To begin using Dash6, click on the "Join Now" link if you are not already a member. A form will appear with required information for setting up an account.

After becoming a member or logging in for the first time, you will be presented with the "My Console" screen. This screen contains your Groups (collections of sites) and is where you can manage your information.

If this is your first time visiting "My Console", you will see that there are 4 empty sample groups (Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and Group 4) as well as an empty "Temporary Bookmarks" group.

The Temporary Bookmarks group is used for storing bookmarks when using the Dash6 Tool for the Google Toolbar. Unlike all other groups, this group cannot be deleted.

You'll also notice some icons in the title bars of the groups. The silver circle with an "X" in the upper left allows deletion of a group by left clicking on it. The blue dash6 icon on the right can do two things:

1. If there are sites flagged for QuickLaunch, left clicking on this icon will launch the sites in a new window.
2. Right clicking on the icon will bring up a popup menu to mange the selected group.

Above is a picture of the popup menu presented when right clicking on the Dash6 icon for the "Group 1" Group.

The menu items available are:

• QuickLaunch Sites – launch all sites flagged for QuickLaunch in this Group in new browser windows
• Add New Group – Add a new Group
• Edit Group – Edit selected Group
• Delete Group – Delete selected Group
• Organize Groups – Change the order in which Groups are displayed
• Add Site – Add a site to the selected Group.

For this example, we are going to add a new Group. We are going to create a "News" group where we will keep news sites together in a collection.

From the popup menu, select and left click on "Add New Group". The Control Panel will open up with the "Manual Add" tab selected. In this tab, the following information will be entered:

• Title – The name for the group. Since this will be a Group containing news sites, "News" has been entered.
• Public, Private and Semi-Protected – These are the levels of access that can be granted to this group. These levels are as follows:
• Public – Available for all members to see. This level is selected so that other members may search and subscribe to this Group.
• Private – Assigning this level of security will only allow the creator to view and search for this group. A possible use for this would be to hold a collection of personal information sites like banking or email sites.
• Semi-Protected – Groups assigned with this level of security may be searched, but can only be viewed with the proper password supplied in the "Password" box.
• Password – This is where the password is entered for Semi-Protected Groups.
• Description – A brief description of what type of sites may be contained in the group or any kind of comment.

From the prior screenshot, the following information has been presented:

• Title – News
• Public
• Password – [blank, not needed for Public access]
• Description – My collection of news sites.

Clicking on the Submit button updates My Console with our new Group.

To edit a Group, right clicking on the Dash6 icon in the Group's upper right corner will present the popup menu with the option to "Edit Group" as seen in the image in II.A.

For this example, the newly created "News" Group will be edited with the following information:

• Title – News Sites
• Public
• Password - [blank]
• Description – My collection of news sites.

Very informative!

Clicking on the Submit button will update My Console as follows:

When editing a Group, a little trashcan icon is to the left of the Submit button. Clicking this icon will allow the deletion of the Group after a confirmation message appears.

Groups may be deleted in three ways:

1. Clicking on the silver circle with an "X" in the upper left hand corner of a Group
2. Right clicking on the Dash6 icon in the upper right hand corner of a Group and selecting "Delete Group"
3. From the trash can icon in the Control Panel when editing a specific Group.

Regardless of which method used, you will be asked to confirm this action. Continuing with our example, we are going to delete the "Group 4" Group by clicking on the silver circle with an "X" next to the title "Group 4".

After clicking on the Submit button in the "Are you sure you want to delete?" confirmation form, My Console is updated as follows:

Now, let's organize our Groups by ordering them. Right clicking on the Dash6 icon in any of the Groups and selecting "Organize Groups" from the popup menu, the form above will appear.

The Organize Groups form contains all of our Groups in a list on the left and the following action buttons on the right:

• Move Up – Moves the selected Group up one spot in the list
• Move Down – Moves the selected Group down one spot in the list
• Swap 2 Options – When two groups are selected by holding down the CTRL button and left clicking on items in the Groups list, this button will swap the selected items with each other in the list.

Organizing our groups in the following order (News Sites, Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and Temporary Bookmarks), clicking on the Submit button returns the changes to My Console as follows:

Now that we have covered the basics of managing Groups, let's add a site to our "News Sites" Group. This is done by right clicking on the Dash6 icon in the "News Sites" Group and selecting "Add Site".

Doing so will open up the Control Panel with the Manual Add tab selected. The form above has the following fields:

• URL – The URL/link to the site.
• Title – The name we wish to assign to the site

• Public, Private and Semi-Protected – These are the levels of access that can be granted to sites just like Groups. These levels are as follows:
• Public – Available for all members to see. This level is selected so that other members may search and subscribe to this site.
• Private – Assigning this level of security will only allow the creator to view and search for this site.
• Semi-Protected – Sites assigned with this level of security may be searched, but can only be viewed with the proper password supplied in the "Password" box.
• Password – This is where the password is entered for Semi-Protected Groups.
• QuickLaunch – Selecting this option will allow this site to be launch in a new window when left clicking on the Dash6 icon in the Group's title bar.
• Site Username – A username for a site if the site has a login.
• Site Password – A password for a site if the site has a login.

Note: The Site Username and Site Password may not work for all sites. The Dash6 console will attempt to log into the site when launched. If the login attempt fails, Dash6 will relay the message on screen.

