Message Board User Guide

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 tag. If you want to end the bold text you use the . Many HTML tags comprise beginning and end pairs like …. .

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

 gives a new paragraph - type this tag at the beginning of each paragraph. A  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  tag. E.g. , .

New line

  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

 ...  makes text bold - put these tags around text you want to make bold

Italic Text

 ...  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

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:

<ul>

<li>item three</li>

</ul>

This is a numbered list:

<ol>

<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.