Quick Tour of the portal toolbox

EMBnet/CNB portal is based on TikiWiki (cache) and provides most of the tools and modules available on this system. To get the most out of it, you will want to learn about it, its tools and general layout, and how to use them.

What you see in this portal is a page divided in three main sections:

• a menu column in the left side of the screen where you can select different modules to work with
• the main area in the center of the screen is where you can interact with wahever tool you have selected
• on the right side you will find boxes providing quick access to special utilities.

In addition there are two menu bars, one at the top where you have access to per-user tools and one at the bottom providing general links and RSS links to download specific parts of the portal.


Available only to registered users, here you will find an initially exhaustive menu of the major services we offer through our web server. Please, note that these are not all the services we offer, as many of our services can only be accessed through means other than the web (e.g. on the command line or using X-windows, or attendance to presential courses).

The menu is arranged by major application areas and tries to provide descriptive options whenever possible.


This one is only available to registered users by default.

The menu on the left provides access to the portal 'modules'. These modules are special tools that provide you with different ways to interact and collaborate with other users. You select menu options by clicking on their name. Some of these options are preceded by a double colon ( : : ) ; clicking on it will expand a submenu with additional possibilities.

home

will always take you to the home page of the portal, no matter where you are. Use this to find your way back if you ever feel lost.

chat

this is an instant messaging tool. You are able to communicate instantly with other users that are connected with the portal right now. You are offered a range of topics to talk about. The chat screen is updated automatically every three seconds.

wiki

the main tool in this portal, a collaborative space where you may create and navigate through topics and contribute to them. Think of it as a set of shared, editable web pages.

Image gals

these are image galleries to store and view related collectioins of images. You may use them as art galleries, slide collections or aids to organize images used in other parts of the portal.

Articles

This section accepts and holds articles on specific topics for publication, just like an electronic journal. Articles are not expected to be modified once submitted, although you may add your comments to them.

Blogs

provide a facility where messages may be logged and sorted. You may use this to maintain a change log, your own musings about some topic and also as a linear discussion system.

Forums

while chat and Blogs may be used for discussion, they are limited, either in time or length. For more serious, long lasting discussions it is better to use a Forum. Again, you will find a number of topics to choose from.

File galleries

just like image galleries, there are also file galleries. These are not limited to images only and may store almost any kind of file arranged by topics. There is a limit on the maximum file size to avoid clogging the system. Use them to organize files related to specific topics.

FAQs

are collections of Frequently Asked Questions with answers. You may contribute your own questions and answers to your own or other people questions.

Polls

are a way to gather information from readers: you specify a number of options and users can vote on them.

Categories

is a handy way of organising information into categories and sub-categories for easier localization.

Quizzes

can be used for courses, contests, e-learning... you can define a number of multiple-choice questions with associated positive or negative points and get the score.

Surveys

are a way to poll information from users using a variety of question formats (short text, mutiple-choice, single-choice and rates).

Newsletters

allow you to deliver information to subscribers (or to read information related to a topic) by e-mail.

Directory

is a way to organize links by topics, much the same way as Yahoo or Dmoz.

Ephemerides

allow you to associate images and text with calendar days, e.g. to display quotes, national holidays, etc...

This menu is available to both, registered and unregistered users, and provides a listing of all the public services we offer freely to the community at large on the WWW.

Services are arranged by major topic areas and try to provide descriptive options whenever possible.

Login

in order to contribute to the portal you are requested to register and login with your chosen username and password. This is to avoid trouble and be able to acknowledge contributions to their authors.

Features Links

displays links of special relevance.

Calendar

a handy calendar for the current month.

Shoutbox

a nice utility to allow you to voice out, loud and clear, any thoughts or news that bother you specially or you consider relevant to the community (pet peeves, conference announcements, release stress.. you name it).

Contains the My Tiki section. Users who log in can enjoy a number of nice features like

WebMail

a webmail system using POP3 and SMTP

Interuser messages

send/receive messages from other users.

Notepad

A place to take notes.

Tasks

allows you to maintain to-do lists of tasks to organize your work.

Files

so you may store personal files in the server if you want (e.g. for accessing them while traveling).

Calendar

your own personal calendar, with reminders for events.

Menus

manage your own menus to have them provide the features you most like.

Preferences

select your avatar, themes, language, etc...

Bookmarks

manage your bookmarks in folders.

Modules

organize the look and feel of tiki to your taste.

Newsreader

access USENET news using an NNTP server (news.uam.es): you will get access to thousands of discussion forums.