Fast Start Guide to Creating a Unit Website V2.0 (Nov 2011)

Transcription

1 Fast Start Guide to Creating a Unit Website V2.0 (Nov 2011) Creating a unit web site is very simple and should not take much time. We will be building a website with a free service from Google called Google Sites. This service does not show any advertising. After you complete this guide your unit will be able to create a website that will be able to be viewed over the internet or by your mobile phone. This guide gives you the basis of getting started. Reference the Google Help often to learn more. Finally, please review other important considerations that are covered in the Before you start section below. To Build a Website in Google Sites you must: 1. Have any type of Internet Connection 2. Sign into your Google Account or Create a Google Account (which is free to create) 3. Optionally: Have the Google Chrome internet browser 4. Create your Site Before you start: The BSA has outlined a few things that must be followed when creating a website. These guidelines can be found below and are also included on the template website, Links page. Personal Privacy and Safety: When creating personal Web sites: Keep youth personal information to a minimum. Never use last names (ie use Fred S. not Fred Smith) and never use youth address / phone / on a site open to the public. Parents or adult leaders must consent for any of their pictures or contact information (if not a public site) to be published. (see sample consent form on the council website) Don t include interactive forums (any technology that allows someone to post material that others may view), including bulletin boards and chat rooms (even if they are moderated), in a website designed for minors. Other General Guidelines: Think about how the information, language, and pictures look to the outside public. Only a few registered adult leaders should have authority to change the site but make sure that the access is given when leaders change. It is a good idea to have a generic Google account (ie one for the unit) so this logon information can be given to leaders that will edit the site. If a youth (webmaster, president, etc) will be changing the site they must have an appointed adult mentor to oversee changes and that adult should subscribe to content changes so they get an whenever the site changes. The site should only be used for matters related to the Scouting unit or further the aims of Scouting. No advertisements should be displayed. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 1

2 Building a Website in Google Sites 1. Have any type of Internet Connection Any type of internet connection will work (dial up, DSL, cable, etc) but you must be connected to the internet to use this webpage creator. 2. Sign into your Google Account or Create a Google Account : A Google account is needed to build a website. It is recommended that your unit have a generic Google account (like PeoriaPack999@gmail.com (your town and your unit type and number)) so it be given to leaders as they change. Go the following website: Select Sign_in and then enter your and password if you have an account or select Create an account now if you do not. If you have a Google account, login If you don t have a Google account, create one Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 2

3 3. Have the Google Chrome internet browser - Optional Most people have the Internet Explorer (IE) internet browser installed on their computer. Google actually has written their own internet browser called Google Chrome. You can create a Google website using IE but there are some things that may not work quite right. It is recommended that you only install Chrome if you have problems later. To download Google Chrome go to and follow the instructions. 4. Create your Site Creating a website is fast and easy with Google Sites. After you have logged in with your Google account, select the more dropdown and select Sites from the main Google page Select Create Select Browse the gallery for more Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 3

4 Search for wdboyce and then click on the WD Boyce Template that is correct for your unit (pack/troop/crew). When the next screen appears, Select the appropriate template. Now you have selected the template, you need to Name your website. You need to select a website name that no other unit that is using Google Sites has chosen. A good rule of thumb is to use your town and your unit type and number. Notice as you type the site name, the web address URL is also being filled in. After your site is created, that will be the web address you can give your unit to find the site. You will also need to give this web address to the council / district by calling the Scout Service Center (309) and tell them you would like them to add a link to your unit website. There is also a code that you have to type in. This code changes so it will not be the same as shown. Finally select the Create site button. Congratulations! You have just created a site. Of course there are some things you will want to change on the site specifically for your unit. The rest of this guide will tell you how to use Google Sites. Of course the best resource for learning things outside of this Fast Start Guide is the online Google Help found at the top of the Google website. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 4

5 There are only a few things you will need to do in the website: A. Create and Change a Page B. Change the Page Settings C. Create and Change the Sidebar (Navigation and some settings) C. Change the Sidebar. All items on the left side of the red line are the Sidebar. It basically contains navigate and some Site settings. Click Edit Sidebar to change this info. A. Change the Page you are on or Add a New Page B. Change the Page Settings A. Create and Change a Page There a few things you can do to each page Let s Change our Home Page and provide our specific unit information. Select Edit Page. You are now editing your page just like you would on a word processor. Change the text to be specific to your unit. You may want to add content that would tell a prospective scout where you meet. Make sure you Save frequently! Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 5

6 To provide some more zing to your website lets try the following Page functions: Change text properties. Select Edit Page and then highlight the text you want to change. Do this by moving your mouse before the first letter you want to highlight, click and hold the left mouse button, drag the mouse over one or multiple words, and then let go of the mouse button. Notice the words are highlighted. Now you can perform whatever functions like bolding, underlining and even adding a link to another webpage by selecting a function from the top menu bar. For example, to add a link to the church s website, highlight the words First United Methodist Church and then select Link. When the create link window comes up, select Web address and type in the church web address. You can also choose how the web address is shown; either create a new window to display the website when selected or leave your website and go to the web site. Click OK to finish. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 6

