Secrets of AzBilliards

Well, to quote Jerry, who came on with this right after JAM's post....

"HOW TO EXPLORE THE NEW AZB

The Front Page now offers much larger photos on the Top Features section so that you have a better viewing experience. Beside this on the right is the Latest News. Any news stories that have arrived within the previous seven days will have a green color code on the left that tells you this is a new story.

Below the Top Features section you will find the Top Stories section. Here we will keep major news items that require a longer exposure than the 'everyday' news items. You will find the date the story was received, a headline and a logo of the event. Of course, just push the button in order to read the full story.

The Streaming Guide is moved up on the page and is now international in scope. The labels on the right will tell you if the streams are free or PPV. The dates of the stream are listed and just push the button to go to the streaming pages to watch the streams when they are playing.

One new feature we think you will really like is the Featured Video. This offers you a much larger viewing window and the videos will be changed out frequently to offer you lots of new viewing experiences. Here you can watch everything from Mosconi Cup matches to TAR events to historical footage from the game's past.

On the right side is the expanded Money Leaderboard. This will now tell you much more than just how much someone has won in prize monies. Click on any player listed there and you go to their "Home" page on AZB. Every professional player in our database now has their own home page on AZB where you can explore their career in depth.

This is a great place to learn how to "peel the onion" on the new AZB. There is a lot more here than first meets the eye. For instance, hover over the panel for Francisco Bustamante. When it turns yellow just click to go to Bustamante's new Home Page. This first click will tell you where he lives, who his sponsors are, where he plays when at home and how long he has been a pro.

But that is just the beginning. After you absorb what you wish on that page peel back another layer by clicking on any of the events that are listed in the "Year in Review" section in the center of that page. This will take you to the Home Page of that event. That is correct. Every Tour, Tournament or Event that happens in pool will now have its own Home Page on AZB. So if you click on, for instance, the Derby City Classic entries it will take you to the results section of the Home Page of the DCC and you can see not only how Bustamante did in the event but you can also see the players with whom he was competing, where each one finished, and how much each player earned in that event.

And that is just the first 'peel'. Keep going deeper by clicking on the yellow symbols at the top right-hand side of the page. The one that looks like a globe takes you to the Event Home Page. Here you can see everything about the event. Where it is held, dates, games played, player lists and how long the event has been running. But one of our favorite new features is what happens when you click on one of the "Latest Related Stories". This takes you deeper into the history of the event to a page where you can read not only the latest news, you can also just scroll down and read all of the stories written about each of the events throughout it's history. Here you can explore the DCC all the way back to its beginnings. Silver members (who merely have to register with us for free) can see all the information on this event going back for five years. Gold members can read about the event from its very beginning. Soon we will add the photos from these events and we will also be featuring video coverage of them as well.

Back on the Front Page (get there by clicking on the house on the left side of the top menu bar on any page) you should remember a couple of thins. First, anything that turns yellow when you hover over it is a another page with deeper information on that subject. Second, the Menu Bar at the top of every page is a shortcut to the information you most often require. NEWS will take you to a page of all the news from around the world in all cuesports.

TOURS AND EVENTS will bring you to the page whee you can explore events in the past, present and future. Scroll left and right on the top (Current & Upcoming Tournaments) to find your favorite tours and events and use the 'previous' and 'next' yellow tabs in the "Latest Updated Tournaments" section underneath that to explore the tournaments themselves.

You may also shortcut to the tours you want by finding them in the green alphabetical listing at the bottom of the page. Click on the name of any tour or event to go to its Home Page.

The Tours and Events section is another place where you can just sink ever deeper and truly get inside all of the Tournaments, Tours and Special Events, be they current or from out of the past. There are many pages nested within other pages there. A single tournament has its own Home Page and it is contained inside the Home Page of the Parent Tour and these all have links to the players who participated in all of them as well as prize money amounts, photos and full results. This depth of coverage is unprecedented in the cuesports.

Our coverage is not limited to only the Major Pro Events. Regional and local tours get the same respect with their own Home Pages and all of the details we are provided by the Tournament Directors of these events. Our goal is to celebrate all who contribute to the growth and popularity of any of the major cue disciplines.

The CALENDAR tab will bring you to our complete calendar of events whee they are listed in chronological order. You can look up past events or scout out future one in your area and get information on them here. You can plan an entire season of events to attend or compete in just a few minutes on this page.

The AZBMARKETPLACE tab takes you to our online store that is managed by Seyberts. Whatever you need in the world of pool can be found here. Customer service beyond reproach.

The PEOPLE tab will take you to the page where you can learn all you wish about the players. Photos, earnings history, event history, it is all there. And you can search for your favorite player without wading thorough a sea of thousands of names.

And the FORUMS tab takes you to our very popular forums where enthusiasts from around the world gather to share information and argue about everything.

SURPRISES. You will find many. The site is too large for me to guide you through each nook and cranny. Have some fun just exploring. You will find lots of stuff you never thought you would. AZB is the largest repository of cueing information anywhere in the world and we are growing that information base every day.

