This guide is intended to answer a number of questions that you may have about how to use the new MnHPVA website.
Index
Accessing the MnHPVA site
Becoming a member of the MnHPVA
Accessing your MnHPVA Account
Updating
your Password
Retrieving your forgotten password
Setting or
editing your profile
Adding a photo so it appears every time you Post
Setting up a Signature to show on Posts
Stopping or Setting Up Email
Creating Content
Content Types
Adding info to the Body of all Blocks
Adding Images or Pictures to your
Content
Adding Bike Builders Info
Reading blogs
Posting to your Blog
Adding comments
or replies to a Blog
Reading Forums
Posting to a Forum
How do I know this website is secure?
How do I contact someone who can help
with the website?
Enabling cookies:
For PC Users
For Mac Users
Open a browser window. The site will work in any browser from any computer but may look slightly different from one browser to another.
Type in or copy and paste the url www.mnhpva.org (www.eclecticbike.com temporarily) into the navigation area.
The window that opens is the generic guest’s window and will allow you access only to the parts of the website that is are open to the public.
If you are already a member or wish to become a member of the MnHPVA and receive further privileges and have access to the members area of the website you will need to click on the Members Login link on the left of the page.
If you are already a member of the MnHPVA choose the login option at the top and type in your username or email address of record and password into the boxes provided and click Ok. It will bring you to the main members page and your Username should show up on the upper left of the Links menu.
Note: You must have cookies enabled to log in to the MnHPVA website. If your cookies are turned off on the computer you are using it will not allow you to log in. The MnHPVA webpage uses cookies to provide security for the site. If you need to know how to enable cookies see: Enabling Cookies
Becoming a member of the MnHPVA
To become a member of the MnHPVA click on the Members Login link on the left of the page.
In the window that opens click on the create new account link.
You will be taken to the user account page and will be able to pick a username and enter your email address. You will be asked to enter your email address twice to make sure you get it right.
You will then be asked to create a password and enter it twice to make sure it is accurate. Make sure you use something you can remember. We cannot retrieve your old password.
Click on the create new account button at the bottom of the page to save it.
You will be given immediate access to some of the website on a provisional basis. Once an Administrator has reviewed your request you will either be granted full access by email or you will receive an email requesting further info.
Once you are a member of the MnHPVA you will have access to your own account.
On the upper left of the page just under you username you should find a link to My Account
Click on this and you will be taken to your personal account page.
From here you can:
Go to Edit: where you can change your password, email address of record, upload a picture that will be included with all your posts on the website and much more. Explore, you can set up a number of preferences here.
Choose Track: and it will show you everything that you have contributed to the site so if you would like to find, fix or add to something it will be easy to find.
Choose Personal Files: and you will be taken to a window that will show you what files you currently have on the server that you may use. At the bottom you will find an upload area that will allow you to upload files and pictures to the server for creating content and adding to things you are working on.
When you are done you need to go to the bottom of the page and click on the submit button to save any changes you have made. If you do not save or move away from that page it will not make the desired changes and will revert back to the way it was the last time you hit submit.
Passwords can be updated or changed anytime you feel the need, but they will not expire.
Click my account in the menu at the left of the screen. Your user account page will appear.
Click the edit tab.
Scroll down until you see the Password heading. Enter your new password in the two fields provided.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Submit.
Your Password has been changed.
Retrieving your Forgotten Password
A temporary password will be emailed to the email address associated with your account.
You will then need to login using the link provided in the message and reset a new password that you can remember.
Send an email to webmaster@mnhpva.org and a new temporary login will be sent to you as soon as it is approved.
Setting or editing your profile – This is not yet installed --Soon!
Click my account in the menu at the top-left of every screen. Your user account page will appear.
Click the edit tab.
Click on the Profile button that appears below the tabs.
Fill in or change the profile fields as required and click the Submit button to save your changes.
Adding a Photo to your Account so it appears on what you post
Click My Account in the menu at the left of the screen. Your user account page will appear.
Click the edit tab.
Scroll down to the Picture field and click the Browse button. This will open a browser popup that allows you to see either your computer or the server.
Select the picture file you wish to use from the File Upload window, and click Open. This should upload the picture from your computer or assign the picture from the server.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button to save your changes.
