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INSTRUCTION SHEET FOR GET RURAL KANSAS WEBSITE ADMINISTRATION WEB LINK: www.getruralkansas.org !

1. LOG IN links are found at upper left and bottom right hand corners of home

page. ! A BOX WILL POP UP THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS: ! !!!!!!! !!2. Enter your e-mail address and password where indicated and click on Login button. If you have forgotten your password, click on I FORGOT MY PASSWORD and a new one will be sent to your email in a few minutes. If you don’t find the email check your spam or junk folder. !3. On the left hand side of the page that looks like this - CLICK ON TOWNPAGE MANAGEMENT ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

b. On the new page that opens go to the right side near the top and click on EDIT THIS INFO.

a. Click on TOWNPAGE MANAGEMENT located on the left side of the page.

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The next page to appear will look like this: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!2. Fill out form – (the contact name will not appear on the live page): ! a. Under “Region” – choose from the drop down box which region best represents your location

b. Under “Partners” - only check if you are a paying member of the organization. !c. For “Website” - include a website address if you have one for your community or county that has

more information for visitors. !d. For Social Media & Blogs - this information can be added later when you have established your

social networking and blog accounts. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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3. Do not upload a photo until you have resized one that is 300 kb or less. Usually a photo that has been resized to 640 x 480 px or 440 x 328 px (approx.) will work well. (You can use the Picmonkey.com website to resize) It is recommended that a horizontal photo be used instead of a vertical one. !

4. When finished click on the SUBMIT button in bottom right. !5. The next page will open showing your entered information. To view how it looks online and to check your

spelling and information click on PREVIEW YOUR TOWN’S PAGE !! !!6. To make changes go back to the Admin Panel under Townpage Management and select Edit

this Info again - make the changes - and click on Submit again. !STEP 2 – HOME PAGE CONTENT !On the left hand side of the page that looks like this - CLICK ON HOME PAGE CONTENT

!!!NEW PAGE

!TO BEGIN CLICK ON THE WORDS “ADD NEW CONTENTS” !!!!!!!

Click on HOME PAGE CONTENT

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!5. Below is the processing part of the admin panel. Here you will either type the information about

your town directly into the body or you can copy and paste from Word (or Pages/mac). The system will automatically convert your text into the correct color, size and font that has been set up for the webpages. !

f. Then click the “Add It” button

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To see how your page would look live choose the icon under the word PREVIEW.

Type here: !Get (name of your town) ex: Get Stafford !Upper and lowercase

To edit your entry choose the icon under the word EDIT

To make the page “live”, click on the red flag to turn it GREEN.

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INSTRUCTIONS for ADDING RURAL CULTURAL ELEMENT ENTRIES: These are the eight elements as described in the class and manual - architecture, art, commerce, cuisine,

customs, geography, history and people.

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NAME – enter the name of the entry such as Bonnerville Historical Museum. !RCE Intro – this is a VERY SHORT sentence to excite the reader about what they are about to read about this entry and entice them to want to learn more. For example – if your local museum has an outstanding collection of a particular item, or if the museum is known for a certain artifact that attracts visitors use that in the copy. “The local museum not only preserves local history but is known for it’s amazing postcard collection.” This intro does not show up on the entry page but on a page that looks like the screen to the left. !

1. CLICK ON RURAL CULTURAL ELEMENT ENTRIES

2. To add new entry click this box.

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Note: After adding new contents, you can make changes by going back and choosing the Edit this Info button. Always remember to click on the Update button when finished.

Be sure and choose the appropriate element for your entry. Choose no more than 2 elements. The text written about the entry should relate to those particular elements.

Try to fill out everything you can. If there is a website for your entry please list that one. Use a full physical address – not a P.O. Box or Main and Fulton – or the Google Direction Map logo found on each entry page will not be able to locate it for the visitor. Try to list a second phone so that visitors will be able to reach someone after hours or on week-ends if needed.

When finished click on UPDATE. Then choose preview to see how it will look on the live webpage. !BE SURE and click on the red flag changing it to green which appears after you click on Update to make the page go live.

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADDING EVENTS:

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This is not where you put the address but where the event is held such as Downtown, Fairgrounds, Courthouse Lawn, etc.

