MESSAGE
BOARD USER MANUAL
Introduction
‘Message Board’ is the
name given to the feature that allows users to add and edit text areas
directly on their Web Sites using a normal internet browser, without the
need for file uploading.
This User Manual provides
information on:
·
Logging in to the Control
Panel
·
Changing Passwords
·
Web Page Management
·
Text Editing
‘Message Board’ uses a
MySQL database to store the information input by the user. PHP software is
then used to extract this information from the database and display it on
the web page.
Your User Login
In order to restrict
access to specific edit areas, the user is required to login in via the
Your-Own-Page Control Panel.
This may be found at:
www.
http://www.your-own-page.co.uk/control
To login, enter your
allocated username and password and press "login". Remember that these are
both case sensitive. When your login has been accepted you will be
presented with your Control Panel Home Page. This identifies the actions
you can perform.
In normal circumstances
these will be:
·
Web Page Management
·
Change Password
Change Password
In order to help maintain
a secure operating environment, all authorised users are able to change
their password once logged in. On the Control Panel Home Page click on
"Change Password".
To change your
password, firstly enter your current password. Then enter your new
password, followed by your new password again. This is to make sure that
you haven't mis-spelled your new password.
Press "Change
Password" when you have done this, or "Cancel" if you decide not to
proceed.
If your new
password is accepted you will be informed of this and may then continue
with other actions. If you "Cancel" or your new password is not accepted,
your existing password will remain in force.
Passwords must be
between 6 and 16 characters, and preferably should be a mixture of letters
and numbers.
Logout
You can logout from an
admin session at any time by clicking the "Logout" link. The session is
automatically ended if you close the administration browser window.
Web Page Management
Clicking on “Web Page
Management” takes the user to the Page Selection page.
There will be an entry
for each of the text areas that can be edited. The names allocated to
these text areas reflect the location in the web site and the position on
the page. There may be one or more text areas defined for a page and
these can be on one or more pages.
To edit a particular area
click on the area required. An editing page for this text area will be
displayed.
This
text editing page consists of two panes:
·
The left
hand scrolling text area shows the currently edited text with HTML
(formatting) tags.
·
The right
hand pane shows how the text will look in the browser. It shows either the
saved text, or if a "Preview" has been requested it shows how the edited
text will appear.
Text
Editing
Editing
is done solely in the left hand scrolling pane. Editing uses a restricted
set of formatting tags (actually HTML, Hypertext Markup Language, the
language all web pages are written in).
Normally you will be editing text that is already present, but if you want
to add new text type it in just as if it were a word processor. However
HTML ignores all white space after the first space character and all
carriage returns, new lines and tabs. So to provide properly laid out
text you need to add formatting tags.
An HTML
formatting tag comprises a control code, often just one or two letters,
bracketed between “less than” and “greater than” symbols. For example to
make the following text bold you use the <b> tag. If you want to end the
bold text you use the </b>. Many HTML tags comprise beginning and end
pairs like <b> …. </b>.
Only a
limited set of the HTML tags should be used. A brief description of the
tags, with examples of what the text will look like, are included.
HTML
Paragraph and Text Basic
Formatting Tags
New paragraph
<p>
gives a new
paragraph - type this tag at the beginning of each paragraph. A
</p> should be included at the end of each paragraph.
Paragraph Alignment
It is
also possible to align paragraphs (e.g. centered for headings). This is
done by adding the alignment to the <p> tag. E.g. <p
align=”centre”>, <p align=”left”>.
New line
<br>
gives a new line -
type this tag when you want a new line but not a new paragraph. (No
end tag is required).
Bold Text
<b>
... </b> makes
text bold - put these tags around text you want to make bold
Italic Text
<i>
... </i> makes
text italic - put these tags around text you want to make
italic
Lists
<ul><li>....</li></ul>
makes an unordered list (bullet points)
<ol><li> ...</li></ol> makes an ordered list (numbered)
Example
<p>This is a test page</p>
<p><b>This text is in bold.
<br>This is a new line.</b></p>
<p align=”centre”><i>This text is in italic.</i></p>
<p>This is a bulleted list:</p>
<ul>
<li>item one</li>
<li>item two</li>
<li>item three</li>
</ul>
<p>This is a numbered list:</p>
<ol>
<li>item one</li>
<li>item two</li>
<li>item three</li>
</ol> |
This is a test page
This text is in bold.
This is a new line.
This text is in italic.
This is a bulleted list:
·
item
one
·
item
two
·
item
three
This is a numbered list:
1.
item
one
2.
item
two
3.
item
three
|
FONT Formatting Tags - See
Advanced Text Editing Features
Control Buttons
Once
you have edited the text you can press one of the five buttons:
·
Preview –
this will show you in the right hand pane what your edited text will look
like in a browser. This button does not cause the changes to be saved.
·
Save – this
will save the edited text and anyone now opening the original web page
will see the changes you have made.
·
Reset – if
you get into problems with your editing this button will return the text
to the last saved version.
·
Cancel – if
you decide not to continue with the editing this button will return you to
the Test Selection page without saving changes. Note that if you have done
a “save” part way through your editing session these changes are not
reversed.
·
Close – when
you have finished editing and saved what you have done, this button will
take you back to the Text Selection page. Any unsaved changes will be
lost.
|