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How to use EPA.net

Welcome to EPA.net, East Palo Alto's online community news, event calendar, information exchange, and job board. Please print out these instructions and return to the front main page by hitting your back button or clicking the "home link at the top of this page. EPA.net is part of the East Palo Alto Community Network. The vision of the Community Network is to provide the technological capability to create "One East Palo Alto" that is informed, connected, and empowered. This will be done through the creation of a technological infrastructure for access, learning, collaboration, and economic development. The Community Network will consist of EPA.net, an online resource center that will provide relevant information and services for individuals and groups in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, and a number of Technology Access Points.

What These Instructions Cover

• Login Instructions
• Access for Children Under 13
• Editing Personal Information
• General Instructions for Getting Around
• General Instructions for Posting
• Local News
• Community Voices
• Event Calendar
• Classifieds
• Photo Album
• Presentations
• File Storage
• Nonprofit News
• EPA Discussions
• Replying to EPA.net Mail
• How to Get More Detailed Help

You will need an email account to register as a new user of the EPA.net Community Network portal.

Email allows you to receive info that you request from EPA.net. As a new user, you will need to register (sign-up) for a free EPA.net member account to access some services. Registering for an account will allow you to add comments and participate in discussions, download files or information, and give feedback.

New Users - No Email/Step 1
If you do not have an email address, read here:
Start by obtaining an email account.

Technology Access Point resource navigators can help you with this process. You can go to www.hotmail.com or www.yahoo.com to create a free email account. After you create an email account, you can move to step 2. If you still have trouble, call Plugged In at 650-322-1134 for assistance. **Note: Both hotmail.com and yahoo.com accounts will automatically deactivate if you do not use them for more than a set period of time. This is usually more than 30 days, so, make sure you visit your email account at least once per month to keep it open. If your email account expires, it will not stop you from logging into EPA.net, however, it will stop you from receiving mail messages you have requested from EPA.net.

New Users - With Email/Step 2
If you have an email address already or just created a new email account, read here:

1. Find the "Login" box located at the top of the page.
2. Enter your full email address into the email box (example: user@hotmail.com).
3. Create and type a password in the next box below (make it easy to remember).
4. Click the "login button" This will take you to the registration page. Here you will be asked to re-enter your password and give us a little information about yourself. This information will allow us to interact with you and help you if you lose your password.
5. After you enter this information, you must read our Terms of Use Agreement before you can enter the site.
6. Once you have read the Terms, you can click the "I agree" button. This will place you on the main page of the site.
7. From the main page, you can use links to get to other areas of the site as well as off site resources.
8. To get back to the main page at any time, click the EPA.net banner or the "home" link at the top of any page.
9. There will be a link titled "My Portal" at the top right of the main page. Clicking this link will take you to an area where you can add more personal information about yourself. This space will also show you the areas of the site you have access to as well as the discussion forums you sign-up for.

**Note: By checking the checkbox marked "Remember this login", the site will remember your email and password the next time you visit. You should not check this box if you are not using your own home machine. Checking this box will allow the next user to enter the site under your username and password. We encourage you to always click the sign out link when you are done using EPA.net.

**Note only registered members affiliated with EPA.net will see your personal information.

Children under 13 will need special permission from a parent or guardian to create an account on EPA.net. Children are not authorized to create their own accounts. Please follow the instructions found here for requesting a supervised account for children under 13.

By clicking on the "My Portal" link at the top of the main page, you will be taken to a page where you can access your personal information. Here, you will have the ability to update your password, personal info, and/or upload your portrait. The personal information you enter here is optional, but it will help the EPA.net staff assist you if there are problems with your account. This information is currently not displayed to members or the general public at this time. Members will be able to see your email address, biography, personal URL, and portrait if you upload one.

If you are new to using web pages, you may need some assistance getting from one place in the site to another. In general, a single click on an area of linked text in any navigation menu will take you to the page where the information described by that text is located. It is more and more common for text links to not be underlined on some web pages. You may find some of these types of text links on EPA.net. In general, the navigation links will be obvious. Because EPA.net's navigation scheme does not include back buttons, you will always want to hit the back button on the main navigation bar of your browser to return to an area you have left.

You will notice that in some areas, like news, storage, discussion, and others, there is a list at the top of the page that shows a path of links. These tell you where you are in the site and show you how may levels deep into the site you have traveled. You will note that you can get back to the main front page or any level in between where you are and the main page by clicking on one of these text links. This type of link is called a bread crumb trail because it points the way back to where you came from. You will also be able to click the "home" link found at the top of each page.

Always remember to click a "Sign Out" link when you are done using EPA.net.

There are many areas of the site where you have an option to post your thoughts, ideas, items for sale, or files. In many of these areas, you have the choice of posting in plain text or html. You will find that posting in HTML yields much better results. The system is set to only understand the most basic HTML.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for hypertext mark up language and is the code language read by all browsers. The code tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images for the user. Much like a word processor, the system must be told when to make an item bold, underlined, or italicized. Systems must also know where a paragraph starts and stops. In HTML, "Tags" are used at the front and back of a word or text block to mark how that word or text block should be displayed. For example, if I wanted to have the word "News" appear in bold, I would have to type <b>News</b>. The greater than and less than characters are part of every HTML Tag. Most Tags have two parts, and opener <?> and a closer </?>. The forward slash (/) is used in closing tag to let the system know to stop applying the desired effect. Below you will see a list of common tags.

