Talkabouts and Bricks

When you arrive on the Togetherall homepage, you can view a list of recently posted Talkabouts and Bricks as well as other content such as articles and courses. You can customize your homepage feed by selecting the gear button on the top right corner and choosing which topics you would like to focus on. To browse Bricks, you can select the button at the top of the homepage titled “Explore the Wall,” and you will be brought to a page where you can easily view and browse other members’ Bricks. To view a Brick, simply select an image that interests you. To create a new Brick, select the button titled “Create a Brick.”

To browse Talkabouts (our text based posts), you can select the “Community” tab on the toolbar. You will be brought to a scrolling feed where all posts that have been made by our members are listed from newest to oldest. The community tab has both Talkabouts (our text based posts) and Bricks (our image-based posts) all in the same place with a circle icon for Talkabouts and a rounded square icon for Bricks.

To create a new post, you can select the “Create Talkabout or Brick” button on the top right corner of the page.

Posts can be sorted by a few variables. If you would like to view only bricks or only Talkabouts, you can you can filter by type of posts and select an item in the drop-down menu. You can also search posts by categories using a similar drop-down menu when you filter using the ‘categories’ option.

To view more than the popular categories, simply click ‘show all’. Multiple categories can be selected, and the posts displayed are still sorted with the most recent at the top. If you feel a post has been miscategorized, then please contact a member of our Wall Guide Team by using the ‘Ask a Wall Guide’ button, and they should be able to change this for you. Finally, the community page can also display only the posts that you created by choosing “My posts.”

When you first select the Community tab, all posts are displayed. If you select ‘My posts’ then you can see only posts that you have created, if you select ‘Groups’ you can see Group Talkabouts that you are part of, and if you select ‘Starred’ you can see any posts you have saved by starring them.

If you click a post then you can view it in full, add a comment to it and find out who the creator was.

Comments on regular Talkabouts and bricks can be viewed by the whole community and so any comments you make are public. You have the option to star, toggle notifications or report a post. When you select any of these options no public notification is generated and only you and our Wall Guides can monitor these activities.

You can create a Brick by selecting the “Explore the Wall” button on the homepage when you first log in. Once here, you can select the “Create a Brick” option at the bottom of the screen. Another way to create a Brick is on the “Community” tab, where you can select “Create a Talkabout or Brick.”

Select the ‘Text’ option on the left-hand menu. You can choose your font, size, alignment, and color for typing. Type in the text you want in the box that appears and edit the text formatting using the toolbar on the bottom of the screen and the colors on the right-hand side. For the option of a white color, you can scroll down on the color toolbar.

When you finish typing, you can select off your text. When you select back on you will be given the option to move, scale, and rotate. Double select on the text box to edit the text further. Once you are happy with your text you can select the tick in the bottom right to save it. If you would like to delete a text box, please ensure it is selected and use the trash icon.

When editing a Brick, select the paint brush icon on the left-hand menu. You can change the brush you are using with the buttons on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and change the brush size with the slider. You can change the color using the buttons on the right-hand side of the screen.

For the option of a white color, you can scroll down on the color toolbar (this is useful for erasing mistakes). When you are happy with your drawing you can select the tick in the bottom right to ‘lock in’ your design. If you would like to delete everything on your drawing, select the trash icon.

Upload a photo or image of your choice, ensuring that you or others cannot be identified from it. Select the ‘Image’ icon on the left-hand menu and pick the picture you would like to upload from your own files. Your picture will now appear on the brick. You can now move, scale, and rotate your image. Once you are happy with your image, you can select the tick in the bottom right to save it. If you would like to delete the image, please ensure it is selected and use the trash icon.

When you are happy with your Brick, there are few more things you need to do before you can publish it to the community. If you have not done so already, you need to give your Brick a title.

Select a category for your Brick so other members can find it alongside other similar Bricks. To find categories beyond the popular options select ‘Show All’. If you cannot find a category appropriate to your design, there is a ‘General Chat’ option. In the ‘Tell us about your Brick section’ type in any text related to the Brick. Sometimes it is an explanation of the image, a question and so on.

