New to the Drupal CMS we are using for the AFCN site?

(We are trying to make your life easier, bear with us as we prepare this page for your convenience!)

These brief notes will orient you to registering, navigating and posting so you can be an active particpant in the AFCN community.

General

This site is intended to be dynamic, not to mention compelling. That's why we've elected to use a Content Management System (CMS). We've chosen to use Drupal [1], but there are other options [2].

Registration

Why register?

In order to be an active particpant on the AFCN site, you'll want the option of posting content.

Being a member of the community is based upon some degree of maintaining an identity. We would like for the site particpants to engage each other responsibly on issues relevant to our mission. We reserve the right to remove postings or accounts of users to ensure the common good of our community. As the site develops we'll flesh out our policies.

Registration [3] on the site is not membership in the AFCN.
We'd love for you to become a member [4] of the AFCN, so please do!

Navigation and Particpation

So, you have registered, and you want to contribute?

Let's orient you to the page layout, first. Each page in the AFCN site will have a central main area where the more recent posts are displayed, or the particular function you have selected is active. In the current design, there are columns to each side where you can access links to specific content, functions and also other sites. Each column has one or more active blocks. At the top of each page there are links for navigating to some of the relatively static content of the site, including this help section. Lastly, if you click on our logo you will be returned to the main page.

At the top of the right hand column you will see a User Login block, if you haven't logged in. You can register, request new password or log in here.

A little lower down the right column you will find the Navigation block. If you haven't logged in, your options will be limited to viewing events, recent post or the news aggregator. If you have registered and logged in, you'll have more options depending upon the permissions granted to your user role. Among the options for registered users are creation of different types of content and customization of your site experience.

A content management system is all about creation, collaboration and management of content. On our site there are different types and categories of content you can access and create. Depending on your permissions you'll be able to create different types of content. Some examples are: blogs, stories, events. If you choose Create Content in the Navigation block you will se an explanation of the several types that are available to you. If you are logged in to the site, the Navigation block will be on the right side, beneath your user name.

After selecting the content type you wish to create you'll see a form in the central panel where you can enter the content along with some meta-data. Meta-data tells the system a little bit about the data, and what to do with it. For example, your content will need to have a Title.

Not required, but a powerful aspect of the Drupal system is the specification of the categories of relevance so others can more easily find what they are interested in. Drupal calls this a Taxonomy and the site designers can develop a taxomnomy with terms (vocabulary) relevant to the site's purpose. You can select multiple categories, if appropriate, for the content you will create.

The actual content, let's say for your story or blog, is entered as text and can be marked up with html tags. You'll need a little familiarity with html if you want to include links or special formating.

Once you are ready you can Preview or Submit yout content. It won't be posted to the site until you Submit it however!