1. First Class – Virtual Towns and
Schools
Training Session
Created By Angela Carey
November 17, 2015
Training Session
Created By Angela Carey
November 17, 2015
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2. Table of Contents
Item Page #
Logging in 3
Formatting Text 4
Future Assistance from VTS 5
Help from those online 6
VTS Website for Support 7-8
Spaces within documents 9
Have the webpage open 10
Posting News and Announcements 11
Uploading Minutes and Agendas 11
Attaching Files 12
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Attaching Files 12
A-Z of Creating a Free Form Document 13
Formatting Text 14
Creating your Hyperlinks 15-16
Tid Bits of Information 17
Adding Pages to the Index 18
Archiving/Changing File Locations 19
Adding Events to the Calendar 20
Working with Pictures 21
Changes to Home Pages 22-25

3. To Log In
• Click on the First Class Icon
• Log in, using your user name and password
• The first time, you may need to make sure that the address “field” is
correct, by clicking on Advanced, and making sure that the address field is
"fc.ma.virtualtownhall.net".
• If you have to change this, make sure that you click save, so that it is saved
for future uses
• Click on the First Class Icon
• Log in, using your user name and password
• The first time, you may need to make sure that the address “field” is
correct, by clicking on Advanced, and making sure that the address field is
"fc.ma.virtualtownhall.net".
• If you have to change this, make sure that you click save, so that it is saved
for future uses
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4. Formatting Text
• Formatting text, which we will get into later, is
much like Microsoft Office products.
• You will find the much of the First Class has
been designed to mirror Microsoft Word, so it
is pretty easy to format, copy, paste, etc.
• Formatting text, which we will get into later, is
much like Microsoft Office products.
• You will find the much of the First Class has
been designed to mirror Microsoft Word, so it
is pretty easy to format, copy, paste, etc.
4

5. Future Assistance through Virtual Town and Schools
• Virtual Town and Schools has someone available more often than not. You
can contact this person by going in from the main screen via numerous
locations. You can either click on see who’s on line and send them a
message, or go into the VTS Support Website.
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6. Who’s OnLine
• If you go to look for assistance this way, you will click on who’s online and
the following window will come up, you can then ask one of the persons
on line for assistance. If they can help you they will or they will ask you to
send a message via your Outlook email to support at
support@virtualtownhall.net, in that email you would put in Franklin, NH
in the Subject line.
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7. Go to VTS Website for Support
• If you click on the VTS Support Website, it will
bring you to the website.
• You need to choose the first option
• If you click on the VTS Support Website, it will
bring you to the website.
• You need to choose the first option
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8. VTS Website Support
• You will need to log in.
• The User ID & password are both ________
• Once you get in there, you can do a search of the question that you have
• You will need to log in.
• The User ID & password are both ________
• Once you get in there, you can do a search of the question that you have
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9. First Class- Virtual Towns and Schools
• First and foremost
– No spaces in your links,
page names, or
document names that
are being posted on the
website.
– Save documents as, ie.
CubScouts2013flyer.pdf
and not Cub Scouts 2013
Flyer.pdf
• How it looks with
spaces:
– http://www.franklinnh.org/Pages/Fra
nklinNH_Recreation/Programs/Cub%
20Scouts%202013%20Flyer.pdf
• How it would look
without spaces:
– Franklinnh.org/Pages/FranklinNH_Re
creation/Programs/CubScouts2013Fl
yer
• First and foremost
– No spaces in your links,
page names, or
document names that
are being posted on the
website.
– Save documents as, ie.
CubScouts2013flyer.pdf
and not Cub Scouts 2013
Flyer.pdf
• How it looks with
spaces:
– http://www.franklinnh.org/Pages/Fra
nklinNH_Recreation/Programs/Cub%
20Scouts%202013%20Flyer.pdf
• How it would look
without spaces:
– Franklinnh.org/Pages/FranklinNH_Re
creation/Programs/CubScouts2013Fl
yer
9

10. First Class – Virtual Towns and Schools
• Open your webpage that you are going to update
prior to making changes.
– This helps with quickly locating where the changes must
be made
– Helps to ensure that your changes look the way you want,
after you make changes hit refresh
• Open your webpage that you are going to update
prior to making changes.
– This helps with quickly locating where the changes must
be made
– Helps to ensure that your changes look the way you want,
after you make changes hit refresh
10

