Noteable Sites Version 1
user guide to version 2.1
Noteable Sites version 1
Noteable Sites User Guide version 1page 1
Version 2 User Guide
Some general notes......
Adding HTML links to text fields......
Introduction to Noteable Site
THE STANDARD NOTEABLE SITE PAGES......
MAKING NEW PAGES – THE EXPAND BIO FEATURE......
Content Control......
Pages to display......
Contacts......
Music......
ALBUMS, ADDING & EDITING......
TRACKS, ADDING & EDITING......
SAMPLES, ADDING & EDITING......
Custom pages and bios......
Calendar options......
Press......
A NOTE ABOUT PRESS KITS......
Photo Gallery......
News options......
Home text......
Style Control......
Template select......
Page sizes and colours......
NOTE ABOUT PAGE WIDTHS AND ALIGNMENTS......
Menu style......
Fonts (text styles)......
Images......
HOMEPAGE IMAGE......
BANNER IMAGE......
Tools......
Mailing list......
MAILING LIST MAIN PAGE......
ADD OR EDIT MAILING LIST ADDRESS......
SEND AN EMAIL TO THE MAILING LIST......
VIEW PREVIOUS MAILOUTS YOU HAVE SENT......
MAILING LIST OPTIONS......
Search engine......
Site statistics......
Some general notes
Adding HTML links to text fields
Much of the content you upload to your website using our setup area is added in text boxes, where you can add as much text as you want. You may wish to have html links embedded in your text, that is, have links in the text to other pages and other websites. This is easy with Noteable Site. You can do this in any of the large text boxes that have more than one line in the setup area.
Say you wanted to have some text that said “There’s more information on the main Noteable Sites website”, and you wanted the words “main Noteable Sites website to be a link that people reading the site could click. The main Noteable Sites website is located at the address:
So you’d type:
There’s more information on the <a href=” Noteable Sites website</a>
Remember to use double quotes round the address. You have to include the “ (this stands for hyper-text transfer protocol). Be sure to type this correctly.
If you’re familiar with HTML, you’ll find most of the simple constructs of the language will work in Noteable Sites. Please be aware, however, that although our content management system does not automatically filter tags you might enter, it does make us aware of them. We’re not spying on you, we’re protecting you. We provide this facility to our users (unlike many other content control programs) because we understand we’re dealing with creative people, like us, who want to get the best out of the tools they purchase. If you’ve taken the trouble to find out how this stuff works, why should we try to stop you? But we’re all aware that these tools are subject to misuse. Putting code into a text box would be misuse, for example. Let’s trust each other. We’ve never had to set the “text only” bit on our system for a single user since we’ve been in business. Don’t make us do it.
Introduction to Noteable Sites
Noteable Sites is a fully dynamic web site designed for creative practitioners.
Noteable Sites: /- provides a high quality promotional website for creative people in all areas including music, art, events and dance where the content, site style and appearance and even the pages displayed are subject to easy, fast change out without any programming knowledge;
- makes music available in the form of streaming audio and downloads, and organises music into albums and samples, allowing track lists etc for albums;
- manages and makes available press materials such as reviews, press kits and publicity photos
- gives you a photo gallery
- publicises shows and gigs
- provides pages for contact information, news – you’ll never need to use a blog again
- Provides managements of the fields used by search engines
- Provides a mailing list feature
- provides a high level of functionality and design control for a low price
THE STANDARD NOTEABLE SITE PAGES
Noteable Site provides these pages by default. We’ve designed them with tools that creative professionals need:
- Home – home page
- Bio – biographies and/or band history
- Music – albums and samples – let this feature manage your music for you
- Press – press kit, publicity photos and reviews
- Gallery – a photo gallery
- Contact – contacts for you, your agent, promoter, rights administrator, whatever
- News – news and features, ordered by date
- Events – a calendar for gigs and shows
Using the “Pages” tab in your setup area, you can give each of these pages whatever name you like, and decide which pages to display on your site. You do not need to use all the pages if you don’t want to.
