Ah, the User Control Panel. What exactly is it? "Control" is good -- right? So, let's see what the UCP has to offer once you register as a member in our forums.
To get to the UCP, simply look for the link up near the left top of any of the pages in the bulletin board system:
User Control Panel link
Once you are logged in and inside the UCP you will see a screen with a bunch of tabs on it. For now we'll skip to the "edit profile" tab. Here is what it looks like:
Edit your Profile
Take a look at the tabs on the left (circled in red). You can visit each one and set your posting signature line, change your email and/or password, and set your avatar image:
Setting your Avatar from a file on your computer
If you have a photo on your computer that is no larger than 100px by 100px in dimensions and no larger than 50K bytes in size, you can upload it and use it as your avatar image. (note: the board rules apply to avatar images -- keep them 'family friendly').
Here's the screen showing where you can select a file from your computer to upload:
Upload an Avatar
Answer: go online and use one of the free photo resizing websites -- you can upload your image to them and fix the size. Once done, you will download it back to your computer and you are ready to go.
Here is one website to try...you can also search Google for other choices: http://reshade.com/online-image-resizer/add-image
Choosing an Avatar from our gallery of images
Another way to get yourself an Avatar is by selecting from our set of built in really nifty (or really lame?) images. To do that, click on the "Display Gallery" button on the Edit Avatar screen and you will be presented with over 100 built-in avatars to chose from:
Avatar Gallery
Select one, then scroll waaaay down to the bottom and click "submit".
Setting Board Preferences
Another important tab in the UCP is the Board Preferences tab. I've circled a couple of the more interesting items you may want to consider setting. First, make sure you have "notify on new private messages" set to "yes", and also consider setting "pop-up window" to "yes" as well. That way if you get any private messages from either the site admin or another member, you'll have a better chance of seeing them. You will also likely have to set your browser to allow AutoBody101.com to show pop-up messages (don't worry I hate them as much as you do and will not allow any other pop-ups to be generated from this site!).
Board Preferences
Another key item to set is the theme for the board. You have two choices right now: Fixed Width or Auto Width. The fixed-width theme tends to look a little better on wide monitors. The auto-width theme is the default, and it looks fine on almost any monitor. Try each and decide for yourself!
Be sure to explore the rest of the UCP as well -- there are tons of settings to experiment with, to allow your experience at the site to be exactly what you want it to be.
