Help on Getting Started

Most pages have their own Help button that will assist with details about that page. See the help menu on each page for help on that page.

Fonts and Headers Styles

Pages may have titles, topics and subtopics designated by heading styles such as these:

Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

Header 4

Header 5
Header 6

Pages, Panels, Pop-ups, Controls

A page is the entire contents of a browser's window. A page containing programming might also be called a web form. Main pages are designed to see most contents within a browser window at least 1024 pixels wide. Some pages require scrolling down or right to see all contents. Scrolling in a browser is done with the scrollbars or arrow keys.

Font sizes are sometimes small to show as much information as possible. If you use Microsoft Windows, you can see fonts more clearly if you turn on ClearType. Turn on ClearType in Windows 8.1 by right-click on your desktop, Personalize, Display, Adjust ClearType text.

Menu selections are generally in the upper areas of the page. Menus usually navigate to other pages but sometimes select panels within the current page. Some menu selections show help and report pop-ups. A pop-up is a smaller browser window that appears over top a portion of the current page. You can move or close a pop-up to continue viewing or working on the current page.

Within some pages are panels of different sections of information. Pages and panels contain controls. Controls allow you to click or type commands or data.

Hover the mouse pointer over highlighted text areas and many control labels to see a ToolTip (description or help). Hint: Do not touch the mouse during hovering because any slight movement makes the tip disappear. Try it now on the example highlighted area and you should see the text "This is an example of how you view more information".

Buttons

Button controls have the following general style and usage:

Leave the page currently being viewed and navigate to another page. Sometimes also performs an action.
Keep showing the current page and show a related pop-up page or panel (section)
Indicates the last panel button that was clicked and the current panel showing
Performs a command or action such as updating, deleting, inserting, sending an email, etc.

Access Keys, Tabbing, and Data Entry Controls

Access Keys allow you to navigate quickly to the control by pressing the ALT key and the key for the specified character on the keyboard.


An Access Key is indicated by a letter or number in parentheses:

On the example above, the access key for the first button is "N" so you can navigate to the control by pressing ALT+N. Type ALT+N and you should see that you have immediately navigated to the first Notes button. Sometimes we need to choose another letter when there are similarly labeled controls. Note how the second Notes button uses the letter "o" for its Access Key . Also note how the outline changes slightly to show you which control has the focus.

The Tab key can be used to move the focus between controls. You can use the Tab key on this page to see how this works. Here are some typical data entry controls that you can practice tabbing and data entry. Use Shift-Tab to back up.

CheckBox
CheckBoxList
DropDownList
ListBox
RadioButton
RadioButtonList
TextBox

DataGrids

The DataGrid control shows a tabular grid of data. This control allows you to work with data that is best displayed in columns and rows. Cells in the grid can contain other controls as shown above. Some cells add specific functionality such as edit button or hyperlink columns. A DataGrid sometimes gives sorting and paging options when working with many rows. You can practice using Edit and Update on the DataGrid below.

 IDLast NameFirst Name
1 Smith Bob
2 Jones Sally
3 Johnson Steve

Editing and Saving Information

On most pages that allow editing information, changes you make are only saved if you click Update. The update button usually appears at the lower part of the page or at the beginning of a DataGrid row.

Rarely, a person might be changing their own information at the exact same time you are accessing it. In that case, you may see some unexpected changes happening before your eyes. When in question, use the Audit - Latest to see if that was the case.

Using the Progress Indicator on the Status Bar

When you click a button or link, your browser may take a second or two to respond. This time may be considerably longer for slow dial-up connections or slow Internet service providers.

Set your browser to view the status of your click and the wait. To do this In Internet Explorer, set the menu View -> Status Bar to checked (On). After a click, you can glance at the progress bar to see the progress of the request. Checking the progress bar can avoid multiple clicks and the frustration of not knowing if a click was acknowledged.

Navigation

Most pages display a page navigation menu at the top of the page.  At the top of most pages, clicking the graphic of the organization's logo will take you to the main home page. This is the same navigation menu choice Home.   The page navigation menus are customized to show pages available to different levels of sign-in security privileges; Public Visitors, Members, Board Members, Administrators.   You can choose from the Show Menu... dropdownlist to see selections up to and including your level of security privilege. 

Security Sign-in

Because this is a public website, the public can view only certain information. How much you can see after signing-in depends upon your sign-in security privilege. Always sign-in to view all features and information that is specifically provided for you.

Typically, Members can edit their own contact information and some basic options. Board Members can also view the Audit pages, Report pages, Security and Traffic categories. Board Members have more advanced search features in the directory.

Administrators can edit any person's information. Administrators have access to an advanced report generator, email broadcaster, and other administrative features.

More security information is outlined in the Sign-In Help .

Technical Support

For technical support and information about the designer of this website and database, click menu selection  to view contact information for technical and administrative support.