1  

D69 Website Help

By Anthony Straker

Rod Neucom

Part 5

 

  2  

Index Introduction 3 Administrator Information 3 Membership Management 4 Default Website Pages/Forms 4 Mentor/Mentee Requests 5 Meeting Information 5 Google Map iFrame 6 Social Networking Links 10 Custom Web Pages 11 Floater Messages 17 File Manager 19 Meeting Agenda 23 Dues Management 25 Epilog 28

 

  3  

Part 5 OK lets start on the home run… From now on it’s all easy… If you have to log in and open the Admin console. Go back to Select at the top of the page and with the drop down select the second option Administrator information Activate option 2

This fairly simple... it comes prepopulated with your details and only needs changing when changing administrators. Make your changes and save. Then close the box

 

  4  

Another Big Tip Document the password and put it with the VPPR files. If you are like me you have about 22 million passwords… (well that may be a slight exaggeration)… but I have a lot. Write it down with the login procedure… keep it safe… but keep it! Membership management

This is the third in the dropdown list. This is where you add members ... we wont show you this as it will breach some confidentiality but all the steps, procedure and protocols are very well explained. Default Website Pages/Forms This is the next dropdown It opens this window. Now if you have someone in the club who will take calls and emails from prospective members, this is where you tell the website, who that member is. Be aware that that member’s phone number will be available to the potential member so make sure you get permission from the member BEFORE you activate their name. In this case I have activated my name.

 

  5  

You can have up to three members who can receive calls

Mentor/Mentee Requests

Again this offers a dropdown of all the members in the club so you can select who will look after the Mentoring Program in the club. Usually it’s the VPE Meeting Information

The next box is to tell the prospective members, and visiting Toastmasters … Where and when you meet.

 

  6  

Make the directions clear. You will be surprised to find out that not everyone knows where things are in your suburb or town. The next box is very useful Google Map iFrame

First open another Internet window. Go to Google maps Put in your address (where you meet not your home) You will end up on a page similar to this.

 

  7  

Now this is where there is a slight difference to the Toastmasters Instructions… They say to go to the Top Right… Well something changed when Google moved south of the Equator… Go to the TOP LEFT (well it is there on mine)

In the right upper part is a link symbol the one that looks like a chain…

 

  8  

Click on this and you get this box

Click on the bottom one, it will turn blue like this, when it is selected. Right click or “command click” it… Select “copy” from the dropdown… Now go back to the club website page and paste this link into the box your web page… HOWEVER… Toastmasters have made a suggestion…

“We recommend altering Google default 350 height to 650 for better viewing ”

Welcome to the world of Source Code editing… Remember way back we said that you should stay away from the dreaded source button? We’re not touching the source button … You are going to the Source… Those old enough to remember the Matrix will get it Well you are about to edit some source code. This is not very difficult at all. Place your cursor near the text you want to edit, the “350” .

 

  9  

It will all turn blue

Click again and it will turn clear.

Then use the arrows to move your cursor to the position you want… replace the “350 with “650” then click again

It will turn blue and it’s ready for the right click to copy and paste it in your club web site. Yep it’s that easy. I know that we have labored this section a little but it was an area where we found some problems. Have a go at the changes,,, remember you can always back out without hitting the save button. We know you have had a big success editing source code so if you are happy with all the changes you have made… Click the save button in the lower right… Before you hit the close button. While we were trialing this program we did have some instances where people closed sections assuming it would save automatically … then were surprised when they came back to the site and all their hard work had been lost and didn’t come up on the screen.

 

  10  

Social Networking Links This is where I show my age… However there are many people who are addicted to social media and it is a great way, I am told, to get members… SO here is the section where you can dive into the social media pool.

This page is very simple… just enter the URLs of your social sites and get them working for you. Your Facebook or other site can direct people back to your Toastmasters Club site. One very useful box it at the very bottom…

Here is the place you leave the login details to all those social network sites… for those who will follow you.

