Instructions and helpful hints for using Instaweb.
These files should help you with building and managing your site they will probably be amended according to member feedback. We take support very seriously at Holistic Web and view every request for support as an opportunity to improve. If you need to contact us for any reason please email us at support@holisticweb.org.
Building your Web Site.
Styling your Web Site.
Terms and Conditions.
The Registration process.
When you visit www.squareroot2.com you will be presented with two options. You can Login or register, you will only be able to view this page without logging in and you will not be able to login until you have registered.
Registration is free and once registered you will be able to build your website and it will be live on the World Wide Web straight away and you will not be asked for any payment details until you have been registered for 1 month. So there is nothing to lose in trying it out.
On the registration form you will need to complete all the fields, some of these fields will be used in building your site, some will help us to contact you should you wish to keep your site after the one month trial. The first field is the Username this deserves some consideration because it will form part of you website address, www.squareroot2.com/username you can, later on, purchase your own domain name and point it to this web address but if you are not going to buy your own domain name you will be using your Username on all literature relating to your site so let your Username say something about you. It also needs to be a single word and be unique throughout our system, our system will check your Username for uniqueness before you finish registration.
When you click the button to register our system will check all the fields are completed and the Username is not in use by anyone else. You will then be sent a password to the email address you provided on the form, you can now use this Password with your Username to Login. Keep your Username and Password save because these allow access to edit your site.
Logging in to the admin area.
You will not be able to view your site until you have logged in and created it. To do this type in your browser address bar www.squareroot2.com this will bring you to the Login or register page, if you have got your Password from the email sent to you as part of the registration process then use this to login.
Initial creation of your website.
The first time you login the system checks if you have created a website yet. If no site is found it will ask you to create your site, to do this just click 'yes' and all necessary files and tables will be created automatically, all you need to do now is create some pages.
Company Info.
Under Edit Company info you will find the information you entered in your registration form, as well as a box to enter a company tagline for the Head Section, this information is displayed on your website. You can alter this information at any time if your details change, you cannot alter this information to mislead your visitors, but if you do not want your address or telephone number to appear you can delete them here and update. However, providing real world contact information is essential if you want your visitors to trust you, which presumable they can.
Adding Pages to your site.
Along the top of the page are a series of links, the first one is Add a Page so of course to add a page to your website you should click this link. This will take you to a page which list the type of pages available to you. The pages are:
Text page; This is suitable for most web pages, it is very versatile and has many features. If you click on this you will be presented with a series of boxes for you to complete.
- Page Name: If this is to be your home page then this needs to be 'index'. If it is not your home page then you can name it what you want but I would advise giving it a name which reflects what the page is about, this helps you remember what each page is when it comes to editing and it also helps Search Engines to index your page correctly.
- Keyword List: There are not many Search Engines use the Keyword Meta Tag which this box creates but its main use is to focus the composition of the page. You should consider what words or phrases people may put into a Search Engine to find your site. Then type these words of phrases into this box where you can reference them and include them in the content of the page.
- Page Link: What you type into this box will show up in the Menu Section of your website, it will be what your visitors click on to move around your site. You should put here something meaningful so your visitors understand and this will also help with the Search engines
- Link Position: This is for the order of display in the Menu Section, so you can move page links up and down the list by changing the numbers here. If you number your pages in 10's then this may help you to organise your links when you add another page which you want to place in between two existing pages.
- Page Title: The page title does not show on the page, it is shown at the top of the Browser Window, it is shown in the bookmark lists when someone saves your page as a bookmark or favorite but perhaps most importantly it is rated highly by Search Engines this is where you go back to your keyword list and you make sure that your main keyword is in the page title, it should also be human readable because it is often displayed in search results so make it enticing but truthful.
- Page Description: This is similar to the page title in that it is not shown on the page but is very important to Search Engines so have your keywords in the page description but again make it human readable because it is also sometimes shown in search results.
- Page Heading: This will appear at the top of your page and is given extra weight by Search Engines so should include your main keyword or phrase.
