Overview
Creating a SiteSkins site is easy and fun. Here is a glance at the process:

• Search for a Site Skin
• Setup a Name, Email Address and Password
• Choose Site Layout (name your site, company slogan, and top pages)
• Choose Page Types and Add Content
• Preview Your Site
• Choose Plan Options
• Setup Account Information
• Congratulations! You're a Webmaster!

Building Site
Let's go step-by-step through the site building process.

Choose Name / Tagline
First, choose your sitename. This will also be the address for the site, for example, if you choose "Ted's Camping Supply", your site location on the internet, will be: [[site_uri]]/tedscampingsupply . Of course, you can always opt to purchase a domain name. This is not necessary, but it can make your company look more trustworthy and established. In this case, your site would simply be http://www.tedscampingsupply.com". We can set up your domain to point to your SiteSkins site. We don't charge to do this. Contact [[support_email]].

Next, choose your Tagline, or company slogan. In our example, that might be something like "The best in Camping and Fishing Gear" or "Setup Camp With Us!". This text will appear underneath your sitename in small print.

Choose Site Layout
On this screen, you will decide what your main pages will be. Your main pages, are the buttons that will be on screen at all times when traveling through your website. These should be your "top" categories. In our example, they might be "Welcome", "What We Offer", "Field Gallery", "Safety Tips" and "About Us". You can choose up to 5 main sections.

You will be able to add SUB pages later, these pages will fit underneath the main sections. For now, we are simply building the website framework. Up next, we start to fill in the contents of the website!

Add Custom Content
Now comes the fun part. Here is where you get to type in anything you wish your website to be about. You will not have to know html, or any code at all. Simply choose a page type (more information on pagetypes to follow), and enter in your information, upload your pictures, etc., etc.

During this process, you can add SUB pages, by choosing a name in the add subpage box, and clicking the button (on the left of the screen) which says "Add A Subpage". These pages will be created and you will begin editing them as soon as you finish the page you are currently editing.

Preview and Publish Site
All your efforts are about to pay off! After adding content for your various pages, you will be taken to a page which says "you can preview your site here:" and it will have a link to your newly created website. Although this website is online, no one will see it, since no one but you knows it exists. Take a look at the website. And remember, the SiteSkins control panel will allow you to change virtually anything on your site. (More on the control panel to follow.)

Page Types
Page types are your options for laying out your the information you choose to display on each page. If you would like to display pictures of a home you are trying to sell, you might choose a Gallery page type. If you would like to give a history of your company, you would choose a Text page type. These pages are designed to format your content in a way best suited to the material.

To understand each pagetype in detail, read on.

Text Page
Use this page type if what you plan on displaying is mostly information. This is the most commonly used page type. You will see an array of Text Boxes, aligned in pairs. The small top box is used for your header. It will appear in bold text. The large box is for the paragraph. To have multiple paragraphs under the same bold header, skip the next paragraph header, and type in the next large box. You can also, add additional paragraphs to your text page, by clicking the "add paragraph" button, which appears on the left side of the screen.

This pagetype will allow up to 25 paragraphs, and one picture. To upload a picture, click on the "Upload a Picture" button. Also, you may add a subpage, which will link from this page by clicking "Add a Subpage" button on the left.

Image Gallery
The image gallery page type will allow you to upload up to 25 images. These will be laid out in a structured manner and can have a caption associated with each. Also, each image, when clicked will 'pop open' a new window with a larger version of that image.

When you upload images to SiteSkins, we will automatically scale your image to an appropriate size for your website. We will also keep a larger version of the image for the 'pop up' link. The scaling of your image, and the link to the larger version is all created automatically. Continue to add images until you are happy with your page.

Feedback Forms
User Feedback forms can be a powerful addition to your website. They can be used to provide a direct link between you and your customers, or audience. You can gather important details about your customers, as well as address specific questions or needs they might have.

This page type will create a form on your website, which will collect the name and email address of your visitor. It can also collect a host of other data, such as Address, Phone Number. You can ask them how they heard about your site, as well as adding "custom questions" which you can choose.

This site can have a picture, as well as an opening paragraph. You can also add up to 25 custom questions, so you could effectively create an online questionaire.

Links Page
With this page type you can create a 'jump page' for your visitors to go to other websites. This might be used as a resource page, for companion products or services, or it could link off to partners websites, etc.

