Writing a simple newsitem is very easy. We made the forms to have faster updates, and also easier for us and for you. To write a simple newsitem you have to do only five things: write your name, write your email, select a topic, write a title and write text for a newsitem. But if you want you can make it a little more advanced. It is explained below.
The following subjects are available:
Authors name:
First of all you have to set-up is your name. Just write down your normal name please.
E-mail:
You have to provide your email, so we can contact you in case something went wrong for example.
Subject:
With this info you can select the subject of your newsitem, first of all, if it is game-news, league-news or ISRN-projects-news, and for which league/game/site. This information is very important. It will be used in front of the title of the newsitem, and games-news will appear in the games-section, and a league like LFRS or GP3GL will have the news on that page. Make sure you select the right subject. If your game/league/site isn't listed, please read below how to use 'Not in list'.
Not in list:
You don't have to fill this in if you have found your subject in the subjects-lists. If it wasn't there, you can specify your subject here, combined with the selecting-form (Section:) next to this one, to specify if it's a League, Game or Project. Use this text-block to write down the name of your league/game. Do not use your teamname, since it will not go to the right Leagues-page (LFRS or GP3GL WC). Write down something like this: 'GP3GL WC' or 'LFRS GP3'.
Section:
You have to chose this only when there was not available in the Subjects-menu. Besides the name of the league or game in the previous text-box, you have to chose if it belongs on the Leagues-page, Games-page or Projects-page. The Projects-page is for ISRN-projects.
Title:
The title will be the title of your article, and it will be used on the pages to link to this article. A very important thing. Make your title as good as possible, not too long, and try to give a small preview to the article. You cannot use '!' or '.' . You don't have to include the name of the league or game, you have specified this above.
Text:
And now the most important part. The text! It's very easy. Start writing on top of the item. You can write plain text. If you use an 'enter' our form will be able to see that. You don't have to use html-codes in this form, they are ignored. Just write your text, dont forget to 'enter' sometimes, it looks better. Up till here you have had a very simple item. Easy and fast. If you would like to make some more complicated stuff, continue below.
Hyperlink:
There are two ways to include a hyperlink. At first, the easy way. When you want to link to a site, you have to write
-URL1- for the first link, -URL2- for the second and -URL3- for the third. There are only three URLS available for this. When you have done this, you have to select totally below, at 'URL input' the link in the select-box. If your link is not there, choose 'Not in list' and then go to the two boxes at the right side. Write down the complete URL (with http://) in the box. In the box with 'Name:' You have to write down the name of the link. If you use this way, it's quite easy to do. The script will put it automatically right in the item.
The second way is maybe a little bit more difficult, but if you know it, it can be easy. Because this form doesn't work with html-codes, other codes for the script have to be used. We have chosen three codes to use: -sl-, -sn- and -el-. You can translate these names into sl = start link, sn = start name and el = end link. A hyerplink should look like this now:
-sl-http://www.sim-racing.net-sn-ISRN Sim-racing.net-el-
Replace the URL of http://www.sim-racing.net with the one of your site, and replace the name with the name of your site. Remember to use 'http://'. You can immediately write on after the link.
Bold:
Writing a text-part in bold have also codes. As said above, we cannot use the normal html-codes. For writing bold you have to use the codes -sb- and -eb-. You can translate these codes: sb = start bold and eb = end bold. A text in bold should look like this:
-sb-This text will be bold-eb-
Italic:
Same for italic as for bold. There are codes for them, they are -si- and -ei-, to be translated to 'start italic' and 'end italic'. A text in italic should look like this:
-si-This text will be italic-ei-
Underline:
Like italic and bold: underline. The codes are -su- and -eu-, to be translated to 'start underline' and 'end underline'. An underlined text should look like this:
-su-This text will be underlined-eu-
Image:
An image works a bit like a hyperlink. It has two options. At first, the easy way. When you want to link to a site, you have to write -IMAGE1- for the first link, -IMAGE2- for the second up till 5 images (-IMAGE5-). When you have done this, you have to select below, at 'Images input' the image you like in the select-box. If your image is not there, choose 'Not in list' and then go to the box at the right side. Write down the complete URL (with http://) of the image in the box. This image should be at your own site for example. Make sure it's really there please.
The second way is maybe a little bit more difficult, but if you know it, it can be easy. The codes to use are: -sm- and -em-. You can translate these names into sm = start iMage, em = end iMage. The image link should look like this now:
-sm-http://www.sim-racing.net/pics/heavyrain.jpg-em-
Related Links:
With Related Links you can include a link to a website that is related to the topic. The big sites are listed in the list, so you can select very easily your site. You can choose up to five related links. It's very easy to do with this, you only have to choose the link and it is done. But if the link isn't listed, choose 'Not in list'. Then go to the textbox on the right, write down the link (include http://) and in the Name-box write down the name of the site. Very easy, shouldn't be a problem. If the hyperlink is a problem for you to include in the item, you should choose your link here.
Post item:
When you have finished your item, you can post your item to the site. The item will be put in our Approve-list in a queue. If the item is okay (and without mistakes) we will upload it to our site. We have also the possibility to correct your mistakes, so don't worry if it is your first time. You can see if your item is good first, with the 'Preview NewsItem'-option. If something went wrong you have to change some codes. You can make it as difficult to yourself as you want. Use the advanced options only when you think you can control them.
Reset Form:
Be careful with this button! When pushing on this button, all your work will be wasted. So only touch it when you want to reset the form. Be careful. Make sure you push on the right or left button.
Preview NewsItem:
With this option you can see how your newsitem will look like. Don't worry, you can return to the form and all codes will be there. It's a nice feature to check if everything went fine. If not, you can correct it. Especially in the beginning, you should use this feature. Also nice to play with the options and find out how it works.
We hope this How-to is easy to understand. But remember, when it all becomes too difficult, you can just stay to easy plain text. The newsitem won't look very advanced, but the news is easy to read. And our forms will put everything into the right design, so it will look good. If you have questions about this form, send them to jonne@sim-racing.net. Good luck!!!
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