This information is displayed publicly beneath your Brick once it has been published. When you are ready, select on ‘Post’ to publish your Brick. All bricks are posted to the entire community on Togetherall and this cannot be done so anonymously (your username will be displayed along with your Brick). Once a Brick is posted, other members can comment on it.

Do you have an experience or concern that you would like to anonymously share with others? You can express yourself using our Talkabout feature. You can view and join an existing conversation by selecting the 'Community' tab using the toolbar, then browsing through other members’ Talkabouts. If you prefer to start your own thread or conversation, select the 'Create Talkabout or Brick' button. Your Post Title should indicate what the Talkabout will concentrate on.

You can start a Talkabout on a subject specific to your situation if you need objective points of view or just an empathetic ear to listen; for example, "Can anybody suggest coping strategies for anxiety?" You must add at least one ‘Category’ to the Talkabout in the 'Categories’ menu. This means that members who are interested in similar subjects will be able to find your Talkabout more easily.

If you cannot find a category appropriate to your Talkabout, there is a ‘General Chat’ option. You can ‘show all’ to display a wider range of category options. When you are satisfied with your Talkabout, simply select the 'Post' button and you are all set. You can stay up to date with the Talkabouts you are interested or involved in by opening the Talkabout and selecting 'Turn on notifications'. These will then generate a notification in your toolbar whenever another member leaves a comment.

To invite only specific members to participate in your Talkabout, select the ’Community' button on the toolbar at the top of your screen and select “Create a Talkabout or Brick.” You will be given the option to post a Group Talkabout.

Group Talkabouts are only visible to members invited by the creator. New members can be added once you've started your Group Talkabout.

If the Talkabout or Brick is your own, you may view it at any time. From the homepage, select your Togetherall profile picture / username. You can then select ‘My profile’ from the options. Here, you may view any Bricks or Talkabouts that you have created in the past. It’s possible to change the ‘view’ using the options at the top of this page, in order to view your content from the perspective of other members.

The option to ‘star’ a post is displayed on all Bricks and Talkabouts. This will save the content so that you can access it later. To view all your ‘starred’ posts, choose ‘Community’ from the homepage, and select the ‘Starred’ option from the tabs on this page. Other members cannot see which posts you’ve starred.

The option to ‘turn on notifications’ is also displayed on all Bricks and Talkabouts. This will allow you to receive an in-site notification each time another member makes a comment on this content. You may view these notifications by selecting the bell icon on the toolbar at the top of your screen You may turn off notifications for any post at will - just choose ‘turn off notifications’.

You can delete any text or images that you have added to your Brick by selecting them and using the trash icon. Unfortunately, we do not currently have an “undo” feature for the paint option on our Brick creation tool. This means that once you have added to your design with the paint function, it cannot be erased. We are currently building more options for members to edit their bricks, which will include this undo function. In the meantime, we apologize for the inconvenience caused. The option of painting over a mistake in a white color is available in the color toolbar - this is useful for erasing mistakes made with the paint tool.

Currently we do not have an option to post bricks anonymously to our community. We are currently working to build this option, and it will be available soon. In the meantime, we apologise for the inconvenience caused.

You cannot send a brick to a specific member or groups of members as you can do in Talkabouts. All bricks are posted publicly, and all members can see them.

Currently we do not have an option to add more members to a Group Talkabout. We are currently working to build this option, and it will be available soon. In the meantime, we apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Categories are tags or keywords which you add to your bricks and Talkabouts. These categories make it easier for others to find content relevant to them. When filters are used on the community page, your brick or TA will appear in the content displayed, alongside all other content with the same category. We have provided several categories for members to use.

To find categories beyond the popular options, you may select ‘Show All’. If you cannot find a category appropriate to your TA, there is a ‘General Chat’ option. Currently there is no option available for members to add categories on Togetherall, however if you have any suggestions for categories you’d like to see added, please contact us at theteam-ca@togetherall.com.