DCFOUNTAIN.COM

Home

The home page always will display excerpts of the five most recent posts; click on the title or “Read full post” links to see the full commentary. Wherever you are in the site, you may always return to the home page by clicking on the large “DCFOUNTAIN.COM” logo header at the top of each page or the “Home” link in the navigation bar at the foot of each page. A home link also is included immediately after each full post.

Links

Throughout the site, linked text always will change color upon mouse hover (blue to red, red to blue, or white to red). Only links within posts or other text blocks will be underlined before hover. If you happen to run across a broken link, do other readers a favor and please report it.

Post Indexes

Each post is permanently housed within one of four main indexes, accessed at the top of the left sidebar:

• The Daily Spray — The site’s only regularly updated index, this is a collection of mainstream media articles, op-eds and posts from elsewhere on the blogosphere that I have found of particular interest and wanted to pass along — typically with a few brief comments of my own. Despite the name, new posts for now will be added at least several times per week, eventually expanding to daily.
• Pools of Thought — A less frequently updated collection of longer, essay-length original commentaries. Posts in this index typically will cite only news sources rather than any external opinions, but exceptions may be made on occasion. New posts will be added on average every two weeks.
• Splashing Around — A collection of assorted tidbits highlighting the lighter side of politics, including political cartoons, videos, photographs and humorous quotes. Updates occur entirely at random. (Reader submissions are welcomed! Please read this site’s policy on accepting submissions before sending any material.)
• Guest Sprays — A future index that will feature other perspectives from occasional guest commentators.

Organization

General site information is accessed through the navigation bar at the foot of each page. All other content is organized into 4 distinct columns that serve the following purposes:

• Posts Row (navy sidebar at left) — This column contains anything and everything related to accessing the site’s posts/commentaries, other than excerpts and the posts themselves.
• Reading Area (large white column in center) — Where you now are, this serves as the site’s main reading area. It consists of posts, post excerpts and informational pages.
• Poll/Election Row (light-blue sidebar at near right) — Through November 2008, this column will serve as the site’s election resource — offering a series of polls dealing with the 2008 campaign as well as various election-focused information. After the election, this row will feature strictly a series of reader polls.
• Links Row (light-blue sidebar at far right) — This column features links to external resources, including news, weather and other blogs.

Posts Row

All posts on this site may be accessed in any of 6 ways from the left sidebar:

• By Keyword — Use the “Search” box.
• By Post Type – Use “Post Indexes” (defined above).
• By Topic – Use the “Post Categories” menu.
• By Date – Use the “Posts this Month” calendar (dates with posts are in red) or “Post Archives” to search previous months.
• By Reader Input – Use “Most-Viewed” and “Highest-Rated” to see the site’s most popular posts.
• By Subscribing – Use “Subscribe” to automatically receive notification of future posts via your choice of delivery method.

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