SharePoint 2010: Creating an ‘Electronic’ Newsletter

Overview of the News Rotator and Archive Page pg. 2

Building the Foundation (One-time Setup)

Creating the Newsletter Sub-site pg. 3

Customizing the Archive Page pg. 3-5

Adding Navigation for the News Archive Page pg. 5-6

Adding the News Rotator Web Part pg. 6

Creating Newsletter Items

Creating and Editing Newsletter Pages pg. 7-8

Adding PDF Documents as Newsletter Items pg. 8

Adding Items to the News Rotator pg. 9

Appendix A: Resizing Images pg. 10

You can find this and other helpful user guides, handouts, videos, etc. by logging in with your Active Directory username/password at: http://auth.cherrycreekschools.org/InstructionalTech/Website_Training/Pages/default.aspx

Overview of the News Rotator and Archive Page

The built-in News Rotator Web Part is a custom web part built specifically for the CCSD websites. The News Rotator Web Part enables you to publish several News Items in a small space on your website. It will rotate through six News Items giving users a short description of the News Item, a photo and a link to more information.

It is often desired to keep an archive of the News Rotator Items. To do so, a News Items Archive Page must be created. Once the page is created, all News Items will automatically display on the page.

The following pages provide you with instructions on setting up both the News Rotator Web Part and the News Items Archive Page. Additional instructions are provided to assist you in maintaining News Items for both the News Rotator and Archive page.

Building the Foundation (one-time set up)

Creating the Newsletter Sub-Site (Video)

1. From your site homepage choose Site Actions > New Site. Select Publishing Site.

2. Give your page a meaningful name then click Create (i.e. Panther Pride).

3. Enter a Title and URL Name for your site. The URL Name should be short and sweet with no spaces!

4. Click Create. The new site is created and the default (home) page for the site opens.

Customizing the Archive Page

1. Choose Site Actions > Edit Page to put the page in edit mode.

2. On the Page tab select Page Layout > Image Right.

3. Change the Page Title as necessary.

4. Click “Add a Web Part” in the Body Zone.

5. Select Cherry Creek > CCSD Content Query Web Part, then click Add. (Video)

6. Select Edit Web Part from the Content Query Web Part title bar.

7. In the Query section, Select “Show items from the following list”, then click Browse.

8. Browse to the Pages library of the Newsletter sub site you just created, then click OK.

9. Under Presentation, deselect the item limit and sort the list by “Created.”

10. Under Appearance, change the Chrome Type to “None.”

11. Click OK.

12. On the Publish tab select Publish.

13. Choose Site Actions > Site Settings.

14. Select “Navigation” in the Look and Feel section.

15. Deselect Show subsites and Show pages in the Current Navigation section.

16. Click OK.

Adding Navigation to the Newsletter Archive Page (Video)

NOTE: You must have Site Owner or Site Collection Administrator permissions to manage Site-Wide Navigation.

1. Before beginning, navigate to the Newsletter Archive page.

2. Copy the URL from the address bar.

3. Choose Site Actions > Site Settings

4. Choose Secondary Navigation Settings

5. At the bottom of the page, click Add New Item

6. Enter a Title for the link (i.e. Panther Pride). This is how you want it to appear in the Quick Links list.

7. Select the Parent for the link. _ROOT means that the link will be displayed in the blue Quick Links list. To create a flyout, select the link you want your new link to pop out from.

8. Paste the URL of Archive page in the Link field.

9. The Description is what people will see when they mouse over the link. It is also what is read by accessibility software. Do not leave this field blank!

10. Enter a number for the Sort Order. The sort order tells you the order links will appear. Use increments of 5 so that it is easier to rearrange or add new links to your list.

11. Click Save.

Once the new navigation items appears in the Quick Links list on the ‘auth’ site, preview it to make sure it is working as expected. When you are ready to publish the navigation item to the live ‘www’ site, you will need to approve it.