MAKING NEW PAGES – THE EXPAND BIO FEATURE
Noteable Sites allows you to display multiple biographies on the same page, or on separate pages. If you choose separate pages, each bio page you create will appear in the menu (so keep the names brief. You can have a separate shorter title for these pages in the menu, and a full title on the page).
You can use this feature to create new pages on Noteable Sites. Say you wanted to have a page on your site that described the instruments you use, and you also wanted a biography page. You’d create two bios, one called say “Biography” and the other called say “Instruments”. Both of these would appear in the menu.
This option is described in detail in the section “Display bios all on one page / on separate pages (expand bios)” described below.
Content Control
Pages to display
Using this page you can:
- Control which of the standard pages will actually appear on your site;
- Set title for these pages;
- Set their order in the menu;
- Choose whether to draw all of your bios / custom pages on one page or on individual pages.
Display bios all on one page / on separate pages (expand bios)
Use this option to set whether the bios you have entered appear on the same page or different pages. If you choose to display them on different pages, remember that the title of each bio will be added to the menu. If you wish to use the expand bio feature to create new pages on your site, you must set this option to on separate pages.
Page on / off [tick box]
Use this option to display a page or to set a page to not display. A tick in the box indicates the page will display.
Call this page
Use this option to set the name of a page. The name shown here when you first begin using Noteable Sites is the default name for the page.
Order in menu
This controls the order in which the items will appear in the menu on your site. No two items should have the same number.
When you have set these options, click submit to enter them.
Contacts
Use this option to enter contact details. You can enter as many contacts as you like. When you choose Contacts on the setup menu, Noteable Sites will list the contacts you have created. To edit one of these, click on its name, or click on the [edit] link beside it. To delete a contact, click the [delete] link beside it. You will be prompted whether you are sure. To add a new contact, choose [Addcontact].
Many people have several contact paths depending on the nature of the enquiry. For example if you have an agent who books your gigs, list him/her under “Bookings” or similar. Only list your own contact details here if you are sure you want to deal with the enquiries this may generate.
Since creative professionalsare known to own expensive instruments, equipment etc, we recommend against listing your physical address here. It’s wise to use a postal box or private bag.
Title:
Enter the title for the contact. For example, “Representation” or “Bookings”.
Display order:
Use the Display Order field to control the order the contacts are displayed on the contacts page on your site. If you have two contacts with the same display order, they will be displayed in the order that you entered them.
Contact 1 (short):
This is the first line that appears after the title. For example “Noteable artists Inc”.
Contact 2 (long):
Enter the contact details here. For example, telephone, email, web address, postal address.
When you have set these options, click submit to enter them.
Music
Use this option to list your albums on your site, and upload samples for people browsing your site to listen to. Samples can be independent of albums if you wish. We make the distinction between “albums” and “samples” simply because Noteable Site has tools for managing track lists and album cover images which obviously do not apply to samples that are not from an album.
Say you have an album you want to list on your site. You want to give a full track list, a description of the album, show a picture of the cover and show a “heaphone” icon next to two of the tracks so that users can listen to them. You also have a sample from another recording that isn’t on an album you want to list on your site. Noteable Sites is designed to give you this flexibility.
Note: you can include lyrics or extra notes (eg a breakdown of tune names in an instrumental set, or movements in a classical piece) to a track – in this case a small “notes” icon appears nest to the track name, which, when clicked, opens a pop-up information window.
When you choose “Music” you will see a list of albums and samples on your site. To edit them, click on their name or on the [edit] button next to them. You can also choose whether to list only albums that you have on your site, only samples, or both. This option is purely for convenience using your setup area, and does not affect your website.
ALBUMS, ADDING & EDITING
To add an album choose [Add album] and enter the following.
Name:
Enter the title of the album.
Short description:
Enter a short description or tagline for the album. Some artists enter a review quote here, for example. You can leave this blank.
Long description:
Enter whatever text about the album you want to appear on your site. You may want to give a list of musicianswho produced itand give more detailed reviews.
Cover picture:
If you have a picture of the cover of the album, add it here by clicking the “browse” button and pointing to the file that contains the picture. Please use the jpeg format. Note that Noteable SitesWILL NOTresize this image so you should make sure it is the correct size. Album cover images are roughly square and we recommend between 200 and 300 pixels to a side.
