Читать книгу Facebook For Dummies - Carolyn Abram - Страница 56

Given all the exciting things happening on the Home page, you might not notice the top bar at first. It is, after all, just a white bar with some icons, as shown in Figure 3-2. But those icons represent some of the most important places on Facebook.

FIGURE 3-2: The top bar.

The top bar is similar to the navigational bar in the Facebook app (detailed in Chapter 7), so being comfortable with it here will help you switch between your phone and your computer with ease. Wherever you go on Facebook, the top bar will follow you like a loyal puppy, ready to help you find your way back home.

Keep in mind that the examples you see throughout this book might look a little different from your own screen. For example, Page owners might see a flag logo so that they can get to their Pages. Other people might see the Facebook Watch logo so that they can quickly get to video content. Like much of Facebook, what you see depends on the features you use.

The top bar holds 12 icons. We go through them all from left to right:

 Facebook logo: The Facebook logo on the far left serves two purposes. First, it reminds you what website you’re using. Second, no matter where you are on Facebook, you can click this icon to return to the Facebook Home page.

 Search field or icon: The text box next to the Facebook logo is the search box. This text area is where you can type any sort of search query. Simply click the search field and start typing what you’re looking for. As you do, Facebook opens a list with suggested searches. We talk more about how to find people and other Facebook content later, in the “Search” section of this chapter.

 Home icon (house): This icon is always there to bring you back to the Home page. When in doubt, just go Home and start over. The icons in the center of the top bar (from the home icon through the gaming icon, in this list) are what we think of as destination icons — when you click them they take you to a new destination in Facebook.

 Friends icon (two people): This icon takes you to your Friends page, which displays any friend requests you've received. You can come here to look at those potential friends’ profiles and respond to their requests. If you don’t have any pending friend requests, you can also check out people you may know, which are Facebook’s recommendations for potential friends. In general, your friends on Facebook will be the same people you're friends with in real life: friends, family, neighbors, and community members. Friends (and the finding of friends) are covered more in Chapter 8.

 Marketplace icon (storefront): Marketplace is a Facebook’s feature that enables people to buy and sell from other Facebook users. Click here to browse items for sale in your area. You can learn more about Marketplace as well as other options for buying and selling on Facebook in Chapter 12.

 Groups icon (three people): Groups on Facebook are online spots for discussing and for organizing all sorts of topics and interests. Click this icon to see what’s happening with your groups and find more groups to join. Groups are covered in depth in Chapter 10. If you haven’t joined any groups yet, you might not see this icon.

 Gaming icon (interlocked tiles): You can use your Facebook account to participate in all sorts of different online games (covered in more detail in Chapter 15). Clicking this icon will bring you to a gaming dashboard, where you can explore further. If you haven’t played any games on Facebook yet, you might not see this icon.

 Watch icon (TV): Facebook Watch is Facebook’s product for collecting video content in one place as well as producing original video content. Clicking this icon takes you to the Watch dashboard, where you can check out videos from Pages you follow, shows you watch or subscribe to, and any other videos you are likely to enjoy. (This icon isn't shown in Figure 3-2.)

 Your name and profile picture: If you share a computer with other people, glancing at this photo whenever you use Facebook is an easy way to make sure you’re using your Facebook account and not your spouse’s or kid’s account. Clicking your photo brings you to your timeline.

