WEB MASTER’S TASK LIST ‘What I do as Web master THE TIME ... · WEB MASTER’S TASK LIST – ‘What I do as Web master THE TIME REQUIRED The time needed to carry out the web

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WEB MASTER’S TASK LIST – ‘What I do as Web master

THE TIME REQUIRED

The time needed to carry out the web editor’s activities is variable – some work is self-generated,

but other is in response to requests, requiring reasonably prompt action. Anyone taking on the role

must therefore be able to access the Joomla BOC site whenever necessary. Flexibility is essential

– the time commitment probably averages a few hours each week.

Key detailed information necessary for carrying out many of the items below (including passwords)

can be found in the Blue ‘BOC Web Site’ folder kept in my home office. If all else fails, Honorary

member Louise Busby, web-site Technical Support Officer would be able to resolve matters. She is

also key to the technical maintenance of the site and accesses it to carry out routine maintenance.

TASKS

1) Finance and administration

• I pay the invoice for the web domain (this is in March). It is only about £10.00 and is paid to

my.tsohost.com on my debit card and claimed back from the Treasurer (currently Stuart

Crowther). The domain is broomowners.com. If a password is required, it is in the Blue ‘BOC

web-site’ folder. Once on the tso site, the account details and invoice situation are easily

accessible.

• I pay the C-panel web site hosting annual charge – same Company, same financial system. £50.00 or thereabouts, in August each year. Again, the expenditure is claimed back from the Club Bank account.

2) Editing text materials Adding material using the front end of the site I add simple articles to the main structure of the web-site using this route. I also help edit materials provided by other Committee members. (who use the Guidance I have

already provided – see Appendix 1). Text is easy to add but managing pictures (other than simply

copying and pasting individual files) is best done from the ‘back-end’. This is a task that the web

editor should expect to provide for other committee members.

3) Aspects of the site that are managed from the ‘back-end’ of the site The Membership Secretary (currently Linda Varney) and I, together with the web-site Technical

Support Officer (currently Louise Busby), have the authorisation to manage the site from the

’back-end’, The web-site Technical Support Officer is at the apex of the system and can change

authorisations at all levels and implement updates and structural changes when requested.

To enter the back-end, open broomownenrs.com/administrator. User-name and password

(supplied by web-site Technical Support Officer) must then be added in the page that opens.

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The site then opens to show the Control panel. This provides a management tool enabling many

functions to be carried out.

Some key areas of the Joomla Control Panel

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On the screen image opposite, I have circled some of the most significant control

areas; there is duplication between the row of tabs along the top and the list of

choices to the left of the panel. Generally, if two offerings have the same name,

they are the same, and which to use is just a matter of preference! Here are some

of the main controls, as circled in red on the screen shot of the Control Panel

Content allows viewing and managing all added items – articles from all sections;

Users enables individual members details to be added, deleted and their viewing

permissions changed;

Components including, under Acymailing ‘Users’ [where Newsletter Regional allocations are controlled], Acymailing ‘Newsletters’ [which enables addition of new E-mail messages and changes to old ones to be made] and under ‘Contacts’ the details of committee members that are displayed in the ‘contact’ sections of the web-site

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ASPECTS OF THE SITE THAT ARE MANAGED FROM THE BACK-END

1. Sending Regional and whole Club E-mails.

a. Editing Newsletter materials. From the top row of Control Panel tabs, choose

‘Components, Acymailing, Newsletters’

This opens the page to add messages, edit, and send to chosen Regional membership lists

etc:

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Here, a new message can be constructed (‘New’) or an existing one edited or re-sent. Text

editing tools (including assigning links to text or images in articles) are all conventional.

Attachments can be added to messages (the system imports them into its own store). The ‘Send

a test’ option under the Preview/Send tab allows a check of what will go out.

The send system has a limit of 90 documents an hour (to avoid abuse of this ‘freebie’

system). For large Regions and whole-Club messages, I send out 78 messages and then shut

down Joomla; after an hour, I re-open the message in Joomla and send out the next batch. This

saves my ‘spam’ box filling up with rejected messages saying the system will try again later! It

does tie up the computer for an extended period.

b. Enrolling members for E-mailing purposes. The Membership Secretary (currently Linda Varney) carries out the importing of members’ details and their Regional allocation, but as web-Editor, I can do this latter task if I know their mooring regions. To edit the list, ‘Control Panel, Users’ allows add / delete, edit, of entries on an individual basis individual. When a member is enrolled, they are automatically assigned to the Newsletter group to receive Club messages. And removed when taken off the membership list.

c. To edit the Regions from which a member receives E-mail messages, in the Control

Panel, access ‘Components, AcyMailing, Users’. The resulting page gives all the

necessary controls to allocate functions. Members can be assigned to any number of

Regions if desired. The screen dump below shows the screen options available when an

individual member is selected.

