OCN App

It is an app for your mobile device or desktop computer to help you keep up with the latest Tri-Lakes area news. It automatically updates lists of upcoming local events and recently posted OCN items. Click on the titles of items of interest to view those items in your browser. Collect items of interest including searches on our website in your personal favorites list. Use the read/unread checkmarks to keep track of items you want to investigate further.

Use the dropdown menu to select from the following categories:

• Events
• Articles
• Podcasts
• Comments
• Photo Collections
• Monument Articles
• Palmer Lake Articles
• D38 Articles
• Fire District Articles
• Water & Sanitation District Articles
• Columns (e.g., Arts, Books, Gardening, History, Letters, Library, Snapshots, Weather etc.)
• OCN Updates
• Favorites

The first four categories (events, articles, podcasts, and comments) are mutually exclusive. The “Events” list gives the names and start dates and times of selected upcoming events. “Articles” covers all posts that are not comments, events, or podcasts). The next eight categories are lists of recent posts addressing specific topics. Items in the list of Articles also appear in the lists on specific topics such as Palmer Lake Articles and Columns.

Featured items are displayed in boldface type. In this second screenshot, those are the Monument Town Council meeting and the Tri-Lakes Chamber Non-Profit showcase.

The highlighted number at the top is the total number of “unread” (or unviewed) items. In the lists, unread items are marked with a red “O”. In the second screenshot , the total number of unread items across all categories is 10. As shown in the first screenshot above, for each category in the dropdown, the number of unread items in that category is displayed in parentheses. When you click or tap on the title of an item, the item is opened, a green checkmark is added to the red “O,” and the number in the dropdown for that category is decreased by one. To add a green checkmark without opening the item, click or tap on the red “O.” Click or tap on the green checkmark to set the item back to being shown as unread.

This third screenshot shows the list of recent audio podcasts with the two most recent ones not yet marked as having been read.

Below the list of items in each category, is a checkbox to sort that list by title. If it is unchecked, the list is sorted by date. When sorted by date, the upcoming events list is sorted with the soonest event at the top. All the other lists when sorted by date have the latest postings at the top.

Below that for all the lists except Favorites, there is a link to view a page on this website with all our postings in that category.

Below that are links to the search function on this website and OCN’s YouTube channel.

Below that are buttons to check for new items, mark all items in the currently displayed list as read, or mark all items in the currently displayed list as unread. If all items in the current list are already shown as read and you click the Mark All As Read button, all items across all categories will be marked as read. This is useful to help focus on the latest updates. Likewise, if all the items in the current list are marked as unread and you click on the Mark All As Unread, then all items across all categories will be marked as unread. The app version number currently installed appears below that. When we release a new version, your copy will automatically be updated the next time you launch it.

The last category, Favorites, is where you can collect links to events, articles, podcasts, comments, OCN website pages, etc. that are of special interest to you. The list is stored on your device and no one else has access to that information.

To add an item on any of the lists to your Favorites list, click the gray heart icon at the end of an item of interest. The icon will switch to a red heart. To remove an item from the Favorites list, click on the red heart and it will switch to an gray heart. In this fourth screenshot, three upcoming events and one website page have been identified by the user as favorites. In this case, the Favorites list has been sorted by the dates associated with the items. If there is no date associated with an item, then the date it was added to Favorites list is used. If in reviewing your Favorites list you click on the red heart to remove it from the list and then change your mind, clicking on the Restore Favorite button will restore the item to your Favorites list.

The input box at the bottom of your Favorites list can be used to add any URL from this website or our archive website https://ocn.me to your favorites list. The user pasted https://wp.ocn.me/about/letterguidelines/ into the input box and clicked Add to Favorites to add that item.

There is a borderless window containing three hyphens to the right of the dropdown menu. If you type text into that window, the currently displayed list will be filtered so the only items shown have that text in the their titles. In this fifth screenshort, the events list has been filtered to show only items with “monument” in their titles.

A record of your Favorites list, the items you have read, and your preference for sorting each of the lists is retained on your computer between times when you launch the app.

Clicking on the compass rose icon switches the screen between a light mode shown in the prior screenshots and a dark mode shown in this sixth screenshot.

Some users find the dark mode easier to read. On some devices, dark mode can extend battery life.

The default mode, noted by a line of hyphens under the compass rose icon is automatic mode in which the screen mode is selected according the default on your device.

Each click on the compass rose icon switches the mode between auto, dark, and light.