A note to Jim

A note to Jim

Jim, Here is a template page with suggestions for filling out your storyspace. https://dev-family-history-machine.pantheonsite.io/storyspace/storyspace-elements It is also in the top menu called Storyspace Elements. 

Admittedly, you are going to be frustrated by deprecated and misorganized fields. Family Branch is particularly arcane. So I am sure you will have questions. There would need to be considerable cleanup to release this as a ready-to-use tool, but as a beta user you understand you are working with a buggy product in development. 

My suggestion would be to start with a few images entered in the Pictures tab on the Storyboard Edit form. Add captions. Use the crop tool if you wish. You'll get a nice little slide show for a quick start on the page. 

Next, I would start to brainstorm ideas for Family Stories you want to tell. Instead of one grand saga, the site encourages you to tell many smaller stories that add up to a tapestry of stories. Go ahead and create one or more Family Story with a title, description and image. (Node/Add New Content/Family Story). You can also add the story setting (dates and locations) and perhaps the main person or several people involved in the story. Go ahead and play around. 

Then also add one or more Article Posts with some content related to the story. This is not yet a finished story narrative, but more your notes in progress, including any image assets that you have. (Watch out for the deprecated image field.) Connect your post to the story under the Categories tab, where you can enter the related family story in the first field. Type part of the story title and the field should fill in automatically. 

Stories and Posts both have a Status tab. Check the Featured box to display them on the Storyspace home page. 

I am available today for any help you might need. After that, I'm out for a week. Take your time, play around, and have fun. 

Best, Dan

PS. About Family Branches, you add them on the Storyspace Edit page. Don't use the first image field, which doesn't say deprecated but is. Enter images under Branch Metadata, and use the other fields there as well. Especially the checkbox for Great 8 (surnames of up to eight great grandparents). Great 8 is like a Featured button and triggers display in the SS home page sidebar.