Planning our forum structure

Before we start creating forums for our site, it is a good idea to think about the sort of discussions we would like to have. Initially, we would probably want to have discussions on the following:

While this initial list is helpful, it isn't structured. We now need to think about those topics, and decide how to group them within our forums. Based on the initial list, we could build a structured discussion area with the following categories and sub-forums:

Now that we know how we are going to structure our forums, we can create them!

Creating and managing forums and containers

In the administration toolbar, under Structure we have a new option called Forums:

From here we can control the hierarchy of our discussion forums, change the settings for how forums are displayed, and edit and delete forums and their containers:

If we want to group a number of forums together, we can either create a container for them or a forum for them. If we create a container, topics can only be posted in the forums within the container. If we use a forum, topics can be posted in there or in one of the forums within it.

Let's click Add container to create our first container. The forum's module already includes a general discussion forum, so let's start with the health and care container. From here we must enter a name for the container (Health & Care) and select a Parent for it, so Drupal knows where the container is within the structure. Selecting <root> as the Parent will ensure that the category is shown on the main forums page; the Weight option indicates the order of the container when there are other forums or containers with the same parent. Selecting an alternative parent would mean that users need to select the parent container or forum first, before they see the container.

We can also provide a description for the container:

Once we have created our container (by completing the form and clicking the Save button!), we can now create our forum which will be part of this category.

The options for creating our forum are the same as when we created the container, this is because, in terms of data and configuration, they are the same. However, they act slightly different when used (as discussed earlier).

Let's create a Health and Illness forum, to go within our newly created Health and Care container:

The ordering and structure of our forums and containers can be modified from the Forums screen by clicking the icon next to the forum name and dragging it to reorder. Once changes are made, we are reminded that we need to use the Save button before the changes are applied:

Viewing our forums

Within the Navigation menu on our site, we have a Forums link, which lists the forums and allows our users to view and create topics within them. We can rename and reposition this menu item, if we wish, from the Structure | Menus section within the administration area:

Creating a forum topic

From within the Forums section, there is a link to Add new Forum topic, and we can click this to create a new topic. Alternatively, we can click Add content and select Forum topic as the content type, or we can go into a forum and click Add a new Forum topic to create a topic for that specific forum:

Topics need to have a subject, which will be displayed as part of a list when we view a forum, a forum to be part of, and the description of the topic itself.

Planning: How will roles fit in?

Now, let us take a step back to think about how our users will use the forums. While we wouldn't want users who haven't logged in to create topics and forum posts (as this could encourage spam, and makes communication less personal), we would want them to be able to read topics. We would want all of our registered users to be able to contribute through the forums. If we have a selection of very helpful and trustworthy users, we may wish to allow them to edit and delete topics, to help moderate the discussions. We may find that as the community grows, there are some users who would be well suited to help restructure the forums, to introduce new forums and categories as the site grows.

Here, we can see that we may have the need for different levels of permission, with all registered users being able to contribute, and a small subset of users having additional privileges to help moderate and curate the site.