Communications/Editorial

Hello. This is a page for TN.org website editors - mostly process and handy website tips.

Options for handling news item and other opportunities suggestions

Requests come from the website contact form, and the newsletter account and other sources. There are different types of request, which need to have different responses.

There is a 'comms@lists.transitionnetwork.org' email list where the relevant people can agree what to do if it's not clear. Relevant people are mostly Rob (Website editor/comms), Mike Thomas (support), Mike Grenville (newsletter), Sam Rossiter (Web and Comms ops), Ed MItchell (Web and comms)

TODO: Comms group (or subset) agree a set of criteria about news items/opportunities so

that support/others would know what to do when presented with a request for publicity/sharing, or having found something we consider to be useful for Transition movement.

Options for sharing

1. Ignore
2. Respond with no thanks: Handled by: original request recipient
3. Suggest they put something on the forum about it: Handled by original request recipient - out of date now - forums to be iced for now: this to be removed?
4. If an event suggest they add it to the (partner or initiative) events stream: Handled by: Web support person
5. Include it in the monthly round-up: Handled by: original request recipient sends to Noemi who is doing monthly round up
6. Write a news item out about it on TN.org: Handled by: Website Editor
7. Write a blog post about it: Handled by: Website Editor or Support or Web comms
8. Include an item in the newsletter: Handled by: Newsletter Editor
9. Promote it through social media: Handled by: Web comms person
10. Contacting Primary Points of Contact direct with a mailshot: to be used for really big opportunities that are worth it (to be raised in comms group meetings): Handled by comms group

Criteria for knowing how to channel requests

See criteria section below - ED thinks Mike and comms group (or subset identified by comms group) may need to review the criteria below

Partners page

The partners page needs reviewing on the following basis:

1. What is a TN partner?
2. How does TN represent partnerships on the partners page?
3. What shall TN do with the organisations listed on the partners page that are no longer relevant given the above?

Using featured images on blogs and news items

• Use a Featured image for blogs and news and it will show in the listings pages, thereby making them brighter and more cheerful
• Size on the listings page: 260 x 160 pixels
• Machine seems to take a slice from the middle of a portrait image added to the news item, and approximately scale down a landscape image of the same proportion
• So it's probably best to use a landscape image of roughly the same proportion as 260x160 pixels

Optimal image and video sizes for panel pages

1 column panes:

• best video size: 300x169
• best image width: 150 pixels

2 column panes:

• best image width: banner up to 625 ish
• normal image width: try up to 250 if you are wrapping text around it

Domain names

• List of domain names with expiry dates on google spreadsheet
• Needs to be 'managed' - ie which domains we keep and which we lost
• Estimated cost of 12/13 renewals: £400

Updating website 'handy guides'

Noemi is updating website handy guides

• Site help docs mastersheet to manage the process: Google doc
• Step by step guide:

Background

Noemi is going to update the website help guides

They Need to be pages in a new 'help' section

• information architecture: e.g. .../site-help/[guide-title]
• so all new pages will need to be set to be beneath /site-help in node hierarchy
• they could also be in a menu (although the titles are so long it might look rubbish, we will look at that later)

Keep the current 'Site Help' page as the 'landing page'

• update it with the new links as you do them

Steps

1. Look at 'old' guide. Understand it.
2. Copy 'old' guide text into a text file
3. Following the same steps from the 'old' guide, using a 'test user' account, go through the steps
4. Take suitable screen grabs at each step as per the 'old guide'. Save them in a specific folder for just this guide.
5. Name the screen grabs with a standard nomenclature using the same title and a number at the end so that they match to the stage in the process (e.g. Adding_partner_event_1, Adding_partner_event_2 etc.)
6. Edit the text file of the 'old' guide so that it makes sense
7. Create a new page in Drupal with the correct settings in node hierarchy
8. Add the text in the text file to the page with correct formatting
9. SAVE the page
10. Upload all the screen grabs in one batch using the image upload process
11. Add the screen grabs into the guide page (now you will find the numbering useful)
12. SAVE the page