Continuing with our example, the following information has been entered for our new site:

• URL – http://news.yahoo.com
• Title – Yahoo!News

• Public
• Password - [blank]
• QuickLaunch - checked
• Description - Yahoo! News is where I always check the latest headlines.
• Site Username - [blank]
• Site Password - [blank]

Submitting this information updates My Console as follows:

In our updated My Console, "Yahoo! News" is highlighted in blue. This flags the site as being a QuickLaunch site. These sites can immediately be launched with one click on the button by left clicking on the Dash6 icon in the Group's upper right corner in its title bar.

Non-QuickLaunch sites would have their titles in gray and would not be opened in a new window when left clicking on the Group's Dash6 icon.

Regardless of whether a site has been flagged for QuickLaunch or not, sites in any Group can easily be launched in a new browser window by left clicking on the sites' image or title in the Group.

Now that the basics of managing a group and adding a site to it have been covered, our example now looks like the above after editing a few groups and adding a few more sites.

Since left clicking will launch a site in a new browser window, right clicking on a site will open up the popup menu above with the following options:

• Launch Site – Launch the currently selected site
• Edit Site – Edit the selected site
• Delete Site – Delete the selected site
• Set QuickLaunch On/Off – This allows to quickly setting the toggle for QuickLaunch for the selected site.

Continuing with our example, we are going to set QuickLaunch to "on" for the Amazon site in the "Shopping" Group. This is done by right clicking on the image snapshot and selecting "Edit Site".

The form fields are exactly the same as before when adding a site. The trashcan icon also allows for the site to be deleted, but with our example, the QuickLaunch checkbox is going to be checked and the form submitted with the following results.

The title for Amazon is now blue indicating that it has been flagged as a QuickLaunch site.

Dragging and dropping sites handles organizing and ordering sites. Sites can be dragged within their current Group or they may be moved to other Groups.

When moving sites, left click on the site but do not release the left mouse button. The site's image will appear to blur and a black cursor swill appear to the left of the image.

Important: After moving sites around, be sure to click on the "Save Changes" link in the upper right to commit the site changes that have been made.

Continuing with our example, we are going to move "Yahoo! Sports" in the "Sports" Group as the first site in the Group. Left clicking and holding the mouse button down, we drag "Yahoo! Sports" up until the black cursor appears to the left of the "ESPN" site in the "Sports" Group. Once the cursor is at the right position, releasing the left mouse button will update the order of the sites in My Console as follows:

Changing our mind a bit, let's move the "Yahoo! Sports" site into the "News Sites" Group just before the "Yahoo! News" site.

By using the same methods as before, "Yahoo! Sports" will be dragged and dropped between the current 2 sites in the "News Sites" Group.

Doing this updates My Console as follows:

Once we are satisfied with the new organization and order of our sites, clicking on the "Save Changes" link in the upper right corner will save our changes for the next time we log in or visit My Console.

The Control Panel is the popup form with several tabs available. These tabs are:

• Content – This tab is used for searching for Groups that can be subscribed to. Based on Group and Site access levels, entering a keyword to search will return a list of Groups the match or are relevant. Clicking on one or more of the Group names in the search results will add that Group to your My Console.
• Users – This tab is used for inviting members to view a Site or Group in your my Console. Search results return screen names of members based on the entered keyword. Clicking on a screen name in the search results allows you to invite that friend to view the selected Site or Group.
• Top Feeds – This tab lists Groups based on their access levels and the number of members who have subscribed to that Group. Clicking on a Group will subscribe you to that Group and place a copy in you're my Console.
• Manual Add – This tab is used for creating and editing Sites and Groups.

In this example, a search for "Office" returns two Groups with the keyword "Office". In the search results, the number to the right is the number of members subscribed to that Group.

Clicking on a Group name in the list will make a copy of that Group in My Console.

In this example, searching for "Doe" returns one member's screen name. Clicking on any name returned in the list will fill the "Invite a Friend" form with that member's screen name.

Clicking on the "Add" button will send an email out to that member with information on viewing the selected Site or group. In the email, the member will be able to preview the Site or Group information sent.

The Top Feeds is a current listing of most subscribed Groups. The number on the right reflects the number of members that have subscribed to that Group.

Clicking on a Group name in the list will make a copy of that Group in My Console.

The Manual Add tab is used for creating and editing Sites and Groups as outlined in sections II.A and II.B.

My Account allows members to edit the information entered when they first joined. This information is:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email Address
• Screen Name
• Password

In addition to the Delete and Dash6 controls for Groups, there are other items that may appear based on the Group's characteristics.

• Subscriber Icon – This appears to the left of the Dash6 icon if there are subscribers to that Group. Hovering over the icon will present the current number of subscribers to that Group.
• Top Feed Meter – This, too, also appears once there are subscribers to the Group. This is the meter bar that appears in the lower right side of the Group's footer. This meter is filled based on the number of subscribers to this Group in relation to all subscribed Groups. The more subscribers, the more the meter will be filled.
• Group Navigation – This control consists of small up and down arrows in the lower left hand corner of a Group. This control is used to navigate inside a Group when there are more than 9 sites that fill up the display area. Hovering over the up arrow will scroll up inside the Group and vice versa for hovering over the down arrow.