Key to a Great School Website

Engage User Notes

Angela Kinnear – February 2015

Step by Step user Instructions for the Gateway Shared Service Content Management Systems for Schools

We know teachers and school administrators have enough on their plate without having to struggle with

website development, so we developed Engage. This powerful Content Management System allows you to

create a unique, engaging and useful website without any specialist or technical knowledge.

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ContentsRecommended Minimum Content........................................................................................................2

Standards for Website Development ( the seven Cs)............................................................................2

Website Administrator..........................................................................................................................3

Getting Started......................................................................................................................................3

Logging In/ Managing Accounts.............................................................................................................4

Uploading Content................................................................................................................................5

How to upload your Logo to Engage......................................................................................................6

How to add a Calendar to your website................................................................................................6

Adding Entries to your newly created calendar.....................................................................................7

Adding News Section.............................................................................................................................7

Adding Stories to your News Section.....................................................................................................7

Adding a Gallery....................................................................................................................................7

Adding an Album...................................................................................................................................8

Adding Images to the Album.................................................................................................................8

Adding Multiple Images to an Album....................................................................................................8

Selecting Front Cover for Your Album...................................................................................................9

Adding a Guestbook..............................................................................................................................9

Approving Posts in the Guestbook........................................................................................................9

Adding a Blog.........................................................................................................................................9

Adding Bloggers.....................................................................................................................................9

Adding Posts..........................................................................................................................................9

Approving/ Rejecting Blog Posts..........................................................................................................10

Managing Plain Text Sections..............................................................................................................10

Updating Plain Text Section.................................................................................................................10

Subsections..........................................................................................................................................10

Adding a Subsection............................................................................................................................10

Creating the Front Page.......................................................................................................................11

Adding Contact Details to Front Page..................................................................................................11

Adding Latest News with Summary Rss Feed to Front Page................................................................11

Adding Calendar with Rss Feed to Front Page.....................................................................................11

Adding Image to Front Page................................................................................................................12

Adding Slideshow to the Front Page...................................................................................................12

Adding a Banner to the Website..........................................................................................................13

Adding Twitter Feed............................................................................................................................13

Look and Feel of the Website..............................................................................................................13

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Recommended Minimum ContentWe recommend that every school website contains the following information and that this detail is regularly reviewed and updated.

Information Detail

Introduction by the Head of Establishment

Provide a brief, clear and simple statement covering the aims and objectives of your school.

Contact Information Postal address, phone, fax number and email of the schoolRoll Present roll at each stage including any Nursery accommodationDenominational Status Roman Catholic/Non-DenominationalHours Start time, interval times and finish timeYear Holidays and in-service daysEnrolment Procedures Who to contact and whenCurriculum Details of the curriculum which is being taught in the schoolAssociated schools and nurseries

You could include basic contact details name, address and phone number

Breakfast Club Time of Breakfast Club and any activities which are also provided.After school activities and sports clubs

List the days and times of all school clubs and activities.

School safety Security of school/getting to school/ road safety

Standards for Website Development - the seven CsInvolve both staff and children/young people when developing/gathering information for the site. The following advice is offered as a basis for planning the content of an educational establishment site.

1. Correct Check the information posted on the site is factually correct.2. Cohesive Use a consistent house style such as font/colours/line spacing. This makes it easier for the

user to use/identify.3. Concise Less is more. Don’t populate the site with irrelevant details. Keep it simple.4. Current Update the site regularly

Archive out of date material. Keep the site fresh.5. Clear Give pages a title. This makes them easy to identify. Keep language and presentation plain

and simple. As a variety of people will visit and use the site, avoid jargon and acronyms.

Do not use backgrounds or fonts which make content difficult to read6. Careful Check you have parents’ or carers’ permission to include children’s/ young people’s

work/photographs/input to the site.

Check copyright of all content.

Websites should not include personal details or names of any child or adult in photography, personal e-mail/postal addresses or phone/fax numbers.

7. Collaborate Collaborate with SMT, staff and children/young people to decide:

Aims and Objectives. How the site will reflect the ethos and the values of the establishment. Accept and reject material. Suitability, appropriateness and quality issues are

regularly checked. Time for development and maintenance of the site. Who will update the site?

Who will manage the project? Who is responsible?

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Website AdministratorThe Website Administrator should:

Check that the information posted on the site is factually correct

Make sure a consistent house style such as font/colours/line spacing is used. This makes it easier for the user to use and identify.

