GenWeb - Weave your own Web Magic

How to Articles

Adding a User

Setting up your website Dermott Renner 16/04/2007 15:26:48

After you are logged into Admin click Users on the menu.

This displays the following web page –

To add a new user click on the Add New User link circled above which displays the web page below.
Existing users are displayed in the grid.
The edit icon is the pencil and the delete icon is the rubbish bin.

The fields with a red asterisk or star beside must have an entry. This is all fields except the Initials field.
Click on the yellow square icon to save the user details or the red cross icon to cancel this entry.
You should then delete the Demo user by clicking on the rubbish bin icon next to the Demo user name.

Website Banners

Setting up your website Dermott Renner 16/04/2007 14:43:09

All GenWeb hosted websites or Blogs need a banner; this is the part of your website that is the most important visual aspect of it. It tells visitors to your website what the website is all about. You have two choices for banners on your website - create yourself or get a graphic artist to create a graphic image for your banner or use the build in option under setup to create a text banner. You can setup a text banner in less than 60 seconds; it will not look as good as a graphic banner in most cases but it will get you started.

Text Banner
On the following screen image you firstly chose Text Banner, then you enter the text to appear on your banner, the colour of the background and everything about the font you will use - type, size and colour and whether it is normal or bold.

Graphic Banners

Banners are graphic images; you have to create your own banner or get a professional graphic artist or someone who knows how to use a graphics program to create it. Examples of graphics software you would use to create the image are - Photoshop, Fireworks (what we use), Paint Shop Pro, PhotoImpact etc.

GenWeb banners can be two sizes - 989 pixels wide and 765 pixels wide. They will normally be around 100-130 pixels deep. Any deeper and you are using up too much of the screen on just the banner.

Once the banner is created you upload it to your website in Admin under Setup, Fonts & Colours tab and then use either the upload icon next to the Home Banner 800 x 600 or Home Banner 1024 x 768 options. You only need the one that corresponds to the width of your website which is controlled by the Site Width dropdown selection on the Setup, Website tab.

The default website width when GenWeb sets up your website is 1024 x 768.

The banner cannot be 800 or 1024; as indicated on the screen it can be a maximum of 989 pixels for a website 1024 pixels wide or 765 pixels for a website 800 pixels wide. The reason is that some pixels are used by the browser scroll bars.

Add a Web Page

Publishing to your website Dermott Renner 25/03/2007 19:42:31

To add a Web Page, click the Add Web Page option on the Web Pages menu as below.

This will display the Web Page screen.

Web Page Tab

A –Web Page Name - enter a name for the web page; this name is not displayed on the web site but is used by the GenWeb software and you for identification purposes. This is the name that will appear in the Web Page dropdown list when you want to link a Web Page to a menu item. Make sure the name you provide is descriptive of what the Web Page is about i.e. Family Outing, Wedding Photos, Computer Tips, War of Roses.

If in Setup, on the Website tab the Allow Web Page Protection checkbox is ticked, then you will see on the Add Web Page screen three other options –Password Protect, Password and Confirm Password (the last two are dimmed and you cannot enter anything into them until you tick the check box).

The Password Protect option if used will force users to enter this password to view this page.

B –Enter text for your web page - or copy and paste from another application such as Microsoft Word or Windows Notepad, upload and add photos or images. This is all controlled by the toolbar options which have tooltips on the buttons.

C –Properties –this tab has more options

Headline –where you enter a heading for this web page. You can use text, increase the size of it, change colour, use a graphic, a photo, basically anything you can do in the editor window.

Keywords –enter any keywords that you wish the GenWeb internal search to use to find this article. Separate the words with a space.

Hide Page –tick the check box to hide this page from the menu. You would use this if you temporarily wanted to hide the page.

D –Extras –this tab has more options.

Show Author - displays on web page the Author of the article. Font, colour and size controlled by setup info details.

Show Modified Date –displays on web page the date the article was created. Font, colour and size controlled by setup info details.

Author –shows by default the user name of person logged in; can be over written.

Tagline –a short catch phrase for this article

E –Click on the Save button to save your web page.

The Web Page tab is the "Article" page –this is the main body of your web page. See the WYSIWYG section for notes on how to create your Web Page. If this page is going to be a web page only (i.e. not a LIST page), then the Web Page is the only tab you will see. List pages need to have Properties and Extra information created for them and these tabs are only available if you select to enter a List Page Item.

When you are finished, SAVE the Web Page. You must have entered a Web page name for the page to be saved.

It will now be available in the MENU dropdown list under the Web page column.

Add & Changing Menus

Setting up your website Dermott Renner 25/03/2007 17:58:46

The “menu option allows you to set up the menu navigation for your site. Using the Add, Edit and Delete options here, you can add, alter or delete Menu Items at any time.

While Menus are the primary method of navigation for the web site, you can also link from one web page to another using hyperlinks on web pages.

Add a Menu Item

To add a new menu item click on the Menu item on the Admin menu, then click on the Add Menu Item link. Example image below.

The menu grid will split apart and display the fields that you need to fill in to add the menu item.

Menu Title - is the name that will appear on the menu.
Type - select from the dropdown - Web Page, Blog/News Page, Photo Gallery, Sub Menu

Web Page –added using the Add Web Page option.
Blog/News Page creates a special page which shows multiple Blogs/News items on it. This page does not have to be created as it is automatically created by the GenWeb software.
Photo Gallery –this is a page where you can upload photos.
Sub Menu –allows you to create a menu hierarchy. i.e. you can create submenus on submenus on submenus.

Order - enter the order no where this menu item is to appear. By changing the order no you can move menu items up and down the list.
Web Page - select from the dropdown the item to add to this menu (only needed for Web Pages). If the Parked checkbox is ticked you will only see Parked web pages; if you untick it you will see Published web pages.

Click the yellow square icon

to save the menu item or click the red cross to cancel the entry.

Edit a Menu Item

To edit a menu item click on the Menu item on the Admin menu, then click on the pencil next to the menu item you want to edit. Example image below.