Photo avatars are currently set up to be moderated, as soon as your photo has been approved by an administrator you will see it posting along with everything that you input that has the avatars set up.
Setting up a Signature for Addition to your Posts
Stopping or Setting up Email and Contact Forms
Automated emails can be sent out form the webpage to keep users up to date with what is happening on the website. They can be set to tell you when new postings have been made and or when new content has been added. There is also a palace where you can choose whether to allow other members to contact you from the webpage. To turn this feature off:
Click my account in the menu at the top-left of the screen.
Click the edit link and go down to the email settings. Set them as you wish. You can opt to receive plain text emails only or full graphics and whether or not other members can contact you from the site.
Remember to click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen when you are finished to make sure your preferences are saved.
The MnHPVA website allows a member of the site to “create content”. This means that you can bring in or type up a story or article for inclusion on the site for everyon to see. We need to be a little careful about not stealing someone else’s intellectual property. If you would like to do more then use a quick quote from someone else you should either get their permission to use their work or to give a link to the site if it is available online so they get full credit.
When you choose the Create Content link from the left side of the page you will get a list of the choices of the types of content that you can enter into the website.
These are the currently setup types of content within the website. When you add to the website you will need choose which one of these groups to add your input to. This will make it easier to find and search data in the future.
Album: An Album is a container for pictures that are grouped together.
Bike Builders Info: Information intended to be for the use of the bike builder or info about building bikes
Blog Entry: A blog is a regularly updated journal or diary made up of individual posts shown in reversed chronological order. Each member of the site may create and maintain a blog on the site if they wish.
Events: Events, Rides, Races and Get Togethers of the MnHPVA that are to be posted to the group Calendar
Forum Topic: Create a new topic for discussion in the forums. Topics should be placed into the appropriate area of the forum
Image: Pictures and drawings, Every Member can have their own Gallery if they wish. Each Picture must be added to a gallery. Images can also be added to every content type either embedded in content or as content itself.
Meeting Note: Info and pictures from the regular monthly meetings of the MnHPVA, generally added by the Secretary.
Page: If you want to add a static page, like a contact page or an about page, use a page.
Poll: A poll is a multiple-choice questionnaire which poses a question or series of questions that ou would like to poll the group about.
Story: Stories are articles in their simplest form: they have a title, a teaser and a body, but can be extended by other modules. The teaser is the first part of the body too. Stories may be used as a personal blog or for news articles or for whatever you wish.
Fill in a Name or Title: Keep it simple and concise, this will show up as the title of the teaser for all to see in bold letters at the top on the article.
Then click in the body block to put the cursor where you will place your content..
Adding your info into the body of all content blocks
The MnHPVA website uses a WISIWIG text editor for entering info into the body area that has a lot of functions. It will allow you to paste in pretty much any format the original document was created in. It will also allow you to type in whatever you want and then use the included tools to format it as you wish.
All content creation areas on the website will use the same toolbar. It will look something like this: ADD PIC
If you place your cursor over a function on the toolbar it will give you a popup to tell you what it does.
The program that supports this function is called Fckeditor and their User Guide at http://docs.fckeditor.net/CKFinder/Users_Guide can give a full rundown of how it works.
It has the ability to take in Word Documents, cut and paste into the input window as well as supporting a number of other formats. The only format that is generally a problem is .pdf files, they are not usually something you can import directly. Explore, the program has many usable functions, too many to cover here!
Files can also be attached to content: at the bottom of all content pages is a block that will allow you to attach a file to what you are posting if wanted.
Once you are done with entering your information into the body area move down the page and hit the submit button at the bottom of the page to save it. If you would like a preview of what you have input hit the preview button and check it out, you will still need to hit submit to actually post to the site. Note: If you move away from the page you are creating without hitting the submit button you may lose your work, It is better to submit it even if it is not perfect and come back later to edit it then to lose it!
Entering pictures into the MnHPVA Webpages.