7 Add clipart image. To add an image, make sure you are in Edit and then left click the mouse in the page where you want the image to be added. Select the Insert from the tool bar and then select Image. You will need to select from where to get the image. In the below example, I added the image called BSA tradmark from my hard drive to be a permanent part of this website. When you select (click on) that image it will allow you to change the properties of the image. The image properties include: Link is where the image is stored. When you selected the image it was copied to Google website at this location. Align means the image will be on the Left, Right or Center of the page. Image Size Small, Medium, Large or Original size, Wrap On/Off Means if text will flow around it, and Remove deletes the image. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 7

8 Change the Calendar and other Tools and Gadgets. Google includes a bunch of free tools. Gmail(free web mail), Calendar(maintain a calendar of events), Photo(upload pictures and share), Documents(create documents like form (survey or event registration), and more are all are free tools from Google. (see top bar of Google below) This Website creator (called Sites) is one of these free tools. This section will tell you how to make a link from your website to the Google Calendar tools The two steps we need to do to have our own calendar is to 1) go into the Google Calendar tool and create a calendar and then 2) replace the default calendar reference in our webpage with our new Google calendar. Note: If you wanted to start with just a text list of calendar events, please just go edit the calendar page, delete the Google calendar and just type in text. To create your own Google Calendar, select the Calendar Tool, select drop down on My Calendar and then Create New Calendar. Enter the needed information and select Create Calendar. Create a Calendar Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 8

9 Now the Unit Calendar should appear. You can add any event to the calendar by simply selecting the date on the calendar OR Click on the Create button. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 9

10 The final step is to replace the old calendar with the new. Go back to the Google Sites and Edit the Calendar page. Select (click on) the calendar image and then press the DELETE KEY. Now Select Insert, Calendar and then select the new unit calendar and settings. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 10

11 Add new page If you want to add a new page, select New Page. You then can select the template of page you want to create. The templates you can choose are: Web Page is just a normal page you can type text or insert pictures of gadgets; Announcements allows you to create a page of Posts like reminders of upcoming events; File Cabinet allows you to upload and organize files; and List allows for a list of items like Leaders. Select page name and template type of Web Page. Select Save. Notice your Pictures page is now created.. The Google Calendar was a Gadget that was added to a normal Web Page. You can also insert many other kinds of gadgets into a page. For our Picture Web Page we will insert a photo gadget called Picasa Photo. Picasa is included free with your Google account. You will 1) Select the Google tool called Photo (OR go to and upload pictures into Picasa and then 2) edit your webpage to reference the Picasa Album. Once you select the Photo tool you will create an album by selecting Upload. Upload some pictures. Now go back to editing your webpage. While in Edit on a page, select Insert and then select the Picasa gadget. Specify your album and now you have inserted a link to your pictures. To see other cool gadgets that you can insert into your web page (like weather or You Tube), on the Insert menu, select More Gadgets. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 11

12 B. Change the Page Settings Notice by creating a new Picture page it is also automatically added to the sidebar. You can now Edit that page as you see fit and Save. The Attachment and Comments are a standard part of the Web Page. They allow you to put documents at the bottom of the page (such as pictures) and allow others to make a comment on your page respectfully. If you don t want to see these options you can remove them using the More selection and then Page settings. You can also delete the page by using the More and Delete page. C. All items on the left side of the red line are the Sidebar. It contains images, text and navigate to six different pages. Click Edit Sidebar to change this info. C. Create and Change the Sidebar You can also manipulate the Sidebar. The sidebar gives the user the ability to change the navigation of different pages and Website Settings. Select Edit sidebar on the bottom of the navigation pane (see above) to display the sidebar controls. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 12

13 Sidebar Items Notice that the Site layout is selected. Once you select an option on the left, all of the information you can change for that item appears on the right. The Sidebar contains many items to control the navigation of your website. Right now the Site Layout has a Header and Sidebar. The Sidebar setup has two items right now; a Text Section (that right now contain the Cub Scout Image) and a Navigation section. Let change our unit number in the text item. Select edit next to the Text sidebar. Change your pack number and save. At this point you can preview what this change looks like or return to the site by selecting < pack name. You can add more items by selecting Add a sidebar item. You can change the order of how the section appears by clicking on the item and dragging it up or down. Finally you can change other properties on the entire Site. Go back and select Edit Sidebar. From this page you can manage many things such as attachments of files uploaded, colors of the site and authority to who can change the site. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 13

14 Permissions An important part of managing the site is to give other people in your unit the ability to also change the site. This is important as leadership changes. There are two types of permissions; 1) Site Permission and 2) Page Permission. Remember that permission can only be done to persons that have a Google account. The template that you are using only has Site Permission enabled meaning the site is open to the public and you must authorize additional owners in order to have them be able to change the site. To add another authorized person to edit the website select Sharing and Permission setting and then scroll down and select Add People and type in the address of the others that you want to be able to update the website. It is a good practice to also include the W.D. Boyce council account as an owner. This way the council can always be able to help a unit assign ownership incase leadership changes and ownership of the website is forgotten. The council Google Account is webmaster@wdboyce.org. This does not mean, however, the council will be in charge of or will change content on the unit s website. Page Permission allows for each page to have its own authorization meaning the Leaders page maybe open to the public but the other pages are only authorized to be viewed by members of the unit(that are authorized). Select Enable page-level permission if you want to use this feature. So that s the basics. There is much, much more in the land of Google sites. Reference the Google Help often to learn more. Creating a Unit Website V doc, Version 1 Page 14