Editing Notes Pt 1 (Issue 3)One of the main benefits of the recent site update to a CMS (Content Management System) is that all Group Leaders now have direct access to an on-line editor so that they can maintain their own group pages quickly, without the need to email the webmaster requesting changes and having to wait for them to be processed if he is busy. I hope these notes will make it easy!

• No coding is needed as the editor is fully WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) with an interface very similar to what you see whenever you format an email or use a simple word-processor.

• All edits are moderated for security and to help maintain a consistent style.

• Pages can only be edited by Group Leaders but you are welcome to nominate another member of your group as editor if you wish.

• I will be happy to help Group Leaders or their nominees to become confident editors so please don't hesitate to phone or email me if anything is unclear or you have any problems.____________________________________________________________________________________

Getting Started1. Click on 'Admin' at the end of the blue menu bar at the top of any page to open the site administration panel

thus :

2. Sign-in by entering your username and password, using the initial of the name by which you are known and surname in the form JBloggs (case-sensitive), with the password 123456 to access your options below:

3. CHANGE THE PASSWORD to something unique but easy to remember as it cannot be recovered if you forget it!

4. Then click on the 'Manage Site' tab at the top of the screen and the 'Manage Site' panel on the next page should then appear, listing all the sites that you can edit.

Opening your page in edit mode1. Click on your group's name in the Manage Site panel below and the page should open in the editor.

Editing your pageYour page should look like this when you've opened it from 'Manage Site' to edit the content:

1. Please edit a few words to get used to the tools, which operate very much like formatting an email and have descriptions that will appear when you pass your cursor across them with your mouse. (Strongly recommended as an easier and more accurate method that the touch pads on most laptops.)

2. DO NOT paste text that you have written off-line in Word, Excel, etc. as that will introduce coding you won't be able to override easily. (Just paste it into Notepad first and edit to remove excess spaces and line breaks. Then copy and paste the text from there.)

3. Limit your choice of typefaces to Arial, Verdana or Trebuchet ONLY as these are the only ones that display properly on all devices.

4. DON'T use the 'Return' key to force line breaks as that inserts a new paragraph: use 'Shift+Return' instead or allow the editor to wrap lines automatically.

5. The bottom panel is the editor for 'Interest Groups' so you can edit that too, but without formatting options.6. Click on the 'Submit Update' button at the bottom if you are happy with your changes and want to submit

them for moderation or on 'Cancel' if you want to abandon them and start again. (You'll get confirmation that your edit has been added to my moderation queue but please email me when you submit anything, telling me what changes you have made so that I know what to look for.)

7. You will be signed-out automatically if you don't submit any changes so it's better to do extensive edits in several stages so that you don't lose them.

Known Issues1. As most pages have been migrated from the old site, some old coding may prevent your formatting

changes appearing properly. Don't worry if that happens, just email or phone me and I'll try to fix.2. The 'A' button described as 'Background Color' is actually a highlighter, and does not affect the background.

(The background colour is set within the table tool that's covered in Part 2)3. A fault within some versions of the MSN and Internet Explorer browsers may prevent the menu bar

displaying properly on some computers so please use Chrome or Firefox instead.

I'm sure you'll get the hang of it quickly but never hesitate to ask if you want help.

David Ling - 01623 822994 or mansfieldu3a@aol.com (With thanks to Terry Whitehead for help with testing.)