The Directory uses a number of conventions to ensure consistency between entries and with the previous (printed) versions:

General

Only information that can be verified by the existence of a paper reference or an actual machine should be included.

Structure

The main words of an entry's title are always in CAPITAL letters. Subsequent words in the title will generally be lower case but with appropriate capital initial letters (eg BUDDING, Edwin Beard). See existing entries for examples.

In the original Directory the editor (Chris Thompson) used a convention for the title of each entry whereby Manufacturer names were in bold type and Mowers/Models were in bold type surrounded by quotation marks (""). This differentiation is removed in the new, online Directory for the titles but is retained for the main part of the text (ie in the Body section in the editing window).

Words included in the title to differentiate between entries with identical names are included inside [square brackets]. Generally, duplicate titles will arise when two or more manufacturers produced a mower with an identical name. In these cases the wording in the [square brackets] will be the name of the manufacturer. In a few instances the duplication will be the name of the manufacturer, in which case the word in the square brackets would be the location of country of the company.

Supplementary information in the title is in (curved brackets). This is typically where the editor included information to clarify the title or when the title could be used with or without the additional wording. A typical example in the Directory would be to include the word "The" in the (curved brackets). 

Body/Description

Each referencable manufacturer, model, personality or glossary term is included as a separate entry or page. Any of these can be linked to any other. When this occurs, the link itself will appear as bold green text on the screen and bold black text in the printed version.

You can edit any entry in the Directory.

Locate the entry to edit. Normally you can do this by browsing the Directory listings and then clicking on the relevant entry name.

Click on the Edit tab towards the top of the screen.

The entry will open in editing mode. This is a bit like using a webmail program such as GMail, Yahoo or AOL. There are boxes for text towards the top of the page and other settings that can be selected towards the bottom of the page.

Make any changes to the text or add/amend links to other Directory entries. 

If you want to add an image click here for more instructions.

When you are finished click on the Save button towards the bottom of the screen.

There is no need to change any of the settings listed lower down the screen because these are generally pre-set for the entry.

The easiest way to add new content is to use the links in the Editor menu (left hand side of screen).

Pages should only be added to the main section headings:

• Glossary
• Manufacturers
• Mowers & Models

The Directory is organised with three main sections, as outlined above. Individual entries are included as sub pages to these main section headings.

Add a Title for the page. Ideally this should be different from all other entries. Use the same format for titles as existing entries (eg correct use of capitals, short titles etc).

Sometimes you might need to add a page with the same title as another entry. This would occur, for example, if a model had the same name as a mower from another manufacturer. In this case, add the name of the manufacturer (or some other unique identifier) in [square brackets] in the title. This will help readers (and editors) to identify different manufacturers and/or models in the listings. There are already some examples in the Directory. Use these as a guide of how to do it.

Once you have added the title move to the Body section and type in the text for the entry.

You can format the text using any of the buttons immediately above the Body box in the editing area.

Do not add images into the Body area.

When adding your text you can also create links to any other entry in the directory. You do not need to add links if you do not want. Links can be added later by editing the entry.

After you have added the text and set any links, move to the section below the Body window. There is no need to change any settings here except in Publishing Options click on the box next to Publish. A tick should appear.

You can also add an image to the entry if you want. See here for more details.

After you have added all the information don't forget to click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen near to the middle.

The system is set up to make it very easy to add links to other entries in the Directory.

When creating a new entry or editing an existing page highlight the text to link to another page or entry.

Click on the Link Button at the top of the text area. This is identified by the icon with the chain (usually on the right of the second row of icons).

A pop-up box will appear.

Select Internal Path in the Link Type box if it is not already visible.

In the Link box simply start typing the name of the entry or page of the directory to which you want to link. After a second or two a list of possible pages will appear. This list is a filter of the titles of all pages currently in the Directory. The list only shows 10 possible entries. If the one you are looking for does not appear keep typing so that the list selects the one you want. You do not need to type the title from the start because the system will search for words in the whole title. For example, typing Sims will show all pages with Sims in the title even though this word does not appear at the beginning of the title.

When the page or entry you want is visible click on that entry.

Click OK at the bottom of the blue pop-up box. 

The link is created automatically and you are returned to the main Body editing page.

Carry on adding or editing text as normal or click on the Save button at the bottom of the editing area.

Note: It is also possible to add links to other pages on the site or to any other page on the web. However, the aim of the Directory is to be a self-contained document. Do not therefore create links to pages outside of the Directory. For this reason this guide does not explain how to do this.

You can add a small image to any entry in the Directory. This is a new feature that was not possible with the old version of the booklet.

Images can be added when you create or edit a Directory entry.

In the section of the editing page below the Body box, look for the Picture section.

Click on the Choose File button.

Browse your own computer for any JPEG, GIF or PNG format image to upload. Ideally you should select JPEG (or JPG) images. When you have found the image you want to upload click on the Open or Select buttons on the file browsing panel (specific terms will vary depending on your browser).

Click on the Upload button next to the Choose File button. The image will be uploaded to a special directory on the website. You do not need to choose a location.

The system is set up to limit the size of the image file to 800 x 600 pixels. If the image you have chosen is too large the system will tell you and/or will automatically reduce it to a suitable size. You do not need to change any settings.

After the upload is complete the image will appear in the editing window.

You must click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to ensure the image is saved with the page or entry.

You do not need to add an image to an entry. Any images that are uploaded will be visible to web visitors and will also print out with the paper version of the book.

The system is set up so that copies can be printed direct from the online version.

Copies can be printed by clicking on the Print Copy of Book in the Mower Directory section of the Editor menu (left hand side of screen).

All of the formatting should be correct and, assuming the pages are arranged properly, will be in the correct order.

Page numbers are not generated automatically. These can be set in the specific browser used to print the book. The settings will vary from browser to browser but will generally be found in the Print Settings, the Print Menu or the General Settings.

Ideally footers should be set so that the wording OLC Directory is on the left hand side and Page X of Y on the right hand side. Headers should be blank.

A title page will also need to be printed. This will be supplied separately to all editors who would normally expect to sell print copies of the booklet. The title page does not include page numbers.