Teaches.it Author → Help

Using the Authoring Panel

This guide is the longest of our help tutorials, but it provides a thorough overview of all the tools available to you.

Contents

A video tutorial explaining the authoring panel is available too. View it by clicking here.

Introduction

Now that you have a Teaches.it account, we want to show you around what we call the "authoring panel." The authoring panel is where you edit everything about your website, including the content, pictures, links, design, and more.

There are 4 major areas in the authoring panel: Desktop, Page Editor, Site Settings, and Account Editor, and Help Section. Here is a brief description of what each of these areas does.

  • Desktop: Provides a menu to the Page Editor, Site Settings Area, Account Area, and Help Section
  • Edit Pages: This is where you can add pages to your site, edit them, delete them, upload images, and more
  • Site Settings: This is where you can change your site's design, add links, and rearrange page listing order
  • Edit Account: Where you change your password, email address, and other account information
  • Help: Where you find tutorials on how to use the functions above

Tooltips (Hint Bubbles)

By default, hovering your mouse over different areas of the authoring panel will cause help bubbles, or "tooltips" to explain to you what that area of the authoring panel does. Typically, the areas which you can hover your mouse to view a tip over are colored light yellow.

At any time, you can disabled this feature by clicking "Turn Off Tooltips" in the upper-right-hand corner of the authoring panel. The Image below shows the user, who has tooltips enabled, about to disable the feature.

While you are getting used to the authoring panel, it is recommended that you keep tooltips enabled to receive many useful bits of information.

The Desktop

When you log in, your are taken to the Desktop area of the authoring panel. This is essentially a menu of the different areas of the authoring panel. Clicking on one of these choices with take you to that respective area.

Keep in mind that although you can use the desktop to access the areas of the authoring panel, you can also use the navigation menu at the top of the page to jump around as well. This navigation bar will be displayed wherever you are in the authoring panel.

Below, a screenshot of the desktop is displayed. The Navigation bar is the area under "Author → ms-green" which reads "Desktop .. Edit Pages .. Site settings .. Edit Account ..."

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Edit Pages

The page editing section of the authoring panel is where you manage everything in terms of page content, adding pages, removing pages, and more. If it is your first time logging in, your website will have one page in it, which was created automatically when you signed up.

Below is the authoring panel of the fictional user ms-green.

Below is an image of the same authoring panel, with labels (which are described following the image)

Here is a description of each of the labels above.

  • A - This is where you can edit the title of the page you are editing or creating
  • B - This is a shortcut bar that will let you add a new page to your site, insert an image into the page, attach a file to the page, insert a template into the page, save the page as a draft, or publish it to your website
  • C - The is the text editor, where you edit the content of the page
  • D - This is the area where you can attach files to the page
  • E - This is the area where you can unpublish a published page, or revert an updated draft to the published version
  • F - This is a listing of the pages on your website. Click on of these pages will open it for editing in the text area
  • G - This is where you can save the current page you are editing as a draft, or publish it

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Site Settings

The site settings section allows you to edit things not specifically associated with a given page of your website. For example, this is where you can change your website's design, among other things.

Below is the site settings page.

Below is the same page labeled with descriptions of each label after.

  • A - This is where you can edit to the title of your website (which is usually displayed at the top of your site in large text)
  • B - This is where you can change the design of your site. Click on a design to preview your website with that style, and click "Activate" to use it. You can also click "Get Next" to see another page of designs.
  • C - This is where you can rearrange the order of the pages on your site. Click and drag a page name to position of the list you would like it to be in.
  • D - This is where you can rearrange the order of the links on your site. Click and drag a link name to position of the list you would like it to be in.
  • E - Add a link to your website here. The the URL (or web address) in the top box, and the link title in the second. Finally, click "Add Link."

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Edit Account

In this basic section, you can fill our your account information. The only information that is absolutely required is your email address. You can also change your password by clicking "Click to Change Password."

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