Step-by-Step Guide
Add a New News Article
1. Click "Add" Button
Click the Add button in the central action panel
2. Enter your Title
Enter your title here - remember to keep it short and concise this will also be sent to parents as a push notification.
3. Upload an image
Click the "Upload" button
3.1 Click on "Open" button
Select your image (fig. 1) and click the "Open" button (fig. 2)
3.2 Adjust Cropping Area
Click the handles in the corners to adjust the cropping area (Fig. 1). When you are happy with the selection click crop (fig. 2).
4. Add Body Text
To add the body text click in the empty field and simply type your entry into the available field. TO make you life a little easier if you already have the news article some where else such as in a draft newsletter or on your website simply copy and paste the text right into the text field.
4.1 Add live links to body text
OurSchoolsApp also allows you to add links to websites and email addresses. A HTML link can be link to anything on the web you wish - weather that is a document, youtube video, a website, a tweet ... If it's out there you can add it to your news articles to support them and add richer content for Parents to see.
5. Set display of time and date of post
You have the ability to add set the time and date that will be displayed on the post. If you wish you can edit the date and time, if you do not need to change this simply leave the field as it is and it will post the time and date the article was created. You may change the date and time by typing (fig. 1) or click the calendar icon to the right of the field.
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This will not effect the push notification that is sent to users. Notifications will be sent when you publish the article. |
5.1 Date and Time Picker - Date
To use the Date and Time Picker simply choose the month using the left and right arrows in the Mont selector (fig. 1). Choose the date from the day picker by clicking on the date in the calendar (fig. 2). Finally if you wish to change the time click the clock button at the bottom of pane (fig. 3)
5.2 Date and Time Picker - Time
To adjust the displayed time of the news article click the up chevrons to increase the time (fig. 1), conversely to decrease the time click the down chevrons (fig. 2). Hours are displayed on the left and minutes to the right.
11. Post Your Article
Give your article a final check over and make sure you are happy with the content you have created click Add in the lower right corner. After a short success message, a push notification will be sent and your news article will be available for all parents to enjoy in OurSchoolsApp.
Below is a short video outlining the steps above:
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Amend a News Article
If you wish to change any thing about a News article that you have already added you may use the Amend function:
1. Select the Article
Select the item you wish to amend (fig. 1) and select the Amend button in the central control panel (fig. 2)
2. Edit Content
You will now see the edit dialogue window appear to allow you to change all attributes, in exactly the same way when adding a new article (see Add a New News Article)
- Title - Edit or change the title
- Upload Image - Replace the image on the article
- Body Text - Edit or replace body tyext
- Display Date and Time - Change the display date of the post this will change the display oder of the article - News items are displayed in chronological order with the newest at the top.
- Make Active/Inactive - This will allow you to hide a news article by un checking the box
- Amend - When you are finished click the amend button to save your changes.
3. Click Amend
When you are happy with your changes select the Amend button to apply them instantly to the article within OurSchoolsApp.
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Amending an existing item will not send out a push notification. This only happens when a new item is added. |
Delete a News Article
1. Select item for removal
From the available list choose the item you wish to delete, click on it highlight in blue.
2. Click Delete
Click Delete in the central action panel
3. Confirm Delete
To finish the process simply click Delete to confirm and after a short success message the article will be removed.
New Feature - Upload CSV and RSS Feeds
New to OurSchoolsApp is the ability to add RSS feeds to your news feed and upload a series of articles in one simple step by using a simple CSV spreadsheet.
What is RSS?
What is CSV?
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In computing, a comma-separated values file stores tabular data in plain text. Each line of the file is a data record. Each record consists of one or more fields, separated by commas. Wikipedia
Similarly to RSS, CSV uploads will allow you syndicate multiple articles in one simple process. Although it should be noted that a CSV upload is not automated in the same way as RSS feeds. You will need to create and your CSV document each time you wish to upload new items.
The only thing you may need do is add images to your articles if you wish to do so.
Below is your step by step guide to using these new time and effort saving features:
Add RSS
In this example we will be using an RSS feed from BBC News as an example. To locate the RSS feed on your website look for the RSS logo (see above) or speak to your IT Support or Website Provider.
1.Click Upload
Click Upload from the central action panel.
2. Add the RSS Feed URL
Find the RSS URL that you wish to use - you can simply browse to this website and copy and paste the URL into this field. If you are having trouble locating the RSS feed connected to your school website speak to your website designer or School IT Support they may be able to advise you where to find this.
3. Set the Number of News Items to display
You can either the in to the field provided or use the number stepper to the right of the field and click up to increase the number and down to decrease.
4. Activate Notifications
You may want to send out a notification each time a new news item is added - by checking this box OurSchoolsApp will automatically send out a push notification for each item added.
5. Click Amend to add the Feed
At this point to add the news feed you
6. Refresh the List
You may notice that once you have added your RSS feed articles that have appeared in the past will not appear straight away. If you wish for OSA to display historic feed notifications select the upload button once again.
7. Click Refresh
You may wish to Activate/DeActivate Push Notifications or change the amount of items to display if you wish to change this click Amend to finish. If your aim is to just make OurSchoolsApp display the historic items click Refresh.
Amend a RSS News Item Select Item
You may wish to Amend a news item, this can be achieved in the same way as editing any news item. For example to add an image if it has not automatically been added already or your RSS feed does not support images. Or you may want to add or remove some text from the item.
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The admin tool may not display Images included within the RSS feed, this does not mean they are not visible in OurSchoolsApp. We recommend checking news items to see if image have been included on an Android or iOS device. |
Note: Click the item you wish to amend.
1. Item Select Item
Click the item you wish to amend.
2. Click Amend fro the central action panel
3.
Make ChangesSimply make changes as adding a new news item (see above)
Upload an image (fig. 1)
Change text (fig. 2)
Change date and time of post (fig. 3)
4. Click Amend to finish
Once you are happy with your changes click the amend button to save and publish changes to parents.
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