Site setup

The group's public site: its look, its pages and their sections, its contact details, how search engines find it, and its own domain. Saving does not publish; “Publish the site” publishes the look and the pages together.

What it is for

Each group has a public site with its address in SchoolOS, and it can run on the group's own domain too. Here the site is set up, its design and colour chosen, its pages built from sections, and its contact details written. What you change in the look, the pages and the sections stays a draft until you press “Publish the site”: you write and check, then publish when it is ready.

Who uses it

The page opens for whoever holds “View the website”, to look only, or “Manage the website”, to work in it. In the built-in roles: Owner, Manager. They are granted to any role under Settings → Roles and permissions.

Step by step

1. For a new site, press “Set up the site”: the home page is made, with a place in the menu for each page SchoolOS offers.
2. In “The look”, choose the design and the main colour, and the second colour if the design uses one, then press “Save the look”. If the design you picked would hide something you wrote (a section with content, or a filled field it does not show), it asks “Change the design?” and lists the sections and fields that will not show; nothing is deleted, and the content comes back if you return to the previous design. Press “Change the design” to go on or “Cancel” to stay. It does not ask when the new design hides nothing, or when only the colour changed.
3. In “Pages and sections” the pages are named in one strip, the home page first and open when you arrive. Press the name of the page you want: the heading then reads “Editing: the page's name” and every section says which page it is on; a hero section on any page but the home page says so in words: “Hero on page: …”. Then pick a section from the list under the page and press “Add a section”, then open it, fill its fields and press “Save the section”. The arrows move it up or down, the eye hides or shows it, the bin removes it. For a new page, type its title and press “Add a page”.
4. To change the page itself, press “Page settings” beside “Editing: …”: its title, whether it is “In the menu” and its place there (a whole number, the smaller first), the “Name in the trail” if the breadcrumb trail above it should show a shorter name than its title, the “Search title” and “Search description” that show in a search result, and “Hide from search engines” if you do not want it found there. The page's address never changes, whatever you do to its title, and the home page has the same settings. What you change here is a draft until “Publish the site”.
5. The “Redirects” card keeps an old address working after you moved a page: press “New redirect”, write in “From” the old path on your site (it starts with /, like /old-page) and in “To” another path or a full address starting with https://, choose “Permanent (301)” if the page moved for good or “Temporary (302)” if it is for now, then press “Add the redirect”. A redirect works only for an address no published page answers: if the old path still has a published page, that page shows. It works as soon as it is added; it does not wait for “Publish the site”. The bin on a redirect's row removes it and its path is free again; redirects are listed fifty to a page, with the ‹ › buttons.
6. Picture fields (the main section's background, the about image, a gallery's pictures, the sharing image) are uploaded, never typed as a link: press “Choose a picture” and pick a JPEG, PNG or WebP picture of up to 8 MB. It is shrunk in your browser to 1920 px as a WebP before it is uploaded, then its preview shows; “Change” replaces it and “Remove” empties the field. Then save the section as usual.
7. Fill “Contact details” and press “Save” in the bar under it, then “Being found by search engines” and press “Save the search settings”. Both reach visitors as soon as they are saved. The WhatsApp number is written as you usually write it, with the country code or without, and is turned into an international number so the WhatsApp button works; if it is not a valid mobile number the button does not show.
8. Press “Publish the site” in the toolbar, or in the bar that stays at the foot of the page while you have unpublished changes, when the pages are ready; “Save the section” saves it to the draft only. Then press “Open the site” to see it as a visitor does.
9. To close the site without deleting anything, press “Switch the site off”; to bring it back, “Switch the site on”.
10. For the group's own domain (such as www.example.com): type it in the “Own domain” card, leave “With its other form” ticked to add it with and without www, and press “Add the domain”. Then add the two records shown under it at the domain's provider (where it was bought), and press “Check now”. Beside each record's name and value is a copy button, so you do not type the long value by hand.
11. There is no preview of the draft yet: what you change in the look, the pages and the sections shows on the public site after “Publish the site”, so publish and then press “Open the site”.