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The coloured spots indicate the currently-allocated lists that a member receives messages from. The edit option allows changes to the chosen Regional options. Members can ask to receive messages from one or more Regions additional to those from that where they moor. This could be extended, if wished.

In the ‘Send’ option, there is a choice to ‘send messages to all’. DO NOT CHOOSE THIS as

the membership database list includes non-members included for other circulations. The blue

‘Newsletters’ option goes to all current members – use that!

d. To add or modify the lists on offer, go to: Control Panel, access ‘Components, AcyMailing, Lists. Changes to the lists would rarely be needed, unless the Regional structure changes or greater use is made of Regional ‘events’.

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e. Checking delivery of messages. The Statistics option allows the receipt of each message to

individual members to be checked.

2. Adding Images to the site store for use in articles etc. The site manages images by keeping folders containing the files (jpeg or pdf formats).

To manage media files, choose the media option from the control panel list on the left of the page.

This will then show all the folders that contain the images and documents that are accessible from

different elements of the web site. They can be displayed as details or thumbnails, and full

administration (adding, deleting and setting up additional folders) are all available from this option.

When writing an article, a link is added at the point where the image should appear. This link must

have the full site address for the picture to display. Joomla does not like spaces in file names, so

use underscores to separate words e.g.members_gathering_2016.jpeg

Limits to file sizes are now less stringent than before but files should be kept small for quick

opening!

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Over time, the

Media’ folder

system has

become rather

jumbled, as

successive users

have added items

‘ad hoc’ (I am at

least as guilty as

anyone in this

respect!)

Key folders include:

Media____Downloads____Library____ClubInfo (where all AGMs and Constitution are to be

found);

Media____Downloads____Library__Committee_minutes (no prizes for guessing the content)

Media____Images____Stories (where Regional materials and Martin Broom Trophy materials are

filed)

Media___Images____Slideshow (for the rolling headers – instructions in my Blue book)

Instructions for downloading images to these folders are in the Blue ‘BOC web-site’ folder. As in all

matters IT, titles must be entered correctly, so ‘Copy & Paste’ is often the best way!

3. Managing Committee members’ Club E-mails Broomowners.com is an E-mail address that can provide an additional shield to keep committee

members’ systems safe from hackers. Management of the Club E-mail system is carried out by the

Cpanel. Open broomowners.com/cpanel, and login. Details in the Blue ‘BOC web-site’ folder. Once

an address is assigned e.g. [email protected], it can be linked to a forwarding

mechanism in Cpanel that forwards these messages to the committee member’s personal E-mail

address. So they are unaware of its pathway to their systems! The system screens out about 50

false messages each week.

4 Structural control The back end allows extra tabs and display areas to be set up, but I think this is a job for the web-site Technical Support Officer, as some experience and confidence is needed. The site operates on a Joomla template, which could be changed if necessary. A site upgrade may soon be needed – again, a technical task

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SEPARATE MODULES THAT ARE ADMINISTERED FROM THE ‘FRONT END’

1) The Forum The forum is administered from the front end and operates as a separate unit from the rest of the

site. Indeed, it is possible to use one’s login details to access it, while not being able to enter the

main site until logged in from the site front page!

Administration is via an inconspicuous link ‘Administration Control Panel’ at the bottom of the Board

index page (the home page of the forum) That link asks for login details and opens up the control

page:

As administrator it is possible to control what sections members can access, but editorial controls

(other than removing whole entries or access rights to an individual member) are limited. This is

quite right, as it is the main area where members can ‘talk’ to each other, so interference should not

be necessary. Certainly, the sections are now very muddled, and some virtually un-used, so some

pruning might be helpful. It does, however, contain a long-standing record of members’ knowledge,

particularly that of a Broom boat technical nature. The answer to most questions can usually be

found buried somewhere! Guidance on aspects of the use of the Forum has been provided for

committee members (see Appendix 2 and Appendix 3)

5) The Events Calendar. The web editor has no additional control of the Events calendar other than that held by all committee members. Details of how to add events have been provided to them (see Appendix 4)

6) Maintenance Some aspects of the web-site ned to be kept up-to-date. Whenever committee membership changes, their details must be added to the ‘Component’s ‘Contacts’ page of the

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back end (where a photo needs to be added). Likewise, the ‘About the committee’ page needs editing from the front of the site by changing the group photo, list, and an explanation each year. Members offers and committee agendas, minutes and Annual Reports require routine addition or adjustment and new editons of Sweeping Statements added to the appropriate section. The site also has an article index to Sweeping Statements that requires revision twice a year!

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Appendix 1

Web editing instructions supplied to committee members 2019.

Log onto https://www.broomowners.com with your regular website username and password.

