TNBC.net Revealed

Where Do I Go and What Should I Do?

I've tried to make tnbc.net as intuitive and easy to use as possible, in particular for those moments when you may be browsing after having just enjoyed a nice frothy mug of your favorite brew. Since you're probably not in the mood for reading an instruction manual (who reads those anyways?) I'll break down the main features. The rest you can explore and discover on your own :)

Center Column

The center column has a dark blue/gray footer and header. The header contains a "breadcrumb path" which you can use to navigate up and down content items as you delve into the depths of beer territory. The first link, "Thursday Night Beer Club," always leads back to the front page. The footer contains a URL reflecting the address of the page you're currently on (also in your browser's address bar).

Links

Links to pages within the site appear in blue, while links to external sites appear in red.

Left-Hand Side of Screen

Main Menu

Use the menu at left to access the main areas of the site. The Home Page link takes you to the front page, where you can read regularly updated TNBC news. The Locations link takes you to a list of TNBC locations, where you may also Vote for next week's spot. Then browse on over to Beer Talk, where you can chat about all things beer (and some not) with your beery friends. The Voting System page explains the new voting system (the old site used a mailing list that had about a 20% success rate with people remember to post their location). Finally, there's TNBC's Roots, where you can learn about how TNBC started and just how big it has grown to this day.

Your Account

As a member you have access to some nifty features. If you haven't yet joined up, do it now (it's free), then come back and follow along in the tutorial. Your member's account box, right below the "Main Menu" block, offers several very cool features to members. "My Account" gives you access to your information, where you'll have access to your blog, guestbook, and instant messages, among other things.

Click on "edit" to change your username, email address, and password. You can also customize your guestbook and instant messenger, upload a photo, set a comment signature, as well as subscription, contact form, and timezone options. By clicking on "track" you may access all the articles and posts where you've left comments. Go to "contact" to access your emails and click on "my inbox" to access TNBC.net's Instant Messenger - quickly send notes to other TNBC members - simply type in their user name. Once you have sent a message the Messenger will automatically remember the user as a contact.

You can also directly access your guestbook, blog, email, subscriptions, recent popular content and posts, RSVP's (for TNBC events), a user list, and news aggregator. The news aggregator allows you to subscribe to news feeds. You may use "create content" to add a bio (biography) entry, blog entry, post an event, or create a new forum topic. Most of the remaining menu items are self-explanatory and best learned by clicking and exploring. If you have any questions please comment below and I'll answer them asap.

Who's Online

The "Who's Online" block shows you who's currently online. Anonymous users appear as "guests," while signed in members appear by user name under "online users."

Who's New

Recent inductees to our famous beer club.

Search

Search the site for anything - such as your favorite beer color.

Bookmark/ Tag

Allows you to save and tag your favorite articles using popular bookmarking services (opening an account with them is free).

Chatbox

The super-cool realtime "chatbox" lets you chat live with your fellow beer buddies.

Right-Hand Side of Screen

On the right-hand side you'll see "Upcoming Events" on top, listing events in the upcoming week. Below that is "This Week's Location" which announces the date and location of the upcoming TNBC Thursday. Then there's "Next Weeks' Location," which keeps a running tally of votes for the next TNBC location. This is followed by "New TNBC Locations," which lists TNBC's newest locale inductees. Following this there's "Newest Forum Topics," which I think is self-explanatory. Then there's "TNBC Reminders," where members can sign up to have email reminders sent to them (similar to the old Yahoo style method) of upcoming TNBC locations (note: only members will see the "subscribe" button - sign up if you haven't already). Finally there's "Events," a clickable calendar which details upcoming and past TNBC events.