NAME OF EVENT

See next pg. for more instructions regarding dates

To begin adding your events click on ADD NEW CALENDAR EVENT

CLICK ON EVENT CALENDAR

Must be a PHYSICAL ADDRESS WITH STREET NUMBER AND NAME - NO P.O. Box or Man & Kansas. If this is not done the Google Map Directions will not recognize the location.

Try and use email, phone and website whenever possible so visitors can contact someone with questions.

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!NOTE – Other information regarding event dates and time:

If an event is held more than one day there are two options for filling out the Event Calendar.

If your multiple day event starts and ends at the same time each day then you will choose from the drop down dates the beginning date and the beginning time on the first line.

On the second line you will choose your end date and end time.

HOWEVER – if your multiple day event has different start and end times then there are two options. You can fill out an event listing for each day of the event with the corresponding start/end time for each day. OR you can fill out the start and end dates and leave the start/end times blank and use the text box to type in the start/end times for each day.

****************************************************************************************** It is recommended that you write the copy for your event differently than how you would write it for other media and promotional materials. For instance, how or what does your county fair do different than any other fair. Do you have a turtle named Harold that has been competing in the turtle race for the last 25 years? Do you have one event that stands out from all the rest that you can really dramatize and entice visitors to attend?

Try to think outside the box on event listings and make them fun and vibrant. Use all the senses when writing about your entry. !

“Smell the roasted corn picked fresh from Farmer Dan’s field that day, get your hands dirty in the annual mud pie contest, listen for the squeals of the pigs and laughter of the children as they slip and slide around in the Greased Pig Contest, taste Aunt Velma’s Cherry Pie that has won first prize at the fair for 10 years in a row.” When you’re finished click on the ADD IT button at the bottom right. !!!!!

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Click on the red flag under STATUS to flag is GREEN and to go live. !Click on the FEATURED EVENT red flag to turn it green only 2-3 weeks prior to the event. !All towns with FEATURED EVENTS that are flagged green rotate on the MAIN PAGE so it is important to share that space with the other communities.

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AFTER ENTERING YOUR INFORMATION FOR RCE’S AND EVENTS YOU CAN ADD PHOTOS.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that the photos are HIGH RESOLUTION* and then RESIZED BEFORE ADDING.

*HIGH RESOLUTION = A photo that has a large file size. You can check your photo by either placing your cursor on top of the photo (do not click) and wait for the floating box to appear. OR you can right click on the photo and choose PROPERTIES at the bottom of the list that appears. It will give you the same information as seen in this clip below. !!!!

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!A high resolution photo will give you a crisper and clearer photo on the computer screen but because it is large it takes a long time to download so it must be resized before uploading onto your webpage.

There are two options to use for resizing if you are not already familiar with other image editing programs. The easiest is PicMonkey.com and does not need to be downloaded to your computer. It is an internet based photo editing program and is extremely easy to use. Instructions for using this program are found on page 10.

!!For PC users, most come equipped with Microsoft Office Picture Manager. To use this option, right click on the photo and choose OPEN WITH, then click on Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Instructions to use this program are found on page 16. !!!!!!!!!

The photo description to the left shows that the photo is high resolution by the Dimensions which is actually measured in pixels. The higher these numbers the better. The type should be JPG and the size is best if it’s between 800 kb and up to 4MB. Most high resolution pics will be around 1-3 MB in size.

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STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS FOR PICMONKEY.COM: !After opening the site and clicking on the Get Started button, give the site a little time to open up. If it asks for Adobe Flash Player to be installed follow the prompts to install it. It is free and takes a little time to download. !The instructions below are for creating a HEADER IMAGE which shows up at the top of your homepage. THE IMAGE SIZE ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE 640 X 220. !1. After opening the website click on EDIT A PHOTO text in upper left.

!!!!!!2. The next page will look like this and is set by default to the best option

for our website. Choose SAVE and continue. !!!!!!!!!!3. Your file browser box will pop up. It should automatically open your MY PICTURES folder. Find and select the photo that you have chosen to resize for your header image. If your photos are not stored in the My Pictures folder then choose the location from the left hand column or the LOOK IN browser bar at the top of the file manager box. Remember to choose only high resolution photos. Select your photo and click on the Open button

!!4. Depending on how large your original photo is (3500 x 2300; 2400 x 1600; 1800 x 1200, etc) will determine what area of the photo you can resize and crop and still show the area you want to feature on your banner. !!!!

