Instructions
The only three Sections you will need to use to update your website are Pages, Media and Gallery. Go to the bottom of these instructions for setup note. You can practice on the Sample Page.
Note about Images:
- All Lightbox action Gallery images and home page Slideshow images are managed through Gallery link at left.
- Other site images such as bottom of home page, on MAGNEVENT page, and on Sign Systems main page* (those that link to detailed pages) are managed within the page itself. You can add new images from within the page or in advance using the Media link.
- Lightbox images are 720X540. Home page slide show images are 420X315. Gallery thumbnails are 250X188.
Media (other than Galleries):
In most cases, you will upload a new image or edit an image within a page. You can add them here if preparing lots without having the page(s) ready.
List shows existing images in the Library. There is little need to click on any image to edit. Generally you will Add New. When you have selected or dragged new media to the window, it will crunch away as it saves 3 sizes.
(I cannot yet explain why the images you uploaded (original size 840px wide) saved the large version at 640px wide, although this won’t really matter. If you click Settings, Media, you can see that I specified large as 720 max wide X 540 max high. Hopefully time will solve these mysteries.)
Once uploaded you can click “Show” on right to add details but we have not done this for any images. This will be important to use once in the Page.
There is a convenient search box upper right, so if you know your image group number (corresponding to a gallery in the written notes), you can find images easily among the hundreds. I did not want to delete any in case they came in handy or we decided to do something differently than the Gallery functionality someday. Conveniently the latest ones show first in the list.
If you decide you want something in between 250 and 420px and you never want anything larger for the body of a page, let me know; it can be changed.
Pages:
To update, click the appropriate page. Be careful not to click “trash” by accident, immediate deletion, no confirmation.
Become familiar with the HTML tab. On the right side of formatting bar, click Show Kitchen Sink to show two rows of icons.
For a new page with a gallery, build the gallery first as noted below.
When adding new:
- Enter what you want to appear on the Nav list in the Title field.
- Enter the full Title as the first line of text. Then select “Heading 1” from the Format dropdown.
- Then type your text. If you copy from Word, place your cursor and use the Paste from Word or Paste as Plain Text icon to avoid undesirable code. OR, paste into HTML tab and format in Visual view. Best to copy content with as little formatting as possible and format within this window. Save as Draft periodically.
- Add (non-gallery) images where desired by clicking the Upload/Insert icon above the formatting bar. You can upload new or select from Media Library. Select the appropriate size, generally align it to the right, then Insert into Post (don’t miss this step). Then also click Save Changes.
- Add URLs or email addresses using those icons.
- If the page will include a gallery, click the html tab and insert the gallery shortcode in the appropriate place (I can’t type it here or it tries to insert a gallery).
- When done with text, select appropriate page placement under “Parent” to the right in Page Attributes.
- Leave Default Template always.
- Set an order to place within the navigation and page list. I used 10,15,20,25, etc. with lots of spaces so you could fit new ones in between.
- In Publish section, simply Save Draft if not yet ready to make live, Publish if new, or Update.
- Double-check your work by viewing on the website. You may view draft pages by typing the permalink located below the title.
*Become familiar with the HTML tab. This is the best way to currently update the Sign Systems page. Briefly, add an image in the Visual view, then click the HTML tab to make that image look like the rest by wrapping that image with the appropriate code.
Gallery:
Within Gallery, the only two sub-sections you’ll use are Add Gallery / Images and Manage Gallery. Gallery images when uploaded will automatically be saved at 720px wide for lightbox image and 250px wide for thumbnail. (We did not find how to size the home page images at 420X315, but you could size them properly in advance, or let them scale.)
Add Gallery / Images
Add new Gallery first, if needed: name it, write down the number, then go back to Upload Images tab.
Prepare images for a gallery by naming them in display order sequence after gallery number, i.e. 33-01, etc. Sequencing follows computer language numbering: 1,10,2. Name home page slide show images home1, etc.
Upload Images: Choose gallery, then select your files or drag them from Windows Explorer into the window. DO NOT check the checkbox to size them at 720.
Manage Gallery
Use this to delete unwanted images. New images can be added before or after as noted above.
Galleries were added according to the page order on the website (except home). Original image numbers were not in any similar order and ended at 32. Therefore I created and deleted galleries up to 32 so that your next gallery can be 33 and I strongly suggest you number your images 33-01, etc., in numerical order as they should appear on the page.
Album
NOT USED. An album is a collection of galleries. *The Sign Systems page could be done this way with some research and styling, but it is done with separate pages instead. (Create the new galleries first, then come back here. Add a new album, select it in the dropdown list, then drag the galleries into it. I have not explored the result.)
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nextgen-gallery/faq/
http://nextgen-gallery.com/album/
Posts: You do not have any posts on your website.
Comments: Not used.
Links: Documentation and Support Forums may be helpful.
Please do not change anything under Appearances, Plugins, Users, Tools, or Settings unless we discuss first, dangerous territory.
The footer cannot be updated using this system. Please ask me.
Lastly, information on a web server is backed up continuously. To get archived information is difficult. Please keep your own copy of everything so that mistakes can be corrected by you or me if needed.
Set-up note:
There is a “Screen Options” tab in the upper right; when expanded, it allows you to remove unnecessary functionality from the workspace. Go to the Pages Section and un-check everything except Page Attributes.
Large is the lightbox size although there is no way to access it here. Medium is 420px wide for home page slide show. (Name home page images beginning with “home” and a number.) Small is the 250px wide thumbnail.