buzz
1
+ buzz
1
+ buzz
We offer a lot of flexibility in writing original content on CityTools. This guide is mean to be a quick starter to help you finish your first story.
Other guides are available that deal with more advanced features.1Log in, if you haven't done so yet
You must establish a free CityTools account in order to use our editing tools. Once you establish an account, pleaselogin.
Once you've done that, you';; get a prompt in the "my tools" section of the left menu that says "write stories." That's where the action is for the purpose of this tutorial.
Once you've done that, you';; get a prompt in the "my tools" section of the left menu that says "write stories." That's where the action is for the purpose of this tutorial.
2Go to the "write stories" area and pick a topic for your story
Click "write stories" on the left menu bar or simply click the title of this howto item.
You will be taken to our editing center -- the first thing you'll see is a page that allows you to select a topic for your story.
Choose your category carefully -- if you place a story in the right topic, readers can find it. If you put it in th wrong topic, some readers might miss your story.
However, you may go back and change your topic selection later if you like , so if you make a mistake, it's easy to fix.
To select a category, simply click its title. Pick your title and click it, then you'll be taken to the main editing page.
You will be taken to our editing center -- the first thing you'll see is a page that allows you to select a topic for your story.
Choose your category carefully -- if you place a story in the right topic, readers can find it. If you put it in th wrong topic, some readers might miss your story.
However, you may go back and change your topic selection later if you like , so if you make a mistake, it's easy to fix.
To select a category, simply click its title. Pick your title and click it, then you'll be taken to the main editing page.
3Editing your story -- the basics all in one step
Once you've picked a topic, you'll be taken to the page where you can actually start writing.
Below, we'll describe each element on the editing page, but for the moment, just try saving a test story.
It's super easy and we only require two pieces of information: A title for your story and the story body -- both are marked with red asterisks on the editing page.
Once you have written your headline and something for the body of your story, scroll down to the bottom and fill in the text for the captcha (the "are you human" test) and click "save this story."
The page should reload and give you a message that the save was successful. If there were errors, fix them and save again.
Congratulations, you've just created a story!
Oh, a few words on the captcha image: you only have to answer the question correctly one time for each story. It's just there to stop people from using robots to generate spam stories.
Now read on, if you like to learn about special things you can do on the editing page.
Below, we'll describe each element on the editing page, but for the moment, just try saving a test story.
It's super easy and we only require two pieces of information: A title for your story and the story body -- both are marked with red asterisks on the editing page.
Once you have written your headline and something for the body of your story, scroll down to the bottom and fill in the text for the captcha (the "are you human" test) and click "save this story."
The page should reload and give you a message that the save was successful. If there were errors, fix them and save again.
Congratulations, you've just created a story!
Oh, a few words on the captcha image: you only have to answer the question correctly one time for each story. It's just there to stop people from using robots to generate spam stories.
Now read on, if you like to learn about special things you can do on the editing page.
4Optional details: the Synopsis box
The synopsis box is the text that we present to readers who visit the site. It should give people a flavor of what your story is about.
You have the option of writing a special synopsis for your story or we will fill it in automatically for you.
If you saved a test story in the step above, notice that when the page reloaded we automatically grabbed the first 60 or so words from your story to make a synopsis for you.
Whenever we see an empty synopsis, we will fill it in with the first words from the main story.
However, once you have a synopsis for your story saved we will use that version -- the idea is you might want to have a different synopsis than the beginning of the story.
You have the option of writing a special synopsis for your story or we will fill it in automatically for you.
If you saved a test story in the step above, notice that when the page reloaded we automatically grabbed the first 60 or so words from your story to make a synopsis for you.
Whenever we see an empty synopsis, we will fill it in with the first words from the main story.
However, once you have a synopsis for your story saved we will use that version -- the idea is you might want to have a different synopsis than the beginning of the story.
5Add tags if you like
It may be the case that the categories we offered you weren't specific enough for your needs. That's where tags come in.
Tags are key words that you can add to a story that, more or less, allow you to create a category for a story on the fly.
For example, you might be writing a story about a pizza joint and you assigned it to the "restaurant" category. By adding a tag that says "pizza" in the tags field, it will help readers who find others stories tagged "pizza" to find yours as well.
Normally tags are single words, however sometimes you might want to combine two words. That's easy: simply put the words together in quotes.
For example if you want to create a tag for a San Francisco pizza place, just enter "San Francisco" (with the quotes) and the word pizza by itself.
Then if someone clicks on the "San Francisco" tag of another story, they will find your pizza restaurant review as well.
Be careful how you combine words, though. If you create a tag for "San Francisco pizza" then that is exactly what the tag will match. Someone who clicks on just a tag that says "pizza" won't see your story.
