Working with Campus Announcements
The Campus Announcements page on the main Institute website is a place for Caltech departments, divisions, clubs, and other campus organizations to share announcements with members of the Caltech community. Announcements also appear on Caltech Today, and may display on other campus websites based on synchronization settings. As an announcement administrator, you will enter your notices directly into the main website's database. The weekly Ion Caltech email, which is sent each Monday, will include a selection of announcements that were posted by 2:00 p.m. on the previous Thursday.
Please click on the section headings below for instructions on entering and managing campus announcements.
- Go to /admin and log in using your access.caltech username and password. If you do not already have an account on the main website, you'll need to request one by filling out a brief form.
- Once logged in, you'll see your dashboard, with two sections of existing announcements to which you have access: Recent Campus Announcements for Your Groups and Your Most Recent Edits. Between these two sections, on the right side of the screen, you'll see a link for "New Announcement." Select this.
- It's a good idea to use the Save Draft button at the bottom of the screen to save your work periodically.
- At any point, you may preview your announcement by selecting the gray Preview button. at the bottom of the screen.
- Enter a title for your announcement. Please keep the title short and do not use all capital letters.
- Select your group from the Section pull down.
NOTE: If your group is not on the list, please do not post your announcement to someone else's section. Please email [email protected] and request your group be added to our section list. A square icon or graphic will appear beside announcements for each group, so if you have a logo or icon, please include it (or a link to it) in your email. - Please do not check the Hide Section Link box. Doing so will prevent your group's section from displaying on your announcement, meaning there will not be a way for your viewers to easily see your group's other announcements.
- Add your announcement in the Body field, where you see "Write here..."
- If your announcement is time sensitive, you may choose to schedule when it displays on the web site.
- Click on the Publishing tab near the top of the screen.
- Enter the date and time your announcement should go live and expire. You may enter one, both, or neither. - When your announcement is complete, select the up arrow next to the Save Draft button and choose "Publish."
When logged in, you may return to your dashboard by clicking on the bird in the upper left corner of the admin interface, or in the lower right corner of the public interface.
- To edit an existing announcement, find it on your dashboard and move your cursor over it. When you see the available actions appear beneath it, click on Edit. You may also edit an existing announcement from the public view of the announcement by clicking on the bird in the lower right corner and selecting Edit This Page.
- In the "Recent Campus Announcement for Your Groups" and "Your Most Recent Edits" sections of your dashboard, what you'll see are the five most recently edited announcements. If you don't see the announcement you're looking for on your dashboard, the easiest way to find and edit an event is to go to the public view of the website from the dashboard. To do that, follow these steps:
- Click on "All Announcements" when the submenu displays.
- Click on the "View Live" button beneath the "Campus Announcements" heading text, or the white "Live" button on the right side of the header to go to the Calendar page on the website. This will open in a new tab in your browser.
- Scroll to search for the announcement you need to edit, then click on its title.
- When the announcement page loads, you should see the wagtail bird in the lower right corner. Click on that and choose "Edit this page."
- If your announcement is no longer relevant (such as a time-sensitive sale at the Caltech Store), and it has not been set to automatically expire, you may unpublish your announcement. This can be done when editing the announcement by clicking on the right arrow next to Save Draft and selecting Unpublish. It can also be done directly from your dashboard, by clicking on the More action for the announcement, then selecting Unpublish.
Why can't I log in?
You probably don't have an account on the main website. Use the "Request an Account" link in the upper right corner of this page and an admin will set up your account and reply via email.
Why don't I see any announcement options once I'm logged in?
You don't yet have "campus announcer" permissions assigned to your account. Email [email protected] and let us know. We'll fix it.
RELATED CONTENT
- Request an Account
- Working with Calendar Events
- Editorial Guidelines for Caltech Today and Ion Caltech
If you have questions or problems entering announcements, please email [email protected], and an administrator will get back to you.