* Updated December, 2008 *

Welcome to Orchid!

We hope these directions will give you enough introduction to Orchid to get you started in both strategic and practical ways. We understand that not everyone is at the same level of technical ability and not every site is the same. To that end, we mark items that are for advanced users.

Logins and Users
New users will be working with a "staging site" until they are ready to "go live" or launch. The url or web address for this site will have been sent to you along with a login.

There are two kinds of users that will log into your site: Site User and Site Administrator. If you used the original login information forwarded to you, you are likely the "Site Administrator." This means you have access to all of the critical information on the site. Most people who sign on (such as members) will have the "Site user" status assigned to them automatically.

1. Find the login link. Login with the user name and password provided to you. A successful login will lead you to the "Site Manager" or central administration area of the site. This is where you will manage your site. If you are the person who registered the site, you are automatically in the system under "Staffer."
2. We recommend you reset your password once you are signed in. Click on the tab labeled "People" then scroll to the bottom of the page to  "Browse Staffers/Leaders" under Staff and Organization Leaders. Look for your name and click on it. Your profile will appear. Scroll to the bottom of the profile until you see a box titled "Online" that contains login, password, status, and sections. If you wish to change your username and password, you may do so here.
   

• FREE FORM OR STATIC: Static content is what most websites are created with. This is akin to typing up a letter on a typewrite (remember those?).  Duplicates of it cannot be displayed in more than one place. Free form pages are good for intros to sections.
  
• STRUCTURED OR DYNAMIC: A hallmark of Orchid is its "structured" pages. (We call them Internal Pages) This is content that fits a  "type" -- it has consistent structure, elements and iterations. Examples include events, press releases, and new articles. Other types might include recipes, reports, minutes, etc. The purpose of structuring content is for optimal storage, retrieval and distribution of content. It's a smart way to think about your content. You will find all of the types of structured content that comes with the system listed under "Structured Content" under the Content Tab.
  

Site Map
Your site map is where you access and manage the content on your website. It can be found by clicking on the tab or link at the far right of the Site Manager.  It is divided into two columns; Navigation One and Navigation Two. Each of the columns correspond to where the navigation shows up on your website. For many of you, a site map has already been started. The following describes the different actions you can take via your site map:

• Create, delete, move pages.
• Determine page function. (In Orchid, we have two types of pages -- dynamic and static.) Dynamic page are pre-configured "templates" which are data-driven. This means that the content put into them goes into a database. Once in the database, it can be displayed in multiple places at one time or "distributed." Static pages are simple and used for simple display of text. The page function is managed via the ICONS on the site map. All dynamic pages have an "I" on the icon. All static pages are plain.
  
• Add, edit, delete content.
  

To Add a New Page

1. Determine where you want to set up a new page (on the main navigation or under an existing page.) Start the "Add new page" process by either selecting the "Add Page to Navigation" at the top of one of the columns, or by clicking on the icon with the star to the right of and existing page listed in the site map.
   
2. Determine what you want this page to do. For example, if it is a standard content type like a news article, press release, event for example, assume that there is likely a template already available for that type of content. In this case, once you give your page a name you will arrive at an "Edit Page Attribute" page.
   
3. Fill in the form. When it comes to selecting the type of page, first look under the Dynamic Page drop down where you will see a listing of templates. Choose one that fits your needs. If not, select the static page and layout you want. Apply changes. If you ever need to change the link name, you will click on the icon for this page and change the name on the form. Which page type you chose will determine a lot about how the content is managed on your site. 

1. To move a page or group of pages to other areas of the site map, select the move icon to the right of the page. The screen will refresh with a listing of the pages on your site map with circles to the left of the pages. Select a page or select the top link that asks if you want to move the page/s to the top navigation.
2. If you want to move pages up or down (or left or right) on the navigation, use the triangles to the right and left of the pages as they appear in the site map.
   

Homepage
The Orchid homepage acts differently from the rest of the Orchid pages. Functionally, it is a place where structured content can displayed when it is "promoted." (For example, if you use the news and events structured content templates, you can tell the system to promote certain ones to the homepage.) You control what and how much structured content is displayed on the homepage through controls set up at the bottom of the admin version of the homepage. (See more under "Promoting Content to Homepage.") There are other features specific to the homepage that include:

• Post an alert
  
• Feature a piece of structured content.
  
• Input copy, images and documents if desired
• Set controls for the promoted content on the site.

You might also want sidebars, flash or video imagery or other specially formatted items. See articles for using these features under the Content Folder

To set up your homepage: 

1. Click on "Site Map" at the top of the page. Go to the "Home" link listed. (Clicking on words is how you edit or add content to that page. Clicking on the icon to the left of the title allows you to edit the attributes of the page. Read the legend for more information.)
2. Main Body Content:
   
   • Use the text editor or WYSIWYG tool to add copy.
     
   • Use the icons on a menu bar to link to external sites (globe) to link to documents or images in your libraries (pogada and page icons) or to structured content or pages already on your site (icons with names on them) Roll over each icon to familiarize yourself with the options.
     
3. Page Controls:
• Rename sections if you want to. Otherwise they will default to standard heads.
  
4. Page Attributes:
• Fill in the form as needed with page title (what shows up on the top banner of your browser) plus meta tag keywords and description. (This is the information that shows up as a description of your website on search engines.)
  
5. Homepage Sections:
• Use this section to set controls (acts like settings) on how much and what promoted content you want on your homepage. You can add sections but they have to exist under the Structured Content area of the site.
  
6. "Apply Changes" at the bottom of the page. To view your changes, select "Preview" on the top right of your Site Manager.
   

Images and Documents
Your image and document libraries are places to store items you will use often or that you want your users to access either publicly or through member only areas. 

Uploading Images:

1. Select the "Content" tab at the top of the site and click "Image Library" from the Libraries section.
   
2. Upload an image directly from your computer by clicking "Upload an Image to the Library" at the top of this page . (The image should be 72dpi and not more than 440 pixels wide.)
   
3. Once the image is loaded, go to your "Image Library" and click on the link to edit it if needed. Scroll down to the "Description" section and type a useful description. To add the image to a page,
   

1. Open the page where you want our image. While in the text editor, select the desired place in your text where you want the image to go and put your cursor there.
   
2. Next, choose the image icon in the menu bar above the text area. A pop up will appear with a list of images. Select the image you uploaded and click the "Ok" at the bottom of the window. Learn more about images in the "Content" section of the knowledge base.

Uploading and Adding Documents
To upload a document, simply follow the same steps you did for images, but use the "Document Library" instead of "Image Library." Videos and flash files go into the document library. See more on this topic under Content.

Merchant Account
Determine whether your organization wants to accept donations, contributions or payments for events. You need to set up a merchant account to do this. Payment processing comes with the site. Learn more under the "Commerce" section of the knowledge base.

Design
Decide how you want your site to look if it is not designed already for you. Site design in controlled by style sheets and graphics like the masthead. We can help you with the design or make recommendations. Please contact us for assistance in this area. Also, we caution you when going into your "Look and Feel" tab as that is where you stylesheets and templates reside. Again, if you have questions or what to know what your site styles are as set, please contact us directly for that information.

Tour the Tabs
We recommend that you poke around in the various tabs to view the various tools and features included in Orchid. For example, you may want  upload a database of contacts or use the email campaign features. We have regularly scheduled trainings posted on our website to learn more about each one.

Going Live
We need all of your domain information including the registrar (where your domain is registered) and the login information for that account. We also need to know if you want any emails attached to your domain. Please make sure to provide this information to us well before you want to launch your site. When you are ready to "go live" let us know via our helpdesk.

Refer to the GO LIVE database Article.