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!5. The header image ABSOLUTELY HAS TO BE 640 x 220 pixels in size in order to correctly fit the placeholder on your webpage. !6. The photo you choose is important because you will need to cut off either the top/bottom and possibly some of the left/right sides of the photo to reach this size. !7. The new window will automatically upload your photo in the BASIC EDITS section. !8. From the row below the EDIT tab, select the RESIZE button !!!!!!!!!!!9. In the RESIZE box that appear type in 640 in the first box. The next box will change automatically if the “keep proportions” box is selected, which it should be by default. !!10. Click APPLY. !!!!!!!!!11. Select the CROP button. !!!!!

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12. A box highlighting part of the photo with circles in four corners and a grid will appear over the photo. !!13. Click on the first box under the words ACTUAL SIZE. !14. Type 640 in the first box and 220 in the second box. You’ll see the size of graphed box change. !!!15. Click on the crop box and move it up and down until the space it highlights would indicate to you that it would make a good banner image for your web page. !16. Click APPLY !17. Above the photo choose SAVE !18. THEN STOP! and carefully read the the following instructions. !!19. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that you change the name of your file to a different name so you do not lose your original large file, high resolution image. If you don’t you will lose your high quality photo forever and will not be able to use it for printing purposes. !!19. The program defaults to the quality size needed for our website.

20. Click on SAVE TO MY COMPUTER

21. Your file manager box will appear with the new file name. Click on SAVE

You are now ready to open your admin panel and add your header image. !!!!!!!!!!!

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!HEADER IMAGE INSTRUCTIONS !22. You are now ready to take your newly cropped image and upload it using the HEADER IMAGE link on the admin panel. !!!!!24. Picture Description – give a brief description and include name of your town. !25. Choose the BROWSE button !!!!!26. Find from the file manager box that appears and select the photo you resized for the banner and click on OPEN !27. Click the SUBMIT button. In the new window that shows up click on the red flag to turn green then check on your homepage to make sure the image looks okay. If it doesn’t show right away give it a few minutes and check again. !You can add 6 or more header images. They will randomly rotate on your community webpages. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

23. After choosing Header Image click on ADD AN IMAGE button

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!RESIZING PHOTOS FOR HOME PAGE, RCE & EVENT PAGES: !Follow the same instructions as above (pg. 10) for PicMonkey.com. !Upload a photo from your file manager and click on open. !!1. Choose EDIT A PHOTO text in upper left.

!!!!2. The next page will look like this and is set by default to the best

option for our website. Choose SAVE and continue. !!!!!!!!3. Your file browser box will pop up. It should automatically open your MY PICTURES folder. Find and select the photo that you have chosen to resize. If your photos are not stored in the My Pictures folder then choose the location from the left hand column or the LOOK IN browser bar at the top of the file manager box. Remember to choose only high resolution photos. Select your photo and click on the Open button

!!FOR HOME PAGE PHOTO – Please use a horizontal image. !1. Click on RESIZE !!!!!!!!!

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!!!!!2. Type in 440 in the first box and allow the second box to change constraints automatically then choose APPLY. !AGAIN – it is important to remind you to be sure and SAVE THE PHOTO UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME – or you will lose your original high resolution photo. !SAVE PHOTO

!And continue to resize another photo by choosing CLOSE PHOTO

!Then UPLOAD another photo for your RCE and Events pages using the same 440 dimension.

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HOW TO UPLOAD A PHOTO TO YOUR COMMUNITY HOME PAGE:

!1. Click on TOWNPAGE MANAGEMENT

!!!!!3. Scroll down the page until you get to HOME PAGE PHOTO, click on BROWSE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!4. Choose your photo that has been resized for your home page and click on OPEN. The location and name of the photo will appear in the box to the left of the Browse button. Below that, write a short PHOTO CAPTION in the box. If using a photograph by a professional photographer please give them credit. !!5. Click on the SUBMIT button. The photo will automatically be placed in a frame on your home page. You can click on the PREVIEW YOUR TOWN’S PAGE button at the top left of the new screen to check your photo. The photo can be deleted and changed anytime. Just return to the Townpage Mngment link, choose Edit this Info, click in the box next to DELETE THIS PHOTO and click on Submit. Return again to the Townpage Mngment link to add a new photo.

