I have noticed an increasing number of people that have told me that the Polkadot.js website is a little confusing at first. I certainly agree, which is why I would like to breakdown the main components of the website, and how to navigate it.
This is what you see when you first open the Polkadot.js website. It automatically puts you onto the Polkadot Network Explorer. Which is where you can see information on current blocks and search through recent blocks. From this page there are many paths, so lets get started.
Under Accounts, there are four options-
Accounts: This takes you to My Accounts, which is where you can see all of your accounts linked to Polkadot. (This changes to whichever chain you’re connected to)
Address Book: This takes you to My Contacts, which is where you can collect and manage all of the contacts you have on that chain.
Claim Tokens: This is where you will go if you have tokens to claim from the ETH presale.
Transfer: This allows you to transfer token from your account.
Under Network, there are four options-
Explorer: As said before, the explorer is for viewing recent blocks and recent events.
Staking: This is where you can see the status of the staking system on the chain you’re on as well as nominate validators for Polkadot. I have an article on staking that goes over this screen in deeper depth than I’m going to go here. But, this page is very important for those of you that are staking on the network.
Parachains: Here is where you can see all of the parachain leases for the coin you’re on, as well as see the crowdloans and even participate in the crowdloans / auctions. I have an article on this also!
Event Calendar: The event calendar is where you can go to see all of the events taking place on the chain. For example, the start of a new staking session, or the start of a new staking era.
The Governance drop down has 5 options-
Democracy: This is where you can go to see current proposals, referendums, and external proposals. If you lock up a set amount of the chain you’re on, you may even be able to vote on the proposals.
Council: Here, is a list of all council members, runner ups, and current candidates.
Treasury: The treasury page is where you can view a lot of in depth information on the treasury for the chain you’re on.
Bounties: A pool of coins set aside for a certain task. Namely for fixing a bug, finding a vulnerability, coming up with a strategy for something, etc. For example, the Anti-Scam Bounty is currently available for any ambassador to attempt.
Tech Comm: This is where you can find the accounts labeled as “Technical Committee”.
Under Developer, there are 5 different options-
Chain State: This is for anyone trying to access state queries under storage, or raw storage.
Extrinsic: This is for getting information from the outside world onto the chain.
RPC Calls: These are for remote interaction with nodes.
Sign and Verify: Used to sign a message / information.
JavaScript: This is a developer tool that allows you to execute selected JS snippets in a limited context. (Generally not recommended unless you’re a developer)
Under settings, there are a bunch of settings. Some of which are preference based. The most important note for under settings is Metadata. Every now and then you will need to go into your settings and update the Metadata. This is normal and will require a signed transaction.
The most important thing to know how to do on the Polkadot.js website, is knowing how to switch chains. This is done by clicking on your current chain, as show in the picture
Once you’ve clicked on your current chain, you have all of the chains to choose from. Once you’ve selected the one you would like to change to, click on it and hit “Switch”
That’s all! Hopefully this article helped you navigate through the jungle of Polkadot.js!