In the near future we will be adding such features as columns and videos to the menu bar at the top of the page. And other dedicated areas are in the planning stages.

Finally, we do have a disclaimer: The information on AZBilliards is only as complete as players and organizers allow. While our current information is very accurate some dated material such as a players yearly earnings back before 2002 or so is incomplete due to the lack of information available on those events. We got what is possible but many events from years ago have had their records lost, destroyed or discarded. Still, you will be amazed at the amount of information we have been able to gather. "
 
People normally view lists of threads by "Last Post Time". That's the default I suppose. But you can also sort lists of threads by "Start Time". This is particularly useful for the For Sale forum.

Say you're in the market for a new cue, but you're not interested in "this, that or the other". But naturally multiple threads selling "this, that or the other" get bumped to the top a lot. If you sort by "Start Time", the threads are displayed in chronological order based on the initial post. Hence, once you have seen a particular thread once, and have determined that you are not interested, you never have to look at it again. Check the forum every day and scroll down the list of threads, and once you see threads that you have already seen, then you know you can stop. You are not missing anything AND you don't have to see things you are not interested in being bumped up a lot.

Here's the tricky part. This sort option is only available in certain "styles" (also known as "skins"). It's not available in "AzBilliards vB 3 style", for example. In the lower left corner is a menu to choose the style. Then a few inches above that is the "Display Options" area where you will see a "Sorted By" menu. I've noticed that certain other features are either not available in all skins or displayed differently in various skins.

And BTW, if you don't like AZ's new look, you can choose any of the earlier skins/styles.

Fatz
 
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I've been navigating on this forum for a long time now, close to a decade, and as you can see by my post count, well, I get around on AzBilliards okay. ;)

Since I have turned gold and blue, I have decided to remove myself from the invisible mode, so I could marvel at my blueness. :cool:

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few secrets of AzBilliards and hope you will share some, too, if you have any.

If a person is in invisible mode, one might think they have no way of knowing whether someone else knows if they have been online or not. Well, there is a way. If you go to their iTrader link beneath their avatar and click on the number after "iTrader," you can see in the upper right-hand corner the time and date of the last time they have been on AzBIlliards. Not so invisible now, huh? :grin-square:

A few years ago, I created a thread about Etta James and Fats. Each day, I noticed how many hits it was generating. I used to refer back to it for data that I needed for another project. I then discovered the Links tab up in the upper right-hand corner. If you click it, at the bottom there is something that says "Who's Online," and you can see who is reading the thread at that moment.

It is amazing to me how many guests there are on AzBilliards. As it turns out, it was these so-called "guests" that were reading the Etta James thread. Since AzBilliards is cached on the Internet, if anyone was looking for Etta James data, then they would get a link to AzBilliards because of this Etta James thread.

Here's one more secret of AzBilliards. If you write a great post, you can click on the greenie button of your own post, and it lets you know how many greenies you got for the post. The greenie section only allows 20 or so comments and then they disappear. Well, this greenie button on the post will always reveal how many greenies that post received ad infinitum.

Now it's your turn. Please share some AzBilliards secrets. Okay, they're not really secrets. They're navigating tips, but I figured the word "secrets" made the thread title intriguging. :p

Is there a way, when you're signed in to view a thread from the beginning on page 1 instead of having to go to the last page and scroll down to the bottom to get to the first post or is that only for guest mode.
 
I have question, which I'm hijacking my own thread here, but when people refer to "The Netherlands," it is kind of like "The Hague," with the word "The" capitalized in front of it.

In plain speak, when people converse and they say, for example, "I am going to the Netherlands," would you initial-cap "The" in this regard?

Example A: I am going to The Netherlands.
Example B: I am going to the Netherlands.

Which example is correct, punctuation-wise?

TIA! :smile:

Ask somebody fro The Hague....:cool:
 
My AZ secret............
...I subscribe to any thread where JAM, Sean Leinen, or Joey A writes about
how to navigate the web.

I grew up using two tin cans and a string....:embarrassed2:
 
I have question, which I'm hijacking my own thread here, but when people refer to "The Netherlands," it is kind of like "The Hague," with the word "The" capitalized in front of it.

In plain speak, when people converse and they say, for example, "I am going to the Netherlands," would you initial-cap "The" in this regard?

Example A: I am going to The Netherlands.
Example B: I am going to the Netherlands.

Which example is correct, punctuation-wise?

TIA! :smile:

I am not 100% how it is done in English, but the full name in Dutch translates to "Kingdom of the Netherlands" and as such I would say B is correct.

gr. Dave
 
Some random stuff, nothing amazing...

Speed reading:
Sort by newest post first, 40 per page. Then when viewing a particular subforum like the main forum,
middle click each topic that interests you. This opens it in a new tab. Once you've opened
all the topics you like, you can close the forum and just read/reply to each topic
as you have time, close the tab with ctrl+W when done with it.

