Using Schoolwires: Lesson One

Logging on

Modifying Your Homepage

Adding Information

Using the Toolbar

Inserting an Image

Gail S. Weisberg

Cranberry Pines School

October 2010

How to Modify Your Cranberry Pines Web Space

Using Schoolwires

Here is the Cranberry Pines School Homepage. From here, you can log on to modifyyour profile and the web space. There are two methods for logging on, and they bothtake you to the same place.

Sign in fromeither location:

If you choose the SIGN IN option at the top right of the screen, you will be presented with a Login Screen. Here you will enter your school user name (same as logging in to network) and the passwordthat you have chosen. (Default password is changeme). You may also sign in on the left hand side in the area for Sign In.

You will now notice that you have a link at the top right labeled, ACCESS MY INFO. You should go to this link, which takes you to your PROFILE, and set up your password after you log on initially. Scroll down to the password field, type in your new password, confirm it, and hit Save.

After you do this, you must return to the Cranberry Pines School Site to be able to access your home page. On the top left hand corner, click on Select a School and then click on Cranberry Pines School.

Once you are back at the Cranberry School website, the easiest way to get to your homepage so you may modify it is:

Click on Site Manager, then on the left-hand side, Staff Directory, and then find your name and double click on it.Clicking on this link willopen a secondary window where you will make all of your modifications.

There are a few pages that are predefined for your use. There is a common setof side-bar links on each page to give the site a consistent look.

Welcome

This is the default page that will come up when someone clinks on your name.

Calendar

Each section comes with a calendar. You can use this however you would like. Forthose grades where homework assignments, quizzes, and tests apply, this is anexcellent tool for posting the schedule for those items.

You may choose to add these pages:

Links & References - An area where you can create hyperlinks to other sites.

Photo Gallery - A very nice and easy mechanism to post your pictures.

The first page to look at is your Welcome page. This is what is called a Flex Page; it’sflexible and you can do whatever formatting you want in this type of page. The tool barshould be somewhat familiar as it contains many of the standard editing icons.

Full-Function Editor

Each icon or button in the Schoolwires Editor has a unique function. If you are uncertain of the function of an icon or button, you can roll your mouse over the icon or button and the tool tip for that function will display. The icons, buttons and their functions are:

Spell Check: Checks spelling on the open page using a web- based spell checker. It also has a thesaurus and grammar checker.

Preview: Opens a pop-up window displaying your page as it will appear in a browser. Since your visitors’ screen resolutions will vary, you can preview your page in various screen resolutions (i.e. 640X480, 800X600 or 1024X768).

Print: Prints your content in the Editor. The page URL will print in the footer.

Search: Opens a Find & Replace dialogue box that you can use to find text on your page and replace that text if you choose.

Cut: Removes a selection that you have highlighted. The selection is saved to the clipboard. Then you can use the Paste button to move it to another location on your website, the Schoolwires Editor or another document that allows you to paste. Note: If you are using Mozilla Firefox®, you will need to use the keyboard shortcut to cut.

Copy: Copies a selection that you have highlighted. The selection is saved to the clipboard. Then you can use the Paste button to copy it to another location on your website, the Schoolwires Editor or another document that allows you to paste. Note: If you are using Mozilla Firefox®, you will need to use the keyboard shortcut to copy.

Paste: Inserts a selection (that has been saved to the clipboard by cutting or copying) into a chosen place within the Editor. Note: If you are using Mozilla Firefox®, you will need to use the keyboard shortcut to paste.

Paste from Word: Inserts text copied from Microsoft® Word into a chosen place within the Editor. Some formatting is retained without unnecessary HTML.

Paste Text: Inserts plain text into a chosen place within the Editor. Formatting is not retained.

Undo: Reverses the last action completed.

Redo: Repeats the last action completed.

Clear All: Deletes all content from the Schoolwires Editor.

Full Screen: Resizes the Editor to utilize the full workspace frame. Clicking again will restore the Editor to its original size. The Save and Cancel buttons are only available in the original-sized window.

View Tutorials: Links to a library of Interactive Tutorials designed to help you use the Schoolwires Academic Portal.

Template Styles: For all sites, Georgia, size 4, is the title font and Tahoma, size 3 is the body font.

Font Name and Size: Applies a font and size chosen from the drop-down list to selected text.

Font Color: Applies a font color chosen from a palette to selected text.

Background Color: Applies a background color chosen from the palette to selected text.

Formatting: Allows you to format selected text, paragraphs, lists, text boxes and CSS.

Bold: Changes the appearance of selected text to Bold.

Italic: Changes the appearance of selected text to Italic.

Underline: Underlines the selected text.

Strikethrough: Applies strikethrough formatting to selected text.

Justify Left: Aligns text at the left margin.

Justify Center: Centers text between the margins.

Justify Right: Aligns text at the right margin.

Justify Full: Aligns text evenly along the left and right margins.

Numbering: Creates a numbered list.

Bullets: Creates a bulleted list.

Indent: Moves selected text to the right, one tab at a time.

Outdent: Reverses indention by moving selected text to the left, one tab at a time.

Insert Image: Opens a wizard you can use to insert an image into your page.

Edit Image Properties: Allows you to modify an inserted image. You can edit the source, title (alternate text), alignment, borders, style, size and spacing.

Insert File Link: Opens a wizard you can use to insert a file into your page.

Horizontal Rule: Inserts a horizontal line.

Bookmark: Opens a wizard you can use to insert a bookmark into your page. To link to that bookmark once it is created, use the Insert Link wizard.

Insert Link: Opens a wizard you can use to insert a link into your page. You can insert links to a site, section or page, an email address, a different website or a bookmark.

Edit Link Properties: Edits a previously inserted hyperlink. You can also insert a hyperlink into or and remove it from your page.

There are other icons available on the Toolbar but you will not be using them for now.

Formatting

You can format selected text, paragraphs, lists, text boxes and CSS by using the Formatting icon.

Text Formatting

Text Formatting allows you to modify the appearance of specific text. When you select Text Formatting, a window like this will display.

Text formatting allows you to format the following:

• Font

• Style

• Size

• Decoration

• Text Case

• Minicaps

• Vertical

• Character Spacing (kerning)

Note: The Preview pane at the bottom allows you to view the effects of the selected options before applying them.

Inserting An Image onto Your WebPage

This is the Insert Image icon on the Toolbar. Before you click on this icon:

If your text is already on the page, make sure that you click in the window where you want to insert the image. If you want the image on another side of some text, make sure that you click the cursor there.

Images are NOT easily moved around, so if you want that capability, first select a text box and then place the image into that, this way you can move the text box around with the image inside of it.

When you click on the Insert Image icon, a box like this one will appear:

Decide where the picture is that you will use. Most often, the picture is from your own computer so, choose the first option then hit next.

Choosing Thumbnail size appears to be the best option in most cases. You may want to use Medium sometimes.

You will then browse for the image from your desktop or documents (h drive) and then insert it.

You will NOT be able to get the image into your page unless you Alt Text it.

Or, you can choose to select an image from the School Wires section, the fourth option.

If you so this, follow the same on-screen prompts.

REMEMBER TO SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN!!