OK, so we have a new site, but “where’s all the old stuff gone?” I hear you ask. Well, firstly, nothing has gone – the old pages are still available, and will remain there indefinitely. Secondly, over the coming days and weeks I will migrate the most popular/useful pages to the new site so that they get a fresh new look. My aim in this article is to explain some of the features of the new site so that you can navigate your way around more easily and, if you’re feeling creative, start to add your own content that other members/runners can read, enjoy and benefit from.
Why the change?
The short answer is because I’m lazy. In picking up the baton from Ben it would have been tempting to just tinker with the existing pages, but we both agreed that a fresh start was the best way to go. My main aim in building something new was to create a site that would enable you, the members, to write the news and articles that you want other members (or just other runners in general) to read about (rather than suffer the delay and tedium of have it pass through a content editor such as me ).
I see it as my role to provide the platform and the loud-hailer, and let you, the Beckenham Runners, go wild with them to give the site a voice that reflects the multi-faceted nature of our very active community. So, I’ve chosen a very popular blogging package called WordPress as the foundation of the site because it’s quick to set up, easy to use, and provides enough of the features we need for everyone in the club to be able to contribute (if they want to) without unleashing chaos on the site.
How does it work?
There are two main types of content on the site: pages and posts.
Pages
- Are the tabs that appear across the top (except for the Home tab), and they hold the information that remains relatively constant over time such as: how to find us; what we offer; our races; our Grand Prix leagues or handicap table etc.
- As such, there will be relatively few of these pages (although there is still some important info that I intend to move from the old site into these tabs), and they will change relatively infrequently – perhaps once a month at the most.
- If you think of other pages that you would like to see added then please let me know.
Posts
- Are the more news-worthy articles and announcements that relate to a specific event or date; a race report for example.
- Posts appear in reverse-chronological order on the homepage and can be assigned to one or more of the categories that appear in the sidebar on the right.
- If you click on one of those category links then you will see only the articles that have been posted within that category.
- So far we have relatively few posts, but I would encourage those of you who have signed up for an account to start publishing to your heart’s content.
How can I publish on the site?
In order to start creating content on the new site, you will firstly need to create an account, which many of you have already done. Anyone can create an account; it’s an automatic process and it takes less than a minute (literally) to do so. However, to avoid unwanted spammers signing up and filling up the site with nonsense (or worse) I have created different roles that have certain user restrictions:
- Subscriber - this is the most basic type of account that everyone who signs up will get at first. The only thing a Subscriber can do is add comments to pages and posts. However, if you are a paid-up Beckenham Running Club member then I will automatically upgrade your account to the next level, which is…
- Contributor – this level will let you create your own posts and publish them to the site. If I haven’t updated your account to allow you to publish posts then please let me know and I’ll investigate (it’s possible my membership list is not completely up to date). Beyond this level I have create the role of…
- Author – this role is intended for anyone who wants to create and maintain a page of their own (such as a league table for example). I don’t envisage there being too many people who will need to or want to maintain pages so it will likely be kept to a privileged few. If you have a burning desire to create and maintain a page then let me know and we can discuss what you have in mind.
Using the WordPress console
Once you have a user account that lets you start publishing then you simply need to login and start writing in the web-console, which should be pretty intuitive to anyone used to writing in a word-processing package such as Microsoft Word. Here are a few pointers to get you started.
How to create a new post
To create a new post from within the WordPress console click on the Add New link under the Posts menu on the left of the screen.
Once you have completed your post you can publish it straight to the site. Before you do that, there are a few options that you might want to choose from on the right of the screen.
- Add some tags - adding tags to your article will make it easier for users to find in the future. For example, if you are writing about a 10k cross country event in Dartford, you might add the tags “x-country”, “10k”, and “Dartford”.
- Select categories - putting your post into categories also helps to group articles into related topics. There are several categories that you can choose from – select as many or as few as are relevant.
- Save your work - click on Save Draft to keep your work without posting it and come back to it later.
- Preview your article - click on Preview to see what your post will look like before you publish it to the world.
When you are ready to publish simply click on the big blue Publish button on the right hand side.
How to insert images and files
You can upload images and files to the site and add them to your posts. At the top of the editing window there are four small icons next to the words “Upload/Insert” that allow you to add images, video, audio, and other file types (e.g. pdf documents) to the site.
To add an image click on the 
icon. This will launch a new window with three options at the top:
- If you click on From Computer then you can select an image from your own hard disk and upload it to the site. Click on Select Files to choose which image files to upload.
- If you click on From URL then you can select an image from another site to insert into your post.
- If you click on Media Library then you can choose from the library of existing images and files that have already been uploaded to the site. You can search for a file that you want to find by using the search box, or you can filter by date and file type to narrow down the list of visible images. When you have found the image that you wish to use in your post click on Show to see a set of options that control how the image appears in your post. For example you can choose the alignment and size of the image. When you are happy with your choice then click on Insert into Post and the image will appear in the editing window.
To add a file click on the “Add Media” button 
. You will then have the same options as you did when adding an image. To place a link to your file into your article click on “Show” next to the filename that you want to link to. Then make sure to check that the link URL field is not empty. It should contain the URL of the uploaded file – like this:
If it is empty then click on “File URL” and the empty field will be filled with the correct URL. Once you have done this, then click on
to create the link to the file in your article.
I hope you find the site beneficial and useful. If you have comments or suggestions, or if there are things that don’t seem to work they way I’ve described them here then please let me know. You can drop me a mail at site underscore admin at beckenhamrunning dot co dot uk.
Happy blogging.