Member pages are changing in a big way. No longer static, these elements of the NowPublic community are now yours to control.The big additions are the Channel and the Dashboard. In a nutshell, the Channel is the “you” that other members see, and the Dashboard is your custom view of NowPublic.
Are you ready? Let’s begin.
The first thing you’ll notice when you navigate to your own member page is the Channel page: like all good channels, this one can provide a depth of programming for your viewers.
You can customize this page to show the world what you want them to see: your stories, your newsworthy photos and video, and also your stream, which is a real-time tracker of your contributions to NowPublic, along with any other RSS feeds you want us to see… Flickr, Twitter, your blog, whatever you want. You can share as much or as little as you like from your non-NowPublic web presence. Just click on “Edit” and you can customize any of these widgets.
Along the left of the Channel page are your vital statistics: user photo, total number of page views racked up by your stories, and how those stories have fared. Also visible are your external links, the topics you write about most often, and your recent comments.
Now that your Channel is lined up, you can go over to the next tab: the Dashboard. Think you can make a better front page? Now’s your chance.
As the name suggests, the Dashboard puts you in the driver’s seat of NowPublic. While the Front Page is controlled by a combination of page views, flagging, and editor curation, the Dashboard is all you: customize these widgets to keep your finger on the pulse of NowPublic. Each module can be configured to show anything from recent comments to a constant stream of incoming images, to everything in between. It’s your call. Simply click “Add new item”, and a new widget will be generated. Want to change an existing widget? Click on the little arrow in the upper right and edit away. These can be minimized or deleted as well, also via the buttons on the upper right of each widget.
That’s not all: you can drag and drop your dashboard elements until you reach a state of Dashboard feng shui.
Okay, put the Dashboard away and head over to the Edit Profile tab… this should look familiar, but with a new item: your toolbox. You can let the rest of the NowPublic community know which tools you use for your reporting: do you have the latest and greatest all-in-one superphone, or, like me, do you go lo-fi? Whatever you add here will become visible on your Channel page.
The Edit Settings page is largely unchanged, but the new format means less scrolling. Nice.
The Messages section has filters for which types of private messages you see, how you like them ordered, and, for multi-message actions, which ones you want to select or un-select.
Go forth and customize!
Play, experiment, and let us know what works for you (and what doesn’t) in the comments section below. These new pages are in beta, so your feedback is important to us.