This page type is divided into categories. By default, you will see a category field, paragraph (for describing your category) and 3 link boxes. You can add more links (up to 25), and more link categories (up to 10). This is an extremely flexible page type. To create a link, type the NAME of the link in the box that says "name". In the box that says "url" type the link address, or copy and paste it from the address window of your browser.

Thumbnails
"Thumbnails" is a term given to very small images, that can be clicked on to reveal a larger image. Using a thumbnails page type is wise, if you are planning on displaying many images on a single page. Add images by clicking "Upload a Picture".

Similiar to the Gallery page type, you can have a text caption associated with each image. But unlike the gallery type, the caption will only be displayed when your visitors click on the thumbnail, to reveal the larger image.

This page type can have up to 50 thumbnail images, and can also include an opening paragraph.

Contact Us Page
The Contact Us pagetype is used for displaying YOUR company information. It can also be used to display contact information for up to 10 employees. The various fields are optional. You can list Name, Title (such as President, Sales Manager, etc.), Address, Phone, Fax and Cell numbers, as well as a descriptive paragraph about each employee.

Click "Add a Contact" at the left if you wish to include more contacts. In addition, each contact can have a picture associated with the contact. They are placed in order that they are uploaded. But, if you make a mistake and put them in the wrong order, you can always click the "swap image" button to make the correction.

The Control Panel
The Control Panel is the most powerful part of the entire SiteSkins interface. Here is your Master Control Area for making changes to any part of your website. After the initial site build process, you should become increasingly familiar with this screen. From this single location, you can:

• Re-name pages
• Delete pages
• Change page types
• Change your slogan/tagline
• Add new pages
• Change any part of your content, including pictures
• Edit your logo graphic to give your site a more "custom" feel
• Update your account information
• Delete your account
• Build another site under the same account

Using the Control Panel
After initial construction of a SiteSkins site, many things about the control panel will seem familiar to you. The creation of new pages, for example, works exactly as it did in the initial site building process. The main difference about the control panel is that all of the functionality of SiteSkins has been tied to one screen.

Get to the control panel by logging in to SiteSkins. Click the "Owner Login" button on the top black area of the SiteSkins website. This will display a list of the sites you own. By clicking the "edit" button next to a sitename, you can edit that site in the control panel.

You will see every page of your site, laid out in "tree" format.

To add a page, click the "+" button next to the section where you want the new page to be added. To add it as a main section, click the "+" next to the Site Name. To add it as a subpage, click the icon next to the Main section under which you would like the page to appear.

To delete a page, click on the "x" button next to the page you would like to delete.

To re-name a page, click on the "name" button, next to the page you wish to rename.

To change a page type, click on the "type" button next to that page. (this will cause you to lose any information you might have had on that page)

To edit the actual page, click on the page name. (it is a link to the edit screen for that page)

Customize your Logo
To edit your logo graphic, click "edit" next to the name of your site. This will take you to a screen where you can download a "blank" version of your logo area. (this is the part of your site where the site name is displayed).

If you, or someone in your staff is handy with graphic editing software, you can give your website a very "custom" feel by editing your logo graphic. The SiteSkins team can also do this for you, for an extra charge. Contact support@siteskins.net for more info.

Once you have edited the image, return to the edit logo screen, and click the "browse" button to locate your logo on your hard drive. Double click the file, and then click "upload" to send it to your website.

This automatically makes your custom logo your active logo. Preview it, and if you would like to change it, just repeat the process. If you are still not happy with your custom logo, you can always return to the 'stock' logo, by simply deleting your custom logo from the edit logo screen. Do this by clicking the button with the "x".

Website Admin Panel
This feature is not currently present. When this area is active, it will allow site owners to change the email addresses used for feedback forms, update account information, etc.

Delete Site
Naturally, we hope you don't do this. But, should you decide you no longer wish to have your account with us, or wish to delete one of your sites, you can login, and at the site menu screen, where you see a list of your sites, click the "x" next to the site you wish to delete. If you only have one website, your account will be closed and your site will be turned off at the end of your billing cycle. You will receive a full month worth of service from your billing date.

Should you decide to come back, we will save your site (though it will be offline) for up to one full year. If you wish to re-establish a deleted site, simply login, and click the "activate" button next to your website name.