- Paragraph Heading 1 - 6: The paragraph headings are very important in writing web page content because people tend to skim read pages on the internet, that is, they will quickly scan the page looking for what interest them so paragraph headings help to guide your readers to the content they want. Very rarely will visitors start at the top and read all the way to the bottom, a website is not a book. Use short descriptive headings and your visitors will love you for it.
- Pictures 1 - 5: Pictures can be added to your page but you must upload them first, you can do this from the link Add an image at the top of the page, once uploaded your pictures will show in the drop down box, you can position the picture on the left with the next paragraph wrapping round it, on the right or in the centre with the next paragraph showing beneath it. Adding a title to your picture is required for search engines and people visiting with images turned of or using a reader.
- Paragraphs 1 - 6: This is of course the main body of your web page content and you should spread your keywords about as a rule of thumb you should repeat each keyword that you have identified as being important to this page between 3 and 5 times. We have included 6 paragraphs on each page, this is not to limited you or dictate how much you should write, it is because 6 paragraphs is about as much as most visitors will read on any one page with out being overwhelmed, consider how this page feels. You do not have to use each paragraph box if you only want one or two paragraphs just leave the rest blank. If you want to use more paragraphs than 6 or want more paragraphs per heading you can do this by adding a blank line in the text box and then continue typing, this will be understood that you want to start a new paragraph. Lists can be included by pressing the Return Key to start a new line after each item.
- Display: By selecting yes or no you can decide if the page is fit to display to the public yet, this enables you to work on your page over a period of time with out displaying an incomplete page to the public.
Products/Services page; This is suitable for those who wish to offer products or services for sale from their website. It allows up to five products or services per page and can include a photograph and a Paypal or other button for each. The instructions for the Text Page above should be understood first, extra instructions follow.
- Uploading an image: Before you can include an image on your Products/Service page you will need to upload it from your computer you can do this from the link Add an image at the top of the page. On this page you can click Browse and then find the image on your computer, click open and the address of the image will appear in the box, You can give it a name and then click Upload, it may take a minute or two to upload depending on your connection speed. Once uploaded you can selected it from the Add or Edit Product/Service page.
There are limitations on the images you can use, it must be in either jpg, gif or png format and the size should not be more that 300 pixels high and 300 pixels wide, so I suggest you either pick an image which fits into those dimensions of you create an image beforehand. - Reference: This box can contain a reference number or code for your product or service.
- Title: The name of the product or service.
- Description: Speaks for itself but you can use this box in the same way as you use the paragraph boxes (see above).
- Button: The simplest way to add ecommerce to your site is to sign up for a Paypal account. There you will be able to make 'Buy Now' or 'Add to Cart' buttons, then you simply paste the code into this box. If you just want to collect card details and process the cards yourself you can do so by signing up for a free secure shopping cart at Mals. Again you can create buttons which can be posted into this box. We do not offer support for these packages but both offer good help and support sections.
Links page; Most sites have at least one links page, so they can engage in link exchange with their friends and peers. Visitors like them as an extra resource.
You will need to create your page from the 'Add Page' link, it will have the usual Meta Tags and one paragraph with heading so you can introduce your links and or request other links, it is a good idea to mention the free resources you are providing.
Once you have created your links page or pages you can then start adding links to them, do this from 'Add a Link'. Here you will be able to select which of your links pages you want it to be placed on. The link is in three parts, the first part is the address of the website you want to link to starting with the www (do not include the 'http://') if the site uses a sub-domain then there will not be www in front. The link text is the part visitors click on, it can be the title of the site or it can be the site address again. The description is where you tell your visitors what to expect if they click the link.
Spell check your page.
There is no spell checker installed with Instaweb, however, this can be remedied by installing Google Toolbar. With this installed on your computer you will then need to make it available whenever you are working on your site. If this 
is not showing on your toolbar then click on this 
on your toolbar (by toolbar I mean the set of buttons in your browsers window just above this page). Once installed you can use it to check your spelling in all the boxes in edit or create page by clicking on spell check image, if it finds words which are misspelt it will underline them, if you click on the word it will offer suggestions, if you know the word is spelt right but the spell checker does not you can add the word to the dictionary, this is useful for specific words which are not used in everyday speech.
Example styles.