All time rep list:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/memberlist.php?order=DESC&sort=reputation&pp=100
(or just go to community, member list, then click reputation).

Styling text in posts with the keyboard: just highlight text and do ctrl+I to italicise, or ctrl+B to bold.

Making sure no image is so big it requires scrolling:
Install the "Stylish" plugin for your browser, if available, and add:
img { max-width: 800px !important; }
800 pixels is what works best for my monitor, your mileage may vary.

Editing posts: double click the edit button to start editing immediately.
For some reason you can single click and wait several seconds but I have no idea why you would.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JAM
Some random stuff, nothing amazing...

Speed reading:
Sort by newest post first, 40 per page. Then when viewing a particular subforum like the main forum,
middle click each topic that interests you. This opens it in a new tab. Once you've opened
all the topics you like, you can close the forum and just read/reply to each topic
as you have time, close the tab with ctrl+W when done with it.

All time rep list:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/memberlist.php?order=DESC&sort=reputation&pp=100
(or just go to community, member list, then click reputation).

Styling text in posts with the keyboard: just highlight text and do ctrl+I to italicise, or ctrl+B to bold.

Making sure no image is so big it requires scrolling:
Install the "Stylish" plugin for your browser, if available, and add:
img { max-width: 800px !important; }
800 pixels is what works best for my monitor, your mileage may vary.

Editing posts: double click the edit button to start editing immediately.
For some reason you can single click and wait several seconds but I have no idea why you would.

Nice ones. Good tips! :yes:
 
Is there a way, when you're signed in to view a thread from the beginning on page 1 instead of having to go to the last page and scroll down to the bottom to get to the first post or is that only for guest mode.

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean. I just change the page, if there is more than one page, but I'm not sure that is helpful to what you are seeking. Explain it a wee bit more. :cool:
 
People normally view lists of threads by "Last Post Time". That's the default I suppose. But you can also sort lists of threads by "Start Time". This is particularly useful for the For Sale forum.

Say you're in the market for a new cue, but you're not interested in "this, that or the other". But naturally multiple threads selling "this, that or the other" get bumped to the top a lot. If you sort by "Start Time", the threads are displayed in chronological order based on the initial post. Hence, once you have seen a particular thread once, and have determined that you are not interested, you never have to look at it again. Check the forum every day and scroll down the list of threads, and once you see threads that you have already seen, then you know you can stop. You are not missing anything AND you don't have to see things you are not interested in being bumped up a lot.

Here's the tricky part. This sort option is only available in certain "styles" (also known as "skins"). It's not available in "AzBilliards vB 3 style", for example. In the lower left corner is a menu to choose the style. Then a few inches above that is the "Display Options" area where you will see a "Sorted By" menu. I've noticed that certain other features are either not available in all skins or displayed differently in various skins.

And BTW, if you don't like AZ's new look, you can choose any of the earlier skins/styles.

Fatz

Very good tips. Thanks!
 
Can't remember my AP Style Guide too well anymore, but I seem to recall that you do not capitalize "the" before a country, like in "the United States," because it's not part of the actual name. But, "The Hague" is different because the actual name is "The Hague" as in "Den Haag."

But I'd double check all that if I were you :-)

Lou Figueroa

I thought Netherlands was "The Netherlands."

I'm using GPO Style Manual, and they don't provide specifics on this. AP Style Guide, if memory serves me right, does not use the serial comma. Big no-no for me. :).

It is like "The Washington Post." In colloquy, you would write this: "I receive the Washington Post," and have Washington Post italicized, leaving the "the" not italicized.

The Hague, The Netherlands, they confuse me. :o

GPO style leaves a lot to be desired. I usually go The Associated Press Stylebook when I don't find something in GPO. I have a few others on the shelf as well. I even have a book called The Flipper that I rescued when the Forest Service closed an office in Pennsylvania. It has sections on punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. The Flipper is from 1974.
On topic, the Netherlands is correct.
 

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Here's one more secret of AzBilliards. If you write a great post, you can click on the greenie button of your own post, and it lets you know how many greenies you got for the post. The greenie section only allows 20 or so comments and then they disappear. Well, this greenie button on the post will always reveal how many greenies that post received ad infinitum.

Anyone know how to view rep you've given?

Fatz
 
Is there a way, when you're signed in to view a thread from the beginning on page 1 instead of having to go to the last page and scroll down to the bottom to get to the first post or is that only for guest mode.

Click "User CP" (upper left), then click "Edit Options" (left side column, half way down), then look at the third box area called "Thread Display Options".

Fatz
 
Found it under "Edit Options"

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean. I just change the page, if there is more than one page, but I'm not sure that is helpful to what you are seeking. Explain it a wee bit more. :cool:

I found it under "edit options"..it lets you choose to open a thread from the first page or the last. It is automatically set to last page so I just changed it to first as its easier to start from page 1...especially on a thread that has 5+ pages that I'm looking at for the first time.
 
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