 Create icon (+): Connecting with friends is a two-way street. You want to learn about their lives and they want to learn about yours. The way you “talk” to friends on Facebook is to create content such as posts, stories, and life events. Click the Create icon no matter where you are on Facebook to open a menu where you can take the first step toward creating something new to share:Post: Posts are the bread and butter of Facebook. These creations can include text, photos, and so much more. We cover the many varieties of posts in Chapter 4.Story: Stories are similar to posts except they automatically disappear from Facebook after a day. We cover these in Chapter 4.Room: Rooms are video chat rooms that you can create on Facebook and use to video chat with friends wherever they are, whether or not they use Facebook. You can learn about rooms in Chapter 9.Page: Chapter 14 teaches you about Pages, or special profiles for businesses and organizations. If you’re ready to create a Page, start by selecting this option.Ad: Everyone using Facebook will see ads around the site. A smaller group of people create ads to promote businesses, events, or groups. We don't cover ad creation in this book. (You might want to consult Facebook Marketing For Dummies, 6th Edition.) We do, however, cover ad controls when we talk about privacy in Chapter 6.Group: Chapter 10 explains how to create and use groups to communicate and share with smaller groups of people in Facebook. You can view groups you’ve already joined by clicking the Groups icon in the top bar, but if you want to get started on a new group, you can create it from this menu.Event: Chapter 13 covers using Facebook to schedule, plan, and generally coordinate an event happening at a specific time. If you want to get a jump on planning your next shindig, start here.Marketplace Listing: Marketplace is a Facebook destination for buying and selling stuff. (It’s also covered in Chapter 12.) The create menu gives you a shortcut to create a listing for something you want to sell.Fundraiser: We delve into fundraisers in Chapter 12. Choose this menu option to raise money for causes near and dear to you.

 Messenger icon (speech bubble): People use Messenger to communicate directly to one another (or to each other in groups) on Facebook. This window displays previews from your most recent messages as well as a few options for interacting with your messages. We cover these options — and all of Messenger’s many features — in greater depth in Chapter 9:See All in Messenger icon (four arrows): This option brings you to your inbox, where you can see all your messages and get more options for interacting.New Message icon (pencil on notepad): This option opens a chat window at the bottom of the screen for sending a message to a friend.Options icon (three dots): Click this icon to display a menu of options for controlling things such as the sounds Facebook makes when you receive a chat, whether or not people can see if you’re active on Facebook currently, and whether people you don’t know can send you messages.Search field (Search Messenger box): You can search here for content in your messages or for messages from certain people.

 Notifications icon (bell): When someone on Facebook has taken an action that involves you or that Facebook thinks you will most likely want to see, you’re notified by a red flag here. Notification events include someone tagging you in a photo, someone posting something to a group you belong to, and having a birthday. Click this icon to open a window that displays recent notifications.Notifications appear as unread (in bold) until you click them. You can click the three dots at the top of this window to mark all your notifications as read or adjust your notification settings so you get only the notifications you truly want to see. These three dots appear any time you move your mouse over an individual notification, so you can take specific actions related to that particular item. For example, you may want to stop receiving a certain type of notification or report something to Facebook that you suspect of being spam or inappropriate content. Clicking the three dots displays a menu within the notifications window that will allow you to take those actions.

 Account icon (down arrow): The Account menu appears when you click the down arrow. Here’s a rundown of some of the categories you can find on the Account menu:Part: Clicking this option brings you to your profile.Switch Account: If you use multiple accounts from the same computer, you can go here to quickly toggle between accounts.Settings and Privacy: Choosing this option displays the Settings page, where you can change your name, email address, password, or mobile information, or the language you want to use on the site. This is also where you go to find privacy settings (detailed in Chapter 6) and notification settings and to deactivate your account.Help and Support: This option display the Facebook Help Center, where you can get answers to all the questions that we were unable to answer. While we love to say we have all the answers, sometimes things change or your account has a specific problem that we were not be able to solve.Display and Accessibility: You can adjust the way Facebook looks on your screen by shifting it to dark mode or changing the font size on your screen. You can also access information and turn on keyboard shortcuts if you only use a keyboard and not a mouse to navigate online.Log Out: Clicking this option ends your Facebook session. If you share your computer with others, always log out to ensure that another person can’t access your Facebook account. If you have the Remember Password option selected when you log in, you won’t ever be logged out — even if you close the browser — until you click Log Out. We recommend using the Remember Password option only on a computer you don't share with others.