:

The posting subject is a text edit field. This field will serve as the title or subject line of your posting. After you’ve entered your text, press tab.

Posting body:

The posting body is a narrative field where we can write as much as we’d like. Here is where your posting will go. When you’ve entered your text, press tab.

Allow neighboring FPFs to see this posting:

This is a check box which allows you to increase or decrease the audience for your post. Unchecking this box will mean that only members of your neighborhood will see your post. Keeping this box checked, on the other hand, will allow nearby neighborhoods to see your post.

Submit Posting

This is a button. Pressing enter will send your post off to get posted. Remember, if you’d like to review the fields you just filled out, simply use shift + tab to move back up the page. Otherwise, simply press enter to submit your posting.

Creating an Event

As mentioned above, we can create an event on Front Porch Forum via the Compose Posting form if we choose event in the posting category dropdown. Once you’ve selected event in the posting dropdown, press tab.
The next field will be for the posting subject. This is exactly the same field as we encountered with a normal posting. Add your text and press tab.
The time and date fields for events don’t have descriptive alt text. You’ll need to memorize their order to successfully fill in this form.

Event Start Date (Event date info: (no date applies? then please select a different posting category) Edit)

The first new field you’ll encounter is the event date info text edit field. This is a text edit field, but we’ll need to be careful about the type of text we enter here. The field is looking for the start date of your event. You’ll need to enter this date with numerals and dashes only – no spaces. You’ll need to write the year as four numerals (ex. 2017), dash, the month as two numerals (ex. 01 for January), dash, and the day as two numerals (ex. 05 for the fifth). So, for example, if my event was on January 1, 2017 I would write: 2017-01-05. This utility isn’t very smart, so we need to stick to that exact syntax. When you’re date has been added, press tab.

Event Start Time (Date (yyyy-mm-dd) Edit)

The next field is looking for the start time of your event. Again, we’ll need to add it in as a text in a specific way. This field is looking for us to add the time as 3 to 4 numerals followed by am or pm with no spaces. We can use one or two numerals to enter the hour (ex. 09 or 9 for 9 O’clock), colon, two numerals for the minute (ex. 05 for five minutes past the hour), and then am or pm. So, for example, if my event starts at twelve thirty in the afternoon, I would enter 12:30pm. When you’ve entered your time, press tab.

Event End Time (To Edit)

The next field is functionally the same as the last. However, this field is looking for an end time. Enter your end time in the same manner with which you entered the start time. When you’ve entered your time, press tab.

Event End Date (Time (i.e. 8:00 pm) Edit)

The last special event field is for the end date of your event. This field will auto-populate with the same date as your start date field. This is convenient for when you have a single day event. However, if you have an event that stretches over multiple days, you’ll update this field following the same method as the first date field. When you’ve entered your date, press tab.
Again, you’ll be able to check or uncheck the box to share this post with nearby neighborhoods. And you’ll use the Submit Posting button to submit your event post.