FAQs

The Text Block element can be used to add a YouTube video to your page. Begin by uploading your video to YouTube. Once the video has been uploaded, view the page for the video, then click the "Share" link, located below the video itself.

Next, click the "Embed" option in the pop-up window.

This will bring up a new window, which contains the embed code. Click the "Copy" button in the lower right corner to copy the embed code.

Once you have the embed code copied, return to The Digital Bell and edit the content of the page you wish to add the video to. Next, add a new Text Block Group to the page by clicking the "Text Block" link, under the "Add Content" heading in the right margin. After clicking the link, a new Text Block group will appear on your page.

If necessary, position your new Text Block group by clicking the "four arrows" icon in the upper left hand corner, and dragging the group to your preferred position on the page. If your page has a custom layout, use the section button, located under the "remove" link, to choose a page section.

Once you have positioned your Text Block group, click the "+New Text Block" button on the bottom of the group to bring up the editing window. In the editing window, click the "Edit HTML Source" button ("HTML" icon), located on the far right hand side of the third row of the WYSIWYG toolbar. Paste in the embed code you copied earlier, then click the "Update" button.

You should now see the video within the Text Block. Finally, click the "Submit" button to add the video to the page.

The steps below explain how to increase the number of slides on the homepage. 

1. Begin by clicking the "Pages" tab, located in the menu at the top of any Digital Bell page. This will bring you to a list of the site's pages.

2. Here, locate the page titled "Home," and click the Edit button (pencil icon) to the left of the title. This will bring you to the Home page's content editor.

3. Here, locate the "Post Type Group" element (with the "News" or "School News" post type) near the top of the left side of the editor. Click the "Settings" button on the top right of the "Post Type Group." This will bring you to the Settings panel.

4. In the first tab (Display Options), locate the "Items to Display" option, and click to select the new number of slides (10, 15, etc.).

5. Finally, click the "Submit" button at the bottom of the Settings panel to complete the process.

After logging into The Digital Bell, locate the "My Profile" section on your Dashboard. In this section, click the "Edit your Profile" link. This will bring you to the Profile editor. 

Here, you can add or update your information using the provided fields (First Name, Last Name Email, etc.). Once finished, click the "Submit" button. 

For users that wish to add a link to an external page (separate from the internal Profile page linked from your name), a URL can be entered in the "Website" field (ex. https://www.digitalbellcms.com). This link will automatically be added wherever your profile is displayed.

Some Digital Bell pages include a list of links by default, such as your school's home page. The following steps explain how to add additional links to the list:

1. After logging into The Digital Bell, click the link labeled "Pages," located in the menu at the top of the page.

2. From the list of pages, locate or search for the page that contains the list. Once you have found the appropriate page, click the Edit button (pencil icon) to the left of the page title. This will bring you to the page's content editor.

3. In the content editor, scroll down until you find the "Link Group" content element. Next, click the button labeled "+New Link," located at the bottom of the group.

4. Use the "Add Link" form to enter your title and add the URL in their respective fields. The "Description" field can be left blank, unless you would like additional information to appear under the link. Note, if you are linking to another page from your Digital Bell site, set the "External" option to "No."

5. Once you have entered the information for your link, click the "Submit" button to add it to the list.

If you have requested a blog, or a section to display daily messages on your page, the following steps will explain how to create new blog posts/messages. If you would like to add a blog to your any of your pages, contact support@gslsolutions.com and let us know which page you would like the blog added to.

1. After logging into The Digital Bell, click the link labeled "Posts" in the menu at the top of the page. Clicking this link will take you to your Post Type directory.

2. In the directory, locate the Post Type for your blog. This Post Type will usually be titled "(Last Name) Posts" or "(Last Name) Blog." Once you have located the correct Post Type, click the "Add new post" link, located under the Post Type's heading. Clicking this link will bring you to the post creation form.

3. In the post creation form, title your post, then select the creation/publication date. The body of your post will be entered into the "Content" field.

4. Once you have added the post's content, click the "Submit" button to add the post to your page.

Before adding a .pdf file to your page, you must first upload it to your warehouse. To upload a .pdf to the warehouse, mouse over the "Warehouse" link, located in the menu at the top of your Digital Bell Dashboard, to create a drop-down menu. In the drop-down menu, mouse over the "Files" link to create a sub-menu, then click on the "Documents" link.

On the Documents page, click the "Add new Document" link, located in the right margin. Clicking this link will bring you to the Upload form. In the Upload form, click the "Upload Files" button, then select the appropriate .pdf from your computer's hard drive. Once the upload is complete, the file will be available in your Warehouse.

After the file has been uploaded, edit the content of the page you wish to add the .pdf to. To edit the content of a page, click the "Pages" link, located in the top menu of your Digital Bell Dashboard. This will bring you to a list of your pages. Next, locate the appropriate page from the list, then click the Edit button (pencil icon) to the left of the page title. Clicking the Edit button will take you to the content editor.

In the content editor, click the "Files" link, located under the "Add Content" heading in the right margin. This will add a "File Group" to your page. The "File Group" will be added to the bottom of your page, by default. To reposition it, mouse over the group, then click the "four arrows" icon in the upper left corner and drag the group to your preferred position on the page. To add a title to the file group, such as "Weekly Flyer," click the "Click here to add a group title" link.

To add the .pdf to the "File Group," click the "+Existing Files" button, located on the bottom of the new "File Group." A list of your files will then be displayed. After locating the .pdf on the list, click the "arrow" icon, to the right of the file name, to select it. Once the .pdf has been selected, click the "Submit" button to add the .pdf to your "File Group." This step can be repeated to add multiple files to your file group. To remove a file, mouse over the indvidual file and click the red "minus sign" icon.

