imc-qc step by step guide to publish features v. 1.2
by edwin

Introduction:

imc-qc's editorial policy document defines features as follows:

Features: The editorial team highlights and organizes valuable content through features, which are shown on the central column of the front page. Features group text, links to articles and media-files about a similar topic or event together and are made by IMC-volunteers.

A feature usually contains a title, a picture, a short text, one or more links to articles on the newswire, and external links.

Step 1: Prepare your feature

* Propose the feature on imc-qc-editorial@lists.indymedia.org to let others know you are working on the feature and to get suggestions from others.
* Resize the picture. A picture should only be about 200-250 pixels wide, preferably with a resolution of 72 dpi. Save the picture on your hard disk in jpg (for photos) or gif (usually for graphics) format.
* Write the title and text of the feature in a text editor. If the feature is very long, post it as an article on the newswire and use a summary with a link to the longer story on the newswire.
* Check if all the articles and media files you will need are already posted on the newswire. Post them yourself if necessary.
* Collect the links you will need. Open the related articles from the newswire and external websites in separate windows or copy and paste the URLs in a text editor.

Step 2: Upload the picture

* Go online and log in the admin interface (http://qc.indymedia.org/admin/) with your login and password.
* Click 'Upload' in the left-hand menu.
* Click on the "browse" button to select the file of the picture you want to upload from you computer's hard disk. 
* Choose "/images/" from the drop-down menu as the directory where you want to upload the file. (This is the default.)
* Click 'Upload.'
* If a file with that name already exists, rename your file and try again.

Step 3: Draft the feature

* Click 'Categories' in the left-hand menu. This shows the list of categories we use on imc-qc. The first category is the main category and is called "production." It contains all features that appear in the center column of the home page. All features should be in "production".
* Click 'list of blurbs for this feature' right of "production." You will see the list of all features. Note down the highest number in the column 'order number'.
* Click 'Add story' in the menu under the yellow bar. You will see the form to enter a new feature.
* Choose "current" from the 'status' drop-down list. (This is the default.)
* Fill in the 'short link title' field to identify your feature. This will not be used on the site but is only for admin purposes.
* Fill in the 'long display title' field. This is the actual title of the feature on the site.
* Choose a template from the 'template name' drop-down menu. Choose only "Title, Image on left"; "Title, Image on right" or, if you want to link the title and the picture to a particular page "Title, Image on left, Link" or "Title, Image on right, Link". (If your feature doesn't have a picture, you can also use "Title, No image" or "Title, No Image, Link")
* Fill in the 'order number'. This should be 1 higher than the number you noted down. (This will automatically put the new feature first on the frontpage.)
* Leave the 'display date' as is.
* Leave the date 'created' as is. This is the date that will be used in the lead.
* Fill in the URL of the image. It will be "/images/nameofthefile.jpg" or "/images/nameofthefile.gif". Be careful because this is case-sensitive. (Some software saves all caps extensions as default.)
* Fill in the 'alt tag' or leave it blank. Whatever you type here will be shown when you hover the mouse over the picture.
* Fill in a 'link' if you have chosen a template with a link. This will link the title and the picture to the URL you typed here.
* Copy the text of your feature under 'summary'. Add html tags for links, line breaks and to highlight text. For example, if you are using a summary of a feature, you can put "more" at the end of the text and link it to the longer feature in the newswire as follows: <a href="URL-of-the-article-">More</a>. 
o Useful tags are: 
* links - <a href="paste-the-URL-of-the-link-here">text you want to link</a>
* line breaks - <br>
* paragraph breaks - <p> (this will leave a blank line)
* bold - <b>text you want to highlight</b>
* italic - <i>text you want to highlight</i>
* Click 'save'. Your feature is now saved. It will not appear in the center column yet. You first have to test and publish it.

Step 4: Test the feature

* Click 'test' in the row of the feature you just drafted.
* Check if it looks OK, check the spelling and the links.
* If you are satisfied with the result go to step 5 because your feature is ready to be published in the center column.
* If you are not satisfied, close the test window and click the name of your feature.
* Make the necessary changes.
* Click 'update'.
* Test the feature again and edit further if necessary.

Step 5: Publish the feature in the central column

* If the number of features on the page is too long, click 'archive' next to the oldest features. This prevents that the page will become too slow to load. Archived features will still be accessible through the link at the bottom of the page or through the 'archives'.
* Click 'Preview feature' in the top menu. You will see the features with the new feature first.
* Click 'Publish'. You will see a confirmation that the live site was updated. Your new feature will now be on the front page. It will not yet appear in the list of features per category so you will still have to assign categories.
* Click 'Category list' to go back to... the category list.

Step 6: Assign categories and publish the feature in categories

* Click on 'list of blurbs for this feature' next to 'production'.
* Click on the title of your feature.
* Click 'copy'.
* Choose a thematic/sectoral category to post your feature in.
* Click 'copy'. You will see the edit page of your feature so you can make changes if necessary.
* Click 'add'.
* Click 'Preview feature' and repeat the same procedure to publish the feature in the thematic category.
* Repeat this whole procedure for one of the local categories (and other thematic categories if you think it is relevant.) Every feature should be published at least thrice: in "production," in a local category and in one or more thematic categories.
 
Step 7: Propose the feature to the global Indymedia site

You can submit features to the global indymedia site through www-features@lists.indymedia.org. See http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/How-toProposeAndPostAFeature for the procedure and requirements.

Step 8: Update the feature

If there is a need to update the feature, e.g. to add links to new articles on the newswire, you can look for your feature in the 'list of blurbs' of 'production' in the category list. Make the changes and test and publish like you did in steps 4 and 5. Don't forget that you always have to publish to make changes to the live site.
Do the same in all other categories you posted the feature in. When you make changes to a feature in 'production', the same feature will not be updated in other categories. You can also copy the updated feature from production to the other categories but this will result in two features with the same name in these categories. You will have to 'hide' the old version before publishing again.

More:

* Features can be in 'current', 'archive', or 'hidden' mode. These instructions assume you are working in 'current' mode. You will need to change the status of features to 'hidden' sometimes. E.g. when you want to save it as a draft first (and change its status to 'current' later), or when you want to replace a feature with a newer version. Hidden features will not be displayed on the site.
* Don't forget to log out when you're done or someone else can access the admin interface using the same computer.
* References: Mini html tutorial: http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/HTMLTutorial; Sf-active documentation: http://sfa.indymedia.org/docs/en/index.html; particularly Admin use instructions: http://sfa.indymedia.org/docs/en/03_use_instructions/02_admin/index.html.



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