Contributing to the web site

Jonathan Stuart · 18 Nov 2012, 23:32

We now have a Library area on the web site where all members can create and edit pages. The idea is that we use this for members to contribute and collaborate, especially around some of the ideas that have been discussed on the forum recently, e.g. boat register, accommodation venues, sailing locations & technical/modifications articles. With regard to the latter, it would be good to get some of the technical discussions buried in this forum written-up as articles and added to the Library.

Clicking on the top level of the Library menu takes you to the Library page. That contains links to all articles. At present these are not grouped, but we can categorize pages and then display the page links grouped by category on the Library page. I think we should do that in future so just need to decide what categories are required. If any pages become interesting or important enough that we want them on the main web site menu instead of (or as well as) in the Library then this is something I can do. Please post here if you feel any articles should be promoted like this.

Any member can create and edit pages but they must be approved by an editor before they become effective. Editors receive an email notification when a change is pending approval and we will try to review and approve as quickly as possible but please allow a little time for this. At the moment I am the only editor but if anyone else wants to join me then please send me a PM or reply to this topic. I suggest some familiarity with the process for creating pages would be useful before becoming an editor.

Given what recently happened with some forum posts, I propose a condition that anyone who contributes to the Library is agreeing that their work is going in to the public domain and can be edited and reproduced by any other member. Please post here if anyone disagrees with that otherwise we should assume that anyone contributing to the Library is accepting this condition.

There is a page documenting how to create/edit library pages and that can be found on Library menu. Please read that before working on any Library pages!

The next step for me is to add a picture gallery and I am working on that now. It should be a lot easier than the Library so will hopefully be available in the next week.

If you have any questions, problems or suggestions then please reply here.

Michael Rogers · 19 Nov 2012, 09:48

This could become an exceptionally useful resource for all of us. I'm not quite sure how the decision would be made, if one had something with 'library potential' to contribute, whether one would stick it on the forum for starters, or go straight to the library. I suppose the whole thing will bed down with use. Anyway, thanks for setting it up, Jonathan.

I have recently been putting stuff about junk rig in the 'Technical' slot on the forum. It became a bit of a monologue, and I think most of it would sit much more appropriately in the library. Folks will probably have gathered that I am more than a bit IT-phobic, and I find Jonathan's page of (doubtless crystal-clear) 'how-to-do-it' instructions somewhat daunting. I would be more than happy for anyone who has the time and know-how to lift the straight descriptive-of-JR bits out of that particular thread on the forum and put them together, complete with the photos obviously, in the library. Fell free to edit. Any offers? Apologies if this sounds like getting other people to do my work, but anything beyond the most basic IT and word-processing skills gets me in a bit of a tizz, which I (and my nearest and dearest) do not enjoy!

Michael

Jonathan Stuart · 19 Nov 2012, 09:59

I doubt my "How to" instructions are crystal clear. Although I am no longer a practicing techie, I come from a technical background and in the world of IT they are the worst at creating any sort of user documentation! I will attempt to improve the user guide over time to make them more user friendly (or I can open this to others to edit if anyone has the urge....!).

At this stage I don't think contributors should worry too much about getting their articles perfect, let's just get some content created. I see the editors as checking more than suitability of content, etc, and should also tidy up formatting, etc. So if anyone wants to contribute but is feeling intimated, then feel free to create something that is just words and no formatting and others will tidy it up. Or post it on the forum or email it and I am sure someone will happily to create the page from that.

Julian Swindell · 19 Nov 2012, 11:58

Hi Jonathan
Well done for organising this.
I have tried creating a page about the Baycruiser range. I wanted to embed a Youtube video for the launch, but it seems to delete the coding for that when it is saved. Any ideas? I think it will have been submitted to you for vetting.

Jonathan Stuart · 19 Nov 2012, 14:41

Julian,

Thanks and I have approved your new page so it is now available in the Library.

Re embedding YouTube, I haven't tried this before but have now worked out what to do. I have embedded a BC20 video on your page and this works for me but please check if you can play the video. I will add the instructions to the Library documentation but here's what I did:

1. Find the video on YouTube that you want to embed.
2. Copy the address (URL) of that YouTube page. This will be something like "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPdcZ7B4t-E" and can usually be found in the address bar at the top of your browser.
3. Copy that text to the Windows clipboard by right clicking with your mouse on the text and select "Copy".
4. Now go to the Swallow Boats Association web site and open the page editor.
5. Click where you want the video to appear in your page. Click on the toolbar icon that has a picture of a red square containing a white triangle. If there is a toolbar icon with "You Tube" written on it then do not use that, use the red square/white triangle instead because this uses a more reliable method to embed video.
6. A new window appears. There is a text box at the top of this window underneath the label "YouTube video url or code:". Click in the text box and paste your You Tube URL here by pressing Ctrl + V or click the right mouse button in the box and select "Paste".
7. Now click the "Insert" button and your page will contain an embedded YouTube video.

