Forum Options 
To read individual postings (messages) or an entire thread (collection of related postings) click on the underlined subject line from the post in either Tree or List view. That action will open a split Thread Detail screen, with threads on the top of the page and posted messages at the bottom. Use the Previous and Next buttons to move to other messages without returning to the initial discussion board. You can also respond to a posting by clicking the Reply button. See the screen shot below.
Figure 16: Thread Detail
When posting or replying to a message, Blackboard provides a Visual Editor in which to compose message (see Figure 16 below). You can either type a plain text message or use the editing tools to add stylized text (e.g. fonts styles, bold or italic face, color, bullets and numbered lists, centering, etc.). The editing toolbar will look similar to many word processors or web editors. A detailed description of the editing tools is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but feel free to experiment with the format tools (even if you don't actually send a message).
Note:
To view the text of a posting to which you are replying, you can either click the Show Parent Post button in the Reply editor window (see below), or click Quote to insert the text of that original posting into your reply. If you wish to save space you can then delete excess quoted content or simply begin your reply underneath it. Interestingly, the text isn't surrounded by quotes but is rather inserted to the left of a blue vertical bar indicating quoted material.
To supplement discussions or assignments you can attach a document to forum postings. Attachments are created outside of Blackboard and all SL&IT instructors require various documents for assignments. These are generally files that are either too long for a forum posting or created in a format other than plain text, such as those created with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, a photo or sound editor, etc.
If you wish to attach a document, click the Attach a file button to locate a file on your computer (or type the path if you know it). See Figure 17 below for an example.
Figure 17: Visual Editor for Creating Messages
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