Entering pictures into a webpage can be, at times, a daunting task. There are a lot of things to consider when you import images. Not the least is that today’s digital cameras create images that are way too big for the typical webpage. The average digital camera picture is now around 5-8 meg. The average picture on the net is about 30-50kb in size. This size of picture looks good and takes up about the right amount of space for most browsers to be able show it at a size where it resolves well but does not take up the whole page. Once you go past a certain size the picture takes up so much space that you have to scroll around to see it. We have set some size limits for pictures in the site, and you will not be able to import pictures larger then these limits. The easiest way to get pictures of the right size for the web is to use a program that will resize them to for you. I have found Mihov’s Resizer (http://www.imageresizer.com/) to be a very easy to use and intuitive program that can be set to give you the correct output sizes. If you set your picture size as 500 pixels max they will be in the right range.
Once they have been resized Pictures and images can be added to the website in several different ways.
Click on Create Content then choose Image
Once it opens give it an appropriate title.
Then choose which Gallery you would like to see it in from the drop down list.
Then click on the image tool and follow the directions above.
Don't forget to hit the submit button to save it and post it to the site.
Click on Create Content in the left menu.
Click Bike Builders Info in the menu that comes up.
Put in the title for the content, try to keep it short and meaningful, this is the teaser to get people to read what you wrote.
Add your content and pictures into to the body area. See Adding info to the body of content blocks for further info.
To access your own blog, click the my blog link that will then appear in the menu under the blogs link. Your blog page should appear in the main window.
Click blogs in the menu at the top-left of every screen.
Click the my blog link that will then appear in the menu under the blogs link. Your blog page should appear in the main window.
Click Post new blog entry in the middle of the window. A Submit blog entry window will appear.
Type into the Title and Body fields.
If you wish to add an attachment, click on File attachments below the Body field, click on the Browse button, select the file you wish to use from the File Upload window, and click Open. Then click the Attach button.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button. Your new post should then appear in the main window.
Click on >>blogs>> in the breadcrumbs at the top of the main window to go back to the main blogs page. You will see your new posting at the top of the list.
Click Home at the top of the window, or any of the options in the menu at the top-left of the screen to access forums, links, your account information, help, etc.
Click blogs in the menu at the top-left of every screen and scroll down until you find the blog posting to which you wish to add a comment or reply.
Click add new comment (which will appear if no-one has yet posted a comment to the post) beneath the blog posting.
Click x comments (eg. 2 new comments) beneath the blog posting (which will appear if others have posted comments before you). Then click add new comment beneath the top blog posting.
In the Reply window that appears, type into the Subject and Comment fields and click the Preview comment button at the bottom of the window. You will see your comment.
Scroll down and click the Post comment button to post your comment. You will be returned to the add new comment form where you will see your comment at the bottom of the window.
Click Home at the top of the window, or any of the options in the menu at the top-left of the screen to access blogs, forums, links, your account information, help, etc. Alternatively, click on >>blogs>> in the breadcrumbs at the top of the main window to go back to the main blogs page.
Click forums in the menu at the left on the main .
To read the postings to a discussion topic:
Click on the name of a forum (in blue type) on the main Forums page.
Click on the title of the topic. The topic, all comments to the topic, and all replies to the comments will appear.
To read your own postings to blogs or forums:
Click My discussions near the top of the window on the main Forums page.
Click on the title of the posting you wish to read in the Post column.
Click Home at the top of the window, or any of the options in the menu at the top-left of the screen to access blogs, forums, links, your account information, help, etc.
Click forums in the menu at the top-left of every screen.
To create a new forum topic:
Click on the name of a forum (in blue type) on the main Forums page.
Click on Post new forum topic near the top of the window.
Type in the Subject and Body fields, and select a category from the Forums drop-down list.
Click Submit at the bottom of the window.
To add a comment to an existing topic, or a reply to a comment:
Click on the name of a forum (in blue type) on the main Forums page.
Click on the title of the topic (in blue type) to which you wish to post.
Click on add new comment or reply at the bottom of the posting or comment to which you wish to post. A Reply form will appear at the bottom of the window.
Type in the Subject and Comment fields and click Post comment. Your comment will appear at the bottom of the window.
A website Administrator can be contacted at anytime by leaving a message on the forum under website issues if you are comfortable with your comment being public. If you would like to keep your concerns private you may email the administrators at webmaster@mnhpva.org. They can always help with any problems, questions, or updates.
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