### Exploring the Interface

#### Contextual Help

In addition to the global help pages, several administration pages include online help. If JavaScript is enabled in your browser, you can view the online help at the top right of the page by clicking the link Need Help? If JavaScript is disabled, the help is displayed at the bottom of the page.

On every administration page, you will find the same top panel, main menu, and footer. (The locations of each of these elements are shown here for viewing on a computer; on a mobile device or tablet, their placement varies depending on available space.)

#### Top Banner

The section at the top of each page consists of three elements:

##### Logo

By default, this logo is the Dotclear logo and links to the administration landing page. However, a platform administrator can choose a different logo and redirect to another page (usually the service’s homepage).

##### Blog(s)

The first element after the logo indicates the active blog, i.e., the blog you are currently working on. If your installation consists of multiple blogs, this information is available in a drop-down menu, which allows you to switch to another blog.

The link following the blog name allows you to view the blog in a new window or tab.

##### User

At the far right of the top panel, the link My Dashboard takes you back to the blog’s home page.

The next link, My Preferences, takes you to the page where you can edit your personal information, configure your dashboard, and choose your interface and editing options.

Surprisingly, the link Log out [your login] lets you… log out, yes, really. (At Dotclear, we’re really good at ergonomics.)

#### Main menu

The main menu is located on the left side of the screen. It can be collapsed by clicking on its right edge (and expanded by clicking on the same edge).

It leads to the various administration pages corresponding to your permissions on the active blog. It consists of four sections

- My Favorites lists the pages you have marked as favorites in the My Dashboard tab of My Preferences. If you haven't selected any favorites yet, this list shows Dotclear's default set or that of the platform administrator. If you do not want to display this block, uncheck the corresponding box in your dashboard options.
- Blog lists all the pages that allow you to update and configure the current blog, whether it’s editing a post, managing media, choosing the blog’s appearance, or adjusting other settings.
  If you do not have administrator rights for the current blog, there will be no other block below this one in the main menu.
- System Settings provides access to pages for managing the Dotclear installation: blog management, users and available languages, extension installation, and system settings. If you have permissions for multiple blogs but do not have super-administrator status, it consists solely of the Blogs item.
- Plugins allows you to configure the settings for installed plugins. If a plugin’s settings affect only one blog at a time, its administration page is available from the Blog section; however, if the settings affect all pages in the installation, they appear here and are accessible only to users with super admin rights.

#### Footer

A free version of Dotclear is available to any user who discovers the secret of the footer.

### Help for Complete Beginners

If you are not familiar with blogs, we recommend consulting our documentation (the complete table of contents is available in the Documentation tab on this page).

The Dotclear forum is a place for mutual support where there are no dumb questions. Feel free to participate if you need help and, why not, help others in return.

We strive to use vocabulary that is understandable without prior knowledge. However, if we have inadvertently used a technical term, you will likely find an explanation in the glossary of our online documentation.

### User Documentation

#### Blog Feed

- Posts
  - Creation and editing
  - Post information
  - Post actions
  - Comments and trackbacks
  - Batch processing of posts
- Comments and trackbacks
  - Tracking
  - Management
- Categories
  - Create a category
  - Edit a category
  - Delete a category
  - Sort the list of categories
- Keywords (Tags)
  - Add keywords
  - Manage keywords
- Media and Attachments
  - Create a subfolder
  - Add files
  - Download a zip archive of the current folder
  - Edit or add information to a file
  - Directly add files
  - Specific file types
  - Attachments
- List of links
  - List of links
  - Add a link
  - Add a link category
  - XFN
  - Import from an OPML or XBEL file

#### Settings and Customization

- Blog Settings
  - Blog Information
  - Blog Configuration
  - Comments and Trackbacks
  - Blog Overview
  - Media and Images
  - Indexing Settings
  - Spam Protection
  - LightBox
  - Save
- Blog Appearance
  - Choose a theme
  - Install a theme
  - Customize a theme
  - Theme Editor

#### Further Reading

##### Glossary

- All those mysterious terms used on the web and in Dotclear

#### Tutorials

- The Dotclear Forum
- Frequently Asked Questions

### Administrator Documentation

#### Installation and Updates

- Installation
  - Prerequisites
  - Automatic installation
  - “Standard” installation
  - Installation Wizard
  - Manual Setup of the config.php File
  - End of Installation
  - Next Steps
- Update
  - Preparations
  - Automatic update
  - Manual program update
  - Database update
  - Appendix: Updating a copy with Mercurial
- Settings for the configuration file (config.php)
  - Introduction
  - Settings
  - Additions to the file

##### Hosts Appendix

- Hosts

#### Administration

- Optimized installation
- Other appearance
  - Choose a theme
  - Install a theme
  - Customize a theme
  - Theme Editor

#### Management and Maintenance

#### Community Support

- The Dotclear Forum

### Documentation and resources for developers

#### Design & Themes

- Themes
  - Theme User Guide
  - Template Tags
  - Appendices
- Theme Inheritance
  - Theme inheritance
  - Principle
  - Limitations
- Template tags
  - General / Utilities
  - Blog
  - Posts
  - Post Pagination
  - Comments
  - Comment Preview
  - Trackbacks
  - Attachments
  - Categories
  - Tags
  - Archives
  - Languages
  - System
  - Widgets

#### Code & Plugins

- Creating a tpl tag for a plugin or theme
  - Introduction
  - Values
  - Instruction blocks
  - Demonstration of the influence of the template cache
- Plugins
  - Plugin Development
  - Related Documents
- API Documentation

#### Contribute & Support

- Contribute
  - Improve the documentation
  - Where to submit your contributions?
  - Report bugs or suggest improvements
  - Suggestions
- The Dotclear source code repository
- The Dotclear forum

#### Conventions

- Coding standards
- Administration pages chart

### Accessibility and Usability

The Dotclear interface meets nearly all of the WCAG 2.0 criteria; a detailed report will soon be published on the project blog. Ultimately, we would also like to fully meet the ATAG 2.0 criteria.

Accessibility and usability are central concerns for the Dotclear team. We regularly conduct analyses with the help of experts and continuously implement fixes and improvements.

You can help us by opening tickets or participating in the forum . You can also participate in user testing or join our team!