Groupboard Frequently Asked Questions

Click here for the Admin FAQ

1. How do I put a Groupboard on my own web page?

Click here to put a Groupboard on your own web page for free.

2. Supported browsers

Netscape 3/4/6/7, IE4/5/6, Mozilla, Firefox and Opera on Windows and Linux, and any other browser which supports Java JDK 1.0 or greater. For Mac OSX users, we recommend using Safari (Mozilla and Firefox will work on the Mac, but you may have problems typing into the password window due to a java bug). Also note that if you are using Mac OSX 10.3 or earlier, you will probably need to use the non-javascript version of Groupboard.

3. When I connect to the Groupboard why do I get a blank window?

If you don't see the whiteboard and chat window when you connect, it means either that you do not have Java installed and enabled, or your browser has not been able to connect to the Groupboard server (possibly because of a restrictive firewall). The first time you connect (and after any updates we make to the software), it will take a while for your browser to download the Java classes, so leave it at least 5 minutes if you have a dial-up connection. The messages in the status window at the bottom of your browser will tell you if it is still downloading. If it still doesn't work, check to make sure your browser has Java installed and enabled. You can download the java virtual machine from: http://java.sun.com/getjava

If you are going through a firewall, you can also try the firewall tunnelling version of the Groupboard.

4. Why is Groupboard going so slow for me?

Unless we are doing maintenance on our site (which is very rare), Groupboard should go reasonably fast. Our server generally only uses a maximum of 50% of its bandwidth and 10% of its cpu time. The free boards have a bandwidth limit imposed on them, although this should usually not cause any noticeable problems. If you are experiencing significant delays when using Groupboard, the most likely causes are:

5. Are the demo boards moderated?

No. The demo boards are just that - demos - so if you want a moderated board you will need to set up your own board. Having said that, the demo boards are periodically monitored and anyone overly offensive is kicked off.

6. Your java applet crashed my browser/system!

There are currently no known bugs in Groupboard, and even if there were any bugs they could not crash your computer (or even your browser), because java is an interpreted language. If you are encountering crashes using Groupboard, it means there is a problem with your system. Try the following:

7. Why does the chat window not auto-scroll?

There was a bug in the early version of Java JDK 1.5 which caused this problem. You should upgrade to the latest version of Java.

8. Why does the text window sometimes freeze in the middle of displaying a message but the whiteboard is still working?

There is a bug in Windows 95/98 which causes the contents of a textarea to be limited to 32k. You can clear the text window by choosing "Clear Text" from the chat menu (when the applet is floated).

9. Why does the password window appear behind the browser window when I try to log onto a password-protected Groupboard?

This was a bug in early versions of the java 1.5 JDK. To solve the problem, just upgrade to the latest java plugin.

10. Why can I not type into the password window when using Firefox on the Mac?

This appears to be either a bug in the Mac firefox implementation of java, or an incompatability with Groupboard. If you have problems using firefox on the Mac, we recommend using Safari instead.

11. Why do some users have an '@' before their name?

This means that the user has admin privileges and can ban people from the board.

12. How do I print the contents of the whiteboard window?

In most browsers, the easiest way of printing is to simply press the browser's PRINT button. If you are using the JavaScript GUI, there should also be a print button on the user interface. If you are using the standard (non JavaScript GUI), you will need to press the FLOAT button, and then choose "Print" from the Applet pull-down menu.

Note that there is a bug in Java which causes the printout to appear blank if you have certain Adobe software installed. If this happens, try changing the colour depth to either 256 colours or 24bit (right click on the Windows desktop, choose Properties, then click on the Settings tab).

13. Why do the Javascript versions not work on Internet Explorer on the Mac?

Internet Explorer on the Mac does not support communication between javascript and java. We recommend that you use Safari or Firefox/Mozilla instead.

14. Flood fill is very slow - can I turn it off?

Press the FLOAT button to float the applet in a separate window, then choose the "Allow flood fills" from the Whiteboard menu so that it is unticked.

15. Can I use a graphics tablet with Groupboard?

Yes, you can use any graphics tablet with Groupboard if it works as a pointer device. We recommend the Wacom Graphire tablet

16. I've just set up a board and I get the error message "This board is only authorized from groupboard.com but is being hosted from..."

This means you have copied the HTML code incorrectly and you're missing the board_id tag. Some web editors (such as the one at freewebs.com) have a habit of doing this. Try editing the web page locally (on your computer) and then upload the entire html page. This works with freewebs.

17. Why does Groupboard run so slowly on Mac OSX 10.4, especially flood fill?

There is a bug in the Mac OSX 10.4 version of java which causes drawing operations to off-screen buffers to be 200 times slower than drawing to the screen. To fix the problem, just add this to your java runtime parameters (in Utilities->Java->J2SE 5.0->Java Preferences.app):

-Dapple.awt.graphics.UseQuartz=false

18. Why have I been banned from the Main demo board?

There are 3 reasons why you may be banned from the Main Groupboard demo:

When you are banned, your IP address will remain on the ban list until it moves off the end of the list, which usually takes a few months on the main board.

Please do not email us to ask for your IP address to be removed (unless you have been banned by mistake). You have only been banned from one board, so you can still use the other boards.

There are no rules about what you will be banned for. It is up to the admins who are logged on at the time to decide if someone should be banned. We simply try to make the demo board a place where anyone can log on and draw or chat without being intimidated. Things which are likely to get you banned include:

You may get a warning instead of being banned, but this is at the discretion of the admin concerned.




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