For an introduction to the new look at Daily Kos, check out this primer on getting started.
There are some powerful new features at Daily Kos that will make finding the content that you're most interested in and the other community members who share your interests. Actually, rather than entirely new features, most of them will be quite familiar. It's just that now they have much more functionality.
Below the fold, we'll start at the top,:
"Home" is pretty self-explanatory. That will always take you to a refreshed front page.
"My Page" is operations central for your content.
- "My Diaries" is so much more than just a list of the diaries you've written. It's your own, personal blog. Your new url to your new blog is "http://www.dailykos.com/.... Of course, you can also see your diaries by list view, and you can also create new diaries and manage your drafts from here.
- "My Stream" is a compendium of the people tags, and groups you follow (in DK3 terms, your subscriptions). These are listed by time--the most recent first. You might see names in the list you haven't specifically followed, but they'll be using a tag or belong to a group that you follow. Your subscriptions have carried over to DK4 to populate your Stream. Note that all the new diaries from the community members, groups, or tags you follow will appear in your Stream, so you're not likely to miss a diary that you want to see.
- "My Groups" lists those groups that you are a member of--not just those groups you follow or read, but to which you contribute as an editor/contributor or maybe even a founder. Your status, or role in the group, the most recent diary posted within the group, and an option to leave the group are available here. (More on Groups below.)
- Under "Following," you'll see the people, groups, and tags you've subscribed to in the past or choose to follow in the future, in addition to the diaries you have hotlisted and your blogroll.
- "My Comments" takes you exactly there, to the comments you've made beginning with the most recent, your replies to others' comments, and your ratings of other comments.
- Your "Profile" provides an at-a-glance overview of you as a Daily Kos member, including the status of your mojo, your user number, when you joined Daily Kos, whatever information about you you wish to share, and site statistics such as how many diaries and comments you've posted, the tags you follow, you recent diaries, and diaries you recommend. It also provides the important "Edit Profile" link, so you can manage your site settings, update your signature line, etc.
People
Here's a quick link to the core operators of the site--all of you. Curious about who has written the most at Daily Kos? (Well, that one's easy. It's Markos, followed by openthread.) How about who gets the most recommendations or has the highest mojo? See it here. (And let the competition begin.)
Groups
Here's where we get to one of the most powerful new features, or rather, new functionality for an ad hoc feature we had at DK3. Quoting Markos, "we already have them -- groups like Black Kos, ekos, and myriad more. DK4 just makes it vastly easier for those groups to organize."
Not only does DK4 make it easier for groups to organize, it makes it easier for groups get their message out. Groups can now have their own blog and create diaries within that blog. For example:
That's a group almost all Daily Kos readers know--the compilers of every day's top comments. If that's your favorite read of every day, you can make the Top Comment blog your home page, and never miss it.
Any trusted user can start a group by clicking on the "Create a New Group" link.
Creating a new group is simple, filling in the group name fields in this screen.
Once you've created the group, it's easy to add users to the group.
The group creator can choose who she wishes to have contributors to the group blog, and the role the member will have, whether they can help edit diaries published to the group blog or just write diaries for the group. Any user can request to be a contributor to a group by using the messaging tool--you can send to groups as well as individuals. Groups can be organized around a specific topic, or just among people who would like to collaborate. Posts can be co-authored by group editors, making efforts like liveblogging easier and more powerful. Anyone can read any group's diaries and comment in them.
(For much more on groups, don't miss the DK4 FAQ at dkosopedia, and these diaries by Dom9000 and Angie in WA State.)
Tags
Tags are still required to publish a diary. But tags in DK4 are going to be so much more useful than they used to be. Tags are used to categorize diaries, to make them easier to find for other community members and readers. A good tag can make or break your diary and whether it finds an audience.
The tags in this list are clickable, taking you to a page with a basic description of the topic and a sortable list of the diaries using that tag. If you want to follow any tag--have the diaries that are tagged with it to show up in your Stream, click on the heart symbol next to the tag.
For a great deal more on tags, once again turn to Angie in WA State and her Visual step-by-step guide to DK4 - Part V.
That takes you through the variety of new ways you can access the huge knowledge bank that is Daily Kos. Next up, adding your own wisdom.
More resources: