Shovel Highlights

A shovel user asked this past week how to get the best benefit from the site. That is, how to best take advantage of the different features. Here is my response:

First, make sure that you are logged in. This way, you'll be able to track which articles you've viewed. You may have noticed the red labels next to article titles on the "Most Recent Posts" block on the front page that indicate "New" or "Updated". Once you've visited any of those articles the red label will disappear. Now, that block only shows the five most recent articles (other than Shoveletters or Spoonfuls). However, if you will click on the "Recent Entries" tab on the top of the page, you will be taken to a page with every article listed starting from the most recent. You'll also see the red labels on posts you haven't read.

Notice the top line of tabs: SHOVELETTER, SPOONFUL, SHOVELATION, Q&A. Click any one of them and you'll be taken to a page showing a menu with different categories. Just work your way down until you find something you want to read.

Reture to the home page through the Shovel logo on the top of the page, as well as the little logo on the bottom of each page. The tab bar also remains on the pages.

At the bottom of the page on each article you'll see some related links. If you click one, you'll be given a listing of any article I tagged as relating.

On the pages of some articles you'll notice that other blocks of links will show up. For example, if you check out one of the Shoveletters that happens to be part of a Shoveletter series you'll be presented with a block on the right side containing all the articles in that series, as well as links to all the other Shoveletter series.

Links on the front page. On the left side there is a link to the latest Shoveletter and latest Spoonful, then the Most Recent Articles. Below that is a handy little block of links to help you search by Biblical reference, as well as by related terms. You can search by: NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCE - these NT references play a decent part of the articles OLD TESTAMENT REFERENCE - these OT references may or may not play a decent part of the articles RELATED CONTENT - articles that are related to one another in one or more ways BY VERSE - less organized, but every Biblical reference in articles, whether merely quoted or critical to the article

Of course, there is always the main search function on the upper right hand corner of every page. Enter a word or phrase and then Search. You'll be taken to a page with a list of articles, with a teaser that you can click on. You'll also notice that a new link is shown under the text box that says, ADVANCED SEARCH. Click that link and you'll see a few options that you can experiment with.