Making sure your site is not overpopulated with irrelevant details. Keep it simple

Keep the site up to date and archiving any information which is no longer current.

Give each page a title for ease of access for the user.

Keep language and presentation plain and simple - avoid jargon and acronyms.

Check that you have parent/carer’s permission to include children/young people’s work/photographs onto the site. Websites that contain images of children should never include any personal details such as names, postal addresses, phones or fax numbers or email addresses.

Make sure that you don’t break copyright laws. For example, your site must not include photographs taken by a photographer and published on the internet without permission from the photographer. Also, you may not copy large amounts of text written by someone else, even if you give them recognition for this. You can ask a site if they will allow you to copy their work. You can link to another site without permission (although it is considered good practice to do so).

Meet with other staff and colleagues to decide what are the aims and objectives of your site.

Check your material for appropriateness and quality.

Allocate time to keep your website up to date.

Getting StartedBefore you begin populating your website, there are a few key points we think you should follow.Before you login to the administration area for the first time you should:

Get an electronic version of your school logo. Get an electronic version of your school handbook, usually a PDF or Word document. Decide on the colour scheme you want to use for your website. Plan the menu and sub menu options you are going to have and what order they should be in, as they

are displayed in the order you add them.

Once you have all of this information you can start adding content to your site. We recommend you start by doing the following:

Upload your school badge and decide which template to use along with the colour scheme for the different sections of your website.

Upload your school handbook and put this under the menu you want this to feature usually "Our School" or "About Our School".

Add a news section and at least one news story, with or without a summary image. To begin with, this could be a sentence like “Website Coming Soon”.

Add a calendar and some events to it, this should include School Holidays, In-Service Dates and any up and coming Events in the school, e.g. exams, school plays and excursions.

You can now setup your front page with the "Latest News" and "Upcoming Events" sections you have added. The news on the front page and the upcoming events automatically displays content you add to these sections.

Remember as you begin to add sub menus to your website you should plan how you want these to display as they cannot be re-ordered. The way these are entered is the order they will display in the website and not in chronological or alphabetical order.

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Logging In/ Managing AccountsAdmin URL - www.scottishschools.info/GatewayEngage/Admin

When you first access the site, you will be asked to login, using the Username and Password that you

have been issued.

Homepage -this takes you tothe Homepage where you are

presented with a number of options

Quick LinksLink DescriptionMy Account This allows you to change your username, password and email addressSite Update Wizard This allows you to add or amend content and insert sub menu items to your siteHelp & Support From here you can submit help requests to the Gateway support team, download

user notes and read the answers to some frequently answered questionsQuickstats Provides information about the number of visitors your website has received.Latest Announcements New additions and changes to the content management system are listed here.

You can subscribe Latest Announcements to a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed. You can download RSS feed reader software and a reader is built into Internet Explorer. Web feed formats are used to publish frequently updated content on websites e.g. BBC News, Scottish Government

RSS feeds These are available in different sections of your school site e.g. News and the Calendar. Visitors to your site have control over whether they subscribe to this or not. Content on websites where subscription to a RSS feed is available will have the following link: Subscribe . Additional information about RSS is available at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

My Account

When you select this option, the screen opposite appears, giving you the options to change your Profile, Username and Password.

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My Profile allows you to change your Name and Email address

My Password, allows you to change your password.

My Username allows youto change your username.

At the top of the page if you select My Website you can:

Add/amend/delete website menu options Edit content Manage your documents, images and videos Add/amend site logo Change the colour and general appearance of the site. Manage the front page of your site.

Uploading Content

You can manage the documents, images and videos for your site from the "My Website" section of the admin area by clicking on the relevant section.

Uploading Documents and Images

The process for uploading and managing documents and images for your site is the same. To add a new document or image click Documents or Images > Click on the "Upload a new file" link which will open a dialog box where you will browse to the file you wish to upload. There is also an option to > Upload Multiple Files.

You can create folders to store your files by clicking on the "Create a new folder" link. This will open a new dialog box asking for the folder name, to add files to the folder click on the folder name before you click the "Upload a new file" link. This is a good way of organising content by each session.

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Uploading Videos

You can add videos to your site. Videos should be in .flv .wmv .avi or .mov format, and must be no larger than 30mb. Uploading the video is the same as for images and documents. Before the video can be used it will be uploaded by Gateway to a hosting company. This will allow your video to be streamed improving the experience for your users.

