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Channels

A channel is an item your users can include on their My Pages. These items can include internal and external news channels, tools such as weather gizmos and search engines, or school discussions. What users place on their My Page is determined by each individual user; however, what they have as available options is determined primarily by the system administrator.

Internal News Channels

Internal news channels are just that: My Website pages that have been made accessible by the owner of the Website. Not all user web sites will be accessible: the owner of the Website must designate their Website as a news channel, otherwise, it will not be an available channel option.

Adding a Site to the Internal News Channels

1. Go to your My Website and click the Enable Editing button at the bottom of the page.

2. Select the Edit button next to the name of your page (category) in the Location Tree.

3. Under Create a news channel for this category?, select the Yes option button.

4. Click Save. This new channel will be available to add to users' My Pages.

To add another user's site to the Internal News Channels:

1. Click Users in the Manage... drop-down box.

2. Click the Portal link next to the user's name you want to add.

3. Make sure you are in Edit mode.

4. On the user's My Website page, click the Edit button in the Location Tree, next to the user's name.

5. Under Create a news channel for this category?, select the Yes option button.

6. Click Save. This new channel will be available to add to users' My Pages.

Editing an Internal News Channel

1. Select Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click Internal News Channels.

3. On the Internal News Channel listing, click the Edit button next to the news channel you want to edit.

4. On the Customizing Channel page, make any required changes in any of the fields and click Save.

Deleting an Internal News Channel

1. Select Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click Internal News Channels.

3. Click the X next to the news channel link you want to delete.

External News Channels

External News Channels are external web sites you want to include in your list of channels.

Creating an External News Channel

1. Select Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click External News Channels. Channels are divided into categories. You must have at least one category in which to put your channels:

   1. To add a category, click Add a Category.

   2. Enter the name of the category you want to create and click Create. Your new category will be displayed under the Categories section.

3. Click Add a Channel.

4. Enter all the required information and click Create. This new channel will be available to add to users' My Pages.

Editing an External News Channel

1. Select Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click External News Channels.

3. Click the Edit button next to the channel you wish to edit.

4. On the Customizing Channel page, edit the information in the fields and click Save.

Deleting an External News Channel

1. Select Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click External New Channels.

3. Click the button next to the channel you wish to delete.

Discussion Channels

Discussion channels are discussions created by site users. Users can add the discussions that most interest them to their My Page.

Note: Only discussions that have no restricted viewing permissions are available to put on users' My Page.

1. To view the available discussions, click Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click Discussion Channels. This lists all available discussion channels.

As administrator, you have the ability to edit, change permissions, copy and paste, and delete public discussions (discussions that have no permission restrictions).

Editing a Discussion Channel

1. From the Discussion Channel listing, click the Edit button for the discussion you want to edit.

2. On the Customizing Discussion form, make any necessary changes and click Save.

Changing Discussion Channel Permissions

1. From the Discussion Channel listing, click the button next to the discussion on which you would like to change permissions.

2. If you want to change the owner of the page, click Change Owner on the right-hand side of the page. Otherwise, skip to Step 3.

   1. On the Changing Owner form, enter enough information to search for the person to which you want to assign ownership; click Search. A list of matching names is returned. (If you want to return all users, put an asterisk (*) in one of the search fields, and click Search.)

   2. From the list of names, select the person to whom you want to assign membership and click Save.

3. On the Editing Permissions form, under the Minimum Permissions section, select a level of permission for each of the drop-down boxes:

   • View gives permission to view the page.

   • Post gives permission to post a message to the discussion.

   • Edit gives permission to change content on the page.

   • Delete and Cut gives permission to remove items from the page.

   • Change Permissions gives permission to change permissions for this page.

   • Moderate selects the discussion moderator (if the discussion is not moderated, this drop-down box will not be displayed).

4. In the Add a Group box, select any groups from the Group drop-down box to which you want to give permission. For more information on groups, see My Groups.

5. If you wish to give a specific person permission to the discussion, enter enough information in the search fields in the Search and Add Members section, and click Search. (If you want to return all users, put an asterisk (*) in one of the search fields, and click Search.)

6. From the list of names returned on the search, select the person to whom you want to give permission to the discussion; you can select more than one person at a time. Click the Save button.

7. After changing all the required information on the Editing Permissions form, click the Save Changes button.

Copying and Pasting a Discussion Channel

Unlike all the other areas of the Metadot Portal, when you click the Cut button, you do not actually remove it from the page: it makes a copy of it and sends it to your clipboard. From there you may add it to any category or subcategory in the Website (including an individual user's My Website page).

1. From the Discussion Channel listing, click the button next to the discussion you want to copy and place in your clipboard at the bottom of the page.

2. Go to the page where you want to place the information and select the item from your clipboard; click the Paste button. This places it on the page in the correct text area.

Deleting a Discussion Channel

From the Discussion Channel listing, click the button next to the discussion you want to delete.

Online Gizmo Tools

The options available for gizmo tools are limited to changing name, updating URLs, and deleting the gizmo completely. The base gizmo code is not accessible through the portal interface.

1. To view the available gizmo tools, click Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click Gizmo Tools. Currently, the available Gizmo tools are:

   • Stock Quotes
   • Weather Tool
   • Web Monitor

Editing Gizmo Information

1. From the Gizmo Tools listing, click the Edit button.
2. Update any information on the Customizing Channel form and click Save.

Viewing Gizmo Tools

   To see what a gizmo will look like on a user's My Page, click the gizmo name in the Gizmo Tools listing.

Deleting Gizmo Tools

Deleting a gizmo tool makes it unavailable to your users.

   From the Gizmo Tools listing, click the button next to the gizmo you want to delete.

General Channel Information

There are other options available within the Manage... Channels area. These options can also be found by clicking My Page and then the Configure link.

Adding Email/Pager/ICQ Notification for a News Channel

Note: You must have the proper information entered in your Profile for the Email, Pager, and ICQ fields for these options to work.

1. Select Channels from the Manage... drop-down list.

2. Click the channel type of the channel you want to receive notification.

3. On the Channel listing, click the news channel link you want to add.

4. Under Email Subscription NewsChannel: select the method of update you prefer:

• Email: None, Daily, Weekly, ASAP

• Pagers
  You may also use this option to send text message updates to your cell phone. For either case, you must have the proper information entered in your Profile under Pager Address for this option to work.

5. ICQ

Adding a News Channel to Your My Page

1. Go to your My Page and click the Configure button.

2. Click Internal News.

3. Select the option button next to the internal news channel you want to add to your My Page.

4. Click Back to My Page. Your new selection should display on your My Page.

 
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