What is an entry?
Entries are web pages on SAMOHISTORY.COM that are dedicated to specific places, such as a business (e.g. Henshey’s), school (e.g. Santa Monica High) or landmark/point of interest (e.g. Santa Monica Pier), community organizations, people or events. They are created, edited and expanded by users, and are really the key components of SAMOHISTORY.COM. Each entry page has two main components:
General description — This is where the factual information about the entry goes, sort of like the encyclopedia or Wikipedia description. Ideally the description should include an overview of the entry, and also a little history or background on it.
Memories — This is where users can share their memories of and experiences with the entry. For example, for an entry of a business, such as a restaurant, users could share their memories of going to the restaurant, or former employees could share experiences working there.
Each entry is categorized into one of five categories (Schools, Businesses, Community Organizations, Landmarks & Points of Interest, and Events) to help users navigate them.
How do I find things on the website?
There are two ways to find things on SAMOHISTORY.COM:
1. Use the “Search” box located near the top of the screen in the middle. Simple place the cursor (click) in the box and type in what you are looking for. Then press “Enter” or “Return” and you will get a list of the entries that contain the words you searched for. Search results are grouped into three sections—one if the name of the entry contains the word(s) you searched for, a second if the words occur in the entry description, and a third for people entries.
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2. Navigate using the “categories”. Entries are categorized into five categories (Schools, Businesses, Community Organizations, Landmarks & Points of Interest, and Events). On the home page the five categories are listed in boxes near the top, with the top five entries in each category included in the box. You can click on any entry, or on the category name to go the that category page. The category pages include a list of all entries in the category for you to select, and in some cases further “subcategories”, e.g. “High Schools” under “Schools” so you can drill down until you find the entry you want.
How can I create a new entry?
To create a new entry, you must first go to the correct category or subcategory for your entry (subcategory boxes become shaded a slightly darker gray to indicate you in the right place). The name of the category or subcategory appears in the middle list of entries appears in the middle of the category or subcategory page. To the right of the category/subcategory name is the blue “Create new entry” box—click it and you will open a window to fill out information about the entry.
Fill out what you can on the form (only the name of the entry is required) and press the blue “Save” button. Then the entry is created and you can proceed to edit the description or share a memory.
How do I edit the description of an entry?
When you create a new entry the description starts in “edit” mode, where you can made changes to it by simply typing them in. For existing entries you can turn on “edit” mode by pressing the blue “Edit” button next to the words “About [Name of the Entry]”.
Entry descriptions start with a template with two or three sections (depending on the type of entry). The section heading has two equal signs on either side, e.g. “== Overview ==”. Underneath the section heading is some text that can be deleted and replaced by the description information. When you are done with the description you can press the “Save page” button near the bottom (you may need to scroll down) and exit edit mode. The new description is now displayed. You can also click the “[edit]” links next to any section header to edit only that section, as shown above.
How do I edit the description of an entry?
To share a memory for a specific entry, first make sure you are on the correct entry page. Look for “Top Memories” on the right and click in the “Join the discussion…” box (it will say “Start the discussion… if you are sharing the first memory). Then type in your memory! Please note that you must first log in to Disqus, which is the platform that provides the memories (you can use a Facebook, Twitter or Google+ account to log in, or create a Disqus account).
You can upload photos into your memory by clicking on the small photo icon underneath where you typed your memory and then selecting the photo from your computer (you can add multiple photos by clicking on the photo icon again and repeating the process). When you are finished typing your memory and adding any photos, “post” it by clicking on the shaded “Post as [your name]” box underneath where you typed the memory.
How do I share an entry on Facebook?
To share an entry on Facebook first click on either 1) the small blue button with a Facebook icon and the word “Share” located near the top right of the page or 2) on the word “Share” listed under the “Top Memories” (see below). If you choose the latter you will be prompted to “Share this discussion on” Twitter or Facebook—select Facebook.
At the point a Facebook sharing window will pop up. You have several options on how to share the entry on Facebook—the default is to “Share on your timeline”, but by clicking it you can select another option such as sharing in a group you belong to, e.g. “You know you’re from Santa Monica if”. Lastly click on the blue “Share Link” button on the bottom right of the pop up window and it will appear on Facebook!
How do I share an entry on Twitter?
To tweet about an entry, that is to share it on Twitter, first click on either 1) the gray button with the blue Twitter logo and the word “Tweet” located near the top right of the page or 2) on the word “Share” listed under the “Top Memories” (see below). If you choose the latter you will be prompted to “Share this discussion on” Twitter or Facebook—select Twitter.
At the point a Twitter window will pop up. The box is pre-filled with the name of the entry and the website plus a link. You can change the text for your tweet or leave it as is. Lastly click on the blue “Tweet” button on the bottom right of the pop up window and it will appear on your Twitter account!
