Post a News Item

How-To post an Announcement or News Story

A 'News Item' can be used for any type of announcement to the Lasqueti Community.  All news items are displayed in the "What's News" block on the front page of the website, with most recently posted news items listed at the top.  A news item can also be associated with one of the broad topics on the site so it shows up in that area, and even associated with a particular page on the site - if that page has its own news block, then the news item will also show up on that page.

1. Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
2. Post to Website... News or Event (from menu in left sidebar)
3. Enter a Title for your news item - this will be listed in the What's News block.
4. Optionally, you can set the "Topic" area for your news item, so your news shows up in that area of the website.
5. Optionally, you can also 'tag' your news with any "Additional Subjects" - see How-To Tag Content.
6. Optionally, you can select a date and/or time for your item to place it on the community calendar - see How-To Post an Event
7. Enter the News Story itself in the Body field - enter whatever makes sense for your news.  You can format your story using the simple web editor - see How-To Format Your Post
8. Optionally, if you'd like your news item associated with a specific page on the site, select the page under "This news is related to...:".  This will link the page to your news item, and if the page has a news block, the news item will show up on the page itself.
9. Optionally, "Subscribe" to your news item so you will receive an e-mail if anyone comments on it.
10. Press "Submit"

You should see your News Story in full.  Notice there is an "Edit" tab at the top of the page - you can always return to the page and click on this tab to update or delete your news item. (You can also edit or delete any of your news items under "My Community.. My News")  You should also see a link to your story at the top of the "What's News" block on the front page.

Post an Event to the Community Calendar

How-To post an Event to the Community Calendar

An 'Event is really just a 'News Item' - an announcement to the Lasqueti Community - with a specific date and or time.  All events are displayed in the "What's News" block, when they are posted, and then in the "Upcoming Events" block as their date draws near.  In addition, all events are displayed on the Community Events Calendar.   An event can also be associated with a particular page on the site - if that page has its own events block, then the event will also show up on that page.

1. • Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
   • Post to Website... News or Event (from menu in left sidebar)
   • Enter a Title and Body to describe your Event
     (See How-To Post a News Item for more detailed instructions on these steps)...
2. To appear on the Calendar, you must provide a Date.   The date field is must be filled out exactly right to validate, so here are some detailed instructions:
   • The "From Date" give the starting date / time for your event - always fill this one out
   • The "To Date" gives the ending date / time for your event - just leave this blank for most events (it is mostly useful for multi-day events, like workshops).
   • The date must be entered EXACTLY like the example shown just below the date field - YYYY-MM-DD.  E.g.,   2011-01-31.
     The date picker tool makes it easy - just select the date from the little pop-up calendar.
   • The time is entered in 24hr notation.  Eg. 16:00
     Leave the time slot empty for "All Day" events.
3. Press "Submit" - your Event will automatically show up in all the places it should (Upcoming Events, Community Calendar, any page associated with it, etc.)

You should see your new Event in full.  Notice there is an "Edit" tab at the top of the page - you can always return to the page and click on this tab to update or delete your Event item. (You can also edit or delete any of your news or event items under "My Community.. My News")  You should also see a link to your story at the top of the "What's News" block on the front page.

Post a Classified Ad

Lasqueti Craigslist?

The classified ads section of the site allows you post and browse ads for anything from "ride wanted" to "house for sale".  New ads are displayed on the front page (What's News) and on the Community home page

How-To: Post a Classified Ad

1. Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
2. Post to Website... Classified Ad entry
3. Enter a  Title for the ad (this is what shows when the ad is listed)
4. Choose an appropriate "Category" for your ad so it's listed.
5. Enter the "Ad Text" itself - anything you like. 
   Be certain to put your contact info in the Ad Text - lasqueti.ca never reveals your info.
   See How-To: Format your Posts for help with formatting if you want to get fancy.
6. Press "Submit"

That's it.

Upload photos

Share your favorite photos of our island community!

