Tips for Editing the website

General

  • Be patient!!! Editing the website can be frustrating and time consuming, be prepared.
  • Use the GoogleSites help button.  There is a lot of great information and you can find some great resources that way.
  • Use the revision history link under More actions in the upper right hand corner to undo any major mistakes you have made.

Text

Most of the text for each page is located in a text box that can be viewed and edited separate from the rest of the page.  In order to do this you must first click the edit this page tab in the upper right hand corner while on the page you would like to edit.  You should be able to see the text box and any other component boxes (pictures, charts, etc.) for this page.  Click on the text box you would like to edit and a light blue bar should appear under the box (sometimes it appears above the box, too).  If you click on properties it will allow you to edit the text within that object.  

The formatting of the text tends to be a little finicky.  Make sure that you review the page after you have edited it!!!

Left Sidebar/Header

In order to edit the left side bar or header you must go to More Actions in the upper right hand corner and then to Manage Site.  This will take you to an area where you can change the font, color, and format of the website.  Under the Site Appearance section on the left, click Site Layout.  This will bring up a map of the with all of the components of the sidebar and header.  Each can be edited or deleted and new ones can be added from that section.

There are a lot of boxes on the sidebar so make sure you are editing the right one before you change it.  Changes in this part of the website are hard to reverse. 

Photos/Photo Albums

Each semester the photos for the slideshow on the homepage needs to be updated.  All of these photos are stored in the PR Photo album on the Picasa site.  Use pictures from other albums on the Picasa site because we know we have rights to use those.  If you would like to add a picture to the PR album, first you must save that picture to your computer and then add it to the album. I haven't found an easier way to add the pictures to the PR album but I am hoping Picasa will come up with a copy or transfer option soon.

To change the pictures on individual pages, it is easiest if they are already somewhere on the web or Picasa.  Right click the picture you would like to add and select "Copy Link Location".  When you add or edit teh picture on the website you can select the "Use URL" option and paste the link.

News feed

New news articles need to be posted periodically to the Recent news feed. The news feed works similar to a blog where you can add a post by going to the Recent News Page and clicking "New Post".  Posts can also be edited after you post them by going tot eh article and selecting the edit page function in the upper right hand corner.  

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