To add a video to a page you will need to copy the “Remote URL” from the videos page and paste it into the “Movie Properties” dialog from the textbox.

How to upload your Logo to EngageClick on My WebsiteSelect My Logo>Use the Browse button to find the folder where the file containing the logo is storedClick on the upload image button to place the updated logo on the siteLogos should be no larger than 220 x 70 pixels. *Please note that a newly updated logo may take half an hour or so to appear on your site. In order to replace the logo with another one you cannot delete the existing one, you need to upload another one and this will overwrite the existing one.

How to add a Calendar to your website

Click on My Website > Select Site Update Wizard Select Option 1, Add a brand new section > Choose calendar from drop down menu Select Proceed with wizard and create new section Type in the title of your calendar > Type a description of what the calendar contains in the text box Click next to proceed > Tick the box of the top-level menu you want your calendar to display in Click finishYou have now successfully added your calendar

Adding Entries to your newly created calendarClick on My Website > Select Site Update WizardSelect Option2, Update or delete existing content > Select the top level menu where you have placed your calendar > Select Update / Delete. Select entries tab > Select click hereType in a brief description of the holiday or event > Select a date from calendar.In the format box you can type in brief description or attach a link to booking forms or documents about the event for parents > Select add entryYour calendar is now updated and you can continue to add further entries this way until your calendar is complete.

Adding News SectionClick on My Website > Select Site Update WizardSelect Option 1, Add a brand new section > from the drop down menu select news

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Click on proceed and create new section > Type in the title of your news section.In the text box type in a description of the news section > Select next to proceedSelect which top level menu you want it listed > Select finishYou have successfully added your news section.

Adding Stories to your News SectionClick on My Website>Select Site Update WizardSelect Option 2 to update > Select the menu item where the news section is located.Under Sub Menu select beside News > Update / Delete - do not type straight into the text box > Select the stories menu tab to add a news story, Click on “click here” text to add a new story> Type the title of the storyIn the summary you can upload an image which will display on the front page if you decided to use the news and events summary option > Type in archive date if applicable (it will no longer display once this date passes)Add the content of the news item in the text box. Upload from word or excel or enter text directly into formatting box > Click on add story.Add fresh news stories in the same way.

Adding a GalleryClick on My Website> Select Site Update WizardSelect option 1, Add a brand new section > Select gallery from drop down menuSelect proceed and create new section >Type in the title of your gallery hereYou should now type in how many albums you would like to be displayed per row > Type in description of the gallery in the text boxSelect next to proceed > Select which top level menu you want the gallery to appear in > Select FinishYou have now successfully added your gallery. You could add a new Gallery for each school session.

Adding an AlbumClick on My Website>Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 to update> Select top level menu which the gallery appears inSelect Update / Delete beside the name of the gallery from the Sub Menu list > Select Albums from the tab optionsClick on “click here” text to add a new album > Type in the title of your albumTick allow image comments if you want to allow comments on the images > Tick allow image ratings if you want to allow images to be rated.Type the number of images you would like to appear per row > Type in brief description of the content of the album.

Adding Images to the AlbumPlease rename your images (use the title to describe the image) before uploading them to Engage.Click on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 to update > Select the top-level menu where the gallery is listedSelect Update / Delete beside the name of gallery > Select albums from menu tab optionsSelect Images beside the album title > Click on “click here” text to add a new image Type in the title of your image here (If you wish them to appear in a specific order start the name with A. then B. for the next one and so on…) > Browse to the image > Select it and then > Select add image.Continue to add further images in the same way.

Adding Multiple Images to an AlbumClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 to update > Select the top-level menu where the gallery is listedSelect Update / Delete beside the name of gallery > Select albums from menu tab options

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Click images to add photos to an existing gallery > Select multiple upload textClick Add > Browse and select all the images you wish to upload > Select OpenClick Upload FilesA page is displayed to confirm that you have uploaded the images successfully.

Selecting Front Cover for Your AlbumSelect the album and then > Images. To select an image to appear on the front cover of an album > Click the “Highlight” link against your selected image.

Adding a GuestbookClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 1, add a new section > Select Guestbook from drop down menu.Select proceed to create new section > Type in the title of your guestbook hereType in some introductory text about the guest book in text box > Select next to proceedThe next stage asks you to complete some Guestbook Settings > Insert your settings and add the following text: Once you've completed your post, please copy the Image Text in the box provided. Thank you.Select next to continue > Select the top-level menu you want the guestbook listedSelect finish.

