INFORMATION PAGES

Most of the content of the website is created as Information Pages. When you click on the link it opens up two fields "Title" and "Content". The title will automatically be created in a header format, the Content will be normal text. You can enhance the text with these codes < b >bold< /b >, < i >italic< /i >. You can start on a new line by inserting the code for a break < br > or a paragraph < p >, which leaves a gap between the lines - but leave out the spaces - they are used to make the text visible on this page !

Creating the Page: It's a good idea to draft your initial text on a word document or email message before creating the Information Page because it only gives you a small window to see what you are doing. Once you have created your initial text, you will then need to copy it into the Information Page. To copy your text you need to HIGHLIGHT it by putting your cursor at the top of the text: click and drag down - it will show blue. Then you need to COPY it so that it is on the "pasteboard", ie the memory of the computer. You can use a drop-down menu, but it is much quicker to use the keyboard. To copy the highlighted text, on a PC you click with the little finger of your left hand on the CONTROL key and then with your middle finger click on the "C" key (C for Copy). Thus you have captured the text. You then go to the system open up the new information Page as alredy described, put your cursor in the text box, and PASTE the text. Again you can use the drop-down menu, but better still use the keyboard. Again you put your little finger on the Control key, then you put your fore-finger on the "V" key (V for paste - don't know why, but it works !). On an apple-mac use the apple key - and the thumb. To delete the text from the previous place use Control X, and to substitute new text for old, highlight the old text in the new place, and drop the next on to it (control V). Make sure you click on SUBMIT to save the page.

Formatting the Page: OK so now the title and text are in the box, but when you look at it, all the text runs on as one block. But don't panic - luckily the gaps are still visible when you go back into edit by clicking on the tiny Edit link. So what you need to do is to put in formatting code, usually you just need paragraph breaks. Go back into Edit mode, do the first < p > manually - its just three characters, no spaces, then copy the code by highlighting and control-C as before, then go down the document and where you see the paragraph breaks, do control-V, to insert the code. Next time you save it, the paragraphs will show. If you want to add emboldenings and italics, put the bits of code before and after the text you want to enhance, ie < b >bold< /b >, < i >italic< /i >.

Linking your Page from a Menu: Your next task is to link the page from the menu where you want it to show. Best thing to do is to copy the previous menu item - usually you build them upwards so the latest is on top - just copy the whole line - and amend it to the next page number as they are created in sequence. However, if you need to find a page, on the Admin menu go to "See Info Page URLS" and they are all listed there. You can change the titles when you amend them, so if you don't want a page any more, you can just re-use it. If you want to put external links into a whole series of websites it's worth doing them in a production line mode, ie: go all the way down inserting < a href=http:// in front of each www then go all the way up inserting >...< /a > after the title, then go all the way down copying the title over the dots (NB put text in without the spaces which have had to be inserted here to allow the code to be visible).

Fixing the level of access of your Page: These pages can be made visible at public (guest), member, and committee levels by means of the menu item "Edit Info Page Permissions". Minutes are usually made visible only to members. Documents being jointly drafted are made accessible only to the committee.

NEWS ITEMS

These are visible in the News & Events section, and each one of them comes out like a separate paragraph on that page. The trick with News Items is NOT to put too many paragraphs in each one, but to make them short, and put the text into just one (or two) paragraphs, so that when you look at the whole page it looks tidy. As this is your "announce" page, it's worth formatting them (as before) - you can keep amending until you are happy. The key feature of these pages is you don't delete them, you re-use them. You can make them disappear from view the day after the event by selecting that date - but DO IT IN ADVANCE. If you put an earlier date retrospectively it will delete the message altogether. You can change their order by selecting the page you want them to follow. This can be tricky but it's worth persevering, to make sure some boring admin message is at the bottom at the next event you want to highlight shows at the top. To avoid making the notices on the News & Events page too long, you can link to Information Pages, for example venue details and travel instructions, in just the same way as on the menus already set up.

NEWSLETTERS & MAILOUTS

Newsletters - and other key documents - may be created as a word document or PDF in the normal way, then uploaded to the website via Upload a Newsletter in the same section of the Admin menu - you will need to know where the document is on your computer to select it. Newsletters can have pictures etc, and are visible to the general public. They can be uploaded at committee level, and announced to the members by the Co-ordinator, who composes a message to send out including a link to the actual document so it can be downloaded. Members who want messages sending out to members can request that they be included in these occasional mail-outs. This is a way of filtering messages and may be an improvement on a discussion list that is sending out messages too frequently for the comfort levels of many members.