Website Guide

Neighborhood
1

Definitions

topic: A thread on this website. Can be thought of much like an email thread. Topics are used for both discussion and holding various web pages shown on the website.

Categories

Categories on the website are primarily used for access control.

Neighborhood

  • Most topics will live here.
  • Everyone can view topics in the Neighborhood category.
  • Anyone can post in the Neighborhood category.

Site Content

  • Holds pages like “get involved” and “resources”.
  • Everyone can view topics in the Site Content category.
  • Only website staff can edit this content.

Uncategorized

  • Intended as a catch all for topics that don’t belong anywhere else.
  • Everyone can view topics in the Neighborhood category.
  • Anyone can post in the Neighborhood category.

Board

  • Restricted area for board member communications.
  • Only board members can create and view topics in the Board category.

Staff

Tags

Tags are used for organizing content on the website.

projects

  • Add the projects tag to ideas and work we’re considering.
  • Topics with the projects tag will show up when a user clicks the projects button on the homepage.

proposed / approved / completed

  • Add one of these tags to a project to indicate it’s status.
  • This will allow filtering projects based on status as in the links above.

featured

  • Add the featured tag to a topic to include it in the Featured Topics section on the homepage.
  • Remove the featured tag to remove it from the Featured Topics section.

events

  • Add the events tag to topics that announce an event.
  • This will give us the ability to list all historical events should we want to.

upcoming

  • Add the upcoming tag to an event to include it in the Upcoming Events section on the homepage.
  • Remove the upcoming tag when the event is over to remove it from the Upcoming Events section.

board-meeting

  • Add the board-meeting tag to board meetings.
  • This will allow us to link to all board meetings as in the link above.

User Classes

Anonymous

Website member

  • Someone who has created an account on the website but is not a paying member of the neighborhood association.
  • All privileges of anonymous users, plus:
  • Can create topics in the following categories.

Neighborhood association member

  • Paying members of the neighborhood association.
  • All privileges of website users, plus:
  • TBD

Board member

  • Members of the neighborhood associations board.
  • All privileges of neighborhood association members, plus:
  • Can view and create topics in the Board category.

Staff

  • Operate and maintain the website.
  • All privileges of board members, plus:
  • Can create topics in the Site Content category.
  • Can create, edit and view topics in the Staff category.

Admin Guides

How to guides for website administrators. Most of this will only be available to administrators of the website.

Add a topic to “Featured Topics” on the homepage.

  • Go to the topic.
  • Click the pencil next to it’s title.
  • In the tags box add the featured tag.
    • The tags box is the box on the right immediately below the title.
  • Click the check mark to save the change.

Remove a topic from “Featured Topics” on the homepage.

  • Go to the topic.
  • Click the pencil next to it’s title.
  • In the tags box remove the featured tag.
    • The tags box is the box on the right immediately below the title.
  • Click the check mark to save the change.

Add an event to “Upcoming Events” on the homepage.

  • Go to the topic.
  • Click the pencil next to it’s title.
  • In the tags box add the upcoming tag.
    • The tags box is the box on the right immediately below the title.
  • Click the check mark to save the change.

Remove an event from “Upcoming Events” on the homepage.

  • Go to the topic.
  • Click the pencil next to it’s title.
  • In the tags box remove the upcoming tag.
    • The tags box is the box on the right immediately below the title.
  • Click the check mark to save the change.

Add a paying member to the neighborhood association group.
Members that pay on the website will automatically be added to the group. Members that pay by check will need to be added and removed from the group manually.

  • Go to the Neighborhood Association group.
  • Click Add Members to add a member.
  • Click the wrench icon by a member and click Remove Member to remove a member.

Manage board members.
Board members must be added and removed from the board members group by hand.

  • Go to the Board Members group.
  • Click Add Members to add a member.
  • Click the wrench icon by a member and click Remove Member to remove a member.

Find or lookup a user’s by email address.

  • Go to the Users page.
  • Search for a user by email address.
  • Click Show Emails to show all users email addresses.

Create a committee.
Committees are groups on the website that users can join and leave freely.

  • Go to the Groups page.
  • Click New Group.
  • Keep the name short.
    • This is used to reference the group, e.g. if you want to email everyone in the group.
    • E.g. business, landscape and social.
  • The full name is what users will see on the website.
    • E.g. “Social Committee”.
  • Use the About section to describe why a user should join the committee.
  • Scroll down to the Access section.
    • Check: Allow users to join the group freely.
    • Check: Allow users to leave the group freely.

Edit the text on the homepage.
The content on the homepage is defined in html. Substantial changes may require knowledge of working with html and related tools but most of the text sections on of homepage can be found within the html and updated by anyone.

  • Customize the theme component that provides the homepage content.
  • Search for the text you’d like to change within the html and update it.
  • Click Save.
  • Go back to the homepage and press F5 to refresh it.

Edit the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy.

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Thank you Jeff. I will print out and bring to meeting. Nice breakdown.

3

@board,

Wanted board to be aware that our website uses the Discourse software. Here is a wikipedia link for overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_(software)

Jeff has also set up this very useful website guide!

4

There are various videos on youtube about Discourse. Have been trying to find one on how to send personal messages.

A quick way is to click on the menu (hamburger) in the upper right corner of the homepage. Then click on users. List of users appears and then can click on specific user name and the option to personally message them is in top right corner of box.

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@cgdavis1955

Here is a website guide under featured items on our webpage.