2. General Acorn Rack questions

[ Back to the manual index ]

2.1. How can I make an account, and are they free?

Creating an account on Acorn Rack is completely free; there will never be any charges that you have to pay for this privilege. To create an account, all Acorn Rack needs are three pieces of information;

  1. Username.
  2. Password.
  3. Email address.

To create an account, simple go to the user control panel where you will be prompted to login. Ignore this for now since you do not have an account. Underneath this login box is a link called 'Not a member? Join now, it's free!'. Click it, and it will take you to the application page.

Once on this page, enter a username, password, verify your password to make sure you entered it correctly, your email address, and verify it to make sure you have entered it correctly. Once all the input boxes have been completed submit the form. If it comes back with an error, rectify the mistakes and resubmit the form. If when you submit the form it informs you that you have successfully completed the registration, then you can then proceed to login.

2.2. I have created an account, how do I login?

Congratulations on creating an account, you are now one step closer to completing your registration. When you submitted the form, you were sent an email containing a verification code which you will need, so do not delete the email just yet! To login to your account, head over the user control panel and enter your username and password in the relevant input boxes. Submit the form.

Either two things will happen at this stage:

  1. You will successfully enter your username and password, and you will be taken to a screen whereby you will need to enter your verification number. You can find your verification number in the email sent to your account when you registered. Enter this code into the input box and submit the form. If it was the correct verification number then you have now successfully completed the registration. However, if it was the wrong number, you can have your verification number sent to you via the lost information form.
  2. An error message will come back informing you that the username and password you entered were incorrect. Try entering your username and password again into the form - it may be that you entered them incorrectly. If you still cannot login, then complete a lost information form. This form has the option to recover your password, and to resend your verification number, or to send both pieces of information. Once you receive this email (Sent to your email address you specified when you registered) it will give you further instructions of what to do.

You have now fully registered your account on Acorn Rack, and are free to create (a) site(s), join other sites with the same username and password, or partake in the public forum offered by Acorn Rack.

2.3. I have lost my login information, what can I do?

If you lose any of your information on Acorn Rack, either your verification number, or your password, then you can complete a lost information form. In order to complete this form, you will need to give your correct username and email address that you used when you initially signed up.

If you forget your password, then you will be sent an email that requires you to confirm your action. If you confirm the action you will be sent one more email, containing your new, random password. Use this new password to log into your account; we recommend that you change your password immediately by going to your account setup.

Please note: we are unable to send your original password to you as when you sign up, your password is hashed into the database. This is a one way hash.

2.4. I am tired of typing my username/password every time I access Acorn Rack, is there an easier way?

Yes. Acorn Rack has created a 'remember me' feature when you login to Acorn Rack. It is, by default, unchecked, this is to protect people that use a shared computer, so other people cannot gain unauthorised access to your account. If you are on a computer which only you use, when you login to your account, click the 'Remember me:' checkbox, so it is checked. This will then store two harmless cookies on your computer, which are a reference to your session.

If you are concerned about cookie replay attacks, then there is no need for you to worry, since we have developed an anti-replay attack script.

2.5. How can I make a site, and are they free?

Creating a site on Acorn Rack is completely free; there is no need for you to ever hand over a penny of your hard earned money. However if you would like added functionality, then please refer to the features page, and the online manuals guide to upgrading your site.

To create a site, you will need to access to your user control panel (If you are not currently logged in, then please do so). On the navigation is a sub menu called 'User CP'. Under this menu is a link called 'Create a site'. Click the link. You will now be taken to a screen with a sole form which all you need to do is enter the address of the site that you wish to create. Submit the form to complete the process.

Please note:

2.6. If I create a site, am I under any obligations?

Creating a site on Acorn Rack puts you under no obligations whatsoever. You do not need to pay anything, and are free to do with it whatever you like, as long as you conform to Acorn Rack's terms of service.

2.7. I would like to make a theme for Acorn Rack, what information do I need?

Firstly, 'Thank you' for your interest in making a theme for Acorn Rack. In case you didn't realise; Acorn Rack uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) to apply all of the styling to the pages. This means that by simply changing the CSS file, the whole layout can look completely different. One of the reasons for this is so you, the users, can view Acorn Rack however you want.

Because Acorn Rack uses a selection of methods to display data, both in CSS and tables, the CSS stylesheet can become somewhat complicated. We have produced a .zip download which contains sample pages from Acorn Rack which you can use to work on, both offline and online.

Winzip Download the .zip version of Acorn Rack (164KB).
RAR Download the .rar version of Acorn Rack (158KB).

2.8. The times are all in GMT, how can I change that to my time zone?

Acorn Rack primarily uses the GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) time zone, but you can change it to your exact time zone. First login to the user control panel, then go to your account setup. There is a drop down menu called 'Time zone' which is set to 'Europe/London'. This drop down menu is ordered alphabetically, first according to the general area (Europe, Asia, America, Australia etc), and then in alphabetical order of the sub-area. Once you have updated this, it will not only change your time zone on the main Acorn Rack site, but also for every other site you join within the Acorn Rack community.

2.9. What codes can I use on my sites forums, and on the public forums?

You have two options when 'marking up' the text on your posts. You can use standard HTML, or use a special code called ''BBCode'.

HTML codes
We have limited the amount of HTML that you can use within your posts, this is because unrestricted HTML can cause some problems, and can be dangerous to the site. You can use the following HTML tags:

BBCode
BBCode is used as an alternative to HTML, because it is safe, and easy to write, the following are BBCodes that are supported by Acorn Rack:

2.10. What does the little star (*) mean by the side of the 'User CP' link?

The star simply means that you are currently logged into Acorn Rack. If you do not see a star then please login.