Welcome to the Section Editor training. This class will give you the opportunity to learn how to edit the
homepage for your school, add news items, and update the calendar.
Terms
There are a few terms that SchoolWires uses that are specific to the SchoolWires program.
Channel- the bar across the page with menu options.
Menu- drop- down list of choices specific to a particular channel.
Tutorials
In the top right hand corner of the workspace, after signing in, all users have access to interactive
tutorials. Click on the tutorial button
available, with more added over time.
to access the tutorials page. There are several tutorials
Accessing the Web Site and Logging In
Open a web browser. The temporary site, for the purposes of setting up the page, is
http://flemingtonraritan.schoolwires.net/flemingtonraritan/site/default.asp. Your user name and
password are the same for the Schoolwires login as it is for the network. Click the sign in button to sign
in. Once you sign in, you will see all the pages that a “teacher” can see.
If you have access to edit the page you are on, you will also see Site Manager at the end of the top bar.
Some people may see this on multiple pages- others may not.
You can use the Access My Info button to update your personal information. At the bottom of the
information page, you can sign up, or subscribe, to e-alerts. By signing up for only specific alerts, you
will not receive unwanted e-mail from the district site.
Navigation
At the top of the page, there is a home button with District next to it. This will allow the user to return
to the district home page. The select a school drop- down menu will allow the user to navigate to a
school’s home page. In addition, there is a Schools channel on the district home page, with each of the
schools listed individually. Each staff member has webspace in their respective buildings and/ or
locations. Basic information for staff members who do not wish to have their own pages will be
entered. Basic information includes name, school/ location, e-mail address, and voicemail. Each school
site is set up with three columns- quick links, in the news, and calendar information.
Updating Your School Site
After navigating to your site, click on the sign in button in the top bar.
You will now see the site manager button.
Click on the site manager button. You will see the following screen. From this screen, you can click on
the edits for the homepage and calendar, manage users, add pages, add channels, and a variety of other
site maintenance. You can also click on any of the pages listed on the left hand side and edit those
pages as well. A few quick tipsAlways be sure to save your work before leaving a page. If you do not save your work, you will
lose it. We cannot retrieve it- it is lost.
Be sure to sign in and out of the site. If you leave your site logged in, anyone sitting at that
computer can edit the information you have access to.
If you need assistance, Laura Bruhn and Michelle Ritger are here to help you. We can be
reached on our district extensions (7566 for Laura, 7655 for Michelle) or our cell phones.
Click on the link for homepage. There are two sections you can edit from here- Quick Links and In the
News. Nothing else on the homepage can be edited. These other items are part of the school’s
template, and can only be edited or changed by a designer.
When you click on the Edit Shortcuts, you will see the following Edit Subsite Shortcuts box. By clicking
Add Link, you can add links to this menu that will appear on your homepage.
You will fill out the information on this page to add a new link, and tell the computer how it should open
that link. You can also reorder links and delete links from this as well.
Going back to the subsite workspace, click on the link for home (two of them exist- both in the blue
section and as part of the breadcrumb).
From here, you will click on the button to edit In the News. Click on Homepage once again. This time,
you will click the link under In the News, which says Edit Headlines and Features.
Click on New Headline to enter new headlines for the page. Click on Sort Headlines to sort the headlines
on the page. When entering a new headline, fill in the information below.
Once the first page is filled out, click the Next button below. Teaser Text is a short description that will
appear. The entire event will not be displayed- only the teaser text.
Once you click the next button, you will be able to enter the entire news item. After the information is
entered, you can determine who can see it (based on roles), and create an e-alert. An e-alert is an email notification that goes out to subscribed users. Anyone wishing to receive e-alerts from the
homepage must be a registered user. Before leaving the page, be sure to save your work.
Creating Calendar Events
Each person has his or her own calendar. This calendar is visible to anyone who visits that particular
page. Items may be pushed down to other calendars from district to school, and school to individual
site. Events can be entered one of three ways- quick event, detailed event, and import event.
To enter a quick event, double click on the date and fill out the window that pops up. The information
includes the date, start and end time, event title and category. Categories are set up at the district level,
and are optional when entering an event.