On your public page, the "File Group" will display a link to your .pdf file. When a visitor clicks the link, the contents of the .pdf will be displayed on a new page.

Posts can be deactivated with the following steps. This removes the post from the public-facing website, while keeping it in Digital Bell.

1. Begin by mousing over the "Posts" tab at the top of any Digital Bell page. In the drop-down menu, click the title of the appropriate Post Type (ex. News). This will bring you to a list of the posts from the selected Post Type.

2. Next, click the Properties button (gear icon) to the left of the post's title. This will bring you to the properties editor.

3. Here, set the "Is Active" option to "No" and click the "Submit" button to save your changes.

If you have a post element on a page you can make it show as a Carousel on a page. 

1. Click on the Settings of the element for the Post Type Group you want to change.
2. Under the Layout option find and select Carousel (if this is not available you will need to request that it be added to the Node settings for Post type layouts).
3. After selecting carousel, click on Variables while still in the settings of the Post Type Group. You will see Custom Variables. If you want to show 1 or multiple carousel windows enter "ShowNum = 1". If you want the Carousel to auto play add and Item and enter "AutoPlay = True".
4. Click submit and this will enable the Carousel on the page you are working on.

Your calendar includes a button to view the events for the month in an agenda-style "List" view. By default the list is displayed in chronological order, with the oldest events appearing first. The order in which your events are sorted can be changed with the following steps:

1. After logging into the Digital Bell, click the "Pages" link, located in the top menu on your Dashboard.

2. On the list of pages, locate or search for the page with the calendar, then click the Edit button (pencil icon) to the left of the page title.

3. In the page content editor, locate the Event Type Group that displays the calendar, then click the "Settings" link in the blue "Post Type Group" heading.

4. In the settings menu, scroll down to the "Sort Order" option. Select Ascending (Chronological) or Descending (Reverse-chronological), then click the "Submit" button to update the list.

You can add a daily countdown timer to your page with a customizable script. To add the script to your page, first create a new Text Block, then use the WYSIWYG toolbar to open the "HTML Source" window. This is opened by clicking the button labeled "HTML" on the far right of the toolbar's third row.

Once you have opened the window, paste in the following script:

<style><!--
#countdownContainer{
color: blue; /* use web-standard colors (http://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_names.asp), hex or rgb values */
font-size: 24px;
font-weight: bold; /* normal|bold|bolder|lighter */
}
--></style>
<script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
targetDate = new Date('2016-03-01'); /* yyyy-mm-dd */
additionalText = ' days remaining until the event!'; /* can be left blank if you don't want extra text */

/* don't modify anything below this line */
dateNow = new Date();
dateDiff = targetDate - dateNow;
if(dateDiff <= 0){
daysRemaining = 0;
}else{
daysRemaining = Math.ceil(dateDiff / (24*60*60*1000));
}

daysRemainingText = daysRemaining.toString();
jQuery('#countdownContainer').html(daysRemainingText + additionalText);
});
// ]]></script>
<div id="countdownContainer">0</div>

The script above contains comments, encolsed by the "/*" and "*/" characters. The comments explain how to edit the script to change the color, target date, and custom text. Once you have finished modifying the code, click the "Update" button to add the counter to your Text Block, then click the "Submit" button to complete the process. Your new counter will now be displayed on your public page. 

A subpage's link can be added to the "Related" section of the parent page by changing its "Show in Menus" setting. Note, the page you would like to add must be a subpage of the page where you would like its link to appear - links cannot be added to "Related" sections manually. The following steps explain the process:

1. After logging into The Digital Bell, click the "Pages" link, in the menu at the top of the Dashboard. This will bring you to a list of the existing pages.

2. Locate the subpage you wish to add to the sidebar menu, then click the "Properties" button (gear icon) to the left of the title. This will bring you to the page properties editor.

3. In the properties editor, locate the "Show in Menus" option, then set the radio button to "Yes." After changing the setting, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Submit" button to complete the process. A link to the subpage should now be visible in the parent page's sidebar.

Begin by uploading the video to YouTube, if it has not yet been uploaded. Next, view the video on youtube.com and copy the video's URL from your browser's address bar (ex. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPuvf2lzZMY). Next, visit Digital Bell and begin creating a new post.

On the "Add Post" form, click on the "YouTube" section to expand it. Enter the copied URL in the "Video URL" field and continue updating the post as necessary. Once published, the video will be linked to the post. Posts that appear in the homepage carousel/slideshow will include a "play" button, allowing visitors to watch the video.

The Digital Bell's online forms allow you to set up "Form Actions" that will automatically send email messages, such as the Notification Email and Thank You Email actions. The "Site Settings" section includes an option that will allow you to choose the email address that these messages are sent from, also known as the "From Address."

Also, if you receive an error message related to the Notification Email upon submitting your form, it is likely that the "From Address" has not been set, and entering an email address will resolve the error. The steps below explain how to set up, or select a new "From Address." Note, Website Administrator access is required to complete these steps.

1. After logging into The Digital Bell, mouse over the "Tools" tab (located in the menu at the top of any Digital Bell page), and click the "Site Settings" link. This will bring you to the main Site Settings page.

2. On this page, the individual settings are listed in the right sidebar, under the "Modify Settings" heading. Here, click the "Online Forms" link.

3. Next, locate the "Online Forms From" field, and enter the appropriate email address. Finally, click the "Submit" button to save your changes and complete the process.