There are some example style on the Edit Template page. When you first start out with Instaweb you site will be styled with the Default style sheet, you can move straight in to editing the style sheet, see below or you can quickly switch to a style which more closely fits what you are looking for and then start altering that at your leisure. It is my intention to add more example styles to this list as time goes by.
Website Sections.
Your website is arranged in sections, there is a:
Head Section; this is at the top of the page and holds the Company Name and the Tagline if set and a background image if desired.
Content Section; this is the main part of your website and it contains the bulk of the text which makes up your site.
Foot Section; here is included the Company information taken from the Edit Company Info. You can change this information but you are advised to leave as much contact information as you can as this builds trust. There is a link back to Holistic Web so visitors can raise any technical issues directly with us, you can remove this link by emailing a request to us.
Menu Section; in this section will appear the links to the different pages as you create them.
Surround section; this is an area outside your website, it can be used to good effect in framing your site content. It should be understood that your visitors will be viewing your site at different sizes depending on their monitor resolution and personal preferences so your site has been designed to fit on the smallest monitor without horizontal scrolling and without breaking the design, it will also work reasonable well on smaller mobile devices.
Background Images.
A background image can be chosen for all the sections of your website, the Head section has some special backgrounds to fit the nature of website design today, these are not suitable for other areas of your site so have not been included in those sections. You should remember that the text of your page will go above the background image so you will need to consider readability, your text properties can be easily altered. More backgrounds will be added as time goes by, if you have a background that you wish to use then send it to me as an email attachment, if you are okay with it being available to other Instaweb members then so long as it is acceptable I will include it on the Admin site, background images must be either 800px by 200px or tileable and they must be in the public domain, if it is an image you have created your self you will place it in the public domain by sending it to me (Head background images should not include identifying text). Should you require an image which should not be placed in the public domain then you should see the section Customisation.
Background Colours.
There is no need to use a background image but you should always choose a background colour even if you use a background image. To use a colour only you will have to select the "No Image use flat colour" and then select the colour from the box below, click in the box and a colour selection box will appear where you can select the colour of your liking, there are two sections to this box the colour select box, you can click anywhere in this box and there is a slide bar, which lightens or darkens the colour. If you know the hex value of the colour then you can type it directly into the first box. Hex values are written as, start with the hash symbol '#' then two numbers 0 - 9 or a - f representing 10 - 15 to represent the Red element followed by two for the Green element and a final two for the Blue element, ie, # 3b aa 60 (no spaces).
Adjusting the Header Text.
You may notice that the header text is not in the right place for the head background image, you can move the text around the Head section to suite your needs, The tagline is entered from the Edit Company Info. You can adjust the distance from the top and from the left for both Company Name and Tagline. You can move them around as much as you like within the Head Section, of course if you do not want any text in your head section then you can leave an empty box in the edit company info however removing the company name from the head will also remove it from the Foot Section. Unless you have a tool such as Jruler the placement of your text will be down to trial and error.
Font Colours.
The colour of your text can be very closely controlled you have the option for the Company Name text, the Tagline text, the Page Heading text, the Paragraph Heading text, the Paragraph text, the Menu link, hover and text, the foot link, hover and text. These are all controlled with the colour boxes described above, on all but the Company name and Tagline the current background colour is shown when you click in the box, this is to aid in a contrasting choice.
Font Styles.
There are a number of font styles or font names to choose from for the text on your site and examples are shown next to each option. It should be remembered that not everyone has all the fonts available on their computer so only the most common fonts have been included, each font selection also has the font family ie, Serif, San-Serif, Monotype, this will aid visitors computers to choose a font closely matching the font you have chosen if it is not available to them.
Font Size.
The size of your text can be changed to suit your needs, the numbers are in pixels. Please note that different browsers interpret these differently so your site may look slightly different on different computers, this is just the nature of the internet and while your site is built to xhtml strict mode and all browsers should therefore display it the same, in reality that does not happen.
Borders.
There are line borders around the different sections of your site, you cannot switch them off but you can alter their colour so if you do not want to see any borders, some of the examples are without borders, you need to match the colour of the border with the colour of the background abutting it.
