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Troop 688 Website Tutorial (Sept 2016)
http://troop688va.org/
This document is intended to provide an overview of how members can contribute content to the Troop688 website.
The Troop688 website uses “wordpress” to operate and manage the site. This is primarily a blogging tool. We have structured our website to have some static public pages that describe basics of Troop688, a few “News” items that only, and how to contact us. These public-facing internet pages can only be changed by our webmaster/admin users. This type of website architecture is meant to have multiple authors generating content in blog-like fashion, rather than a single point of failure website manager.
Once a Troop688 member is logged in to our website, they will see a new menu item called “Private,” and under that are items that only members can see and contribute to. There is a “Blog” that shows troop activities. Anyone with “Editor” or “Author” permissions can post to this area stories and pictures. There is also a section called “Troop Documents” that are only available to logged-in members.
1) The overall Webmaster admin functions are shared by Steve Waugh and Steve Scherr.
2) All Troop688 Committee members will be given “Editor” roles. This means they can edit any content on site, even postings done by others
3) All Troop688 Assistant Scout Masters will be given “Author” roles. This means they can create new articles and edit/change their own articles, but not other people’s articles.
4) All members of the site (Adults and Scouts) will have basic “member/contributor” permissions and will be able to access the private area, can comment on existing articles, but can not author new articles.
Here is the front page of our site. After you log-in, you will
see the “Private” menu option on the far right as in this
picture.
Private Area, only
available to signed-in
members
Your name if
signed-in
SCREEN SHOTS FROM PRIVATE
AREA OF WEBSITE
The Private Troop Activities Blog.
Story after story in chronological order
(most recent first), with embedded
pictures
The Private Troop Activates Archive.
This is the same content as the Troop
Activates Blog, except that it has a
table of contents with links to each
story. If you want to go back in time,
this is a much easier way to find an
event
The Private Troop Documents blog
has content that is more about troop
event administration (forms,
instructions, etc).
The Private “Send e-mail to
members” has reminders of the
distribution lists used for Troop688
communications.
EDITOR/AUTHOR BACK END SCREEN SHOTS
The next set of instructions/screens only apply to those with “Editor” and “Author” privileges.
When you log-in as an Author, you should see something like this:
You username
Quick Entry to post an Item. Items entered here will appear by default
in the “Troop Activites” subsection of the Private area of the site (e.g.
not visible to internet, only visible to logged in members)
Or click on
“Posts”
Click on “Add New”
to create a new
posting
Enter Title and
Posting information
Click on category (this will place
content on one of these two
menu locations). Should default
to Troop Activities for most items
At any time, click on House icon in
upper left, then “Visit Site” to view
to actual website
Sending e-mails to members of the site.
We’ve turned on a feature to use the website for authors/editors to send emails to
members of the site individually or as groups. The groups are intended to replicate the
same listings of members as in the e-mail distribution lists. This method of sending e-
mails to the troop can be a backup to the list server used most commonly.
Clicking on this “Group” field will
pull up a list of groups. Choosing
“All Current Active Members” goes
to everyone just like the troop688
distro list. Choosing “Committee”
goes to everyone on the Committee,
just like the distro list.
One can see a list of the individual users in the system and which group they belong to.
Click on the “Users” tab as shown in this picture. Some names are associated with
more than one user group. You can use this page to search for the list of names in
each group. For those with webmaster privileges, this page has the function enabled
to assign names to groups. If you see an error, like a name that should be in a
particular group but is not, please e-mail [email protected] to get it fixed.
Finally, there is a tab on the
website menu itself called
“Send e-mail to members”
This simply brings up a list of
links to use the existing e-
mail list server, to remind
folks what those group e-
mail address are. The e-
mail list server we use has a
restriction that only those
who are members of the list
can send/use the list. This
prevents spam. These e-
mail address are also listed on our “private” site since they are not usable by anyone not
already in the troop and a member of these lists, and by putting them on the private side
we lessen the amount of hacking/web crawlers that find e-mails on websites and then
attempt to send them junk mail.
Setting up event sign-ups on the site.
We’ve turned on a feature to use the website for authors/editors to setup event sign
ups. Consider it experimental for now. The existing troop688 paper-based process for
signing up to troop events at the tables during Monday meetings will remain the troops
standard practice for event signups.
Who has membership access to our website.
All current Troop 688 members were invited to the site. Additionally, we will attempt
keep in the system as “alumni” any families that have previously been with Troop 688.
There will be group codes that can be assigned to member accounts, like ASM,
Committee, Alumni, Editors, Authors, etc.
Tell me more about the Private area of our website.
There are three key information items located in the members-only access area (e.g.
private area):
1) Troop Activities
2) Troop Documents
3) Send e-mail to members
The “Troop Activities” page is where all postings that Authors write will go. This
information is visible only to logged-in members of the troop 688 website. The intent is
that this is an areas where we can post pictures of our kids and include troop-only
information that will NOT be visible on the public internet side of the site. This will be a
growing collection of internal stories, in blog format, the most recent story is listed first.
This way, if we want to have some of the kids be “Authors” of blog content, we don’t
have to worry (too much) about content mistakes appearing on the open internet side.
If any parents take pictures of kids at an event and want to share with the troop parents,
this is the place to do it. There are two versions of this same page—Troop Activities,
and Archive of troop activities. The only difference is that the Archives page starts with
a simple table of contents sorted by date.
The “Troop Documents” page is also blog-based, with most recent posts at the top
and an index to the information. The intent is to post documents that need to be stored
and shared among the troop members. As an example, the ASM leading the Camp
Rodney trip would not only send his information as attachments to the e-mail we all get,
but can also post an article to the websites restricted area with information and
attachments. Generally the “Troop Documents” page is more about administrative
things associated with making events happen, and the “Troop Activities” page is
supposed to be after-the-event pictures and stories from adults/kids who went, to share
with their peers within the troop. There is a feature to allow some auto-posting of e-
mails to the website, and for certain information (like instructions for Camp Rodney) it’s
simply easier to auto-post the same e-mail sent to the distribution list.
Who decides what subset of Troop Activities appears on the Public Internet tab
called “News” on our website
The limited number of Website Administrators and Editors do. Generally, no one
should be putting any information up to share on the public-internet side of our website
except for the website administrators. The website administrative settings are
supposed to prevent “Authors” from doing this already, but like all software, it may not
work perfectly. If you happen to post by mistake to the wrong portion of the site, please
delete your own post and/or write to the website administration team
([email protected]) and they will clean up your mess!
Finally: VOLUNTEERS WANTED: Any parents who are not already Committee
members who want to join the website “Editorial board” function, or any other Admin
level function of the website, please let me know (Steve Waugh: email me at
