Sample Article and helpful hints

Welcome to the article section of Geocaching Maine. If you have a article you would like to type out and share with the others please feel free to type it out and share with the rest of us.

I will go on to explain the basics on how to prepare, create and tips for creating a review. You can click the table of contents to the left for the section you want to read.

[BREAK=Before you start]
Recommendations before you start typing in your review.
If you are going to type you review in and it is going to be a long one I would open another window and login into Geocaching Maine Who's Online page at http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/online.php. The reason for have this window open separately is that this window automatically refreshes ever minute or so. If you going to type a long review this window will keep you active and logged into the web site so that you will not get logged out. The web site logs you out if you are not active for more then 15 minutes and this will keep you active. You will hear a clicking noise every time it refreshes. If you are logged in with the remember password option you should not have to do this.

You may want to make sure that you have all the images ready that you are going to use for you review. If you are going to use any images that you have uploaded to the Geocaching Maine under "Articles" then you may want to upload them ahead of time.

[BREAK=Getting started]

1. Click on the NEW REVIEW Button
2. Pick and icon from the list by putting a tick mark on the icon you wish to choose.
3. If you have an icon that you want to use that better represents the piece of gear you are writing a review for then you can click on browse and upload it from your computer.
4. Type the title you want the review to be called.
5. Type in the Byline. This is usually the name or user name of the person writing the review.
6. Fill in an reference that you used to write this review.

Ratings:
Please fill in the appropriate rating for each category.
When you have filled in each rating then place a tick mark in the "Submit the above rating" block.

Creating you review:

You would create your review just like you would type a message in the forums. You can change the size and the color of the text, add hyperlinks, insert pictures, add quotes, and anything else you can do in forums messages.

[BREAK=Using BBCodes]

For a list of vB codes you can use in your review go to vB Codes.

There is one new option here that is not in the forums. That is the NEW PAGE option. You will see this right above box when you are typing your message in the message box area. This option lest you have multiple pages for you review so that you can have a Table of Contents.

To use NEW PAGE just click on it. This will open a new pop up window where you will need to type in the title of the new page. This title will be put in you Table of Contents. Your page that will go along with this will be all the text you type under he new page you just created. Don't be fooled by looks. It will look like everything it all on one page until you save it.

Putting hyperlinks in the reference area.
To place a hyperlink in a your review/message you would simply type out the word of phrase that you want to be a hyperlink. Then position the mouse over the word or phrase and highlight it. Then click on the hyperlink icon above the message box you are typing in. This will be the icon of the globe with a chain under it. Now a po up window will come up and simply typ in the url and click OK.


If you wish to manually type in the code for a hyperlink, here is an example of the coded needed to use to put the web site http://www.geocachingmaine.org into the reference area and title it Geocaching Maine.


[url=http://www.geocachingmaine.org]Geocaching Maine[/url]


[BREAK=Notes on pictures]

Notes on pictures

Things to keep in mind. When putting a photo in you review you need to make sure it is not to big and overpowering for the review before you upload it to the gallery. You may have to shrink the photo down some before you upload it.

You can add pictures to your reviews in two different ways. You can add them as attachments or you can insert them right into your review.

Adding as an attachment. You would do this just like you would an attachment in any forum program. You would scroll down under you message box and click on MANAGE ATTACHMENTS.

Inserting picture in you message body. You will need to have the image somewhere on the internet to be able to do this. There are place on the web where you can do this. But in this case if you can upload the photo to the Geocaching Maine Gallery under "Articles" and then you will be able to use them in your articles on Geocaching Maine.

To insert a picture from the Geocaching Maine gallery locate the picture in the gallery. Once you have the picture you will see something under the picture called BB Image Code: Now cut and past this code to where you want the image or photo in the body of your review.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/8/patch-med.jpg