Costs.
The cost of your website varies from month to month depending on the number of pages you have created or deleted during the previous month. You can edit pages as much as you like without incurring and extra costs.
- There is a standard admin charge of £2.50 per month.
- Text pages are £1.00 per month.
- Links pages are £1.00 per month.
- Product/Services pages are £1.00 per month.
So, if in your first month you create 3 text pages then your first months payment will be
£2.50 admin
£3.00 3 text page
£5.50 total for the month.
If in your second month you add a links page with 10 links then your second months payment will be
£2.50 admin
£3.00 3 text pages
£1.00 1 links page
£6.50 total for the month.
If in your third month you delete one text page and create another while expanding on your other pages and adding more links to your links page then your third months payment will be
£2.50 admin
£3.00 3 text pages
£1.00 1 links page
£6.50 total for the month.
When to pay.
Payment is expected one calender month after registration and monthly thereafter, you will be charged according to the number and type of pages existing on that day wether displayed or not plus the administration charge. You will not be charged for any pages created and then deleted before your payment date. If your registration date falls on the 31st of a month your payment will become due on the 30th of any months not containing 31 days similar arrangements will be made for February 28th 29th.
How to pay.
Different arrangements can be made, the safest method is to store your credit or debit card details with us and then the correct amounts will be collected automatically at the right time (see above). You can opt to make your own payments by either BACS Transfer or Paypal link sent via email, however with these methods you are responsible for making the payment on time and risk losing your site and all its content. If a request is made we may be able to adjust the payment date to one which suites your budgeting cash flow.
Getting Help.
Email support is included free but I ask that you read through these help files first before asking for help. support@holisticweb.org please quote your username in any emails you send.
Domain Names.
The web address of your website is www.squareroot2.com/username. This can be used as is or you can purchase a domain name ie, www.yourname.com there are many places to purchase domain names some better than others but you will need to make sure that web forwarding is included in the fee otherwise you may find you have to pay extra. Web forwarding is how you will use your domain name for your Instaweb site, you select web forwarding and then enter http://www.squareroot2.com/username then when anyone types in your domain name they will be sent to directly to your website.
You are free to use any domain seller you wish or you can ask us to purchase a domain name on your behalf thus ensuring you do not fall into any traps and waste your money and or a valuable domain name I have had many clients who have unfortunately bought domains from the wrong place and it has been a struggle getting their domain name back for them, this is not to scare you, there are many reputable domain registers out there, it is just forewarned is forearmed if you wish us to purchase for you then email me with name suggestions and I will get back to you with availability and pricing. support@holisticweb.org
Unacceptable Content.
What you put on your website is up to you but you may be asked to alter it if you fall into any of the following categories:
- Promotion of sexual, racial or gender discrimination.
- Promotion of violent or terrorist activities.
- Selling of prohibited substances; drugs, prescription or otherwise, stolen property including identity.
- Pornographic images particularly children. Some adult nude shots if tastefully done may be acceptable.
- Using your site to scam the public in anyway.
- In short if you are decent and law abiding you have nothing to fear, if you are not then I suggest you go somewhere else.
All instances shall be at my discretion, I am sorry if that sounds judgemental but that is the way it has to be. You will always be given the opportunity to respond and enter in to dialogue before and amendments are forced on you.
Copyright.
Despite the widespread abuse of copyright laws on the internet, the law is still the law and you are advised to respect it. The moment you create a website you take on the role of a Publisher so if you are not sure of the copyright laws I suggest you look them up. A good article on copyright
Disputes.
Instaweb is an application written by and for Holistic Web. Holistic Web has a simple business model Fairness if at anytime you feel we are stepping outside that model let me know. You and I are not bound by any terms set out here we are bound by the essence of those terms and that essence is bound by the principle of fairness, loopholes and small print have no place at Holistic Web.
Customisation.
We took great care over this application in making it as versatile as we could while making sure that the websites were well coded and robust. However, it is clear that some of you will want some elements which are not included in the basic deal, it is to these that we offer customization. We can make changes to the layout of your site and add extra features at an extra cost of course. Simply email me your request and we can come to some arrangement.