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If you are a Verizon Pioneer Webmaster,
this section's for you. We hope this resource provides you with helpful
information on how to develop and maintain your Verizon Pioneer Website.
We'll be updating this section constantly to provide you with the most
up-to-date information available.
Please click on the links below to
access instructions and tips. If you have any questions or suggestions on
what you'd like to see posted here, please e-mail webmaster@verizonpioneers.org. |
Creating and Maintaining E-mail
Addresses:
Logging
on to WebEdge
To access your website's e-mail account,
please direct your browser to http://webmail.registeredsite.com/.
Your user name is your regular user name plus @yourdomainname.org. For
instance, AGB's user name might be usr123456@verizonagb15pioneers.org.
Your password is the same as your regular password. Leave the Mail Server
box as local host and leave the Frames button clicked.
Forwarding E-mail
Once you've logged on to
WebEdge, you'll find yourself looking at your inbox. Anything that has a
suffix of @yourdomainname.org will come to this mailbox. If you want it to
be forwarded directly to someone, click on Options, then
Rules. Scroll down to the Forwarding section and type in your
forwarding address. Then, you'll probably want to click Forward, Then
Discard so you won't take up space on the server with your e-mail
messages.
Creating a New E-mail
Address
If you'd like to create a new e-mail address, such
as info@verizonagb15pioneers.org,
click on Administration in the left navigation bar. Scroll to the
bottom and click on Assign in the right corner box. Simply complete
the boxes and click Submit Changes at the end.
If you'd like to have
that new e-mail address forwarded to someone, you must log out of this
main account and log back in using your new e-mail address as the user ID
and its new password. Again, you'll click on Options, then
Rules. Scroll down to the Forwarding section and type in your
forwarding address. Don't forget to click Forward, Then Discard so
you won't take up space on the server with your e-mail
messages. |
Accessing your WebTrends
Report
Would you like to know all about
the traffic on your site? WebTrends is your answer. This comprehensive
report will provide you with information on hits, page views, number of
visits, number of unique visitors, where your visitors are logging in
from, popular access days and times, and much, much more.
To Access WebTrends
Direct your browser to
your website address plus "/admin." For instance, you could access AGB's
admin site at www.verizonagb15pioneers.org/admin.
You'll see a pop-box where you'll need to type in your site's user name
and password.
Once you've entered your admin console, click on
Account Report, then WebTrends Now. You might receive a
security alert. If you do, just click "yes, you'd like to
proceed."
Once you're on the Web Traffic Reporting page, simply type in all
your access information. You'll probably want to keep the default time
frame, report template, language, save to and report type settings. If you
click "yes" for automatic reporting, you'll receive an e-mail each week
notifying you that your report has been updated. When you have completed
all the fields, click Submit Request.
Within the hour, you should
receive an e-mail alerting you that a report has been generated. Click on
the link the e-mail provides and you will be able to access your report
online. |
| Saving
to your hard drive |
| The chapter websites are built
with shared borders on the top, left and bottom. The shared border feature
allows you to create a new page with the borders already in place – no
cutting and pasting. In order to preserve the shared borders when saving
your website to your hard drive, you must follow these steps: |
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1.
Create an empty website on your hard drive:
§
Open
Frontpage and ensure all webs are closed. You need to start with a large
grey area.
§
Then click
File, New, Page or Web.
§
When the
box appears on the right side of your screen, click Empty
Web in the New section of
the box.
§
Name your
web in the Specify location
section. You might consider naming it: c:\mydocuments\mywebs\yourchaptername.
§
Click OK.
§
Close
this
web by going to
File, Close Web. |
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2.
Now you need to open your web on the server.
§
Go to File, Open Web.
§
When the box pops up, type your
domain name in the box next to Web name. It should be in the following
format: http://www.verizonpioneers.org.
Click OK.
§
When your website is open, you should see a list of folders on the
left side
of your screen. You don’t need to open any pages. In fact, you
shouldn’t because you’re on the server. If you make any mistakes,
they’re permanent. |
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3.
Now, you need to save your web to your hard drive.
§
Go to File, Publish Web.
§
You should get a pop up box
requesting your publish destination. Type in the address of the empty web
you created on your hard drive. As a reminder, I had suggested: c:\mydocuments\mywebs\yourchaptername.
§
Click OK.
Then you also may need to click Publish. |
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Creating
META Tags
META Tags are coding
embedded in the html of your website that allows search engines to catalog
your site properly. If you add META Tags to your site, search engines
crawling your site will recognize these tags and file your pages under the
keywords you request. If you don’t add META Tags, the search engines
will sort your pages the way they think appropriate. To add META Tags:
1.
