Adding a Forum widget to your site creates a dynamic space where visitors can connect, share ideas, and engage in ongoing conversations. It’s a great way to foster community and keep your audience actively involved.
How To Enable & Use The Forum/Wall Widget In Swiftwebsites.ai
The Forum/Wall widget is available in the widget list and can be easily added to any page. To enable it:
Open the widget list in the website builder
Drag and drop the Forum/Wall widget to the desired location on the page
How To Enable & Use The Forum/Wall Widget In Swiftwebsites.ai
From the widget settings, you can choose between two display options:
1. Single Wall: Displays a single discussion board with all posts and comments in one place.
There are two ways to configure how posts are displayed within the wall:
Full Post – displays the complete content of each post along with its comments.
Compact View – displays posts in a structured list, showing only the post titles. This layout is ideal for walls with a large number of posts, allowing users to expand each post individually to view its content.
Clicking the comment button opens the post along with all its comments in a pop-up window.
By default, comments are displayed below the post in the pop-up. However, you can choose to display them in a sidebar instead.
The “With Sidebar Comments” layout displays comments in a sidebar for posts that include visual content such as polls or attached images.
When comments are collapsed, they can be accessed by clicking the floating comment icon in the sidebar.
You can set the number of comments to display for each post using the following setting.
The specified number of comments will be shown by default, and any additional comments will load when the visitor clicks Show More Comments.
The Fixed Height setting defines the widget’s height relative to the viewport. By default, it’s set to 100%, but you can reduce the height as needed. This helps create a more contained and cleaner layout, especially when other widgets are on the page, by allowing users to scroll within the wall content instead of scrolling the entire page.
2. Multiple Walls: Allows you to create a more structured forum, dividing discussions into different topics or categories.
There are three different view styles to choose from:
Row View – displays each wall in a separate row.
Column View – displays the walls in columns within a single row. You can adjust how many walls are shown per row using the Column View Split setting.
Sidebar View – displays the walls in a discussion board format. If you select this option, you can assign a discussion board name, which will appear at the top of the sidebar in the Forum widget.
You can customize the styling of each wall individually by clicking the Settings button located next to the specific wall.
Additional personalization options allow you to add a Group Color, a Group Description and a Group Image. This helps make each wall more visually distinct and improves navigation within the forum widget.
Moderation Of Posts & Comments
To contribute to the Forum, visitors must first sign up on the website. Once logged in, users can create various types of posts, including uploading images, adding text comments, or even starting a poll.
After clicking "Next," the member will be prompted to choose between two types of post reactions. This is the final step before the post is published.
The website admin can enable a post and comment approval setting, which allows them to review each newly submitted post or/and comment before it is published on the wall.
The Moderation Dashboard can be accessed by navigating to Website Settings -> Moderation. This section allows you to manage and review submitted comments and posts.
All posts awaiting review can be found in the Waiting Approval tab within the Moderation Board.
In the Wall Posts tab, you can view all posts submitted through the Forum Widget, including both approved and unapproved ones. Clicking Approve Post will publish the post to the wall.
The post submitter will see a "Waiting Approval" label until the post is reviewed and approved by the website moderator, at which point it becomes publicly visible.
The Forum widget is now ready, and visitors can start posting and joining the conversation.