As I'm sure you've noticed, this website has a 3-column layout. The main content sits in the center and two sidebars contain site features and current events. In this post, I'll give a brief explanation of the functions of each sidebar block.
Starting at the top of the left sidebar, you'll see the Login/Register block. This allows you to log into the site, register for a new account or mail yourself a new password (if you've lost your old one). Once you log in, this will be replaced by a User Points block, which tells you how many points you've accrued toward the current contest.
For the rest of this article, I'll assume you're logged in. If you're not, some blocks may be different or not appear at all.
Next you'll see the Navigation block. It contains links to almost all the things that are limited to logged-in users. Adding content, Posting to your blog and setting your account options (click my account, then see the edit tab) are all visible from here. You can also list other members of this site and view your inbox (which also allows you to send private messages to other website users). Of course you can log out from here, too.
Following that, you'll see Who's online at the moment. This is followed by Who's new, which shows the newest five users on the website. If you see a call you recognise, click to view their profile and maybe even send them a welcome message!
Poll, if shown, contains the most recent user poll. Once you've voted, the buttons are replaced by bar graphs representing other member's votes in the current poll.
Highest Users tells you the top five users competing for the current points contest. Ignore that "kc0tfb" fella, since he runs the site. ;)
Next are several optional blocks. These can all be turned on or off in your user profile (see my account/edit tab/scroll down to block configuration)
Random Image comes next, and it's just what it sounds like. You'll see a random thumbnail image drawn from the site's many image galleries. This is on by default.
Change Text Size This block offers a simple "Big A" versus "Little A". Click either one to toggle between normal and large-print versions of this site. This is on by default.
Syndicate shows you a simple link to add this page to a XML-capable newsreader. If you don't know what this is, don't worry about it - you can turn it off in your profile without missing anything.
Local Gas Prices This is for a certain TCFMC member who can't stop talking about gas prices on the 444.1 repeater, much to the chagrin of another club member. This block is turned off by default, but you can turn it on in your profile.
Local Weather This is for a different TCFMC member, who thinks that we need a weather report on our site. This block is also turned off by default. Due to its larger size, this will appear on the bottom right.
Moving over to the right sidebar, you'll see the Events calendar. This is a miniature version of our full monthly calendar. To see the full calendar, click the <<, Month 200x or >> links. You can also click highlighted day numbers on the calendar to view events for that day. On the full-screen calendar pages you can click event titles to see detail pages for any event.
Next is a different view of Upcoming events, showing titles and when these events will occur. Click a title to see the event's detail page.
Beneath that, you'll see New Forum Posts and Recent Blog Posts, which display titles from several recent posts in each category. Clicking a post title will bring you to the detail page for that post.
Last on the right, you'll see one or more blocks that contain news articles syndicated from other sites, like ARRL.org and NOAA.gov. Click on the title of any article to open a new window to that article on its original website. You can also click the little, blue "B" icon to comment on that article in your own blog on this site.
As always, comments and questions are welcome!
73,
KC0TFB, your site administrator.