Help: Instructions for using this site

Registered users can contribute Memories, Images, and Memorabilia to UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History and participate in Forum discussions. See How to register for detailed instructions for registering.

Contents
     1. Guidelines: Memories vs. Images vs. Memorabilia vs. Forums
     2. Add your Memories to the blog
     3. Add an image
     4. Add an item or collection to Memorabilia
     5. Participate in Forum discussions
     6. Filling out the form to add content
     7. Edit a Memory, Memorabilia item, or a Forum post
     8. Comment
     9. Reply
     10. Send email to another user within UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History
     11. Change personal information (password, email address, email contact setting, and more)
     12. Enable email notification of content changes
     13. Find posts

 


1. Guidelines: Memories vs. Images vs. Memorabilia vs. Forums

 

  • Use Memories to post your memories of computing at UNC-Chapel Hill, in the blog.
  • Put some of your favorite photos in the Image galleries. You can add descriptive information.
  • Use Memorabilia to add items and collections of items.
  • Use Forums to discuss things and post announcements.

 


2. Add your Memories to the blog:

To post, click Memories in the left sidebar then click My blog. Then follow the instructions for adding content below.

 


3. Add an image:

 

  • Check the size of your image. Go to the folder that contains your image. Right-click the image's file and select Properties. If it shows the size as 100,000 bytes or less, then it's probably not too large. Close the Properties window. If it's larger than 100,000 bytes, reduce the size. There are instructions at Photos and images -- resize and edit.
  • Click Add information in the left sidebar.
  • In the list, click Image.
  • Type in a Title.
  • In the Image Galleries dropdown menu, select a gallery (collection). It's easy to move an item from one gallery to another. Contact us if you want a new gallery.
  • Click Browse, find the file containing the image, and double click or Open the file.
  • In the Body text area, type or paste in information about the image, for example, identify people, places, and date. See the instructions for adding content.

You can also include images in other posts. See the instructions for adding content.

 


4. Add an item or collection to Memorabilia:

 

  • Click Memorabilia in the left sidebar.
  • Click the section, and perhaps subsection, where you want your item placed.
  • At the bottom of the page, click Add child page.
  • Type in a Title.
  • The Parent dropdown menu displays the section in which your item will be placed.
  • In the Body text area, type or paste in the content. See the instructions for adding content.

 


5. Participate in Forum discussions:

Forums allow you to ask questions and to post ideas, opinions, and information in an organized way.

It is very easy to participate in Forums. Click Forums in the left sidebar. You will see named collections of related subjects.

Notice three columns on the right — number of topics, number of posts, and when the last post was made and by whom.

Click a subject that interests you. You will see a list of topics, with the number of replies, when the topic was created, and when the last reply was made and by whom. Click a topic that has at least one reply to see the post, comments, and replies. If you have something to say about this topic, you can click Add new comment to comment on the original post or reply to reply to a particular comment. NOTE: You can edit your posts, comments, and replies.

To ask a question or otherwise start a new discussion, create a new forum topic:

  • Click Forums in the left sidebar.
  • Determine which subject the topic belongs in and click that subject.
  • Click Post new forum topic.
  • Type in a Subject that describes your topic.
  • In the Forums dropdown menu, select the forum (subject) where your topic belongs.
  • In the Body text area, type or paste in the content. See the instructions for adding content.

You can also create a Forum topic by clicking Add information in the left sidebar, then clicking Forum topic.

 


6. Filling out the form to add content:

The steps for adding content are pretty much the same for all types of posts.

  • Type in a Title or Subject.
  • The Parent (or Forums) dropdown menu displays the section in which your item will be placed. (NOTE: You can move an item from one section to another by selecting a different parent.)
  • In the Body text area, type in the content. Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.

    Formatting options: Above textareas, there are formatting options — you can select text and format it using the icons, for example B for bold. You can paste text into the textarea using Ctrl+V — you will probably see a popup window with instructions, "Please paste inside the following box using the keyboard (Ctrl-V) and hit OK."

    If you prefer to do your own formatting using HTML, below the textarea, click Switch to plain text editor.

  • Log message is sometimes used when making a revision — to summarize changes. You can leave it blank.
  • You can include images. First upload the images as described above. The easiest way to include an image in another item is just to click Attached Images (near the bottom of the page), in the Existing Image dropdown menu, select the image you want.  

    You can include more than one image, control placement, and use the full image instead of a thumbnail in the following way: Click Images in the left sidebar and find the image(s) you want to use, view the image(s). In the browser's address bar, note the number at the end of the URL (for example, in http://ibiblio.org/comphist/node/67, you want "67.") As create your item, in the Body textarea, where you want the thumbnail to appear, type in the following line:

    [image:node_id]
    

    where node_id is the number from the URL.