2. Click on EDIT THIS INFO

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!!!!!OFFICE PICTURE MANAGER INSTRUCTIONS to RESIZE AND CROP PHOTOS (this is an alternative to using PicMonkey.com) !Usually you can find this program if you have Windows XP/Vista by going to the START button > ALL PROGRAMS > MICROSOFT OFFICE > MICROSOFT OFFICE TOOLS > MICROSOFT OFFICE PICTURE MANAGER !1. Easier, faster way is to first choose your photo > place cursor on top of photo > right click> choose OPEN WITH > choose MICROSOFT OFFICE PICTURE MANAGER !2. When photo opens in the program choose EDIT PICTURE button located on the top toolbar. !3. In the right hand column under the heading, “Change Picture Size” click on the link RESIZE !4. In the new box choose “Predefined width x height” !5. In the drop down box choose Web-Small 448 x 336 ! NOTE! If you are using a lower resolution photo with original size 1600 x 1200 choose Document-Small 800 x 600. This will keep the quality a little higher but you will need to manually reduce the size of the photo after you insert it on your page. You can do this by clicking on the photo then grab one of the corner squares and pull into the middle. In order to keep the aspect ratio of the photo you may have to adjust the height and width as well. ! REMEMBER! To check the resolution of your photo, just place your cursor on top of the photo and wait for the floating box to appear. If you see numbers like 3200 x 2800 then you have a high resolution photo and your file size will be 1 - 4 MB. This is good! !6. DON’T FORGET! to SAVE AS and rename your file. When you close the program choose DON’T SAVE or you will lost your original high resolution photo. !7. You can also click on AUTO CORRECT to adjust the look of your photo. If it’s too light, then UNDO or hit CTRL + Z and adjust manually using the Brightness/Contrast option. !8. You have the ability to CROP your photo as well by choosing the Edit Picture button. REMEMBER to crop your photo BEFORE you RESIZE to retain the quality. !If you have any problems give WenDee a call, 620-585-2374 or email: wendee@kansassampler.org !!!!!

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!!!HOW TO ADD A PHOTO TO YOUR RCE AND EVENT PAGES: The general rule of thumb for adding photos to these pages is to use your resized 440 pics. This size fits the frame fully on the webpage. However, you can reduce the size and allow the text to wrap around the photo. You can also add more photos and align them where you want on the page. It is recommended that you not use too many photos – about 2-4 – and then make sure that all together the photo file size does not exceed 300-400 kb. Many people are still on dial up and lots of photos takes a long time to download even if resized. Adding photos to the text boxes can sometimes be a challenge. You may need to adjust the photo several times and recheck it in the preview page before you are ready to turn the red flag green! It takes a little time and patience but it well worth it in the end. Always try and use the best photo possible on these pages. If you don’t have decent photos either try taking some on your own using the highest setting on your camera or ask someone in your community who is experienced in photography to take them for you. Be sure and give them credit in the photo caption if you do use someone else’s photos.

!STEP 1 – Go to your Admin Panel and choose either Rural Cultural Element Entries (RCE’s) or Event Calendar and follow previous instructions. It’s easier to add photos AFTER you have added text. After you have clicked on EDIT for your entry you will see your page come up with the previously entered text. !!!!!!!!!!STEP 2:

Locate the IMAGE icon on your tool bar and click on it to open the next box.

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Make sure your cursor is at the beginning of your first sentence and blinking before you begin to add your photo or it will not appear on the live page.

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!!!!!!!!!!!1. In the box that comes up choose UPLOAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!2. Then choose SELECT FILES !!!3. The file manager box will appear and is where you will locate the photos you have resized.

4. Locate and click on your photo then select the OPEN button !5. The photo will automatically load into your list of photos below the Select Files button. !!!!!!6. Click on the name of the photo you just uploaded. It will appear as shown at right. !!!!

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!!!!!8. To allow the text to wrap around the photo you must choose an ALIGNMENT. It is usually best to start with LEFT and if you add other photos you can alternate with RIGHT and LEFT with each photo added. Click on the drop down arrow to choose the alignment. !9. To allow some space between the photo and the text it is necessary to choose 10px from the Margin drop down box as shown. You want 10 pixel spaces on the right side. If the photo is aligned on the right side of the page, you will want 10 spaces on the left of the photo. Occasionally if there is a lot of text, it might be necessary to add a little spacing on the top or bottom. It might take some trial and error on the spacing before you get it just right. !10. We do not recommend using the Styles Tab as we would prefer all town pages to be consistent throughout the site. !11. To finish choose the INSERT button. !12. The photo will appear in your text box. You can

adjust the size by click on the photo by grabbing one of the corner placeholders, while holding down the shift key to constrain proportions, and drag it toward the center of the picture to reduce the size. !!!!!