Posting photos is easy, using tools right here on the website;

• Photos are uploaded directly from your PC;
• Every photo you upload is automatically added to your own personal photo album;
• Photos can also be added to other photo galleries on the site.
• Only "trusted users" are allowed to upload photos (- see How-To: Get More articles).

Step-by-Step : Post a Photo to the website:

1. The photo should be on your PC (ensure you know where the file is!)
2. Log-in to lasqueti.ca (you can only post content if you are logged in)
3. Select ->Post to Website... from your personal menu (- see How-To Navigate Site articles).
   • select ->Photo from the sub-menu
4. Enter a meaningful Title for your photo - the title appears with the photo whenever it is displayed.
5. From the list of "official" Photo Subjects, this will determine in which galleries your photo will appear.
   You can include your photo in multiple galleries by holding the CTRL key while selecting.
6. Optionally, you can add Other Subjects to the photo by simply typing them in (see below)
7. Upload the Image file from your PC...
   • choose the "Browse" button...
   • select the image file from you PC, press Open or OK.
   • you should see the path to your photo on your PC
   • press the upload button - you should see a small version of your photo
   • Add a title with information about the photo - shown when user puts the mouse over the image.
8. Tick the "Display on Front Page" box if the photo is suitable for display on the front page (see below).
9. Enter a Description of the photo - this could be a story about the picture, details about its photographer, date take, or location, etc.  Anything you'd like to share about the photo really.
   This information will appear when someone views the photo details.
10. If you manage a page on the site with a "mini-gallery", you will see a drop-down list labelled "For more information, please see..." - select your page from the drop-down list to attach this photo to the page's mini-gallery.
11. Choose "Preview" if you'd like to review how your post will look on the site before submitting it.
    Choose "Submit" to post your image to the site.

When you view the details of any of your own photos, you'll see that the page has "View" and "Edit" tabs.  The View tab shows you what others will see when they look at your photo's details page.  The Edit tab allows you to go back and change ANY of the information you entered above, or even delete the post to remove it from the site completely.  You can ALWAYS edit your own posts on lasqueti.ca.  So relax - mistakes happen, and you can fix them!

Guidelines for Photos on lasqueti.ca

Photos posted on the website are very public - please keep in mind that this site reflects on our community to the wider world.

Photo Galleries

• A "gallery" is really just a collection of photos "tagged" as belonging to a particular category.
• Please try to categorise your photos carefully - when a user looks through a gallery of "Wildlife", they don't want to see photos of your friends out on a binge!
• The site provides a set of "official" categories, representing subjects to be of likely interest to Lasquetians.
• You can create your own categories (and thus your own custom photo albums) by entering terms in the "Other Subjects" field.  Simply use the same term to add other photos to the same gallery.
• Once you have added a new category, the gallery is automatically added to the site and any photos "tagged" with this term will show up there.  In addition, other users can now post photos to your new gallery by simply entering the same term!

Display on Front Page

• Exceptional photos may be displayed on the front page of lasqueti.ca (in one of the photo blocks there)
• Since these photos show up on the front page of the site, this option should be reserved only for your very best work.
• The "offical" Photo Gallery tags are used to place the photo in an appropriate block - you must choose a least one of these galleries for the image to be selected
• Although you should tag your best photos for "display on front page", they will not neccessarily show up there immediately.  The webmaster uses a number of criteria to decide which photos actually get displayed at any given time. But you can be assured, photos not tagged for display on front page will never be displayed there.

General criteria for suitable photos:

• Photos should be of general relevance and interest to the Lasqueti community.
• Photos should be high-quality - show off your best work.
• No offensive, pornographic, abusive, or other inappropriate materials please.
• Photos can be of any size or resolution, although they will be automatically re-scaled if they are larger than the maximum size suitable for use on the website.
• Thumbnails (small versions) will be created automatically.
• Any photos not meeting these criteria may be removed from the website.

Failure to follow these guidelines or repeated abuse of the system will result in "trusted user" privileges being revoked.

