Help: Instructions for using this site

Information is exchanged on NCCommunities using Resource collections and Conversations.

Contents
     1. Guidelines
     2. Add an item to a Resource collection
     3. Participate in Conversations
     4. Edit a Resource item or Conversation post
     5. Comment
     6. Reply
     7. Send email to another user within NCCommunities
     8. Change personal information (password, email address, email contact setting, and more)
     9. Disable email notification of content changes
     10. Find your posts

1. Guidelines:

• Resource item vs. Conversation item:
  • Resource items are handouts, brochures, documents, presentation slides, and other materials that you use and are willing to share with others. Notification of new items is emailed once a day. Items are organized and easy to find.
  • Conversation items are questions/problems for which you'd like advice, notices, and pointers to resources you think are useful. Notification of new items is emailed once a day. Items are organized and easy to find. Conversations are ongoing.

• What goes on the event calendar?
  • Post a Calendar event for a conference, workshop, program, or training session you think will be of interest to others and to which others are welcome.

2. Add an item to a Resource collection:

• Click Resources in the left sidebar.
• Click the section, and perhaps subsection, where you want your item placed.
• At the bottom of the page, click Add child page.
• Type in a Title.
• The Parent dropdown menu displays the section in which your item will be placed. (NOTE: You can move an item from one section to another by selecting a different parent.)
• In the Body text area, type or paste in the content. Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

  Formatting options:
  Below textareas, there are formatting options. Rich-text formatting is available using TinyMCE, a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor — you can select text and format it using the icons, for example B for bold. If you paste formatted text into the textarea, most of the formatting will be retained.

  If you prefer to do your own formatting using HTML, click disable rich-text. For information about HTML tags, click More information about formatting options.

• Log message is sometimes used when making a revision — to summarize changes. You can leave it blank.
• If you would like to provide attachments, for example a Microsoft Word document or an Excel worksheet, click File attachments, click Choose File, find the first file you want to attach and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Choose File button. Click Attach and the file will be uploaded. You may then attach another file, if you wish. After you submit the item, when you view it, you will see, at the bottom of the page, a table showing the attachment file names and sizes.
• You can ignore URL path settings. The URL for your item will be of the form http://nccommunities.org/node/n, where "n" is a number. If you click URL path settings, you may specify an alternative URL. For example, this "Help" page is node/3 but it has the URL path setting (or alias) help.
• Ignore Publishing options.
• When you think you are done, click Preview, at the bottom of the page. You will then see the formatted page with your original content below, which you can edit. You can edit and preview as much as you like. When you are done, be sure to click Submit at the bottom of the page. After you submit content, you can click the Edit tab to edit.
  NOTE: If using Internet Explorer, you may lose the content you are working on, so create content on your personal computer and copy and paste it into the form.

3. Participate in Conversations:

Conversations (also called "forums") allow you to ask questions and to post ideas, opinions, and information in an organized way.

It is very easy to participate in Conversations. Click Conversations in the left sidebar. You will see named collections of related subjects. For example, the collection "Funding/Fundraising" contains three subjects, "Annual/Holiday appeals," "Fundraising Events," and "Grant Opportunities."

Notice three columns on the right — number of topics, number of posts, and when the last post was made and by whom.

Click a subject that interests you. You will see a list of topics, with the number of replies, when the topic was created, and when the last reply was made and by whom. Click a topic that has at least one reply to see the post, comments, and replies. If you have something to say about this topic, you can click Add new comment to comment on the original post or reply to reply to a particular comment. NOTE: You can edit comments and replies that you post.

To ask a question or otherwise start a new discussion, create a new forum topic:

• Click Conversations in the left sidebar.
• Determine which subject the topic belongs in and click that subject.
• Click Post new forum topic.
• Type in a Subject that describes your topic.
• In the dropdown menu, select the forum (subject) where your topic belongs.
• In the Body text area, type or paste in the content. Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

  You have the same formatting options that you have when you add a Resource item. See Formatting options above.