Julian Swindell · 20 Nov 2012, 09:37

Thanks for posting that Jonathan, that was the video I was trying to embed. I had done all you suggested, plus a couple of other tricks I have used in the past. It all seemed to work. It was only when I saved the page that all of the embedded items seemed to simply disappear. I'll try another insertion shortly and see if it has been sorted now.

Jonathan Stuart · 20 Nov 2012, 09:50

Thanks Julian. Your page got me thinking that perhaps we should aim to have a page for each boat model and eventually have those under the "The Boats" menu rather than in the library. Something like an owner's view perspective on each boat covering, say, what it is, what's good, what you'd change, how the boat has been used, alternative boats, etc. What do you think?

Julian Swindell · 20 Nov 2012, 10:06

I think that could be very good. It is impossible to categorise everything perfectly. What seems a logical location to one person seems irrational to another.
I have done a further page with photos and they seem to have stayed in place. what I did notice is that I can't add to the existing page, which is what I wanted to do, only create a new one. Am I missing something, or is that something that could be added?

Jonathan Stuart · 20 Nov 2012, 10:54

You should be able to edit all existing pages in the Library regardless of who created them. That is the intention anyway! When you are on a page that you can edit you should see the "Edit" buttons that are circled in red in the attached screenshot. Do you not have those buttons? I have checked with my test user (which should have the same permissions as you) and that can edit your page so before I investigate further can you double check whether those buttons exist for you?

Michael Rogers · 20 Nov 2012, 20:23

Jonathan

1) Following my whingey post above, I told myself to get a grip on myself, and had a go at editing my junk rig bit for the library. And I surprised myself: on Pages (Mac version of Word) I got the whole thing set up, layout, photos dragged into the right points in the text, right size etc - - bootiful. However, when I tried to transfer the whole thing across to the Library, the layout went awry, the pics disappeared. I did my best with the layout (again!) and when I tried to bring the pics back, all I got was a funny line of tecno-text - would that be enough for you, or some other magician, to reconstitute them?
It's actually quite embarrassing to display my IT ineptitude in semi-public on the forum, and not fair to expect you to try and sort me out. So I'm going to abandon my attempt. All the stuff I was using is there in the forum anyway.

2) As I'm clearly not going to be contributing to the library, it's probably not appropriate for me to make the following observation. However....I find the 'anyone can edit anything, written by themselves or anyone else, anytime' idea very strange. Didn't Wikipedia do this in the early days, and abandon it? I can categorically say that I would not like anything I contributed to be edited by anyone else, at the very least without prior consultation with me. (I wouldn't at all mind you, as administrator, doing some editing - that's different.) Am I being some sort of fogey (I'm all other sorts of fogey already)?

Michael

Julian Swindell · 20 Nov 2012, 21:01

Michael
I'm not certain, but I think Jonathna might just have been replying to me and didn't mean that everyone can edit everything. But he will correct me on that if I have misunderstood

Jonathan Stuart · 20 Nov 2012, 21:10

Michael,

You say you created your page in Word first of all. Do you still have that saved? If so then email me it to me and I will recreate it as a web site page. Let me know if you have a copy and if so then I will PM you with my email address.

Michael & Julian,

Any member can edit any library pages but those changes need to be reviewed and approved by an editor before they become effective. Also, all previous copies of pages are retained so if someone doesn't like an approved change then we can revert back to a previous version. If anyone creates a page that they don't want other people to be able to edit then we can put a restriction on that page. But I needed to go for a default position with site-wide rules and had to choose between everyone being able to edit pages (subject to review) or only the author being able to edit pages. I went for the former on the basis that we want to encourage collaboration and hopefully this won't be abused as happens on Wikipedia, etc. If this approach doesn't work then we can make the default to be that only the author can edit a page and permissions will be explicitly opened where appropriate.

Julian Swindell · 20 Nov 2012, 21:18

Thanks Jonathan, that all sounds sensible.

Jonathan Stuart · 20 Nov 2012, 21:28

Thanks. If anyone does contribute a page that they want "locked down" such that only they and editors can make changes then PM me after creating the page and we can apply the required security.

Michael Rogers · 20 Nov 2012, 22:18

Hi Jonathan

I must apologise - I think I'm being tetchy, which is discourteous and unnecessary. You're going to a lot of trouble to provide for us lot, and deserve a bit (no, a lot) less aggro from me!

Your kind offer - I can't act on it at present because, of all things, we are having email transmission problems, and I can't send any: nor can I sort the problem out because I'm so thick, and my in-house techno-help (my son) isn't available (now I think about it, contributory factors to my short fuse? - though that's no excuse). So I'll have to let you know when I'm out of email purdah.

Thanks again Michael