Approving Posts in the GuestbookIf you add a Guestbook you have to check and approve posts on a regular basis.Click on My Website>Select site update wizardSelect option 2 to update > Select the top-level menu which the guestbook appears in.Select the sub menu the Guestbook appears in > Select the unapproved posts tab.Any unapproved posts will display here >You can Approve, Reject or View the posts.

Adding a BlogClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 1, add a brand new section > Select blog from drop down menuClick on proceed and create new section > Insert the title of your blog hereType in a brief description about the Blog or Welcome Information > Click next to proceedType in email address of administrator who will approve posts and select the settings you require for the other sections > Click nextNow select the top level menu you want the blog to be placed > Click Finish

Adding BloggersClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 to update > Select the top-level menu that the blog appears in Select the blog from the sub menu items > Select bloggers from the menu tabsSelect “click here” text to add a new blogger > Type in a brief profile of the blogger Select next to continue > If you select approve posts the posts this blogger submits require to be approved before they are published. Perhaps for a member of staff you could uncheck the Approve Posts? - their posts would automatically appear.If you select allow comments this bloggers posts will not be checked> Select who will approve these comments if required.Type in number of posts per page allowed in here>Select next to proceedType in the details of the blogger and take a note of the username and password to be sent to the new blogger as this is not sent automatically > Select finish.

Adding PostsClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 update > Select top level menu where the blog is listedSelect Update / Delete against the Blog > Select Bloggers from menu tabs

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Click Update/View against the Blogger > Select Posts from the Tabs Select “click here” text to add a new post to this blogger.Type in the title of the post, and tick whether or not you want to allow comments>Type your post or put in links > Select Add Post.

Approving/ Rejecting Blog PostsClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 update > Select main menu where the blog appears > Select Update / Delete against the Blog > Click on alertsThe posts waiting to be approved will now appear, click on Approve/Reject > Select update and approve or reject the post.

Managing Plain Text SectionsPlain Text pages will make up the majority of your site. When adding content you will use a textbox that has many of the formatting options you will be used to from creating Word documents. It is also possible to link to documents and images via the textbox. The textbox used for entering the content to a Plain Text page is also used for adding news stories and calendar events.

Click on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 1, add a brand new section > Select plain text from drop down menu > Click on text Proceed….Enter title > Type in some general information in the text boxClick Next > Select which main menu you want the page listed. Click Finish

Updating Plain Text SectionClick on My Website > Select site update wizardSelect Option 2 to update > Select the main menu the plain text section is located inSelect your new sub menu > Add information to the text boxClick Update Text Area once you have completed the amendment.

Linking to Documents/Websites in a Plain Text SectionYou can link to a document by using the text box toolbar > Select Option 2 in the Site Update Wizard and select a section to update. You can link to a document from text or an image or photo. Highlight some text or an image/photo > select the Insert/Edit Link icon from the toolbar.

In the Link dialog box you can either, browse to a document by selecting Browse Server or copy and paste a website address (URL) if you want to link to another website or to another part of your site. You can link to a document that you have already uploaded within the documents section of your site or browse to a new document which you can upload to this storage area. Browse to where you have it stored (e.g. My Documents, Network drive, CD or memory stick) from the dialogue box > select it > select upload, so it is available in your document area. Select the file you want to link to from the Resources Browser and this will insert it in the Link dialogue box and then select OK. This creates a link to the document or the web page.

SubsectionsIt is possible to create subsections for a plain text page. For example, you could have a Subjects page that provides an overview of the subjects offered and then each subject could be set up as a subsection.

Adding a Subsection to a PageClick on My Website > Select site update wizard

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Select Option 2 to update > Select the main menu where the page is located > Select the page from the sub menu list by clicking on Update / DeleteClick on Sub Sections menu tab > Click on the “click here “ text to add new content.Type in title of new subsection > add information relating to subsection in the formatting boxClick on Add Sub Section.Check your site to view the new sub section.

Creating the Front PageYour front page can be set up quickly and easily. You can display stories from a news section on your site and the upcoming events from a calendar you have added. These will update automatically as new stories and events are added and then pass..

Adding Contact Details to Front PageClick on My Website > Select Front PageClick Customise > Select Contact Details from the sections listed Select Add to Left or Right hand side > click AddContact details displayed on your front page are from data about your school held centrally at Gateway. If you require these updated contact Gateway Shared Services to do this. Alternatively, you can add your own text area and insert contact details from scratch.

