District Website Training Pt 1 Presentation notes for District Webinar District Website Training Pt 1 By IT Chair PP David Shelton-Smith RC Macau

Program • What is a Content Management System Website (and why do I want one) ? • What is Wordpress and what is a Template? • How can I  ◦ add an article? ◦ add a picture? ◦ edit anything? • What are User roles? • What is District 3450 offering exactly, and why ? • Who else has one and how to get help?

Content Management System Website (and why do I want one) ? What is a .. Content Management System Website (and why do I want one) ? Rather than holding the details of a website in a fixed file, read by your browser when you visit a website, a Content Management System (CMS) reads the detail from a Database, assembles it into a page and send this to your computer. This way only the relevant data needs to be changed or updated. Ideal for Newspaper style websites where things are constantly being updated.

Examples of CMS Websites www.bbc.com BBC News rotary3450.org District Website http://rotary3450.soofwood.com/?cat=82 DG Website

and why do I want one? Once it is set up adding content and editing it is relatively easy. Previously you would need an expert to do this. Users can be given different capabilities once logged on. Good systems like Joomla and Wordpress are in the Public Domain, well supported and free. Why would you want to do it differently?

What is Wordpress and what is a template Presentation notes for District Webinar What is Wordpress and what is a template Wordpress is a content management system. It talks to the Database, reads formatting files ‘Templates’ and outputs an Webpage to a Browser.

The Our District Website uses Wordpress and a Template called Momentum

Templates control the look of the site Presentation notes for District Webinar Templates control the look of the site They have no content in them, but the layout and styles and colours are controlled here. We can make individual different pages look different, backgrounds and menus etc within the same template. Best to choose your template then adapt to what you want and leave it alone. This is an Administrator role.

How can I ..Add an article? Wordpress calls these Posts Log In Select + Post from Top Menu Add Title, Category(s) and/ or Tag Write your content Publish (let us assume it is set to Public)

Hang on, What is this Category and Tag? Wordpress needs to know where to put your article, selecting a Category or Tag helps it do this. Let us say you want the Presidents Bulletins to go into one section. Create a Category called President Bulletin and then each time you Publish a Post with that Category it will appear in that section. We do this when we design how the site works, but it is not fixed in stone. You can be in more than one Category, also Tags can be given to any article to create a similar way to group articles in an AdHoc way. The system will let you know which Tags have been used before.

Write your content OK, I’m not going to spend much time on this. If you can write an email you can handle the editor. If you prefer you can use a mobile App like Wordpress for iOS or Android (by Automattic) We can deal with finer points in Part 2

Publishing your Post First time you save your work it is Published (Button on Right). You could save as Draft (in which case it will not be visible on the website). Next time you save it will be an Update You can set when the Post appears and who can see it, but assume it is as per the default settings Immediate and Public.

How can I ..Add a Picture This is a two stage process Add the picture from your computer or device Place the picture where you want in your post Simple is usually best In Wordpress pictures are stored in the Media Library. From your Post you can Add Media with the link on the Page. From the Menu when you Log In you can add Pictures from the + New Media ( or other files) In your Post place the cursor where you want the image to appear then select Add Media. If your image is not in the Media Library you can do this in one step (upload and place). But if you have the picture in the library already use that. Choose the smallest size that will do the job. Options will be available.

I want to save 500 pictures from my Event. Best store these in a separate store like Flicker. You can still access these as if they are on your site, just keep the ones you need in your Post on the Website and keep things manageable. The image is not actually on the page, there is a reference to it instead. Your Browser gets it. So if we change the reference it could get it from your site or your Flicker feed, or somewhere else. You can keep the full sized file in your Flicker (or Picasa) site, they generate smaller versions which are ideal for your website. No one wants to download 20 picture of 7 Mb to their mobile phone, but 20 files of 40kb would be fine. Can the bigger file be accessed? Yes this is the default for images in Wordpress and it is easy to change.

How can I ..Edit anything If you wrote it and Published it then you are the Author. You can edit anything in your Post, if you need to edit someone else's you must be an Editor or Admin. Either go into the the Wordpress system and find your Post, or from the Website click the edit button on your Post. If you are logged in and you have the privilege, the Edit button will be visible. Clicking the edit takes you to the editor. Update when you are finished.

Can I edit my picture? Yes, there are tools on site, but I prefer to create a new one off site and then upload that, you can delete the old one. Scaling of pictures and moving around is fine within the editor. As is creating links or changing the picture.

What are User roles? Administrator Presentation notes for District Webinar What are User roles? Editor Author Most users will not need to do more view articles, some need to add and edit. A few users may need to edit and create categories. Someone may need to adjust the template and create new Users. The CMS Wordpress allows these roles to be separate and the user with the role of Admin can select who has which role. Contributor Public

User Roles Admin : top of the tree, can do any job including switching off the site. They update the software, modify the template, create users. Editor – has access to all posts, pages, comments, categories, tags, and links. Author – can write, upload photos to, edit, and publish their own posts. Contributor – has no publishing or uploading capability, but can write and edit their own posts until they are published Public – can read, and if enabled comment on posts and pages

What is District 3450 Offering and Why? Clubs wishing to have their own webspace / Website on the District Server, may. A modern standardised template is available with a modern maintained content management system. Will allow Districts current team to assist and maintain the websites over many years Will help with a positive image. Will reduce the problem of security for websites.

What does it look like Each site can be very different, the underlying code is the same but which elements are used depends upon the Administrators choices. This example is from RC Macau. We added the ability to link to the Club Google Calendar New articles are listed on the front page and events are manually added. Links to other feeds are conveniently shown. If the template changes the contents remain.

Currently being developed Peninsular Sunrise HK Harbour Channel Islands Macau Causeway Bay The Peak Development Website http://dev.rotary3450.org

How to get help Assign your development team Contact PP David Shelton-Smith IT Chair We will arrange for webspace on the District Server and load the default template for you. We will get you started with a layout to get you up and running, and help you modify it. We will arrange for tuition and assistance. As long as you enable one of our team to be an admin on the website we can provide hands on help. All the material is in the Public Domain, so there is self help on Youtube, and via Google. We cover the cost for the webspace and template, the CMS is in the Public Domain.