The front screen of the new software is much more powerful than the previous software...

There is no substitute for exploration, but the guide below will show what most of it does.

The main screen of SGL.

1. Shows your current location.as your view sub area's of SGL this "path" gets longer each level is clickable so that you can move up one or multiple levels quickly.

2. The White or grey circle. If it's white then there are unread posts in this section if it's grey then they are all read. In lower levels it will also change to little Quotes if you have posted in a thread (but will again be white or grey).If a has been closed it will appear as a Circle with a line through it. You can click on the symbol itself and that will mark all the threads in that section as READ.

3. Shows the name, avatar and time of the last post(er).

4. This symbol if normally hidden, but when you move the mouse over this area a little "-" sign appears, click on it and the section will collapse. Once collapsed a little "+" will appear, click on it to expand the section. The software will remember how this is set, so that next time you visit it will be as you want it. This is what it would look like.

5. The Side bar, this is where the latest Classifieds, topics, status updates and Birthdays are shown. There are similar options in the top right of each section to minimise and restore.

The sections, individually, can be minimised or the whole sidebar can be disabled.

To minimise each section also there is a fainter X in a box just above and to the right of the latest classifieds, if you click on it the side bar is removed completely. The retore the side bar click on the << symbol.

Below is a screen grab of the side sections all collapsed.

And a screen grab with the side bar removed completely.

6. Reset button, this unhides all the announcements that you have previously dismissed.

7. A link to the SGL code of Conduct.

8. View new content - fairly self explanitory really.

9. The short cut menu, this button displays a quick access popup. Quite useful really.

10. Your user name with a little drop down to your own things like. Quick Status update, settings, content, galleries, friends and PMs.

11. Takes you to your Private Messages - this symbol will be flagged when you have unread messages. This is just a summary, you can click on a message header to go to that message, click on view all or compose a new message all from this popout box.

12. A little bell. This is your notifications. Click on the bell to bring up a popout menu. This will list your notifications, the notifications that appear here are based on your settings. These settings can be changed by clicking on settings from the popout menu.

13. Sign out, click this to sign out. Remember if you are using a public machine, then it's always best to sign out.

If you come across any feature or short cut that I've missed let me know.

Ant

Source: SGL - The new software Front Page