How it works

The look, the pages and the sections are saved as a draft, and visitors do not see them until “Publish the site”, which publishes them all at once; “Unpublished changes” shows at the top while the draft differs from what visitors see. The contact details and the search settings reach visitors as soon as they are saved, so a wrong number is fixed at once. The site is live once the checklist in the address card is done: the group's subscription is in good standing, the site has been published at least once, the published home page shows at least one section, and the site is switched on, then any step SchoolOS adds. The first step not done is the reason written in the card, with a link under it to its page when that is elsewhere (the verification documents, say), and a closed site tells its visitor the page does not exist, without naming the group. A hidden section is kept and not published. A removed section or page keeps its content and stays visible to visitors until the next publish; the home page cannot be removed, and only the pages you added can be. A new page's address on the site is made once from its title and never changes after. Some sections show records from SchoolOS itself, so they need no typing, and a section marked “No longer available” is no longer offered by SchoolOS and is not published. The “Missing” and “Recommended” marks on fields are advice; they never stop a publish. Changing the design deletes nothing. The main colour is the colour under “The group's branding” too: the system changes with it at once, and the site at the next publish. The site's language is the group's language. Every save and publish is written to the action log by its field names, not their text. An uploaded picture has its camera data (where, when, the device) taken out before it is kept, and is written to the action log by its kind and size, never its file name; a picture uploaded and never saved with a section is deleted after a day. An earlier value that was a link stays shown until it is changed. Only someone holding “Manage the website” changes the site. An own domain needs two records: a TXT record proving the domain is the group's, and a record pointing it at the site (a CNAME for a name such as www, an A record for the bare domain); a domain with an IPv6 address (an AAAA record) does not work. It stays “Waiting to be verified” until both are right, then goes “Live”. The system checks the domains every night, “Check now” works any time, and the reason for any problem is written under the domain. When a domain goes live, or a live one stops pointing at the site, whoever holds “Manage the website” is told in the bell; one that stays broken three nights in a row is “Paused”, and comes back once its records are fixed. More than one domain can be added: the first is the “Primary domain”, changed with “Make it the main one”. Once the primary domain is live, the site's SchoolOS address redirects to it and the security certificate is issued by itself; a domain not live yet shows the visitor “This domain is being connected”. The “Contact us” form on a new domain starts taking messages within minutes, and until then tells the visitor it starts shortly. A domain used by another site in SchoolOS cannot be added here. Removing a domain stops the site answering on it, sends it back to its SchoolOS address, and frees the domain for others.

On the page

• The site's state (live, unpublished changes, or closed), “Open the site”, “Publish the site”, and “Switch the site off” or “Switch the site on”.
• The site's address, whether it is live or why it is closed, and the checklist: what is done and what is left. A step left whose page is elsewhere is a link to it.
• The design and the main colour. Switching to a design that would hide something you wrote asks first and lists what will not show; nothing is deleted.
• The pages in one strip, the home page first. Press a page's name to edit it: the heading reads “Editing: …” and every section says its page, and “Page settings” is for its title, its menu place and how search engines treat it.
• Redirects: an old address that keeps working after a page moved. “New redirect” adds one, the bin removes it, fifty to a page.
• “Save” for the contact details: they reach visitors at once. The look and the pages wait for “Publish the site”.
• The own domain: add it, then the two records at the domain's provider (each name and value has a copy button), then “Check now”.

Questions

I saved and visitors see nothing.

The look, the pages and the sections wait for “Publish the site”. If it is published, look at the address card at the top: the first step not done in its list is why the site is closed.

I fixed the phone number. Do I publish the site?

No. The contact details and the search settings reach visitors as soon as they are saved.

I uploaded the main section's picture and it is not on my home page.

Look at the heading above the sections: “Editing: …” names the page you are on, and it may be a page other than the home page. Press “Home page” in the strip of pages and open the hero section there.

What does “Unpublished changes” mean?

Something in the look, the pages or the sections changed since the last publish, and visitors do not see it yet. Press “Publish the site”.

I added the DNS records and the domain still says “Waiting to be verified”.

Records can take from minutes to a few hours to appear. The reason is written under the domain: “We have not found the TXT verification record yet” means checking the record's name and value against the table; “does not point at the site” means checking the CNAME or A record, and removing any AAAA record. Then press “Check now”; the system checks again every night too.

Does anything change for visitors once the domain is connected?

The site opens on your domain, and its old SchoolOS address redirects to it, so old links keep working.

Do I lose anything if I switch the site off?

No. The site is only closed to visitors; everything you wrote stays, and “Switch the site on” brings it back.

It asked “Change the design?”. Is my content deleted?

No. The list shows what the new design will not show, but it stays saved and comes back if you return to the previous design. Press “Cancel” if you do not want the change.

Can I see a page before I publish it?

Not yet: there is no preview of the draft. The changes to the look, the pages, the sections and a page's settings show on the public site after “Publish the site”.

I changed a page's title. Does its address change?

No. A page's address is made once and does not change with its title, so links to it do not break. If you moved a page to another address, add a redirect from the old address under “Redirects”.

What is the difference between “Permanent (301)” and “Temporary (302)”?

A permanent redirect tells search engines the page has moved, so its ranking moves to the new address; a temporary one does not move the ranking. Choose permanent for a page that really moved.

“Add the redirect” was refused.

Check the two addresses: “From” is a path on your site that starts with / and is not the home page, and “To” is another path or a full address starting with https://, and not the same as “From”, nor a path whose own redirect leads back to “From”. If it says the path already has a redirect, remove that one from the list first or choose another path.