1. Choose Site Actions > Site Settings > Secondary Navigation Settings.

2. In the List tab of the List Tools ribbon, change the Current View to Approve/Reject Items:

Any Secondary Navigation items that have not been approved will now appear at the top of the list. Approve the item(s) by choosing Approve/Reject from the drop-down menu of each item individually:

Inserting the News Rotator Web Part (Video)

1. Browse to the page you wish to insert the News Rotator and put the page in Edit Mode.

2. With your cursor in the desired location of the page, choose Insert > Web Part, or Select the desired web part zone on your page and click on Add Web Part.

3. In the ribbon under the Categories section, click on List and Libraries.

4. Under the Web Parts section, click on News and then the Add button.

5. The News Rotator web part is now created. Within the News title bar, click on the drop down menu and select Edit Web Part.

6. The Tool Pane will appear to the upper right of your webpage (IMPORTANT: please note that you may have to scroll to view the menu).

7. In the Tool Pane, change...

a. Selected View to News Rotator View

b. Toolbar Type to No Toolbar

c. In the Appearance Section - set Chrome Type to None

d. Click OK button

8. The News Rotator Web Part is now set up. Click the Save button.

Creating Newsletter Items

Creating a New Page (Video)

1. Browse to the Newsletter Archive Page.

2. Choose Site Actions > New Page.

3. Give your page a name then click Create.

4. Your new page will open checked out to you, in edit mode.

Editing the New Page

Changing the Page Layout:

1. Change the Page Layout by choosing a format from the Page tab.

Adding/Formatting Text (Video)

To add text to your page:

Type text directly into the page, or copy and paste text from another application. It is recommended that you copy/paste as plaintext.

To format the text on your page:

1. Use the Mark-up Styles button (in the ribbon) to select the appropriate heading or style.

Inserting an Image (video):

1. RESIZE YOUR IMAGE FIRST! See Appendix A: Resizing Images.

2. Position the cursor where you want your image to appear on the page

3. In the Ribbon, click the Insert tab

4. Select the Picture dropdown icon drop down in ribbon and choose...

a. From Computer
NOTE: Select Upload To: Images from the Select Picture dialog box.

b. From SharePoint (if image has already been uploaded)

c. From URL (This option is not recommended)

Adding PDF Documents as Newsletter Items

1. Browse to the Newsletter Archive page.

2. Click Site Actions > View All Site Content.

3. Click on the Pages library of the Newsletter site.

4. Click the Add link.

5. Click the Browse button to browse your computer for the file you wish to upload.

6. When you have the file selected, click Open.

7. Finally, click OK on the Upload document dialog.

8. Click the Save button to save the file in the Pages library.

Adding Items to the News Rotator

1. Browse to your site homepage. Choose Site Actions > View All Site Content.

2. Find the News library in the Lists section. Click to open it.

3. Click the Add link.

4. Enter Title, Description, and Link (optional) of new item
NOTE: ALWAYS change ‘auth’ to ‘www’ in the Link field. Failure to do so will require username/password to access the page.

5. To add an image, click on the Click here to enter a picture from SharePoint link.

6. Click Browse to select image and find library where image resides and click OK.

NOTE: Images for the news rotator part must be no larger than 200 pixels wide x 150 pixels tall.

7. Click OK and then Save

8. Repeat steps 3-7 until all desired news content are entered.

Appendix A: Resizing Images

1. Open a New Blank 8.5 x 11 Blank Microsoft Publisher document.

2. Copy and Paste your image onto the document.

3. Resize the image by dragging one of the corners. Images for the News Rotator must not be larger than 200 pixels wide x 150 pixels tall.
NOTE: As you resize your image by dragging the corners, you can see the dimensions of your image change in the Status bar across the bottom of the Publisher window. To change the units from inches to pixels choose File > Options > Advanced and change the Measurement Units in the Display section.

4. Right-click on the image and choose ‘Save as image.’ Do Not choose Save from the File menu.

5. Give your image a name. Choose JPEG for file type.

6. Click on Change for Resolution and choose ‘Web (96 dpi)’

7. Save the image.

8. Your image is now ready to upload to the a SharePoint Images library.

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