 

  11  

Very, very useful. I have been in the position where someone set up a site then left the organization. It was my job to find the site then get access then change it… Not a good thing. Fill in the box… those that follow will really appreciate it. By the way, if you set up a Utube account you can video and post club speeches on line. You can link from here to those speeches. Do you want to??? Custom Web Pages

Here is your chance to really make your club site unique. You can add a page that is yours alone… But before you start there are several things you must do. Plan all components of your site… Assess… Do you really want to put this information or pictures… on the Internet? Lets deal with the second first…

 

  12  

Assess We mentioned before that what you send into the black hole of the W.W.W. The web sucks in information and never lets it go… It is potentially there forever in some manner or form. So the cute picture of a member at a club social night, dressed in a mermaid costume and covered in cream from the food fight, may seem like a great idea the next day but things do come back to haunt us. OK this may be a bit of an exaggeration but I have seen a lot worse… a lot worse As the club webmaster you have a huge responsibility. What you are putting it on the club site or social media pages is a direct reflection on your club AND the individual member. Some things are best kept private. You can make the pages “members only” of allow them to be viewed by the public but assume that what you are uploading is as freely available as if you are standing on a corner in your town with billboards… Except it’s a billboard that is available on every corner of every town in the world. The three pieces of advice I can offer are

Be Careful

Be Cautious Be Conservative

You have been warned

Planning The easiest thing to do is get the kernel of an idea then race away and start building a website… Sounds like a good idea and the way the Toastmasters editing is set up it is relatively easy… Stop and plan… even form a committee to develop the ideas.

 

  13  

One of the first things you should do is to go to the bottom part of this section and works out all the components you will find there.

Again… in testing we found that some people confuse the first three sections…

This title is what will appear on your website… I’ll show you this at the end of this section

The Web Page Name is actually what the sit calls it in its hierarchy… in other words it is the actual address of the page.

 

  14  

That means that when you (or anyone ) go to that page… it’s the URL or address appears in the top of your search engine… like this.

You can see how smart the editor is when it added the underscores where I put in a space. The next line is basically what it says… the description of what is happening on the page.

We mentioned “keywords” in earlier sections and here is the chance to add some more that specifically relate to this page that you are creating.

Now the important one… is it for members or is it for the public. Remember that the “public” may include visiting Toastmasters from another town or state or country.

I selected that this page should have public access so now I have planned and completed the lower part of the site page it will look like this …

 

  15  

I check it out and I am happy with this first stage and before I start on the next part I select Save.

Note that I do not select close… Now I can enter my copy

 

  16  

I have made the copy very simple but with all the tools that I talked about in an earlier section… I can change fonts weights and bolding… umm remember the warnings… Now that I have completed all these steps I hit Save then Close Now that Web Page Title has appeared in the Main Menu./ See it down the bottom… TT… the Advance Club

When I click on it… it shows me this….

Yeah… I am a web page designer!!! My mother would be proud.

 

  17  

HOWEVER Those of you with a keen eye will have noted that I spelled opportunity incorrectly… No problem… (it’s no problem for me to spell anything wrong) Log back in… Open the admin console… Activate the dropdown to custom web page Using the drop down arrow

Now I have the option of creating a new page or editing the TT… the Advance Club page… see it even tells you that the page that you created is available to the [Public]. Make your changes to any part of the site you have decided could be better then… Don’t forget to hit save before close. BIG TIP After you have saved the site… get someone else to look at it… you would be surprised what faults new eyes can find… Floater messages The next area is Floaters. Again you access this zone via the dropdown menu on the Admin Console

 

  18  

This is a message that appears right at the top of the page. These can appear for a member or a non member. This is a great place to put your next meeting date and time. It does not automatically update so you have to change it as time passes… that means if you have a meeting on the 16th… on the 17 it will still be on yesterdays date. Make a decision… can you tend the site after EVERY meeting to update it? If not place a generic message or leave it blank. There is nothing worse than having out of date information right there on your front page.

