520 Housekeeping: How this thing works
Maybe we're naive (don't say it!), but we're hoping Knoxville520 is easy enough to figure out that you won't need long, boring "Help!" pages. Still, it's a new site, and it's probably best to give you the 411 on how to use 520.
We will update this article from time to time as the site evolves.
What's here
This site is all about nightlife and live entertainment in Knoxville, Tennessee. It has listings of nightlife events, the places where those events happen, drink specials around town, bands that play in this area, music from those bands that you can listen to online, and stuff our bloggers write to help stitch it all together.
How to search
The large search box on top of any site page, including this one, is the fastest way. Enter keywords in that box and click "SEARCH." You will be searching all the events, places, bands, music and blog posts we have in our Big Honkin' Database.
If you just want to find nightlife events for a particular day, we suggest you use the calendar in the upper right corner of any site page. Click on a day, see events for that day. Simple, yes? Want to look ahead? Click the right arrow beside the month to see the next month, then pick a day from the month you want.
Other cool things about searching here
When you search Knoxville520, you are also searching a bunch of other local Web sites with information about local nightlife. That's why, when you click to see details about an event or band, you will often also see links to information "from the rest of the Web."
Click those links to visit the other fine sites in East Tennessee that are for or about local entertainment. We will be refining our list of searched sites often, so if you have suggestions, let us know by clicking the e-mail link at the bottom of any site page.
For most places listed on Knoxville520, you will be able to see a map and get driving directions. Click the "Map It!" link on those pages to see full-sized maps and enter starting addresses for directions.
Even cooler: Find a place you want to go, but want to know what else is close by? Below the maps you'll usually see a "What's nearby" link -- click it to see other local places within two miles of that one.
How to browse
Have a fear of keywords? Search buttons terrify you? Relax, Hoss. We're here to help.
If you just want to browse through an alphabetical list of all the bars, clubs and other places where nightlife happens, just click the "PLACES" link in the upper right corner of site pages. Ditto for bands and music. (For that matter, the same links are in the first paragraph of this article.)
How to reach us
This site is, and will always be, a work in progress. We just know you have ideas to make it better, or suggestions for new features, events or places that need to be listed, or just see something wrong that we need to fix.
Or maybe you just feel the need for a little digital venting.
No matter. Let us know. The best way is to send us e-mail at knoxville520@gmail.com.
Our known bugs and wish list
These are the things we know don't quite work right, and new things we plan to add:
-- When you click "next" and "previous" links to page through Events results, funny things happen. Not funny ha-ha, but funny weird, as in you get many more results that don't necessarily match what you originally looked for. Our vendors' armies of engineers are attacking this problem with due speed.
-- Search results from drink specials and from other local sites do not yet appear on the main search results pages (the ones you see when you use the search box at the top of the page).
-- MySpace does not allow direct links to music files on band pages there. So for MySpace music files, we simply link to the page from which you can click to listen. In most other cases, we try to link directly to the file and provide you enough file details (play time, file size and format) to decide if it's what you want.
-- We have adjusted search match quality for external Web sites and directory listings. It's better but we will keep working to improve things, so you get the matches you expect.
-- We want to offer a weekly e-newsletter and text messaging service to keep you up to speed on top events. They're both in the works.
-- For people interested in advertising on Knoxville520: we will soon have a variety of ad options available. Contact us by e-mail at knoxville520@gmail.com for details and pricing.
If you see bugs or glitches, contact us by e-mail at knoxville520@gmail.com or post them in the comments below.