I'll put it another way. This tag:
"San Francisco" pizza "mission district"
Will match other tags for "San Francisco" OR pizza OR "mission district"
So if some clicks on any of these terms, they'll have a chance to find your story since it's about pizza in San Francisco's Mission District
However this tag:
"San Francisco pizza mission district" will only match this literal tag. It won't match any of the words by themselves -- only the whole expression.
Meanwhile this tag:
San Francisco pizza mission district
Will match tag searches for "San" OR "Francisco" OR "pizza" OR "mission" OR "district" -- and that's probably not what you want.
So try to group words in a way that you would want to find them "San Francisco" and "Mission District" are good candidates for grouping. That way if some does a tag search for stories about the "Mission District" they'll find your pizza review.
Two more tips on tags: we automatically handle alternate versions of words so that you don't have to. In other words, if you enter "pizza" you don't have to enter the plural form "pizzas" too -- we automatically adjust searches to accommodate both.
Also, tags are all insensitive to case, so don't worry about saving one version for "PIZZA" and another for "pizza."
Tags are key words that you can add to a story that, more or less, allow you to create a category for a story on the fly.
For example, you might be writing a story about a pizza joint and you assigned it to the "restaurant" category. By adding a tag that says "pizza" in the tags field, it will help readers who find others stories tagged "pizza" to find yours as well.
Normally tags are single words, however sometimes you might want to combine two words. That's easy: simply put the words together in quotes.
For example if you want to create a tag for a San Francisco pizza place, just enter "San Francisco" (with the quotes) and the word pizza by itself.
Then if someone clicks on the "San Francisco" tag of another story, they will find your pizza restaurant review as well.
Be careful how you combine words, though. If you create a tag for "San Francisco pizza" then that is exactly what the tag will match. Someone who clicks on just a tag that says "pizza" won't see your story.
I'll put it another way. This tag:
"San Francisco" pizza "mission district"
Will match other tags for "San Francisco" OR pizza OR "mission district"
So if some clicks on any of these terms, they'll have a chance to find your story since it's about pizza in San Francisco's Mission District
However this tag:
"San Francisco pizza mission district" will only match this literal tag. It won't match any of the words by themselves -- only the whole expression.
Meanwhile this tag:
San Francisco pizza mission district
Will match tag searches for "San" OR "Francisco" OR "pizza" OR "mission" OR "district" -- and that's probably not what you want.
So try to group words in a way that you would want to find them "San Francisco" and "Mission District" are good candidates for grouping. That way if some does a tag search for stories about the "Mission District" they'll find your pizza review.
Two more tips on tags: we automatically handle alternate versions of words so that you don't have to. In other words, if you enter "pizza" you don't have to enter the plural form "pizzas" too -- we automatically adjust searches to accommodate both.
Also, tags are all insensitive to case, so don't worry about saving one version for "PIZZA" and another for "pizza."
6Using automatic tags
If you don't want to fill in tags yourself, we can do it for you automatically.
We have found that oftentimes the title (headline) of story contain elements that make good tags and we can use the title to create tags for you if you like.
Underneath the "tags" field on the editing page, you will find a check box that says "Include major headling terms as automatic tags" -- the default is to leave this checked.
If this is checked, when you save a story, we examine the title and throw out some words -- things like "of" or "and" that don't make for valuable tags -- and keep what looks like a decent tag to us.
We will then save that automatically -- along with any tags you've entered.
This is intended as a time saving feature -- but you can always uncheck the bod and turn it off if you don't want to use the headline terms for tags.
We have found that oftentimes the title (headline) of story contain elements that make good tags and we can use the title to create tags for you if you like.
Underneath the "tags" field on the editing page, you will find a check box that says "Include major headling terms as automatic tags" -- the default is to leave this checked.
If this is checked, when you save a story, we examine the title and throw out some words -- things like "of" or "and" that don't make for valuable tags -- and keep what looks like a decent tag to us.
We will then save that automatically -- along with any tags you've entered.
This is intended as a time saving feature -- but you can always uncheck the bod and turn it off if you don't want to use the headline terms for tags.
7Assign your story to one of your teams
If you are a member of any CityTools teams -- if you want more info on teams, click the item title -- you will be offered a box listing your teams.
If you want to assign a story to a team, just click the button next to that team and save the story. Simple as that!
Now your story (once you publish it) can be found by anyone who is reading your team's stories.
If you want to remove the story from the team, just click the button that says "clear team assignment" and save the story. Also simple.
By default, if you assign a story to a team, we assume that you're working in a collaborative manner with others and that you WANT other team members to be able to edit your story.
However, if you want to assign a story to a team but you need to reserve sole editing rights to the story, simply click the "deny" button next to the "allow team to edit" prompt and save the story.
