Adding a Page

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Harpenden-History website

Adding a Page

The website is open to contributors who can be members of the Local History Society, or anyone in the community or with information about the community with something to share from their memories or research: they may or may not live in the area. 

The ‘How to Contribute’ link sets out the procedure for registration (basically a user name and password, which you need to remember for return visits).  You are then taken to a screen which invites you to add a page.  The process from there onwards is set out on each screen, and you can return to any of these sections to edit them until you are ready to submit. 

You start with Add title and subtitle.  It is probably best to choose a plain descriptive title, not too enigmatic, but enough to invite readers. You are automatically assigned as author – but you can change this if you are copying, with permission, from another source (which you would attribute).

The Add words section brings up a blank Word document, and it is possible to type short articles directly into that document.  However, for longer texts, or where you need to pause and look things up, it is advisable to prepare the document elsewhere on your computer in Word, and then to copy that text into the Word document in the ‘add words’ section.   Keep formatting very simple, with no gap between paragraphs.  When the text is imported, it is converted into the ‘house style’, which does not allow fancy lay-outs.  Save your work from time to time.  If you are continuing to work on the page – ‘save and continue’.

Once the text is in, you move on to Add pictures, though if your are only wishing to add some photos with captions you can start here.  Scanned/digital photos need to be stored on the computer you are working on.  You browse to find the picture on your computer, open it and upload it.  To add a caption you click on the photo and fill in the caption and credit boxes.  Click on ‘done’ at the foot of the screen.  You can add several pictures, and change the order of the sequence by using the ‘move’ button forward or back in the sequence.  Then click ‘done’.

You can view the layout of text and pictures in ‘Preview’ and you have a choice of text with pictures down the right-hand side, or text with larger pictures below. 

When you have completed what you want to put on a page, you save and submit your page to the editors.  

The editors read, check for spelling and other minor errors, and may add subtitles.  If they have queries they might need to contact you for clarification, checking of facts etc. before publishing the page.  You are notified when the page has been published.

As you will have seen from looking at the site, pages vary considerably in length, though we think that most visitors to the site will go for shorter pages.  It is possible for the editors to make links from one page to others, by highlighting key words.  This is a facility we will use more in future.  The editors decide which section of the website to place pages in – some are published in one than one section.  It may be necessary in future to add more categories/sub-sections, particularly in Topics, according to what people wish to contribute.  We have started by setting out a basic framework for the site.

We hope you will enjoy making ‘pages’, and become a regular contributor.

The Editors, October 2011

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