FTD - Viewing and storing spots

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In this chapter I will explain how to view posts in FTD. This chapter contains the following subjects:

Lay-out
Viewing posts
Adding messages
Watchlist

Lay-out

I'll start with a short explanation of the layout and everything we see in the main view. At the top of the screen we see a wide bar containing thirteen large buttons. These buttons represent the most important functions of the FTD program, give information or are links to other parts of the community.

Below this bar on the left hand side we find the search function. This function allows us to search for posts by title, poster or tags. Directly below the search function we find the category filter. The picture above shows the standard configuration but later on in this manual I'll explain how to adjust this filter.

Below the category filter are the status and rating filters located. These filters allow us to filter posts with a certain status or rating from the post lists. (Note: at the bottom left corner of the screen the current version of the program is displayed. In this case: FTD v3.7)

In the middle we find the most important part of the program. This is the place where the posts will be shown. Since we didn't update FTD no posts are shown yet. This middle part of the program consists of two (or three) tabs. The FTD tab gives an overview of the complete post list. The Email Notificatie (Email notification) tab isn't of much interest, since this tab is only available to 'Friends of FTD' (people who donated). The third tab is discussed later on in this chapter.

Let's start and update FTD to see which posts are available. To do so, click on the 'Updaten' (Update) button.

The spinning logo in the top right corner indicates that FTD is working and within a few seconds the posts appear.

Every post is displayed with a little icon in front of it. These icons indicate the status of the post. Here is a short legend of these icons.

	Announcement – A poster announces his post.
	Uploading – The post is being uploaded.
	Finished – The post is finished and the poster gives support.
	No longer supported – These posts are no longer supported by the poster.
	Removed – These posts are visible up to 24 hours after deletion.
	Spot – Post spotted on Usenet, not announced via FTD. Small posts consisting of 5 files or less are also classified as spots in FTD.

By using the status filter you can filter posts with a certain status you don't wish to see.

In the category filter a number appeared behind each category. This value is the number of new posts meeting the criteria of that particular filter.

There is a total of 577 new posts in the 'Overzicht' (Overview) of which 385 belong to the section 'Beeld' (Video & Images). Finally 186 posts meet the criteria of the 'DivX' filter.

Also we notice a difference in background colors of posts. A green background color means that the post is new in the database whereas a blue one tells us that the post was retrieved in a previous update but has recently been updated. If you don't want to show these updated posts, just uncheck the checkbox in front of 'Updates' below the search function.

Viewing posts

As an example in this tutorial I will use a post of the Binaries4all tutorial about FTD.

If we click on the post it opens in a new tab (the third tab) and the post information is shown. The tabs can be opened independently of each other so we can easily switch between the post and the overview. If we open other posts, we'll see they will be opened in this same tab. By right clicking on the tab it will close.

I'll give a short explanation of what we see. Top to bottom:

Title bar – Status icon, title, post type icon, web link, direct link to powerFTD (optional), a button to add this post to our Watchlist (more about this later on).
Information bar – Poster, date/time, FTD number, received kudos, number of views, newsgroup.
Announcement – Usually a poster uses this space to announce when the post will start. This bar is only visible if the status is 'announced' and will disappear if the status changes.
Post information – All kinds of information about the post. A picture, some text written by the poster and the automatically generated post information.
Files – The filename and the number of files is displayed here.
Par information – Information regarding the PAR(2) repair files which may be posted along with the post.
Messages – A small forum for users to leave a message.

The post forum shows some other icons:

	Messages tab – If the number of messages is greater than the maximum per page, multiple pages will be created.
	Edit message – Available to the poster of the message (up until 1 hour after posting) and moderators (always).
	Delete message – Use this button to delete your own message.
	Quote message – Use this to quote another message.
	Reply – Reply to a message.
	Report this message to a moderator.

Sort messages

In FTDv3.7 it is possible to sort the message in the post forum. Click on the icon directly left of the first message.

A window appears with several options to sort the messages.

When you select one of these options, only the messages meeting that criterion will be showed. This way you could view the messages of the poster only, for example.

Bekijk alle berichten = view all messages
Bekijk alleen nieuwe berichten = view only new messages
Bekijk alleen berichten van de poster = only view messages of the poster
Bekijk alleen eigen berichten = only view your own messages

Downloading posts

Maybe you wondered where the button to download a post is located. Well, this is a common mistake: you can't download with FTD. For this purpose you should have a newsreader installed on your PC. If this sounds really vague to you, I suggest you'd read the Introduction for beginners on Binaries4all and pick a suitable newsreader from our overview.

In FTD you can find the filename and newsgroup of a post, which you will need to find and download the post. Often the poster will give you some other things to search for as well, for example the FTD number or his name.

Adding messages

As a user you can leave a message for the poster to say you will download the post or to thank him/her. Of course this also is the place to ask questions about the post.

One way to leave a message is by the 'Bericht toevoegen' (Add message) button at the very bottom of the screen.

A window where we can write our message appears.

The upper part of this window is used for quotes. If we use the quote icon kthe quoted message will appear there. The middle part is for our own message. By using the tags at the bottom of the screen we can add some markup to our text.

By checking the 'Zichtbaar' (Visible) checkbox, we can preview our message in the lower part of the window. Clicking on the 'Preview' button will have the same effect. When you're done writing your message, click on OK.

Another way to post a message is to reply to a message. The window that opens looks very similar to the one described above, only the upper part is colored blue. Replying in this way has the following result. (Note: only if 'threaded view' is activated').

Watchlist

FTD has an option to store posts in a so called 'Watchlist'. By storing posts in your watchlist you can keep track of the status of a post and create easy access to a post you might want to view again in the future. To add a post to your watchlist click on the little arrow in the top right hand corner of the post.

Or just click on the little arrow behind a post in the overview.

To open your watchlist, click on the 'Watchlist' button.

The watchlist opens and there is the post. In this overview we see the title of a post as well as the filename and the newsgroup. This way we don't have to open the post if we want to download it.

Within the watchlist it is possible to sort the posts. We can give posts a status so we can easily find them. This feature comes in handy when there are many posts in your watchlist. To add a status to a post, select it by checking the little button in front of it. Then select a status from the drop-down menu and click the arrow to confirm.

In this example we just gave our post the status 'Bezig met downloaden' (downloading). To see al the posts with this status, select 'Bezig met downloaden' from the drop-down box in the upper region of the watchlist.

Removing a post from your watchlist is done in a similar way. Select a post, select 'Vuilnisbak' (Trash can) and click on the arrow to confirm. To truncate your complete watchlist, simply click the X in the upper right corner of the watchlist.

This was all about adding messages and storing a post. These are the most important functions of FTD you should know about to view and store a post, and to reply in the post forum below a post. In the next chapter I will discuss how to give kudos, how to add/request PAR2 fills and how to report a post to a moderator.

To the next chapter: Posts: advanced functionality

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