Now the story will appear with other stories from your team, but other members cannot edit that story.
Our team editing functionality is a powerful tool for collaborative efforts, and we encourage you to read more about it in the "teams howto."
If you want to assign a story to a team, just click the button next to that team and save the story. Simple as that!
Now your story (once you publish it) can be found by anyone who is reading your team's stories.
If you want to remove the story from the team, just click the button that says "clear team assignment" and save the story. Also simple.
By default, if you assign a story to a team, we assume that you're working in a collaborative manner with others and that you WANT other team members to be able to edit your story.
However, if you want to assign a story to a team but you need to reserve sole editing rights to the story, simply click the "deny" button next to the "allow team to edit" prompt and save the story.
Now the story will appear with other stories from your team, but other members cannot edit that story.
Our team editing functionality is a powerful tool for collaborative efforts, and we encourage you to read more about it in the "teams howto."
8What to do if a team mate makes changes you don't like
It's entirely up to you whether or not to let team member edit your stories. If you allow it, it's possible a team make might make changes to your story that bother you.
CityTools to the rescue! We keep previous versions of stories for several weeks!
This means that if a team member makes changes to a story that you object to, all you need to do is go to "my content," find your story in the list and you'll see a link that reads "other versions."
When you click on that link you can see every version for every change for the last 2 weeks for a story. All you need to do is find the version you want, and click on the links to make that the active version.
The version control system can also be used to recall earlier versions of a story to examine (or revert to) your previous versions!
If you like, you can also change the team editing session of the story at any time to prevent team members from making further changes.
CityTools to the rescue! We keep previous versions of stories for several weeks!
This means that if a team member makes changes to a story that you object to, all you need to do is go to "my content," find your story in the list and you'll see a link that reads "other versions."
When you click on that link you can see every version for every change for the last 2 weeks for a story. All you need to do is find the version you want, and click on the links to make that the active version.
The version control system can also be used to recall earlier versions of a story to examine (or revert to) your previous versions!
If you like, you can also change the team editing session of the story at any time to prevent team members from making further changes.
9Draft or published? It's up to you
When a story is in draft mode (all stories start out in draft mode) the general public cannot read it.
The only people who can see a story in draft form are its authors and team members, provided that author has assigned the story to a team and allowed team editing.
When you're satisfied that a story is ready for others to read, all you need to do is change the "status" line from draft to publish by clicking the appropriate button. Then save the story to write the changes.
If you'd like to withdraw a story that has been previously published -- to make changes to it, whatever -- you may also change the story's status back to draft mode.
Another way to withdraw a story is to delete it in the "my content" area. Deletions are permanent.
The only people who can see a story in draft form are its authors and team members, provided that author has assigned the story to a team and allowed team editing.
When you're satisfied that a story is ready for others to read, all you need to do is change the "status" line from draft to publish by clicking the appropriate button. Then save the story to write the changes.
If you'd like to withdraw a story that has been previously published -- to make changes to it, whatever -- you may also change the story's status back to draft mode.
Another way to withdraw a story is to delete it in the "my content" area. Deletions are permanent.
10Important: When you first publish a story it might not appear immediately
In order to provide our readers with the best performance, we make heavy use of in-memory caches. Typically, the lifespan of these caches varies depending on the content, but some caches might live as long as 5 minutes.
This means that if you hit the "publish" button and save your story, it might take up to five minutes for it to appear online. Or, if the cache is about to expire you might see your story show up immediately.
In any event, it won't take more than a few minutes for it to appear.
This means that if you hit the "publish" button and save your story, it might take up to five minutes for it to appear online. Or, if the cache is about to expire you might see your story show up immediately.
In any event, it won't take more than a few minutes for it to appear.
11For bilingual authors: setting the language of your story
CityTools supports 13 languages now, with more coming in the fall.
And CityTools can be used in a fully bilingual manner -- for reading and for writing -- if you happen to speak more than one language!
Normally, we sense the language that you're using when you sign up and we set your account to use that language when you first establish your account.
However you may change your language preferences for your primary and secondary language at any time by going to the "your profile" area of the site (linked off the title of this step.)
If you set up your account to be bilingual you will find a special prompt on the story editing page.
This prompt will allow you to set the language for a story. By default, it will set the story language to your primary language. However, if you want to write in your secondary language. simply click the button for that language to identify what language it is in.
Let's say Spanish is your primary language and English is your secondary language. The language prompt on your editing page will allow you to select between Spanish and English.
Please be sure to set the language of your story properly so that it shows up to readers of that language.
And CityTools can be used in a fully bilingual manner -- for reading and for writing -- if you happen to speak more than one language!
