Getting your account setup right - Part 1

Maybe it has been a while since you dealt the last time with your Refinder account settings. So it might be worth to have a look what has changed under the hood and to check out, how these changes enhance your Refinder experience. This post is the first of a three piece series aiming to evolve you from mystery to mastery of your account settings.

Suffering from password amnesia? 
I see, it really has been some time since your last check-in. 
Don´t worry, go to http://www.getrefinder.com/accounts/login/ and click the "forgot password" link to receive a new one.
 
Where to find your account settings?
Now that you have successfully logged into Refinder, nothing keeps you from accessing your account settings. You find them in the blue navigation bar on top of the page while hovering over your username.
 
Maintain your profile
The profile page is probably the most obvious alteration of your Refinders account innards. We introduced Sharing some weeks ago, and through your profile you can determine, what you want to disclose about yourself when collaborating with others.  
  • There are only two mandatory inputs required for your profile: your email and your choice of the user interface language. Currently, Refinder offers a german and an english interface.
    All other fields are optional. 
  • Your profile data will only be disclosed to others once you check "Publish my profile". Leave it unchecked and all that´s been displayed about you is your nickname. If you cannot decide on a nickname, Refinder exhibits your email address.
  • Now to the voluntary elements of your profile:
    Feel free to upload a picture - your portrait for example, or any other visual clue representing you. This picture will be visible to other Refiner users, once you share a  or join a collection. Similar, post some hints about your provenance, leave a link to your website or LinkedIn profile and spread the word about the hard and fast facts of your biography.
  • Finally take notice of the "Always use secure connection" checkbox:  per default all communication between your browser and the Refinder servers takes place via a secured protocol (https). Uncheck "Always use secure connection" only, if you don´t mind Refinder to operate over plain (http) or secured (https) protocol. 

See a screenshot with sample profile settings below: 

Change password
Select "password" to modify your account password. You are requested to type your new password twice before confirming the change.
 
Bookmarking tools
Don´t miss out about Refinders capability to capture web content into your Refinder account:  
  • See the two links "Your recent things" and "Add to Refinder"? These are called bookmarklets and as a user of either the Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Camino or Opera browser, you only need to drag them into your browsers bookmark toolbar, where they will appear as little icons.  
  • Click the "Your recent things" icon, whenever you want to launch Refinder.
  • For webclippings, highlight any website element and hit "Add to Refinder" to let the magic happen: At one swoop Refinder opens in a new window, creates a new thing containing the url, the title and the highlighted parts of the webpage you started from. Just press "Save" to keep the clip saved in your account.
If you have come that far, you are already well on your way to use Refinder.
In the Getting your Account setup right - Part 2 I will show you even more ways to enable Refinders integration with other applications and webservices. In the third and last installment of this series, i´m hoping to reveal to you, amongst others, what a little blue bird tweeted me about Refinder.
Check back soon, exciting features ahead.
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