The first screen you see when you log into your blog is called the Dashboard.
Your dashboard provide a quick overview of what’s happening with your blog, as well as supplying tools to navigate to other areas of your Administration panel.
Your default Dashboard
The main area of your dashboard is made of your main navigation on the left hand side and This Blog, My Account and Activity modules on the right.
You can return to the dashboard area of your blog from any page within your administration panel by clicking on the Dashboard menu item at the top of your navigation menu.
Main Navigation Menu
Your navigation menu is on the left side of your Dashboard.
Hovering your mouse over a menu item displays all the submenu options under that item.
For example, to write a new post hover your mouse over Posts and click on Add New.
Admin Bar
You also have a gray admin bar at the top of your blog and dashboard which you can use to navigate to different areas inside your dashboard.
To navigate to a new screen just hover over the item in the admin bar and then select the desired option.
Dashboard Modules
The dashboard modules are designed to give you an overview of your blog and account.
These modules can be moved by left mouse clicking on their title, dragging to the new location on your dashboard and then release your mouse button.
You can also expand and collapse these dashboard modules by left mouse clicking on their title bar.
This Blog Module
This Blog module provides a quick overview of your blog title, theme, privacy, and storage space left (for uploading media).
Clicking on an option in your This Blog module takes you to that panel where you can update that information. For example, clicking on your current privacy option takes you to Settings > Privacy where you can change your privacy options.
My Account Module
My Account module provides a quick overview of your account such display name, information on the number of blogs you manage, the number of blogs you own, manage or are subscribed to.
Clicking on an option in My Account module takes you to that panel where you can update that information or manage your account.
For example, clicking on Manage Blogs takes you to Dashboard >My Sites where you can easily manage all pending comments and posts.
Activity Module
The Activity Module displays recently published pots, pages and comments your blog.
Clicking on recently published posts or pages titles allows you to quickly go to the editing window to make changes or updates.
Hovering your mouse over the comments brings up five action links which makes it easy to Approve/Unapprove, Edit, Reply, Mark as Spam, or Trash Comments directly from your dashboard. For example, clicking the Reply action link brings up a form that lets you reply to comments from your dashboard.
Screen Option Button
The Screen Option button located at the top right hand side of your administration panel can be used to customize what is displayed and how it is displayed on that screen.
You can use the Screen Option button to change the number of columns and hide modules on your dashboard (when you unselect an item this hides them).