Always remember to double check you HTML tags for formatting purposes. The most common mistake is forgetting the forward slash (/) in the closing Tag or forgetting the closing Tag altogether. If you use other html tags, the submission will not be accepted by the system.

Using the concept of a newspaper, local news provides up to date and relevant information for the community. News is a content creation tool. Users of EPA.net are able to both read and post articles that have been submitted. If you are submitting an article you did not write, you must site the original author, publication, and location the article came from. Please be aware that many web sites do not allow you to copy their articles and post them in other locations on the web even if you site the original author. Once you submit an article, it goes into a holding bin where it awaits approval. The main news section will only display serious news articles for community. Opinions and other stories will be posted in the "Community Voices Section." The EPA.net administrator reviews news articles that are appropriate. If approved, the article is dynamically shown on the index site. Older articles are then archived.

Only approved EPA reporters will be allowed to post here. The content manager will review the post. The content manager will then approve the post, contact you if there are problems, or delete the post if it is not in line with our acceptable use policies.

Like news, the Community Voices section provides relevant and necessary information to the EPA community. This space is specifically designed to give community members who are interested in reporting what is happening in their local community a space to speak up. This space is also designed to support people who want to submit poetry or creative writing. Examples on what should go here are reports on block club meetings, city happenings, legislation that will effects homeowners, special upcoming events, community success stories, personal stories, poetry etc...

There is a brief overview of how to submit an article or written piece to the Community Voices section of EPA.net. Click below.

The Community Event Calendar section provides date, time, and location information to the EPA community on special events, organization meetings, and community programs. Use of this section should help community organizations prevent double booking of important meetings and events.

There is a brief overview of how to submit an event to the Event Calendar section of EPA.net. Click below for brief instructions.

Community members and organizations will be encouraged to post events here. The content manager will approve the post. Post may take up to 48 hours to appear, so post events early.

The Classifieds section provides space for EPA residents and organizations to post listings for jobs, housing availability, services and other things community might need. Use of this section should help community organizations prevent double booking of important meetings and events.

There is a brief overview of how to submit a classified to the Classifieds section of EPA.net. Click below for brief instructions.

Community members and organizations will be encouraged to post events here. The content manager will approve the post. Post may take up to 48 hours to appear, so post events early.

The Photo Album section provides users with the ability to post and share digital photos with their friends and family. Photos can be uploaded and collected into folders (think: rolls of film), and then displayed as either thumbnail images, medium-sized images, or at their original full size. This digital photo album is intended for novices, both to photography and computers. Not only can you upload photo images, you can also make private and public folders to place albums in, add comments to your pictures, and view a vast assortment of uploaded pictures in thumbnails, smaller version of each photo stored on the same page.

Note: Uploaded photos must meet EPA.net's accepatable use guidelines.

For a brief overview of how to submit photos to the Photo Album section of EPA.net click below.

The Presentations section provides users with the ability to create and share online presentations with their community and coworkers. Presentations are similar to Microsoft Power Point presentations with the ability to incorporate bullet points and images.

There is a brief overview of how to create a presentation using the "Presentation" section of EPA.net. Click below for brief instructions.

The File Storage section provides users with the ability to post and share files with their coworkers, friends, and family. Files can be uploaded and collected into virtual file folders. Not only can you upload files, you can also make private and public folders to place files in, add descriptions to your files, and view or download files stored by others.

Note: Uploaded files must meet EPA.net's acceptable use guidelines.

There is a brief overview of how to submit an event to the File Storage section of EPA.net. Click below for brief instructions.

Using the concept of a newspaper, the Nonprofit News section is a community update tool. Nonprofits can use this area to let the community and funders know what is going on in their programs.

There is a brief overview of how to submit a community update to EPA.net. Click below for brief instructions.

Only approved EPA nonprofits will be allowed to post here. The content manager will review the post. The content manager will then approve the update post, contact you if there are problems, or delete the update if it is not in line with our acceptable use policies.

What is a discussion forum?

Using the concept of a town hall meeting crossed with a bulletin board, discussion forums allow you to talk about important issues with your friends, family, and community members. Unlike a live face to face meeting, discussions occur in text and not vocally. Participants post a response to a question or issue and wait for another person to post. These post do not occur in what is called "real time". This means participants may add their opinions to any one given issue over days, weeks, or months. For an individual issue, a long string of responses and ongoing conversation is known as a thread of discussion. It represents a continuous line of thoughts, questions and responses. IF you get an idea that is completely different from what is being discussed in a particular "thread", you should begin a new thread by creating a new question or category under a forum topic. If there is no place that makes sense for the thought you wish to discuss, you can suggest a new forum topic area to the content manager in the feedback section.

There is a brief overview of how to post new messages and replies in the "EPA Discussion" section. Click here for brief instructions.

If you hit the reply button in your email client on your desktop, your response does not automatically post in EPA.net. At the bottom of the message, there will be a text link. This link points back to the location of the message that was mailed to you in EPA.net. Click this link and then reply to the message in EPA.net. Again do not hit the reply button on your email client. IF you do this, only the person who composed the message that was sent to you will see the response. There may be many more people who are also subscribed that wish to see your reply.

You can get more detailed help by stopping by one of the technology access points and sitting down with one of the resource navigators. You can also ask questions in the feedback forum and wait for a response from the content manager or system administrator.