 

  19  

The top box is there to be viewed by everyone. As you can see, at TT we have our next meeting listed for all to see. In the Member Message we have the same copy but we may change it to remind members when the Christmas party is or when we have club competitions… The Member and Non-member messages can be completely different. The boxes under them are a link. If you create a page with information just for members such as requests or programs, you can have the Floater as that link to that page. All you have to do is create that page, then copy the link, like you did with the Google map… But copy it from the search engine bar. Paste the link into the appropriate link box and clicking on the floater will take them to that page. As I said very early on … this is all getting easier… Don’t forget to save and close when you are finished. File Manager This area is where you can store… Files…

 

  20  

It is already populated with some TM brochures… but there is no reason you can’t create some unique documents. You can make them accessible to the public or just members.

Hoe do you add your files to this? You can create them in any format you like but remember not everyone has the same apps as you so a .doc or docx or a pages file may not be readable by everyone. Create your files in your program, then save or export them as PDFs. PDF files are “portable document files…for a full description and explanation of what and why use a PDF go to the Glossary. Save them somewhere easily accessible on your computer Now we get to add our documents or files to the site. Just a couple of things… the maximum file size is 5 meg so don’t make it a tome. Exporting to PDF will help with compression

 

  21  

The second big no no is videos… Put them in uTube and link via the social network page of your site. So lets see how to download your files

. When you activate the select button in the top left, it will access the file lists in you computer.

You navigate to the file you want to upload then double click the PDF file.

 

  22  

Then in the window edit the file if you wish to give it a better name… For example I changed Glossary 130429.pdf” to “D69 Website Help Glossary.pdf Then you activate the save file Description

Its done, the Glossary for this help program is loaded on the TT Website

 

  23  

Meeting Agenda

This part of the drop down is where you can create the agenda for your meeting. This is why more than one person in the club should have access to the website. The VPE should be able to access this area and generate meeting programs. There is a great help page that is accesses by clicking the More button in the top paragraph. It opens the Free Toast Host 2.0 help and is worth a read

 

  24  

This is a very simple step by step guide to creating your own template or modifying an existing one to suit your club… I would recommend this second option. Read this then close it with the “x” in the corner to return to the programming part. The next part is the global settings

Check what you would like on these and proceed to the default meeting agendas. This is basically a step-by-step inserting of data to build a layout of a meeting as it applies to your club. Our trials have shown that members who have had a go at setting this up have had very little trouble. It is a bit time consuming but it is a simple process. This is an incredibly powerful tool with a myriad of options. I won’t go into all the steps but if we get feed back saying that people want a blow by blow we will create a separate document and send it later as an appendix. We are coming to the end The final area… (yeah I hear you cry)

 

  25  

Dues Management

This is a proforma invoice template with an attached mailing list that can generate emails to members.

The first part is the Club information and closing date for payment. Scroling down will reveal a template of a letter that will insert all the information you entered in the first page. There is room for a custom message and the ability to make PayPay payments if your club has that facility. (mine don’t)

 

  26  

Lower there is the option for members to pay “direct Deposit. This is proving a very popular option in my area. Insert your club account details here The next step is to proof the letter that the template has created…

A further scroll will reveal the club members and their payment methods…

 

  27  

I won’t show you this for reasons of confidentiality… Take it slow and steady … you will get there. I found the first time I stepped through the procedures it helped a lot that I had another club member with me… Two heads are better than one. Particularly when the other head belongs to a bit of a geek…

 

  28  

Epilog Well this has been as steep a learning curve for Anthony and I as it most likely has been for you… I apologise for the delay but what I thought was going to be a simple 10 page “how to” turned into a monster At one stage it was well over 300 pages… It was only with the help of those who used the instructions to step through the procedures that I was able to distill this down to manageable size. I make no apology for being too simple in parts because I had to start somewhere and so will a lot of people. Finally I have no doubt that there are mistakes in places and I am sure that there are some who have great shortcuts and workarounds. Send your requests, suggestions, comments, abuse and criticisms to:

d69websitehelp@gmail.com

I’ll try to answer and incorporate usable suggestions into an appendix or a version 2… (no he says running screaming from the room) The Free Toast Host is a simple system once you have fought through the self imposed haze of computer literacy. Like the little engine … yes you can Happy webbing Rod Neucom Anthony Straker

 

  29