When you are finished entering album information, click the “submit” button at the bottom of the page.
When you have set these options, click submit to enter them.
TRACKS, ADDING & EDITING
When you have entered an album, you can start adding tracks. In your list of albums and samples, next to each album is an option [tracks]. Choose this option and you will see a list of tracks for the album. Click on any of these to edit. To add a new track to an album, choose [Addtrack].
For clarity, add a track corresponding to each track on your album. You do not have to provide an audio clip for each (much as on say Amazon.com).
Title:
Enter the title of the song / track.
Track no:
Use this option to set the track number.
Tagline:
This field is used by the main Noteable Sites site when your tracks are listed on the homepage.
Lyric/notes:
Use this field to enter song lyrics. Bluegrass / country / traditional musicians can use this field to enter individual tune names and details in an instrumental set. Classical musicians may use this field to enter details of movements within a set. Or, you could use this field to make notes on a song. Information entered in this field will appear in a pop-up window when users click on the the “notes” link next to a track title.
PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO PRESENT THIS INFORMATION. Noteable Sites is not responsible for managing your rights. If you are in any doubt, we recommend you contact the local performing rights association in your country. In Ireland we recommend contacting the Irish Music Rights Organisation, IMRO and in New Zealand and Australia, we recommend contacting the Australian Performing Right Association, APRA, who have offices in Auckland and in Sydney and can provide up-to-date advice on rights and copyright issues.
Audio file:
Use this option if you want users to be able to listen to the track. You can upload the whole track, or just a fragment. Please use the mp3 format. Please also read the “URL” section immediately after this section.
Use the “browse” button to point to the file. When you are finished, click the submit button.
Noteable Sites will do your audio encoding for you if you are unable to do it yourself. Simply contact us on mail@Noteable Sites.net to arrange this. We will ask you to provide a signed declaration that you have the right to use this recording on your website. If you send us disks or other electronic media and wish them returned, please enclose an addressed envelope with correct postage or an honest guess thereat.
URL
If you have hosting space you wish to use for your music (and press and photogallery images), Noteable Sitse provides this staging feature. Upload the music file to the hosting area you want to use, and then enter the URL (uniform resource locator) or “web address” to the file here. This is the link that Noteable Sites will use when drawing your music page. Artists who are not based in Ireland or the UK who wish to provide faster audio to an audience not in Ireland and the UKwill find this feature useful. Artists in Ireland and the UK are advised to use this feature. We can provide staging / hosting facilities in other countries. Please contact us to discuss this.
SAMPLES, ADDING & EDITING
This feature is for adding samples to your site that don’t come from an album you want to list. It may be an older album that’s not available any more, it may be an album in production, it may be a live recording or something else. From the main music page, choose [Addsample].
The options on this page are the same as for Tracks, above.
When you have set these options, click submit to enter them.
Custom pages and bios
You can add as many bios as you want to your site. Bands may wish to create a band history and a bio for each member of the band.
You can choose whether they all appear on the same page, or appear on different pages. See the section “Making new pages – the expand bio feature” at the beginning of this guide for more information.
To edit a bio, click on its name. To add a new bio, choose [Add biography].
Layout
Bios provide basic layout so that you can control how the text is displayed next to a picture. This feature is useful when you have a number of bios and the pictures you want to use for them are all different shapes. As you’ll see we’ve kept the options simple and self-explanatory.
Title
Enter a title for the bio. This could be the name of the band or the name of a band member. If you are using the expand bio feature (see above) to create extra pages for your site, enter the title of the new page.
Name in Menu
Keep this name short. It will appear in the menu exactly as you type it here.
Short Description
Enter a short description or subtitle. For bios, some artists enter a review quote here.
Long Description
Enter the content of the bio.
Photo
You can add a photo here by choosing Browse and selecting the photo file. Please use the jpeg format.
When you have set these options, click submit to enter them.
Calendar options
Use this feature to enter gigs and shows. You can enter events that occur within one day, and events that are spread over several days.
To edit a calendar entry, click on its name. To add a calendar entry, choose [Add a new calendar entry].
Title
Enter the name of title of the event.