Contribute 3 Step by Step

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Contribute 3.0

If you would like to download a printable copy of this document, click here: Contribute 3.0 Step by Step

Getting Started	Adding Text	Linking to Outside Websites
Editing Your Website	Linking to Drafts and Recent Pages	Linking to a File
Creating Tables	Linking to Other Pages in a Website	Removing a Hyperlink
Inserting Images	Inserting an Email Link	Working Offline
Creating a Web Page from MS Word File	Inserting an Anchor	Publishing Your Pages

Contribute Step by Step

Getting Started:

Open the Connection Key and fill in the requested information. You will only need to do this one time. The next time you want to work on your website, launch Contribute and click on Edit Page or New Page.

Setting Up Your Website:

On the Start Page, select your website under Begin editing my websites.

Click on New Page. This first page is the main or home page of your website.
Name the page (i.e. Home, Main Page) and click OK.

To change the background and default text colors, under Format select Page Properties or click on the
Page Properties button.
Click on the desired color block to select new colors.

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Editing Your Website:

Launch Contribute.
On the Start Page, select your website under Begin editing my websites.

Click Connect. Contribute starts with the website not connected to save time.

To make changes in an existing page, click on Edit Page.
To add a new Page, click on New Page.

To Add Text:
Font Tip: Most web servers only display certain fonts. Even though you may have an extensive list of fonts, use Ariel, Helvetica Times, Times New Roman, Verdana or Courier.

Click on the screen and type the text. Hit return to start a new line.
Text may also be pasted from a word processing application.
Text size, color, alignment, etc. can be set by dragging over the desired text and under Format drag to various style features such as Font, Size and Color.

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To Insert Images:
Image Types:
jpg format is for photo quality images
gif format is for graphics with a limited number of colors and sharp edges
png format has better compression and less loss than jpg

Place the cursor in the desired table cell.
Click on the Insert Image icon in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Image.
Select From My Computer.
Navigate to desired folder, select the image and click Select.

To resize the image visually, single-click on it.
Select the resize tool in the Tool bar.
Use the resize arrow in the lower right corner to drag to the desired size.

Use the other editing tools to alter your image.
Select the image and then the image tool.
Crop
Rotate

Sharpen
Brightness/Contrast

TIP: You can place an image in the same table cell as your text and have the text wrap.

Place your cursor at the beginning of the line where you want the picture.
Insert the picture and resize if necessary.
Double click on the picture.
Make adjustments to the image size by changing the width and height pixels.
To wrap the text, change the Alignment from Default to Left or Right. Click Apply to view the changes.
To add additional spacing between the image and the text, change the Horizontal padding from 0 to 5.
Click Apply to view changes and OK when finished.
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Tables:

Table Tip: To control placement of text and images, you will need to use tables on your web pages.

Under Table, select Insert Table or click on the Insert Table button.

Select the desired number of columns and row. You can easily add or delete rows and columns later.
Under Table width, select Specific width and set the table to no more than 90 percent.
If you want the table cells to be invisible, set the Border thickness to 0.
Cell padding and Cell spacing refer to the pixels between each cell.
Select Header style. The Header Cells are formatted as bold and centered.
Click OK when finished.

To resize a cell, place the cursor over the border until you have double arrows. Drag to resize the cell.

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To Link to Drafts and Recent Pages in Your Website :

TIP: This is for the pages that you just created or edited.

Select the text or image that will be the link. Click on the Link button in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Link
Select Drafts and Recent Pages

Highlight the desired page. Note the Preview to verify that this is the page.
Click OK.

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To Link to Other Pages in a Website:

TIP: This is for pages that were created previously.

Select the text or image that will be the link. Click on the Link button in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Link
Select Browse to Web Page
Click on the Choose button.
Open the folder for your website. Highlight the desired page. Verify the Preview. Click OK. .
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To Link to Outside Websites:

Tip: Open Internet Explorer and go to the desired page. Copy the URL and then paste it into the Web address (URL) box.

Select the text or image that will be the link.
Click on the Link button in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Link
Select Browse to Web Page

Paste the Web address URL in the box OR click on the Browse button and find the desired page.
Click on Refresh to view a Preview.
Verify that this is the desired page.
Click OK.

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To Insert an Email Link:

Tip: This link will allow users to email you directly from your web page.

Select the text or image that will be the link.
Click on the Link button in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Link
Select E-mail Address

Enter your E-mail address in the box.
Click OK.

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To Link to a File:

Tip: This file can be opened or saved. These can be Word files, PowerPoint presentations, Excel Spread Sheets etc. Contribute makes a copy of this file and puts in the correct directory for you. The user is not really linking to the file on your computer

Select the text or image that will be the link.
Click on the Link button in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Link
Select File on My Computer

In the Insert Link window, click Browse to locate the desired file.

In the Select File window, navigate to and highlight the file.
Click Select.
Click OK in the Insert Link window.

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To Create a Web Page from a MS Word File:

Under File, select New Page.
Give the page a name. Click OK.
Under the Insert menu, drag down and select Microsoft Office Document. Browse to locate the desired file. Click Open.
Select Insert the contents of the document into this page and click OK. Make any desired changes in the new page.
Click on Publish. This is a reminder to create a link to this new page. Click Yes and be sure to create the link. Return to Top

To Remove a Hyperlink:

Highlight the linked text or select the linked graphic.
Under the Format menu, drag down and select Remove Hyperlink.

To Insert an Anchor:

Tip: Anchors allow the user to move up and down in a long web page without having to scroll.

Place the cursor where you want the link to go (destination)

Under Insert menu, select Section Anchor.
Name the anchor. The name can't be numbers and must be all one word
Click OK.
There will be an anchor icon in your document.

Click on the Link button in the toolbar or under Insert menu select Link
Select Drafts and Recent Pages

The page you are working on should be selected.
Click on Advanced to display the HREF and Section anchor boxes.
Type the name of your anchor in the Section anchor box or click the down arrow to view section achors. Note that in the HREF box, the anchor name appears with a #.
Click OK.

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Working Offline with Contribute

Here is how you can work on your web page when you are not at school.

While still at school (on the network), launch Contribute.
On the Start Page, select your website.
Click on the link to your page.
When you are on your page, click the Edit button.
Click on Save for Later. This saves the draft to your computer so you can work on it offline.
Quit Contribute.

At home, launch Contribute.
Click OK when you get the Connection Failure message.

Your draft should be listed under the pages.
Select your page.
Make any changes.
Select Save for Later when you have finished working.
When you are on the network at school, open your page and Publish. The changes you made offline will now be on the web server.

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Publishing your Pages

TIP: The file for the main page of a website should be named default.htm or default.html. The default.html page is the table of contents of your root folder and will prevent others from viewing the contents of the folder. Click on Publish. Click Yes. Remember to go back and create a link to the new page.
Change the file name to default.htm or default.html and click on Publish.
The URL for your website is displayed in the Address box.
If you add a page to your website, you will be prompted to name and save the file before you publish. TIP: It is suggested that you limit the file name of other pages to 8 characters without spaces. Don’t use &, / or other symbols in your file name. Be sure the “.htm” tag is at the end of the filename.

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