Submit an incident Report

How-To post an Incident Report

An 'Incident Report' is used to document and report something undesirable, to alert the community and hopefully curb harmful behaviours.  These reports are heavily moderated - please stick to the facts only - What, When, How - no finger pointing, accusations, or innuendo please.

Your "Incident Report" will automatically be forwarded to the Lasqueti E-mail List (unless you choose not to do so).

1. Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
2. Post to Website... Incident Report (from menu in left sidebar)
3. Enter a Short Description of the incident - this is like the subject line on an e-mail.
4. Select the "Incident Type" and "Incident Location" that best fits - you can add more details below.
5. Optionally, you can select a date and/or time that the Incident occurred.  When you click on the "Date" field, a popup calendar allows you to pick the date.  The time is given using 24 hour clock notation (e.g., 19:00 rather than 7:00 pm)
6. Enter the Incident Details - enter whatever makes sense to document the incident, but please stick to the fact - just what happened.
   • If you are reporting a theft, please list and describe the items that were stolen so folks can keep an eye out and identify them if they see them.

   (You can format your post using the simple web editor - see How-To Format Your Post)

7. Press "Submit"

You should see your Incident Report in full.  Notice there is an "Edit" tab at the top of the page - you can always return to the page and click on this tab to update or delete your news item.  You can also "Comment" on your item to add more details, etc. 
Unless you chose not to, your original report is sent to the Lasqueti E-mail List - none of the subsequent edits or comments will be sent to the list.

If you would like to submit an Incident Report anonymously, or you know someone who'd like to submit one non-electronically, please send a request to Peter J., or  e-mail mailman-owner [at] lists [dot] lasqueti [dot] ca and we will post the request for you without any identifying information.

Post Item to Lasqueti E-mail List

Some items posted to the website will automatically be sent out on the Lasqueti E-mail List (Peter's List).  This gives you the widest possible readership for your post, and hopefully will keep these post more organized and easier to find (i.e., when you realize you really DO need an extra truckload of firewood... now who was it again that had some for sale...?)

The following items posted to the site will automatically go out on Peter's List:

• Classified Ads
• News & Events
• Posts and comments on the Peter's List forum (useful for articles that are neither ads nor news)

Posting stuff on the site is easy, and keeps the site up-to-date with all the latest news.  Your posts are automatically forwarded to Peter's List, where they will be sent out in the next e-mail digest.
There's lots of help here on posting to the website:

• How to... Post a Classified Ad
• How to... Post a News Item
• How to... Post an Event to the Community Calendar

If you have something for the list that you don't want on the website for whatever reason, you can still send your submissions by e-mail to Email_List [at] lasqueti [dot] ca

Post a "Blog" (Journal) Article

What's a blog?

Short for "weB log", a blog is simply your personal space on lasqueti.ca.  You don't need to worry about your article fitting into a category, or being relevant to everyone - this is your space and you can post what you like there.  For example, if you are an avid gardner, you could keep entries for different planting dates or organic insect control methods you use;  or you could use your blog to write articles about issues you feel are important and should be discussed; or perhaps you want to share some of your poetry or philosphical ramblings.

Want to know more?  This short video (3 mins) is an excellent starting point:  Blogs in Plain English.

How-To: Post a Blog Entry

1. Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
2. Post to Website... Blog entry
3. Enter the article's Title
4. Use the "Additional Subjects" to "tag" your blog entry.  This will allow the site to organize articles with similar themes.  You can enter any words here that describe your article's topic (comma seperated list) - and the auto-type box will give you a list of previously defined "tags" as you start to type.
5. Enter the article itself in the "Body" field - add anything you like.  See How-To: Format your Posts for help with formatting if you want to get fancy.
6. Press "Submit"

That's it.  Your latest article will always appear at the top of your blog.  Others can see you blog by visiting "My Community... Blogs"  and your article will also appear in the "Latest Blog Posts" block.

