Steps on how to make Yola the Synthasite work for you.
These steps are suggestive only. How you choose to go about it, it’s up to you but this is how I find it works best and fastest.





1. Naming convention of your FILES is huge. As far as I know, you don’t get to make folders for your stories like you would on your own computer. So therefore, if you plop in a file called 001 (or the sort) and post a whole story… NEXT time you upload 001, the site will ask you if you want to save over the file already called 001.

Therefore, it is practically mandatory to come up with a SMART naming convention that you can remember. Do THIS before you try to upload anything.



Example for DoomsDay Machine. (Case sensitive, mind you)

ddm_ch01_rott_001
ddm_ch01_rott_002
ddm_ch01_rott_003

That literally is DoomsDay Machine Chapter 01 Rise of the Tyrant (picture) 001 and etc.

ddm_ch02_di_001
ddm_ch02_di_002
etc

Literally, DoomsDay Machine Chapter 02 Dark Insanity (picture) 001.

For some reason, either on there or on my computer, I have to use triple digits. IF I go to 99 then 100, sometimes, the 100 will go right after frame 1. So I always label 001, 002, 003, etc. (Or select all > rename)



2. To start the whole thing on Yola, you pick a background and give your site a name. Mine WOULD be Sonneilon but Lehsreh used that so I had to go with DarkSonneilon (it’s a StreetFighter thing)… Pick a color scheme you can live with and a name you can live with.



3. On the right side when building your INDEX page (the 1st page that acts as a home page), there are WIDGETS. I don’t mess around too much so I just click n drag. You just click n drag the boxes for text, photos, etc.



3a. On the top ribbon, there are LAYOUT plans. You can do dual column (what I usually choose for text stuff like on my INDEX page).



4. For adding photos, have your naming convention in place and upload it to the site. You can make it smaller or bigger depending on the size. Since I keep everything 600x800 or smaller, it’s easy for me to just drop pictures quickly.



5. For text boxes, just plop it in there and start typing in the target area. You can highlite the whole thing and change text style, size, color, etc.

6. In the text ribbon, highlight over text and look for the chain LINK. Here, you link a page to your text. A dialogue box will open and you simply choose what page you want. So on the bottom of the page, I’ll have typed in NEXT. Hilite NEXT, hit the chain button and link to the page you want.



7. After you get your index set up… You’ll want to start a NEW PAGE. Hit CREATE PAGE. Now, this can be tricky. Note that to open a new page, there’s an option to “INCLUDE PAGE IN NAVIGATION” or something very close to that. It’s already checked and turn it OFF. What this does is (and you can see my mistake) create links at the top of the page. IF you’re doing a real website, you’d have that option open to… well, think of it as BestBuy.com. You can hit various things on the top to get you where you want faster. “Cameras”, “Music”, “Movies”, “Appliances”, etc.



8. You will also be prompted to give the page a name. Try to keep a standard labeling for your pages.



EX.

ddm_ch01_rott_p01
ddm_ch01_rott_p02
etc.



As with your files, this will clump them together by name. So your file manager will keep your stories together, chapter by chapter. It will also keep the stories together, in sequence. And pages work the same way.



8a. Once the page is up, use the picture WIDGET and drag in order. IF you forget a shot, you can always insert it in between the other pictures. IF you forget what # photo you are on, which I do all the time, it’ll ask “do you want to replace ddm_ch01_rott_47?”. I’ll say NO if I need #48 OR I’ll say YES to simply replace an image if going backwards (backwards in my head which I do often cuz I’m weird…)



9. Keep in mind what YOU like about websites. Do you want to scroll thru 100+ shots? Do you get annoyed with loading times?



Therefore, keep the number of pictures posted on 1 page to a comfortable number. Some load time is ok, but waiting a minute can be a pain in the butt. I usually keep it to around 10 frames per page. As well, it would be NICE to space the diostories out so when you change locations or situations, you get a new page. But then, the story MIGHT be unbalanced. Not much fun when it’s 3 pages here, 8 here, 10 on the next, 2 on the next… It’s not poor storywriting, it’s just the way things work out.



10. When done with the page, SAVE it. Yola is kinda glitchy so sometimes, you gotta refresh it. That means you lose what’s on the page, but it’s just pictures and you can load back on again.



11. Sometimes, it’s easier to create multiple pages at once and you just go thru the list and add photos.



11a. Personally, I create the LINKS once the whole chapter is done. I go thru, page by page and create the links at the bottom. (y’know, NEXT > link > save (again)) Then I head to the index, create a link off the title AND change the color to show that it’s now an active link.



12. PUBLISH your website. It’s another button and that will make it readable to everyone.



13. I usually have someone do a quick proofread for me with the live site BEFORE I post it on the JD as an advertisement. As you all know, I use random images for my title covers which I also use for the ad in the JD Dioramas area.

14. Hopefully that’s a good enough tutorial. Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy and streamlined. Figure it’s free so you can’t do THAT much. There is no writing code (as far as I know) and it’s just clicking a lot of buttons on the website. Feel free to ask questions.

Remember, this is just how I do things on Yola. Click on the link in my signature to get an idea of how I do things. I try to keep things pretty basic.

Distasteful Graham.

Nicely explained, Sonneilon. I had wondered about working with Yola. Thanks for posting this!

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*~~~{==========- Death at Midnight -==========}~~~*

I have opened up a Yola account but not worked with it yet. This will save me probably hours of messing around to post stuff. Thank you very much.

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That's exactly what I needed to know. Thanks for helping out your fellow Dio-ers! (is dio-ers a word?)