Open your website on your hard drive in Frontpage
2.
Open your home page.
3.
Right click anywhere on your home page.
4.
A pop-up box should appear. Click on Page Properties.
5.
Then, click on Custom.
6.
In the System Variables
box, click Add.
7.
Next to Name:, type in
your website’s name using underscores instead of spaces. For example,
Verizon_Paumanok_Pioneers.
8.
Next to Value:, type in
your keywords in lower case, separated by commas and spaces. For example:
verizon paumanok pioneers, paumanok, pioneers, volunteers.
9.
Click OK, then OK
again.
10.
You can do this to any page in your website, not just your home
page. |
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Requesting Search Engines Crawl Your Site
Each search engine is
different so you’ll probably have to do a bit of sleuthing on
each one to discover how to register your site. I recommend that you
register your website with the following search engines:
www.yahoo.com, www.google.com,
www.altavista.com, www.lycos.com,
www.excite.com. You can also register
with MSN and AOL. |
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Yahoo is the most
difficult. If you follow these suggestions, all our sites will have a
consistent placement within Yahoo:
1.
The first place you’ll want to go is the bottom of Yahoo’s
homepage and click on How to
Suggest a Site and read the directions. In a nutshell, it boils down
to registering your site on a category page.
2.
Go back to the homepage and click on Society and Culture in the middle column about halfway down.
3.
On the next page, click People.
4.
Then, look on the right side of the screen and click Featured
Category: Community Service and Volunteerism.
5.
Then click Organizations,
then Telephone Pioneers of America.
6.
At the bottom of that page, click Suggest a Site.
7.
Complete and submit the form.
8.
Be patient. It could take months for Yahoo to get around to
crawling your site. |
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Managing Tables
Please remember that
everything you place on a webpage must be in a table. Otherwise, it will
float all over the page. It may look correct on your screen, but
it probably won’t on someone else’s monitor.
To add a table:
1.
Place your cursor where you’d like the table.
2.
Go to Table, Insert, Table.
3.
Type in how many rows and columns you want.
4.
Type in the width of your column. Most of your sites are running
550 pixels.
You can check this by looking at the dotted line that forms the table.
You’ll
want the right side to line up with the right side of the masthead.
5.
Click on left alignment.
6.
You can also add a border if you want.
7.
You can change the cell padding, which is the amount of white space
around
the edge of the inside the cell. This feature is helpful if you want to
put copy
next to a photo.
8.
You can change the cell spacing, which the amount of white space
between cells. |
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To add a row or column.
1.
Click anywhere inside your table.
2.
Go to Table, Insert, Rows or
Columns.
3.
Complete the form and click OK.
4.
Be very careful about accidentally adding tables inside of tables.
It will really mess up your formatting.
To
change the size of a cell:
1.
Right click anywhere inside the cell.
2.
When the pop-up box appears, click Cell Properties.
3.
Complete the form and click OK.
To
add a border or change the color of a cell.
1.
Right click anywhere inside the cell.
2.
When the pop-up box appears, click Cell Properties.
3.
Click Style, then Format,
then Border.
4.
Use the Borders and Shading
tabs at the top to toggle back and forth between the forms that add
borders and change the background color of the cell.
5.
Click OK when you’ve
completed the form.
Creating
Hyperlinks:
You can easily add
links from text or graphics. Through Frontpage, you can create multiple
links within one graphic. For instance, your left navigation bar is one
graphic, but it contains five or more links.
To
add a link from a word or phrase:
1.
Highlight that word or phrase.
2.
Right click.
3.
Click on Hyperlink.
4.
When the pop-up box appears, either select a page that appears in
the current folder box… or type in the link in the address box at the
bottom.
5.
Click OK.
To
add a link from a graphic:
1.
Click on the graphic.
2.
When the graphic is highlighted with the black squares on its
corners and sides, a graphic toolbox will appear along the bottom of your
screen.
3.
Near the right side of the toolbox, you’ll see three shapes – a
rectangle, an oval and a polygon. Click on the one that best fits the
shape of the graphic you’d like to use.
4.
If you’re adding a link to your left navigation bar, click on the
rectangle.
5.
Move the cursor to the top left corner of the area you’d like to
outline as the link.
6.
Click on that top left corner. Then, holding the cursor down, move
the pencil to the right and down to outline the area.
7.