• You can ignore URL path settings. The URL for your item will be of the form http://nccommunities.org/node/n, where "n" is a number. If you click URL path settings, you may specify an alternative URL. For example, this "Help" page is node/3 but it has the URL path setting (or alias) help.
• If you would like to provide attachments, for example a Microsoft Word document or an Excel worksheet, click File attachments, click Choose File, find the first file you want to attach and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Choose File button. Click Attach and the file will be uploaded. You may then attach another file, if you wish. After you submit the post, when you view it, you will see, at the bottom of the page, a table showing the attachment file names and sizes.
• Ignore Publishing options.
• When you think you are done, click Preview, at the bottom of the page. You will then see the formatted page with your original content below, which you can edit. You can edit and preview as much as you like. When you are done, be sure to click Submit at the bottom of the page. After you submit content, you can click the Edit tab to edit.
  NOTE: If using Internet Explorer, you may lose the content you are working on, so create content on your personal computer and copy and paste it into the form.

You can also create a Conversation topic by clicking Add information in the left sidebar, then clicking Conversation topic.

4. Edit a Resource item or Conversation post:

You may edit Resource items that you contributed and your own posts to Conversations. If you are allowed to edit a page, you will see an Edit tab at the top of the page. Click the Edit tab and you will see the form that was submitted. You can change the text and other options. If you do not see the Edit tab, you are not authorized to edit the page.

When you edit a Resource item, by default, a new revision is created. If the page you are viewing has been edited and the "Publishing option" "Create new revision" was checked, you will see the "Revisions" tab. Click the Revisions tab. To view an older revision, click the date. You may select two revisions and click Show diff to see the differences between the two revisions. The system administrator has the ability to "revert" a page back to a previous revision.

5. Comment:

If you would like to comment on something you see on NCCommunities:

• Beneath the post, click Add new comment.
• If you don't supply a Subject, the first words of your comment will be used as the Subject.
• In the Comment text area, type or paste in your comment. Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

  You have the same formatting options that you have when you add a Resource item. See Formatting options above.

• Click Preview comment.
• When you are done, be sure to click Post comment.

6. Reply:

You can reply to a Comment. Below the comment, click Reply. Then follow the instructions for making a Comment.

7. Send email to another user within NCCommunities:

To send email to another user within NCCommunities:

• In the left sidebar, click User list.
• Click the user.
• Click their Contact tab. NOTE: Users (in their account settings) can turn their personal contact form off (and back on). If you don't see a Contact tab, the user you want to contact has probably turned it off.
• Complete the form.
• If you'd like a copy, check Send yourself a copy.
• Click Send email.

8. Change personal information:

You can change your password, change your email address, upload a photo, provide a signature to be included in comments, disallow personal contact by email, and disable the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor so that you can use HTML as default for your posts.

• Click My account in the left sidebar.
• Click the Edit tab. In the Account settings section:
  • You can change your email address. Type in your new email address. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
  • You can change your password. Type your new password in the Password text area and again in the Confirm password text area. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
  • You can use the picture option to upload a photo or other image. Click Choose File, find the image you want to use, and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Choose File button. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
  • Under Comment settings, you can provide a signature that will be included with your comments. You can enable or disable rich-text formatting for your signature. Type in your signature. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
  • You can disallow personal contact by email — under Contact settings, uncheck the box Personal contact form.
  • Under Locale settings, you can change your time zone.
  • At the top of the page, click TinyMCE rich-text settings. In the dropdown menu under Default state, you can select enabled or disabled. Select enabled if you will normally want to use a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor when entering text. Select disabled if you will normally want to use HTML.

9. Change settings for email notification of changes:

Notifications of changes in NCCommunities are emailed once-a-day, in one message which is similar to a "digest" for an email list. This allows you to keep up with current content. You can disable email notification, for example, if you are going to be away for an extended period.

• Click My account in the left sidebar.
• Click the My notification settings tab.
• Under Notify status, select Disabled.
• Under Notify new content, select Disabled.
• Under Notify new comments, select Disabled.

10. Find your posts:

You can view items you've posted.

• Click My account in the left sidebar.
• Click the Track tab.