06 Forum.md

# Forum

Build a message board to allow users to post information and reply to other people's posts. All the forums and posts should be stored in a database.

## Stage 1

The core functionality consists of three screens:

1. The homepage should list all the forums. This should display the following information on each:
    1. The name of the forum
    2. A thumbnail of the icon that represents the forum
    3. A short, multiline description of the forum
    4. A link or button to view the forum
    5. The date of the last post in the forum
2. There should be a link or button on this page to allow them to add a new forum topic. This should include:
    1. The name of the forum
    2. A short multiline description of the purpose of the forum
    3. A detailed, formatted, multiline description of the purpose of the forum
    4. An avatar image
3. When the user selects one of the forums they should be taken to the forum page which displays:
    1. The forum details including the name, descriptions and avatar thumbnail
    2. All the posts to the forum with each including the details of the person posting the details, the date and time of the post and the detailed, formatted multiline comment. They should be ordered with the oldest at the top and the latest at the bottom
    3. A multiline input box to allow users to post additional messages.

## Stage 2

The intermediate tasks require you to make changes to the functionality:

1. There should be a user profile page where they can update their profile details to include:
    1. A first and last name
    2. A profile avatar (picture)
    3. A detailed, formatted, multiline bio
2. Each forum post should include:
    1. The person's name and a thumbnail avatar. Clicking on the avatar should take the user to a page with the profile details of the person posting together with the last 5 forums they posted to with each linking to each of these
    2. The date the user joined the forum site
3. Users should be able to bookmark (and un-bookmark) a forum, which means:
    1. They get a html-formatted email when anyone posts which includes the message added and a link to the forum
    2. The bookmarked forums appear at the top of the list on the homepage

## Stage 3

1. Users can add forum categories and add forums into these. Any user can create a forum in any category (even one added by a different user).
2. The forum category should indicate how many unread forum posts there are in each forum category.
3. Within the forum category each forum should also indicate how many unread posts it contains.
4. When a user views a forum this unread post count for that specific forum should be reset to zero.

----

## Extras

In some assignment briefs you are given marks for the appropriate use of media and using sensors built into the user's device.

### Sensors

In some assignment briefs you are given marks for the appropriate use of sensors and sensor data. You should be implementing:

1. When selecting an avatar image, the user should be given the option of using the device camera (if available).
2. Each forum post should be flagged with the location of the person posting (country and region only).
3. In each forum there should be a map showing the locations where users have posted. Clicking a pin should show their name, avatar and the first part of the message. Selecting this should display the entire message.

### Media

In the requirements listed above you need to provide the user with the ability to upload photos. For the extra media marks you will need to expand this by:

1. Providing the user with the choice of uploading photos, video clips or audio clips.
2. Giving users the option to directly capture images, audio and video clips using the built-in camera and/or microphone if available.

### Data

There are lots of online RESTful APIs you can make use of when developing this system. You should consider:

1. [LocationIQ](https://locationiq.com)