When you lift your finger off the button, the hyperlink pop-up box
appears.
8.
Either click on the page to which you wish to link or type in the
URL in the address box.
9.
Click OK. |
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Creating a
Calendar
We
have researched many different calendar programs and services. After
several trials, we discovered a stable, high-quality website that hosts
calendars free-of-charge on its server. For an example of a calendar we
created that’s hosted on its server, go to
http://www.calsnet.net/verizon_pioneers.
To
create such a calendar, go to
http://www.calendars.net. Click on “Create a Free Calendar” in the top
left hand corner and simply follow the instructions for creating a
calendar. When you’re finished, you’ll need to link to this calendar from
the calendar button in your left navigation bar. Simply create a graphic
hyperlink from the calendar button to the calendar page you created.
Inserting a Hit Counter
We
don’t recommend inserting a hit counter for two main reasons:
-
If you don’t receive hits, it looks bad.
-
WebTrends offers much more information than a hit counter.
However, if you really want to add a hit counter… open FrontPage to the
page on which you wish to place the hit counter. Place your curser where
you’d like to insert the hit counter. Click “Insert” in the top navigation
bar, then “Web Component,” then “Hit Counter.” Select the counter style
you prefer by highlighting it, and then click “Finish.” You’ll be offered
the option of starting the hit counter at a specific number
and determining the number of digits in it.
Please note that the hit counter will look like this in FrontPage:
However,
when it’s published to the server, it will show the actual numbers.
Managing the Legal
Challenges of Photographs
The Verizon Pioneers are liable for any photographs posted without
permission. Please maintain a file of completed Photo Release Forms for
each person pictured in a photo on your website. Exceptions include photos
where the person’s face can’t be recognized (too small or from a side or
back view).
It is proper to give credits to the photographers. Please include a short
cutline under or beside the photo that says “Photography by….”.
Click Here to access a
blank Photo Release Form that you can customize for your chapter.
Creating Hover Buttons
A hover button contains a hyperlink to another page. When a visitor mouses
over it, the button can change color, display a picture, or play a sound
effect. Please see example below:
To insert a hover button on your page, click "Insert" in the top
navigation bar, then "Web Component." Click "Dynamic Effects" in the left
column and "Hover Button" in the right column of the pop-up box. Click
"Finish." When the Hover Button Properties pop-up box appears, experiment
with the text colors, background colors, effects, width and height.
Adding a Cell to the Left Nav
Bar
Check to see if your left navigation bar graphic has been placed in a
cell. You should be able to see a dotted line around the left navigation
bar graphic if it has been properly placed in a cell.
If there is not a cell around the left navigation bar graphic...
click on the graphic, then click on your left arrow key once so your
cursor is to the left of the graphic. Click on "Table" in the top
navigation bar, then "Insert," then "Rows or Columns." When the "Insert
Rows or Columns" pop-up box appears, click "Rows," change the number of
row to 2, then click "Above Selection." Then click "Okay."
Two tiny rows should have appeared above your graphic. Go to your Images
folder and find your left navigation bar graphic. Drag it into the top box
and let go. You'll need to re-hook the links. You'll also need to delete
the original left navigation bar. You now have the extra cell beneath your
left navigation bar in which to insert whatever you want. Just remember,
this will appear on every page.
If there is a cell around the left navigation bar graphic...
click anywhere inside the cell. Go to "Table," then "Insert," then "Rows
or Columns." When the "Insert Rows or Columns" pop-up box appears, click
"Rows," then click "Below Selection." Then click "Okay." You now have the
extra cell beneath your left navigation bar in which to insert whatever
you want. Just remember, this will appear on every page.
Converting a Newsletter to PDF
It is recommended that you convert any newsletters you post on your
website to a PDF (Portable Document Format) file. This will allow readers
to print the file exactly as you intended it to print. If you were to
convert the newsletter to html, there might be odd page breaks when the
reader decides to print it.
To convert a newsletter to PDF, you'll need some sort of conversion
software. Adobe Acrobat is recommended. If you don't have the budget for
Adobe Acrobat, which runs about $250, you can probably find a comparable
software on www.ebay.com or
www.amazon.com for less than $50.
Several other webmasters have recommended Serif Plus. You'll need to
follow the instructions on your software for conversions because each is
different.
If you post a document on your website, you might consider posting the
following copy with the link to the PDF file:
To
access this file, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer - a software program
that is free and easy to download. If you would like to download Adobe
Acrobat Reader now, please
click here..
"Click here" should be linked to
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. |
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