The Navigation Strip is a bar which you can choose to display on custom-styled journal or community pages while you're logged in. It contains useful links and displays your relationship to the account where it's displayed. For example: "You are viewing your journal", "You have granted access to Account_Name and you and they have mutual subscriptions", or "You're a member of and subscribed to Name_of_Community".

This strip always provides hotlinks for "Home", "Post", "Reading Page", and "Inbox" — the other links it displays at the top center of the strip will change depending on what page of the site you are viewing. At the top right of the strip there is a box into which you can type a search term and a pulldown menu that allows you to choose "Interest", "Region", "Site & User", "FAQ", "Email", or "IM Info" as your search area. Beside the pulldown menu there's a button marked "Go". This area of the navigation strip also gives you the option to reload any page you're on in several different styles, including your own journal style, the site skin, and a "light" style with minimal formatting.

In most styles, you can choose a light gradient or dark gradient for the navigation strip from the Customize Journal Style page. In some styles, you can also choose to make the navigation strip display in your journal colors.

Depending on the style of the page you're on, the navigation strip may use Javascript, and it may not work if you're using a browser that doesn't support Javascript or has it disabled.

You can change the way the main site pages look with the Display tab of the Account Settings page. There are several options there you can choose from — they will only apply to the "official" Dreamwidth pages, not to any of the journals or communities on the site.

Our default site skin is "Tropospherical Red". You can return to it at any time.

If you wish to use a site skin with minimal graphics, select the "Lynx" scheme.

"Adult Content" is any material in a journal or community which has been flagged by the community administrator or journal owner as being suitable only for people 18 years of age or more, or which should be viewed with discretion.

To keep from viewing material that has been flagged as "Adult Content", you can customize your account settings. On the "Display" Tab of the My Account Settings page, there are two options you can select.

Viewing Adult Content: Require confirmation:
never
before displaying content suitable for ages 18+
before displaying content that should be viewed with discretion.

If you choose "never", Dreamwidth will show you all content on its site without requiring confirmation that you wish to see it. If you select "before displaying content suitable for ages 18+", the site will require confirmation from you before showing you any material marked by the journal owner or community administrator as being "18+", regardless of your age. All entries within the journal or community will appear collapsed, with their contents hidden behind a warning cut. If you choose "before displaying content that should be viewed with discretion", the site will require confirmation from you before showing you any material that has been marked by the journal owner or community administrator as needing to be viewed with discretion. All the entries in the journal will appear collapsed, with their contents hidden behind a warning cut

Safe Search Filter:
Exclude nothing
Exclude content restricted to people age 18 and over
Exclude content that should be viewed with discretion.

If you choose "Exclude nothing", Dreamwidth will show you all content on its site. If you select "Exclude content restricted to people age 18 and older", the site will exclude all material that has been marked by the journal owner or community administrator as being "18+". If you choose "Exclude content that should be viewed with discretion", the site will exclude all material that has been marked by the journal owner or community administrator as material needing to be viewed with discretion.

The settings of Safe Search and Viewing Adult Content can be combined for additional protection. If you choose "Require confirmation before displaying content that should be viewed with discretion" from the Viewing Adult Content menu along with "Exclude content restricted to people age 18 and older" from the Safe Search Filter, you're least likely to encounter "adult" material, but it is important for you to be aware that all content on our site is self-rated by its creators and owners, and they use their own judgment about what material they should flag or screen. If you're in doubt about what sort of content you might encounter in a journal or community, you might want to view their profile before proceeding further. You might also find it useful to read: How Do I Set Age Restriction Filters on my Journal or Entry?

The default antispam test (captcha) Dreamwidth uses is not an image. It's a text string that asks a question. For instance:

Blue, purple, chair, plate, red. How many colors are in the preceding sentence?

The correct answer to that question would be 3.

We use a text-based antispam test because it's easier to solve. Image-based antispam tests are hard for many people, but especially for people who are blind or have vision problems. Text-based antispam tests are generally more accessible for most people.

Some people still prefer image-based antispam tests. If you have the antispam test enabled in your journal, and you want your readers to see the image-based antispam test rather than the text-based antispam test, you can change it at the Privacy tab of Account Settings, under the setting "Anti-Spam Type".