13. When satisfied with the size, choose the ADD IT button on the right hand corner. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!!!On the next page to appear click on the red flag under DISPLAY STATUS to change it to green. !You can PREVIEW your page at this time to see if you need to make changes. If you do, then go to the EDIT icon and make the changes. You can repeat this sequence until you feel you have it right. !!***************************************************************************** !INSERTING A LINK TO A WEBSITE USING THE HYPERLINK TOOL: !A hyperlink is a graphic or a piece of text in an Internet document that can connect readers to another webpage, or another portion of a document. The most simple form of these is called embedded text or an embedded link. You use the url of the website you want to re-direct them to for the hyperlink address. !In this instance, a hyperlink will show up as a single word or group of words that will usually be marked as underlined, and are frequently blue in color. Clicking on the hyperlink may take one to another part of the page, or it may open another Internet page. You will want to use this tool to redirect the reader to another website that gives more information about your entry or to another page on your Get Rural Kansas pages. !2. This icon is the “hyperlink” – After you have highlighted the text you want to embed then click on this icon. !3. The Link box defaults to Normal Link highlighted in yellow. You do not need to choose any of the other buttons below it. Type or paste in the website address you want to link to. Remember if pasting to remove the extra http:// if you have copied it. 7. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE - Always remember to select “Open in a New Window.” This will result in the new webpage being brought up in its own window and when the person clicks out of it they will not close the Get Rural Kansas website too. It’s very important to remember this step as it’s frustrating to visitors to have to go back in and bring up the website again and you may lose them all together as a visitor! !8. Then click on the button INSERT.

9. Finally click on the UPDATE button at the right hand corner and then go to the PREVIEW webpage you have updated and click on the hyperlinked text to make sure it works. !

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IMPORTANT - When hyperlinking to a website about your attraction or event, always use the actual URL that you see in your browser bar when on that page. If information is not found on the home page some people won’t take time to look for it. !!!!HOW TO ADD PDF FILES (must be original files converted using Adobe Acrobat and then file reduced if too large) - these files are usually brochures or other promotional materials you would like to make available on your webpage. !Here's how to do it: !You'll add the pdf brochure file just as you do a photograph by going to the page you want to add it to and opening the Image icon. !After you've loaded it to your asset manager you will then copy the url that shows up in the browser bar of the asset manager box.

(something that will look like this -townassets/1/Exp%20Brochure10web.pdf) To quickly copy it use Control A. !!Return to the page you want to add it to and write in some kind of text that says "Click here to see our print brochure." !Highlight the words Click here or the entire sentence. !Choose the hyperlink icon (the gray colored chain link to the left of the Image icon) on your toolbar and after the box appears, paste the URL next to http:// !!Then choose “Open in a New Window” and then the INSERT button !!!!!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!QUICK REFERENCE !NOTE: When you type in the text it will automatically show up as

Arial, size 10 in a brown color. !!!TEXT COLOR – BROWN RGB – 103 51 0 (you can type these numbers in by clicking

on the icon ! ;

Choose More Colors from the box that appears then to the top left of the new box type in 103 in the box next to the “R”; hit tab; type 51 in the box next to the “G”; hit tab; type 0 in the box next to the “B” ~ OR: type 673300 in the box below RGB next to the # sign. !

Then choose APPLY and OK. !TEXT NAME (Font) – Arial !TEXT SIZE – 10 (or you can select SIZE on the drop down box and choose Size 2) If it

doesn’t look like the right size after you have updated do the following: !!QUICK REFERENCE PHOTO SIZE: Header Image – 640 x 220 Home Page, RCE’s and Event images – 440 x 293 (or about) – and can be reduced in size after they are inserted.

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IF YOU NEED HELP – call anytime and if I’m not here please leave a message or email. I’m always glad to help. WenDee LaPlant, 620.585.2374, wendee@kansassampler.org !