Normally, we sense the language that you're using when you sign up and we set your account to use that language when you first establish your account.
However you may change your language preferences for your primary and secondary language at any time by going to the "your profile" area of the site (linked off the title of this step.)
If you set up your account to be bilingual you will find a special prompt on the story editing page.
This prompt will allow you to set the language for a story. By default, it will set the story language to your primary language. However, if you want to write in your secondary language. simply click the button for that language to identify what language it is in.
Let's say Spanish is your primary language and English is your secondary language. The language prompt on your editing page will allow you to select between Spanish and English.
Please be sure to set the language of your story properly so that it shows up to readers of that language.
12Location, location, location
One of the things about CityTools that we're really proud of is the geographic model we use.
If set the location of a story to a specific place, it means that people who want to see stories about that place will find it immediately.
At the same time, any level larger than the place you have selected will see your story too.
For example, let's say you're writing a story about the Marais district of Paris, France. If you set the location of that story to the Marais, anyone who has identified the Marais as their home area will find that story when they go to their home locale.
However, because of the way our geographic engine works, the story placed in the Marais will also be visible by people reading about Paris (since the Marais is part of Paris) and visible to people reading about the entire Ile-de-France area (since Paris and the Marais are part of that) and visible to some reading about France, or Europe or the world.
Our geographic model cascades upwards -- so there's no reason NOT to provide a specific geographic tag for a given story. Setting a place for a story means there is greater chance of it finding an audience.
Our geographic coverage is extremely deep, so the odds are good you can find a proper geography to define any story.
So please use it because it will help people to find your story based on geography as well as topic.
You will find links to set the location of a story on the editing page. In order to set the location for a story, you have to save the story at least once.
As a short cut, if your story is about the region you've defined as your home local, just click the "this is a local story" box and we'll automatically set the geography for you.
If set the location of a story to a specific place, it means that people who want to see stories about that place will find it immediately.
At the same time, any level larger than the place you have selected will see your story too.
For example, let's say you're writing a story about the Marais district of Paris, France. If you set the location of that story to the Marais, anyone who has identified the Marais as their home area will find that story when they go to their home locale.
However, because of the way our geographic engine works, the story placed in the Marais will also be visible by people reading about Paris (since the Marais is part of Paris) and visible to people reading about the entire Ile-de-France area (since Paris and the Marais are part of that) and visible to some reading about France, or Europe or the world.
Our geographic model cascades upwards -- so there's no reason NOT to provide a specific geographic tag for a given story. Setting a place for a story means there is greater chance of it finding an audience.
Our geographic coverage is extremely deep, so the odds are good you can find a proper geography to define any story.
So please use it because it will help people to find your story based on geography as well as topic.
You will find links to set the location of a story on the editing page. In order to set the location for a story, you have to save the story at least once.
As a short cut, if your story is about the region you've defined as your home local, just click the "this is a local story" box and we'll automatically set the geography for you.
13A few words about story rights
OK, we love authors and want to protect your rights to content you create.
When you publish a story on CityTools, you continue to maintain commercial rights to your content.
What you are doing, though, is granting to CityTools a non-exclusive right to present your content online.
Also, we publish all original stories under the Creative Commons non-commercial, share-alike license. What this means is that sites may use the content you post provided that it is on a non-commercial site and has a share-alike license and that they attribute the work to you (and CityTools.)
This does not mean that others -- including CityTools -- can resell your work, etc. You continue to own it and you continue to control the commercial rights to it.
When you publish a story on CityTools, you continue to maintain commercial rights to your content.
What you are doing, though, is granting to CityTools a non-exclusive right to present your content online.
Also, we publish all original stories under the Creative Commons non-commercial, share-alike license. What this means is that sites may use the content you post provided that it is on a non-commercial site and has a share-alike license and that they attribute the work to you (and CityTools.)
This does not mean that others -- including CityTools -- can resell your work, etc. You continue to own it and you continue to control the commercial rights to it.
14A few words about spam and hate speech
Look, don't spam the site. Period. OK? Don't be a jerk.
Also, don't engage in hate speech, etc. We're trying to build a healthy and sane online community. Help with that mission or move on to someplace else and leave us alone.
We're a small outfit and we're busy developing cool things for people so please don't waste our time chasing spam and other inappropriate content. We're trying to do something good here, so give us a break and play nice, OK?
Read our terms of service (linked off the title of this item) for more info.
Also, don't engage in hate speech, etc. We're trying to build a healthy and sane online community. Help with that mission or move on to someplace else and leave us alone.
We're a small outfit and we're busy developing cool things for people so please don't waste our time chasing spam and other inappropriate content. We're trying to do something good here, so give us a break and play nice, OK?
Read our terms of service (linked off the title of this item) for more info.