To enter a detailed event, click on the tab for new event. The information is broken down into several
“pages”- event, contact and location, attachments, roles, and registration. Using the detailed event tab
to enter events allows the user to enter many more details about the event, a contact person for the
event, attachments needed for the event, who can see the event (based on roles), and the ability to
have people register for an event. The user can also set up a recurring event as well. Once the event is
created, the user can also send out an e-alert to those people registered to receive e-alerts from that
page.
Events on the homepage under Upcoming Events are pulled from the school calendar. As not all events
will fit on the page, there is a link bringing users to the full calendar.
Import events allow the user to import events from a saved file. Be sure the file is saved as a CSV (.csv)
file.
When you click on the New Event tab under calendar, you have the ability to enter much more detailed
information. The information that you can enter about the event can include location, registration,
contact information, handouts, and what roles can see this event. This way, you can enter events just
for staff members (such as faculty meetings)- or for the general public. As with other pages in our
website, be sure to save your work before leaving a page. In addition, you can create an e-alert for the
calendar event you just posted. If you want to request that your event be on the district calendar, click
on the checkbox for request at the bottom of the page.
Teachers can request to have events posted to the school calendar. They have a check box at the
bottom of their page to request that an event be posted to the school calendar. That event will appear
in the event queue. You have the option to accept or reject any event. Remember- not all events need
to be displayed on the school calendar.
Creating a new page
Click on the button for New Page. The following will display.
The list shows the different page types a user can create. For the most part, all pages will be a flex page.
Click on the page type you wish to create.
Creating a Flex Page
Below are the steps for creating a flex page. Enter the page name, and choose the layout you wish.
When a page layout is selected, the layout preview will display in the right layout preview box. Click the
save button to save the page.
Editing a Webpage
Once a page is created, you will be brought back to your main page, which lists all the pages that are
part of your website. Click on the name of the page you wish to edit. The editing window will display,
showing a set of toolbars, and the website workspace with your content (or blank if nothing has been
entered yet).
Be sure to save your page- and save often. If you navigate away from the page without saving, your
work will be lost. You can view your work as you go along by clicking the tab at the top of the page for
View Website. If you click on view website without saving, your work will be lost. Before navigating
away from a page, you will be given a warning, reminding you to save your work.
Tools at the top of the page will allow you to upload your files. Be sure to upload your files to the page
where the link will be created. It is important that you create files and folders for your website that will
allow you to easily access and find your files. All files need to be uploaded to the page the file will be
linked to. If you no longer need a file for that particular webpage, please delete it. The web server is
not a files storage system- it is to house files that will be accessed from your website.
Once the page is updated, the user has the option to create an e-alert. An e-alert is an e-mail message
that is sent to all the subscribers of a particular page or section. The e-alert “canned” text states that
XYZ page has been updated. The text can be changed, and the user can enter any text the person
wishes to enter. For example, the user may want to change the text to state that a new homework
assignment has been posted, notes are now available, or there is a test tomorrow. An update does not
need to be made to send an e-alert. Just go to one of the pages and click on the e-alert button. Be sure
to send the message when you are done. If a person is not subscribed to your section or webpage, then
the person will not receive the alert.
The toolbars provided in the workspace are similar to the toolbars in Microsoft Word.
The first row of tools, from left to right, include spellcheck, preview, print, search, cut, copy, paste, paste
from word, paste text, undo, redo, clear all, full screen, and tutorials.
The second row of tools, from left to right, include templates, styles, font name, font size, font color,
background color, formatting, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, left alignment, center alignment,
right alignment, justify, numbers, bullets, increase indent, decrease indent.
The third row of tools, from left to right, include insert image, edit image properties, insert file link,
horizontal rule, bookmark, insert link, edit link properties, insert photo gallery, insert directory, insert
table, edit table/ cell, show/ hide gridlines, insert textbox, special characters, open toolbox, position by
pixel, remove formatting, active blocks.
Using the Website Tools
Users have access to four sets of tools- files and folders, directories and lists, photo galleries, and section
reports. Files and folders allow a user to upload files and folders, either a few files at a time or in a
batch upload. Directories and lists allow a user to create and manage directories and lists. Photo
galleries allow a user to create and manage photo galleries. Section reports allows a user to view who is
registered to receive e-alerts about that particular section.