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For school groups or anyone else, it's easy to create your own online newspaper. The stories can show up on CityTools AND your own site!
Because or our editing controls, you can get a bunch of people working together on the publication.The necessary steps are all linked from the title of each item below.For the purposes of this how to, we'll assume that everyone involved already has joined CityTools.1First, define how many sections you'll want
You may want to have a general news section, a sports section, an entertainment section.
You can have as many sections as you like.
The key thing here is that you want to create a unique team for EACH section you want to put online.
If you click on the title for this step, you'll go directly to the "create a team" page.
Each team can can have different people involved. You could have one group of people working on sports for instance, an another working on news.
It's up to you.
If you're creating a school newspaper the odds are good that you will want to set the teams up to be private (not open for anyone to join).
Then make sure to give the secret passcode to everyone who will be working on the publication.
If you have more than one team -- for example one for sports and one for news, etc. -- then remember that each one will have its own passcode.
One last thing: give the teams informative names and descriptions -- maybe including the name of your school in the title -- so that others will know what they're looking at when they read your stories.
You can have as many sections as you like.
The key thing here is that you want to create a unique team for EACH section you want to put online.
If you click on the title for this step, you'll go directly to the "create a team" page.
Each team can can have different people involved. You could have one group of people working on sports for instance, an another working on news.
It's up to you.
If you're creating a school newspaper the odds are good that you will want to set the teams up to be private (not open for anyone to join).
Then make sure to give the secret passcode to everyone who will be working on the publication.
If you have more than one team -- for example one for sports and one for news, etc. -- then remember that each one will have its own passcode.
One last thing: give the teams informative names and descriptions -- maybe including the name of your school in the title -- so that others will know what they're looking at when they read your stories.
2Have each member of the staff join the teams
Of course before you can work together, you have to be part of the same team.
Distribute the secret passcode for the team however you like and then have each member join the team (or teams) they plan to work with.
It's super easy to join teams -- but just in case we've linked the mini-howto off of this title.
Distribute the secret passcode for the team however you like and then have each member join the team (or teams) they plan to work with.
It's super easy to join teams -- but just in case we've linked the mini-howto off of this title.
3Write and edit original stories, shared stories, lists
Members of the school paper staff can now write and edit content using our tools.
The important thing is this: when staff member create content, they should assign it to the team that is handling that area of content.
For example if you want a sports section, you will have created a team for sports. All the sports writers should save their content to that team.
Also, if others are supposed to edit your content, make sure that when you're saving your content, the button to allow team members to edit is set.
The important thing is this: when staff member create content, they should assign it to the team that is handling that area of content.
For example if you want a sports section, you will have created a team for sports. All the sports writers should save their content to that team.
Also, if others are supposed to edit your content, make sure that when you're saving your content, the button to allow team members to edit is set.
4The editors can review stories and publish them
Each person with editing responsibilities will find the team's stories in the content manager when they log in under their account.
Once the writers are done with the stories, the editors can review them, make changes, etc.
When the stories are ready to publish, all the editors need to do is save the story with the "publish" button (on the story editing page) set to "publish" as opposed to "draft."
Once the writers are done with the stories, the editors can review them, make changes, etc.
When the stories are ready to publish, all the editors need to do is save the story with the "publish" button (on the story editing page) set to "publish" as opposed to "draft."
5Add the headlines to your own site
Once you have stories written and published, people can find them on CityTools under the name of your team.
However, you can also put those headlines on your own web site.
In this case, since the howto is about making a school newspaper, lets imagine that you're going to put headlines for general news, sports and entertainment on the same page.
You have done the earlier steps in this howto and you've got distinct teams for each area of coverage.
Now go to the the teams page (linked off of the title of this step) and find the teams for each area of coverage.
Each team box will have a link that says "get javascript code to include this teams' headlines on your web page" and "get php code..."
Each link takes you to a page with instructions (alco cut-and-paste code) that tells you how to include the headlines for the team on your web page.
Cut and paste the code for each team into a layout on your web page. If you're comfortable with Cascading Style Sheets, you can even make the pages match your look and feel. (We'll have a howto on CSS eventually.)
Now whenever you update your stories on CityTools, the web pages are updated.
(Please note, for performance reasons we cache -- store in memory -- headline lists for several minutes. So if you make a change to a headline of a published story, it might not be visible for a few minutes on your site.)
However, you can also put those headlines on your own web site.
In this case, since the howto is about making a school newspaper, lets imagine that you're going to put headlines for general news, sports and entertainment on the same page.
You have done the earlier steps in this howto and you've got distinct teams for each area of coverage.
Now go to the the teams page (linked off of the title of this step) and find the teams for each area of coverage.
Each team box will have a link that says "get javascript code to include this teams' headlines on your web page" and "get php code..."
Each link takes you to a page with instructions (alco cut-and-paste code) that tells you how to include the headlines for the team on your web page.
Cut and paste the code for each team into a layout on your web page. If you're comfortable with Cascading Style Sheets, you can even make the pages match your look and feel. (We'll have a howto on CSS eventually.)
Now whenever you update your stories on CityTools, the web pages are updated.
(Please note, for performance reasons we cache -- store in memory -- headline lists for several minutes. So if you make a change to a headline of a published story, it might not be visible for a few minutes on your site.)
6Or, if you like, ask people to sign up for your RSS feed
All CityTools teams have their own RSS feed. That means that you can allow people to subscribe to your stories via RSS.
The "find teams" page (linked of the left hand menu as well as the title of this step) helps people to find your team. And when they do, by clicking on the little RSS icon -- the thing that looks like a broadcast -- they can subscribe to your feed.
The "find teams" page (linked of the left hand menu as well as the title of this step) helps people to find your team. And when they do, by clicking on the little RSS icon -- the thing that looks like a broadcast -- they can subscribe to your feed.