TO CREATE A NEW ARTICLE:

Click the 'Submit an Article' link in the User Menu (bottom left of the home page)

This will open up the CONTENT option of the EDITING PAGE. Red additions apart, it will look

like this:

Enter a Title for your article, and then write your content in the text box. It is possible (and often

easier!) to ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ pre-prepared text from Word documents into this box, but some of

the formatting may be lost.

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The options offered on the formatting tool bar are tailored to meet web requirements, and are

therefore less versatile than those of a full word processing package. However, font type, size,

colour, bold, italic and underline can all be easily applied.

‘Read more’.

If you have a long article, it can be helpful to split it into two parts:

• Place the cursor at a convenient point where you want the article to be divided up.

• Click the ‘Read More’ button (see bottom row of the formatting tool bar below).

Only the

first

section will be displayed when the article is visited, together with a prompt that enables the

remainder to be viewed.

To PUBLISH your article, choose the PUBLISHING OPTION on the EDITING PAGE.

It will look as below. Make sure to complete all necessary options.

1.Category. Choose your

category (e.g. Region’s

name) from the drop-down list

(not just 'Regions'). [The

‘News’ option puts the article

on the front page only]

2. Author’s Alias. Leave

blank for articles written by

you. Fill in for articles that you

want to be credited to

someone else (e.g. if another

member writes up an event

report for you).

3. Status Choose ‘Published’

from the options.

4. Featured Select ‘Yes’ if

you wish the article to also

appear at the front of the site.

5. Start Publishing. Leave

blank, unless you want the

published date to be other

than current date. (This does

not affect order in which

articles are displayed. You

would need access to the

site administration to

change the created date and

control display order.)

6. Finish Publishing. Leave blank, unless you want the article to disappear after a certain date.

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7. Access. THIS IS IMPORTANT – do you want the general public to see the article, or only

members? Choose ‘Public’ or ‘Registered’ (i.e. members only) accordingly. ‘Registered’ articles

will only be visible to logged-in members, no matter what route is used to navigate around

the site.

LANGUAGE option – do not change!

METADATA option. This is information not visible on the page but used by search engines

such as Google to help find your content. If you want your article to be found by Google,

e.g. for non-members, fill in a description and keywords relevant to your article.

When you have finished REMEMBER TO PRESS ‘SAVE’ (at the top of screen).

TO EDIT AN EXISTING ARTICLE:

Click on the gear wheel icon next to each published article. For example:

Then choose the ‘Edit’ option.

Edit the article as required.

Click on ‘SAVE’ as previously.

FOR THE MORE-EXPERIENCED (or the web-editor could do these for you!)

ADDING AN IMAGE TO AN ARTICLE:

• Save the image(s) you want to use on your IT system (computer/pad/phone) so that you can easily find them.

• Position your cursor in the text where you want the image to appear.

• Click on the 'Image' button (to the left of the ‘Page break’ and ‘Read more’ options on the formatting tool bar).

• Select the ‘Stories’ folder from those offered and then open your Region’s sub -folder, which will contain any previously-saved images of events.

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• Upload the new image(s) that you wish to use into this sub-folder. Do this by clicking the ‘Browse’ button (right at the bottom of the ‘Image’ box) and opening the file on your system. (Images must be resized to around 400 pixels wide prior to uploading).

• Press ‘Start Upload’.

• Single click on the image to select it.

• Fill in the ‘Description’ and ‘Title’ fields with a description and title. The Title can be displayed as a caption if you also fill in the 'Caption' box.

• Use ‘Image float’ to choose whether you want your image to be aligned to the left , centre or right side of the page — I recommend aligning to the right.

• Press the 'INSERT' button.

• If you want to move the image on the page, click and drag until the cursor is where you want the image to appear.

Click the 'Insert' or 'Update' button to save.

TO REMOVE A PICTURE, With the article open in edit mode, single click to select the

image, and press the delete button on your keyboard.

IMAGE SETTINGS:

If you want to make your picture a bit smaller:

• in edit mode, single click on the inserted image, then click on the 'Insert' button at top of formatting tool bar. Then choose the ‘Image’ option. You will see:

• Insert a pixel dimension into one of the boxes. Provided 'Constrain proportions' is

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ticked, the other will be automatically recalculated. You can add or edit description text and provide a title too.

• The ‘Advanced’ option allows some horizontal or vertical space to be added around your picture (again this is set in pixels)

DO NOT resize your image on the screen by dragging the corners as this distorts the

proportions.

DO NOT upload multi mega-byte size images, as these slow down the page load time.

TO INSERT A WEB LINK INTO AN ARTICLE:

With the article in edit mode, highlight the text you want to use as your link text.

Press the 'Link' icon on the formatting tool bar (see below - looks like joined links of chain).

