Editor’s guide

This is a guide for editors. You don’t need to know any code.

Logging in

1. Go to https://peacefulcitysangha.org/admin/.
2. Click Login with Netlify Identity.
3. Enter your email. You’ll get a magic-link email.
4. Click the link. You’re in.

If you don’t have an account yet, ask the site admin to invite you.

Writing a new post

1. In the CMS sidebar, click Posts → New Post.
2. Fill in:
   • Title — what people will see at the top of your post.
   • Date & time — when it should appear to have been written. Use UK local time. Today is fine for new posts.
   • Author — pick yourself from the dropdown (it shows display names).
   • Co-authors — leave blank unless someone else helped write it.
   • Tags — short keywords. Use lowercase, dashes for spaces. e.g. mindful-walking, loving-kindness.
   • Type — leave as member for personal posts. Use official only for posts that speak on behalf of the whole sangha.
   • Draft — turn ON if you’re not ready to publish. The post will be saved but won’t appear on the public site.
   • Featured images — optional. Click Add featured image, upload, then fill in the Alt text. Alt text is required so the post is accessible to people using screen readers — describe the image briefly (e.g. “A lotus flower on still water”).
   • Body — the main text. The toolbar lets you bold, italicise, add links, headings, lists, and embed images.
3. Click Publish → Publish now. The post goes live after the next build (~1–3 minutes). To keep a post out of the live site while you work on it, turn the Draft toggle ON before publishing — it will save to the repo but won’t appear on the public site.

Uploading images

There are two places you can add images to a post — and both use the same upload box.

Featured image (shows next to the entry on the home / archive / entry page):

1. Open the post (or click New Post).
2. Scroll to Featured images → click Add featured image.
3. Click the Image field. A media browser opens.
4. Click Upload new (top-right), pick the file from your computer, and wait for it to finish uploading.
5. Click the image you just uploaded to select it.
6. Fill in the Alt text — REQUIRED. Describe the image in one short sentence so people using screen readers know what’s there (e.g. “Pink lotus flower on still water”). Caption is optional and shows under the image.
7. Publish.

Image inside the body of the post (inline with your writing):

1. In the Body editor, place your cursor where you want the image to appear.
2. Click the image icon in the toolbar (looks like a small picture).
3. Click Upload new, pick the file, then click the image to insert it.
4. To add alt text on an inline image: click the inserted image, then edit the alt text field that appears.

Tips:

• File size: images you upload are saved at full resolution into the repo. Resize big photos to about 1600 pixels wide max before uploading. The site auto-shrinks them for display.
• File names: lowercase, dashes for spaces (e.g. morning-walk.jpg, NOT Morning Walk.JPG). Decap usually does this for you.
• Formats: JPG for photos, PNG for graphics with transparent backgrounds, SVG for icons. Avoid HEIC (iPhone format) — convert to JPG first.

Editing an existing post

1. Click Posts in the sidebar.
2. Click the post you want to edit.
3. Make your changes.
4. Click Publish → Update.

Deleting a post

1. Open the post.
2. Click Delete entry at the top.
3. Confirm. The post is removed from the site on the next build.

The post is still in the Git history, so it can be recovered if you delete by mistake — ask the technical owner.

Adding an author

1. Sidebar → Authors → New Author.
2. Fill in:
   • Username — lowercase, no spaces, dashes are fine. This becomes the URL (e.g. tranquilmind → /authors/tranquilmind). Don’t change a username after a post has been written by them — it would orphan their posts.
   • Display name — what people see (e.g. “Tranquil Mind”).
   • Avatar — optional square image. A default lotus avatar is shown if blank.
   • Bio — optional short paragraph for the author’s profile page.
   • Role — leave as member unless they’re a moderator or admin.
   • Joined date — today is fine.
   • Social links — optional URLs.
3. Publish.

Editing an author’s bio or avatar

1. Sidebar → Authors → click the author.
2. Update the fields. Publish → Update.

Changing site settings

Site settings live under Site settings in the CMS sidebar. There are two files there.

Site information

This controls the text that shows up across the whole site (sidebar, header, footer). Anyone with editor access can change it.

1. CMS sidebar → Site settings → Site information.
2. Update any of:
   • Site name — appears at the top of every page and in the browser tab title. Currently “Peaceful City”.
   • Tagline — the short line under the site name (e.g. “A mindful community blog”).
   • Sangha bio — the paragraph that appears in the sidebar Profile module. Keep it short — 2–4 sentences. Plain text only.
   • Footer text — the small text at the very bottom of every page. Usually a copyright line or a closing thought.
   • Style credit — tiny line in the sidebar that credits the site style. Optional.
3. Click Publish → Update.
4. Wait 1–3 minutes for Netlify to rebuild, then refresh the public site.

Changes here update every page because these strings are pulled in from one shared file (src/data/site.json).

Feature flags (advanced — leave OFF unless you have read FUTURE_FEATURES.md)

CMS sidebar → Site settings → Feature flags.

Both flags are OFF by default. Turning them on without first wiring up a provider will leave broken empty boxes on the public site.

• Comments enabled — turns on the comments block under each post. Requires picking a Comments provider (giscus, netlify-forms, or custom) and following the wiring steps in FUTURE_FEATURES.md.
• Newsletter enabled — turns on the newsletter signup module in the sidebar. Requires picking a Newsletter provider (buttondown, convertkit, mailchimp, or netlify-forms) and pasting the provider’s form-action URL into Newsletter action URL.

If you’re not sure what to put here, leave them off and ask the technical owner.

What you cannot change from the CMS

These things are part of the site’s code, not its content, so they need a developer:

• The colour palette, fonts, sidebar modules, and overall layout.
• The site’s domain name (peacefulcitysangha.org) and Netlify configuration.
• The navigation links in the sidebar.
• The list of feed-reader formats (RSS / Atom).

Ask the technical owner if any of these need to change.

After you save

• Your change is committed to GitHub automatically.
• Netlify rebuilds the site (about 1–3 minutes).
• Refresh the public site to see it.

If something looks wrong, check the Deploys tab in Netlify — a red build means there’s an error. Ask the technical owner.

Tips

• Image alt text matters. Always describe what’s in the image. It’s required for accessibility and helps with search.
• Use tags consistently. If you use loving-kindness once and lovingkindness another time, they’ll be two separate tag pages.
• Save drafts often. The Draft toggle keeps work-in-progress private until you’re ready.
• Co-author posts appear on every co-author’s profile page, with a “Posted with X and Y” byline.