The complete guide
An online noticeboard is a website where a community publishes announcements and keeps useful information in one place. People open its link to find notices, documents, upcoming events and contacts.
You may also see it called an online bulletin board. Here, we mean a place for trusted people to publish community information; some bulletin boards instead work as discussion forums.
One clear purpose
Most communities already have several ways to communicate. A website introduces the organisation. Email delivers messages. Social media and group chats help conversations happen. Each has an important job.
The difficulty begins when useful information is mixed into those conversations or spread across several places. Messages move out of view, attachments become difficult to retrieve, and websites may depend on one person with the access and skills to update them.
An online notice board fills the gap. It keeps living community information together, organised and searchable, while conversations continue wherever the community already prefers to have them.
| Channel | Use it for | How a noticeboard helps |
|---|---|---|
| Community website | Introducing your community and its activities. | Link to a Board that trusted managers can update as everyday details change. |
| WhatsApp or group chat | Conversation, questions and quick coordination. | Link to the current notice so people can find the details after the conversation moves on. |
| Email or newsletter | Sending an update directly to people. | Give documents and reference information a home people can revisit without finding the original email. |
| Printed noticeboard | Reaching people who pass a shared physical space. | Include the Board address so people can check the information when they are elsewhere. |
Keep information on PutBoard. Let conversations happen elsewhere.
How it works
A useful online noticeboard does more than place unrelated messages on a page. It separates information by how people use it.
Announcements, changes and time-sensitive updates appear on the Noticeboard. In PutBoard, pinned notices sit at the start of the grid and span two columns on larger screens, while highlighted notices receive quieter emphasis in their usual position.
Contacts, rules, documents, maps, videos and useful links live on stable pages that people can return to whenever they need them.
Upcoming dates, times and locations remain clear without turning the noticeboard into a complicated calendar or event-management system.
People can find useful organisations, services, places and contacts together with practical ways to call, email, visit or learn more.
A practical example
Give people the change, the date, any action they need to take and someone to contact. Replace the brackets in this example with your details.
The community room will be closed on [date], from 9 am to 3 pm, for painting. Regular activities resume on [date].
If you have a booking that day, please contact [name] at [email] to arrange another time.
Publish the notice on your Board, then share its link in your usual channels. Once the work is finished, remove the notice from view or use a scheduled expiry on a paid plan. Keep lasting room-booking instructions on an Information page.
Try creating a postBuilt for retrieval
One search can look across notices, information pages, events and directory entries. PutBoard can also find words inside uploaded PDFs and Word documents, not only the title attached to them.
That matters when someone remembers the information they need but not where the community originally published it.
Open or protected
Viewer accounts are not required. A Board can be open like a public website or protected by one shared community password.
Anyone with the address can view it. This works well for neighbourhood information, community centres and organisations that want information to be widely discoverable.
Visitors enter a shared password when the information is intended only for residents, members or families. They still do not need to create individual accounts.
Shared responsibility
A community website often depends on a webmaster or one person with specialist access. A noticeboard needs to change more frequently, so PutBoard is designed to be maintained by trusted people without technical training.
Owners decide who can help. Different managers can look after general content or the community directory, while account ownership, billing and sensitive settings remain separate.
Start with one person responsible for keeping information accurate. On a paid plan, invite other managers to maintain the parts they know best. Compare plans and management limits.
Made for real communities
Any community that repeatedly publishes useful information can benefit from giving it one obvious home.
What to look for
Common questions
“Online noticeboard,” “online notice board” and “online bulletin board” can all describe a place for published information. A message board usually means a discussion forum. PutBoard is an information noticeboard, not a forum.
Not in PutBoard’s case. Digital signage normally displays rotating content on a physical screen. PutBoard is a searchable website people open on their own phone or computer.
No. PutBoard complements them. Websites can introduce the community, and chats can host conversation. PutBoard gives frequently updated information a place where it will not become buried.
No. Public Boards open like ordinary websites. Closed communities can use one shared password without requiring every visitor to register.
Yes. Paid plans support shared management, and the price belongs to the Board rather than being charged separately for every manager.
Yes. Community Plus supports a custom navigation logo, custom colours and the community’s own domain name.
PutBoard can publish current notices, stable information pages, upcoming events and trusted directory entries. Content can include text, images, documents, links, videos, maps and downloadable files.
Yes. A PutBoard works in a web browser on phones, tablets and computers. Visitors do not need to install an app, and they can add the Board to their Home Screen for easy access.
Owners choose the trusted people who can manage content. Ordinary visitors can read and search the Board, but they cannot publish posts or change community information.
Yes. PutBoard searches notices, pages, events and directory entries, including words found inside uploaded PDFs and Word documents.
PutBoard has a Free plan, with paid plans for communities that need features such as shared management and password protection. Pricing is per Board—not per viewer or manager. Read our guide to choosing between free and paid noticeboards.
Every Board has its own web address that people can revisit, bookmark or add to their device’s Home Screen. The shortcut uses the community’s icon and opens like a familiar web app without requiring an app-store download.
See it for yourself
The Oak Street Residents demo shows realistic notices, information pages, events, directory entries, search and optional community branding. No account is required.