Type

or

paste

the

Link URL (i.e. the exact web address where the material comes from) into the Link URL box.

In the Target box, choose whether you want the link URL to open in the same window

(best for other pages on www.broomowners.com) or in a new window (best for pages

on other web sites).

Louise Busby / John Oldham

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Appendix 2

Posting on the forum – provided to committee members 2019

POSTING ITEMS ON THE COMMITTEE PAGES OF THE MEMBERS’ FORUM

USING DESKTOP OR LAPTOP:

1. You will need to login using the user name and password you use for the BOC site. If any of this has gone missing, the Membership Secretary can help!

2. Click on the ‘Members’ section at the top of the Home page;

3. Now click on the ‘Forum’ tab – second from the top of the list;

4. The forum Board index now shows, listing all the topic areas under which discussions can take place;

5. At the bottom of this list is ‘Private Organisers forums’, with ‘BOC committee’ as the sole area;

6. Click on this title and the list of existing discussion topics is shown;

7. If you want to start a new discussion topic, clicking on the red ikon title ‘New Topic’ (just below the BOC Committee title) allows you to do so;

8. But if you wish to view or reply to an existing discussion, put the cursor over its title and click to open it;

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9. As a default, existing contributions show in the date order on which they were posted, so you can follow the debate;

10. Add your own observations by scrolling to the end of the contents and clicking the button ‘Post reply’, whereupon a panel appears into which you can type or paste your response.

*Once complete, don’t forget to click ‘SUBMIT’ to display your contribution!*

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USING I-PAD OR SMART PHONE

1. You will need to login using the user name and password you use for the BOC site. If any of this has gone missing, the Membership Secretary can help!

2. Open the BOC Home page;

3. Scroll down to the fourth group of titles – ‘MEMBERS’;

4. Click the second item shown under this heading – ‘FORUM’;

5. The Forum Board index now shows, listing all the topic areas under which discussions can take place;

6. At the bottom of this list is ‘Private Organisers forums’, with ‘BOC committee’ as the sole area;

7. Click on this title and the list of existing discussion topics is shown;

8. If you want to start a new discussion topic, clicking on the red ikon title ‘New Topic’ (just below the BOC Committee title) allows you to do so;

9. But if you wish to view or reply to an existing discussion, put the cursor over its title and click to open it;

10. As a default, existing contributions show in the date order on which they were posted, so you can follow the debate;

11. Add your own observations by scrolling to the end of the contents and clicking the button ‘Post reply’, whereupon a panel appears into which you can type or paste your response.

*Once complete, don’t forget to click ‘SUBMIT’ to display your contribution!&

Appendix 3

Making sure ‘subscribe to forum’ is chosen. Provided to committee members 2019

Firstly, open any forum message

Then go to the bottom of the page and check that you are ‘subscribed’.

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The default option shown here is subscribe, meaning you will receive reminders. The tick box shown offers the

chance to change this to unsubscribe. Except for topics that you have no interest in, best to leave well alone - Don’t

tick the box.

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Changing what sort of notifications you get

Now look at the top bar of the opening board, where you can adjust what notifications are sent:

__________________________________________________________________________________

Clicking notifications opens: Here you will see ‘Settings’

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Clicking Settings will open a panel of choices:

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Make sure the options ‘when someone creates a topic in a forum to which you are subscribed’ and ‘someone replies

to a topic to which you are subscribed’ are chosen. Usually this is the default, but it is worth checking!

At the end, chose ‘submit’

Appendix 4

Using the Events calendar

ENTERING EVENTS ON THE CALENDAR

1. Login and Open the Calendar page

Today’s date is indicated within a red spot. The page shown is for February. You will need to locate the

date of the event you wish to display.

2. Find the date(s) of the event

The quickest way to do this is, with ‘By Month’ option chosen from the view bar towards the top of the

page, select the ‘Jump to month’ function

Clicking ‘Jump to’ then provides the list of calendar months.

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With the appropriate month chosen, confirm ‘Jump to month’

3 Choose the starting date of the event

The Month page will then open –hover your cursor over the date cell of the first day of your event. A cross

will appear at the top right of the cell as you do so.

Clicking on this will open the ‘COMMON’ page of the ‘Add an event’ section:

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Significant points are shown below:

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4. Set dates and times from the

From the calendar option at the top of this page you can define start and end times for a day meeting and

repeat the entry for events covering several days.

It is not a very flexible system (e.g. it cannot deal with different times on different days etc), but it generally

provides what is needed.

5. SAVE AND CLOSE

Don’t forget this step, or you will lose your entry! The option is at the top of the ‘Add event’ page (identified

in Section 3 above) above.

A link to the web site Guide was included in the Spring Newsletter. A more accessible ’home’ will

be needed.