Contribute!

This is a quick guide for anyone who wants to contribute towards the Enfield Gamers website. Possible topics include news, reviews of gaming products, battle reports, showing off your latest painted models, links to interesting websites… pretty much anything gaming related!

The process for contributing is very straight-forward. It may seem daunting at first but if you can use a forum, you can most definitely post articles to EnfieldGamers.co.uk.

1. Signing Up.

The first step is to sign up for the website. This can be accessed from the main page.

Click on the "Register" link to begin.

Click on the "Register" link to begin.

You’ll then be presented with this screen:

Fill in your details.

Fill in your details and click "Register".

You may see a quick maths test here. No, it’s not meant as an IQ test – it’s simply to stop evil spambots from the planet Spamatron from signing up.

You should receive an e-mail. Click on the link contained within to activate your account.

You should receive an e-mail. Click on the link contained within to activate your account.

If you don’t receive an e-mail within 10 minutes, give me a shout on the forums.

Once you've activated your account, you can then change your profile.

Once you've activated your account, you can then change your profile.

And that’s the registration done. Your account will default to “subscriber”. This means that you can’t post just yet. I’ll need upgrade your account to “author” first. Give me a shout on the forums or via e-mail if I don’t do this within 24 hours.

One the next page we’ll discuss actually posting.

2. Start Posting

Now that registration is complete, you can start contributing to the site. Here’s how…

Click on the "log in" link to, well, log in!

Click on the "log in" link to, well, log in!

You should then be presented with the following screen:

Log in with the details you provided earlier.

Log in with the details you provided earlier.

You can still remember your details, right?

This all looks a bit complicated but you can ignore most of it. Click on "Posts" to continue.

This all looks a bit complicated but you can ignore most of it. Click on "Posts" to continue.

You can also click on the little down arrow next to “Posts” if you lile.

Click on "Add new" to continue.

Click on "Add new" to continue.

From this screen, you can also manage your previous posts. This allows you to edit mistakes and add more information.

This is the "business" screen and where you create your post.

This is the "business" screen and where you create your post.

This all looks complicated but it isn’t. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  1. Give your post a title, preferably something unique and not too long.
  2. Here’s where your actual post goes. It gives you the usual options like Bold, Italics, numbered lists, text alignment, adding links, etc. There’s even a spell checker! The Full Screen option is useful if you want a bigger writing area.
  3. Add some tags to allow people to search for your post easier. For example, if you wrote a match report about a Blood Bowl game you played, you might add “Blood Bowl, battle report”. Don’t forget to press the “Add” button once you’re done!
  4. Choose a category for the post.
  5. Press the “Publish” button once you’re happy.

Finally, we’ll look at adding images to your posts…

3. Adding Images

Adding images to your posts is strongly recommended. It makes things look so much more interesting and eye-catching. Here’s how…

Click on this tiny rectangle to start.
Click on this tiny rectangle to start.

The add image functionality is accessed from the main posting page.

Click on the "Select Files" button.
Click on the button to continue.

Existing images can be found in the gallery and media library.

Here's the main add image page.
Here’s the main add image page.

Here’s all the steps:

  1. Add a title, again something unique but short.
  2. Add a caption, as seen on the images on this page.
  3. Clicking on “File URL” will link the image to the larger, original version of the image. Useful.
  4. Choose the alignment and size. Alignment is up to you. Text can snake around the image if you wish. Size recommendations are “Thumbnail” for multiple images and “Medium” for flavour images added to post to make them look more interesting.
  5. Click on “Insert Into Post” to finish.
You will then be taken back to the add post screen.
You will then be taken back to the add post screen.

And that’s it. Let’s see the final result…

4. The Final Result

So after all that work, here’s what it should look like:

You'll get confirmation that your post has been successfully uploaded.
You’ll get confirmation that your post has been successfully uploaded.

This little bar shows the confirmation. Click on the link or go back to the main site to see your article.

And there's your post in all its glory!
And there’s your post in all its glory!

Simple, huh? ;)