Adding Latest News with Summary RSS Feed to Front PageStep 1: Adding your News Section

Click on My Website>Select Front PageClick Customise > Select Latest News with Summary from the sections listedSelect Add to Left or Right hand side > click Add

Step 2: Linking News

Click on Edit at the top of the page > Click on Edit again in the text box which has the latest news with summarySelect the News section from drop down list that you wish this to link to (You could have more than one) > Type in the number of stories you wish to display (5-7 is a reasonable number) > click Apply.Your news stories will display on the front page.

Adding Calendar with RSS Feed to Front PageStep 1: Adding Your Calendar Section

Click on Customise at the top of the page>Select Upcoming Events from the sections listedSelect Add to Left or Right hand side > click Add A text box with up and coming events will now be displayed on your front page.

Step 2: Linking Your Calendar

Click on Edit at the top of the page > Click on edit in the text box where the up and coming events areSelect which calendar you want to link to from choice in the drop down menu > Select how many entries you wish to display on the front page (5-10 is average) > Click on OK.

Adding Images to your Front PageStep 1: Adding Text BoxClick Customise > Select Text Area from the sections listedSelect Add to Left or Right hand side > click Add

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Step 2: Adding Image to Text BoxClick on Edit at the top of the page > Click on Edit in the Text Area Box you have just added Type in any text you wish to appear in the Text Box (or you can leave it blank) > Click on Insert / Edit image to upload the ImageBrowse Server (Your Images) and select the image you wish to upload > Click OK > Click OK

Adding Slideshow to the Front PageStep 1 Click on My Website > Click on ImagesClick on Create a new folder > Type in the name of your new folder. This must always be called Slideshow > Click Submit.Click on your Slideshow folder > Click Upload Multiple Files. These image files should be approximately 400 x 300 pixels.Click Add Files > Browse to the images you want to appear in your slideshow and select the ones you wish to add > Click Open > Click Upload Files. You will be info files have uploaded successfully.

Step 2

Click on My Website>Click on Front PageClick Edit at the top of the page>Click edit in the text box that you wish the slideshow to display

Select in formatting box exactly where you want the slideshow to feature> Select the template icon from the toolbar.

Select the slideshow option you want to use. Always ensure that the Replace actual content is left unticked > Click on Update Text Area

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Adding a Banner to the WebsitePrepare the image for the banner. The dimensions required are 868 x 128 pixels. Contact Gateway so this area can be prepared before the banner is uploaded into the heading of your website.

Adding a Twitter FeedThis assumes that you have a Twitter Account for your school.Log in to Twitter. Go to https://twitter.com/settings/widgets/newClick create widget button (change settings now if you want – then click save changes)Copy the widget codeWithin Gateway Engage create a text area > Click on Source in the text box tool bar (the HTML view in the text box) and paste in the widget code. (NB This works with any public twitter timeline)

Look and Feel of the WebsiteClick on My Website > Select Look & Feel. The Look and Feel section allows you to change certain aspects of the site to give it a different appearance.The Site Styles option allows you to change things like background colour, font colours, font of the Title Page and the style of the site.

Changing coloursYou can change the colours of the background, site content and text.

Selecting the Main Background produces the display shown on the right.

To select a new colour > Click on the Colour Picker icon to the right of the Value

This brings up a Colour Picker Dialogue Box, which allows you to select a colour from the colour grid. Once you have selected a colour, the screen background in the site will be set to the selected colour.

If you wish, you can re-set the colour to the ‘restore default’ text. You can also generate a HEX code for your website colour scheme- select the link at the bottom of the Update Editable Style dialogue box: to generate a HEX code for a colour click here. This link takes you to a website called ColourMatch 5K and you can create a palette on which to base the colour scheme of your site. Simply Copy and paste the codes from this site into the Value field of the section of the site you are editing. ColourMatch 5K website: http://colormatch5k.com.

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The area at the bottom of the screen allows you to alter the size of the general text displayed in the admin site.

Template Designs

Two template designs are available for Nursery/Primary/Special/Secondary school sites – one with a vertical menu display and one with a horizontal display. If you anticipate adding a number of additional top level menu sections (e.g. adding to Our School, News & Events) use the Vertical design.

Please not that, once you have selected a template and changed the colour scheme and then decide to use the alternative design, the colour scheme will revert to the default colours.

Default Design - Vertical display - Option 1 Horizontal display- Option 2

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