Using the Disucssion Forums (Message Board)

There are many ways to post messages on lasqueti.ca:

• News and Events for notices that can be posted on front-page and/or community calendar.
• Classified ads for notices about rides, jobs, lost & found, local food, and other stuff for sale.
• Personal blogs for sharing your political opinions, re-posting articles, or just going off on a rant.

By contrast, the Discussion Forums are used for starting and holding longer-duration discussions about anything you find relevant.  This can include anything from committee planning work and document sharing, to an online book club.  Anything that is more "discussion" oriented as opposed to "announcement" oriented.

About the lasqueti.ca Discussion Forums:

• These forums are primarily intended for discussing topics relating to Lasqueti Island. Please respect this and only post relevant message
   
• Please be respectful of other users. Abuse, profanity, spam, or shameless advertising will not be tolerated.
   
• See the Forum Instructions posting for some basic info about how this message board works.

Got a question?

• If you want to know how something works or "how do I...?" or "why does it...?", post your question in the Lasqueti.ca Questions and Suggestions forum.
   
• For technical questions, please contact Joseph: webmaster [at] lasqueti [dot] ca
• For questions about topics and discussions, please contact Peter: pjohnston [at] lasqueti [dot] ca

Thank You and Have fun!

Post a 'Favourite Poem'

How-To submit a "Favourite Poem"

1. Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
2. Post to Website... Blog entry
3. Enter the Poem's Title
4. Enter "favourite poems" under "Additional Subjects" - this "tags" your blog entry as being a favourite poem so it will be placed on the Favourite Poems page.  (If you simply type "f", the box will give you a list to select from all "tags" that start with "f"!)
5. Enter the Poem itself in the Body field - you can also add author, publication date, and any other information of interest.
6. Press "Submit"

When you view your poem, you'll see a small link to "favourite poems" at the top - click on this to see a list of all recently submitted "favourite poems" on the site.

Format Your Posts

fckeditor.gif

How-to use the rich text Web-Editor

When you add or edit a "post", you can use the "rich text editor" (fckeditor) to add formatting.  Using it is similar to the toolbars in Word, but it has fewer options.   Always remember, your are editing an HTML document, so the editor is restricted in what it can do - this is not a Word document!

Here are some tips to get you started:

• you can format text using the toolbar, which works similarly to Word;
• "hover" over a tool button for a description of what each button does;
• use the "remove format" eraser tool to get rid of formatting you don't want or want to change;
• if you have privileges, you can insert images into your posts by pressing the "Insert Image" button on the toolbar;
• use the
• show blocks" tool to see how your html is being laid out;
• leave URL's and e-mail addresses as simply plain-text - the site will convert them to links (and hide e-mail addresses from spam-bots in the process!)
• use the "you can "roll up" the toolbar with the little arrow to the bottom-right.
• the "Source" button shows you the HTML code you are actually producing - press it a second time to go back to the "WYSIWYG" editor view.

Submit a Name (Lasqueti Dead)

How-To Submit a Person to the 'Lasqueti Dead' list

Anyone connected to Lasqueti can be remembered and paid tribute by listing them on the Lasqueti Dead or Beloved Dead lists.  All persons on these lists are submitted by members of the Lasqueti community.  Here's how:

1. Log-in (you must be logged in to post to the website)
2. Post to Website... Person (from menu in left sidebar)
3. Enter a Name for your person - usually this is in the form:  Firstname Lastname.
4. Select a category (Person is....) - choose the list this person should appear on.
5. Optionally, you can upload a photo to be shown on the person's page - ususally a photo of them.
6. Enter a Description of the person - you may enter whatever makes sense for your tribute and memory.  This might include what and when their relationship was with Lasqueti, and maybe when and where they were born and died. 
   You can format your story using the simple web editor - see How-To Format Your Post
7. Press "Submit"

You should see your new page in full.  Notice there is an "Edit" tab at the top of the page - you can always return to the page and click on this tab to update or delete your submission.  You should also see that this person has been added to the list you chose (e.g., Lasqueti Dead).