Remember that you can always get to the help window by clicking on the "Help" icon -- the question mark in the little blue box -- near the top right corner of your screen.
You can also get to help from many other windows. Just look for the help icon. Clicking on it takes you to the appropriate help section. (Perhaps you just did that to get here.)
If you're having trouble with the Menu bar or you just want to figure out what those icons are for, you've come to the right place.
PPN's Menu bar sits across the top of the screen. It lets you access PPN's home page, displays your avatar and byline, lets you send your address to a friend, and shows the number of people currently subscribed to your broadcast as well as how many thumbs-up votes your site has earned. It also displays your tags (the topics that you write about), your login name, a logout option, a flagging option, a feedback button, and the Help icon.
From left to right across the page:
We kind of like it, and it's functional too. Just click on the logo to visit PNN's home page.
In the computer world, your avatar is an icon or image that represents you. It's part of your signature. We have many that you can choose from -- or use one of your own. If you're having trouble doing that, navigate to "Profile" under "My Broadcast: Preferences and Profile," and we'll walk you through it.
Just as with a journalist, your byline is your chosen author name. You can use variations of your own name or invent a new one, a pen name.
Use the Address icon -- the one that looks like an envelope -- to share the URL of your broadcast. Click on the icon, and in the box that comes up just type in the email address of your friend, and we'll send that person a link to your broadcast. You also have the option of sending your URL to multiple people using your own mail program. Don't worry. We won't send them spam or even save their email address.
This icon shows the number of people who have subscribed to your broadcast. To subscribe to someone else's broadcast, just go to their page and click on their Subscriptions icon. You'll see that they now have one more subscriber -- you.
To let your readers give you a thumbs-up vote, click on the icon once. Then your readers can start voting for your page. The icon keeps a tally of how many approval ratings you've earned.
Our flagging system empowers PPN members to identify inappropriate broadcasts. You all can do that much faster than our staff ever could. Just click on the icon on the offender's page. If the broadcast receives enough flags, we will remove it and send an email to the author, so please be judicious with your flags.
Click on the question mark within the little blue box to access the help sections. We'll help you get started and troubleshoot any problems you have along the way.
Use the feedback button to tell us how we can improve PNN.
Click here to logout -- or just quit your browser.