  • If you would like to provide attachments, for example a Microsoft Word document or a .pdf file, click File attachments, click Choose File, find the first file you want to attach and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Choose File button. Click Attach and the file will be uploaded. You may then attach another file, if you wish. After you submit the item, when you view it, you will see, at the bottom of the page, a table showing the attachment file names and sizes.
  • You can ignore URL path settings. The URL for your item will be of the form http://huntresses.org/node/n, where "n" is a number. If you click URL path settings, you may specify an alternative URL. For example, the "Help" page is node/23 but it has the URL path setting (or alias) help.
  • Ignore Publishing options, when adding new content.
  • When you think you are done, click Preview, at the bottom of the page. You will then see the formatted page with your original content below, which you can edit. You can edit and preview as much as you like. When you are done, be sure to click Submit at the bottom of the page. After you submit content, you can click the Edit tab to edit.

NOTE: If using Internet Explorer, you may lose the content you are working on, so create content on your personal computer and copy and paste it into the form.

 


7. Edit a Memory, Memorabilia item, or a Forum post:

You may edit Memorabilia items and your own memory and forum posts. If you are allowed to edit a page, you will see an Edit tab at the top of the page. Click the Edit tab and you will see the form that was submitted. You can change the text and other options. If you do not see the Edit tab, you are not authorized to edit the page.

When you edit a Memorabilia item, by default, a new revision is created. If the page you are viewing has been edited and the "Publishing option" "Create new revision" was checked, you will see the "Revisions" tab. Click the Revisions tab. To view an older revision, click the date. You may select two revisions and click Show diff to see the differences between the two revisions. The system administrator has the ability to "revert" a page back to a previous revision.

 


8. Comment:

If you would like to comment on something you see on UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History:

 

  • Beneath the post, click Add new comment.
  • If you don't supply a Subject, the first words of your comment will be used as the Subject.
  • In the Comment text area, type or paste in your comment. Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically. See the instructions for adding content.

     

  • Click Preview comment.
  • When you are done, be sure to click Post comment.

 


9. Reply:

You can reply to a Comment. Below the comment, click Reply. Then follow the instructions for making a Comment.


10. Send email to another user within UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History:

To send email to another user within UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History:

 

  • In the left sidebar, click User list.
  • Click the user.
  • Click their Contact tab. NOTE: Users (in their account settings) can turn their personal contact form off (and back on). If you don't see a Contact tab, the user you want to contact has probably turned it off.
  • Complete the form.
  • If you'd like a copy, check Send yourself a copy.
  • Click Send email.

 


11. Change personal information:

You can change your password, change your email address, upload a photo, provide a signature to be included in comments, disallow personal contact by email, and disable the What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor so that you can use HTML as default for your posts.

 

  • Click My account in the left sidebar.
  • Click the Edit tab. In the Account settings section:
    • You can change your email address. Type in your new email address. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
    • You can change your password. Type your new password in the Password text area and again in the Confirm password text area. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
    • You can use the picture option to upload a photo or other image. Click Choose File, find the image you want to use, and click Open. The file name should be displayed in the textbox next to the Choose File button. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
    • Under Comment settings, you can provide a signature that will be included with your comments. You can enable or disable rich-text formatting for your signature. Type in your signature. Click Submit, at the bottom of the page.
    • You can disallow personal contact by email — under Contact settings, uncheck the box Personal contact form.
    • Under Locale settings, you can change your time zone.
    • At the top of the page, click TinyMCE rich-text settings. In the dropdown menu under Default state, you can select enabled or disabled. Select enabled if you will normally want to use a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get editor when entering text. Select disabled if you will normally want to use HTML.

 


12. Enable email notification of content changes:

You may request once-a-day email notification of changes in UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History. The email message is similar to a "digest" for an email list.

 

  • Click My account in the left sidebar.
  • Click the My notification settings tab.
  • Under Notify status, select Enabled.
  • Under Notify new content, select Enabled.
  • Under Content, you probably want to select Title only. NOTE: UNC-Chapel Hill Computing History is not using "teasers."
  • Under Notify new comments, select Enabled if you would also like to be notified when new comments are posted.

 


13. Find posts:

You can find items that have been posted in a few different ways:

 

  • Click Recent changes in the left sidebar.
  • Enter terms you want to search for in the text box on the top left of the page and then click Search. Note: Indexing is done hourly, so you won't find new items immediately after you post them.
  • Click User list in the left sidebar, click a username, and then click the Track tab.