11. First Class – Virtual Towns and Schools
Posting News and
Announcements
• This is like creating an email.
• Uploading a document by itself.
• Copy and paste information from
a document into the message
area (must be in word format).
Uploading Minutes and Agendas
• Two parts
– Upload the document by clicking on
File/Upload and then choose the
document in its location.
– Then click on the Post Minutes email
icon so that you can send out to
those who receive the email blast
that the minutes were posted.
– Once you have the document in,
highlight the name of the document,
right mouse click and choose
properties, change the name of the
document. Make sure that there are
no inadvertent spaces at this point.
• This is like creating an email.
• Uploading a document by itself.
• Copy and paste information from
a document into the message
area (must be in word format).
• Two parts
– Upload the document by clicking on
File/Upload and then choose the
document in its location.
– Then click on the Post Minutes email
icon so that you can send out to
those who receive the email blast
that the minutes were posted.
– Once you have the document in,
highlight the name of the document,
right mouse click and choose
properties, change the name of the
document. Make sure that there are
no inadvertent spaces at this point.
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12. Attaching Files
Attach a file to a Email type message
Under the subject line, see the attach button. Click on this and follow the prompts to
upload the document.
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13. A-Z of Creating a Free Form Document
• Create the folder
– File/New/New folder (I always use Standard folder)
• Upload Documents to the folder
– Make sure you are in the folder, click File/Upload
• Create the form
– File/New/DocumentSpecial/(type) (I always use Freeform
Document)
• Add the language to the form
– Either type it in or copy and paste it in
• Create your hyperlinks
• Create the folder
– File/New/New folder (I always use Standard folder)
• Upload Documents to the folder
– Make sure you are in the folder, click File/Upload
• Create the form
– File/New/DocumentSpecial/(type) (I always use Freeform
Document)
• Add the language to the form
– Either type it in or copy and paste it in
• Create your hyperlinks
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14. Formatting Text
• Now that you have created a document, you
can make changes to the font, much like
Microsoft Word
1. Undo/Redo
2. Text Styles
3. Bold
3. Italic
3. Underline
4. Quoted
5. Indenting
6. Bullets
7. Format Selection
8. Format Paragraph
9. Hyperlink
10. Reset to Default/Current
Style/Sample Style
11. Insert Signature
12. Check Spelling
13. Font
14. Size
15. Color
16. Alignment
17. Insert
18. Tab Ruler
• Now that you have created a document, you
can make changes to the font, much like
Microsoft Word
1. Undo/Redo
2. Text Styles
3. Bold
3. Italic
3. Underline
4. Quoted
5. Indenting
6. Bullets
7. Format Selection
8. Format Paragraph
9. Hyperlink
10. Reset to Default/Current
Style/Sample Style
11. Insert Signature
12. Check Spelling
13. Font
14. Size
15. Color
16. Alignment
17. Insert
18. Tab Ruler
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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15. Creating your Hyperlinks
• Highlight your text and click
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16. Creating Hyperlinks
• Once you highlight your text and click on the make link button, then a new window will come up, that you
can either enter your document (if you have uploaded it to the webpage) or you can enter in a url (ie.
www.franklinnh.org).
• IMPORTANT: Please remember to choose to open in new window or open in same window at this point in
time. That way when they click on the hyperlink it will open up the way you want it. If yo uthink they will
need to refer back to the main page, then leave it to open in a new window, but if not, then have it open
in same window.
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17. Tid bits of Information
• Do not post word documents or excel documents
• All forms and documents should be scanned or created as a PDF
Document
• You can also save documents as .txt (word), .rtf (word), .csv [comma
delimited value (excel documents)]- but I would recommend using
.pdf
• Not everyone has Microsoft Office programs, so by saving in these
formats, you will allow them to pick up a word document in the
program they have or an excel document in whatever
spreadsheet/database program that they utilize
• Do not post word documents or excel documents
• All forms and documents should be scanned or created as a PDF
Document
• You can also save documents as .txt (word), .rtf (word), .csv [comma
delimited value (excel documents)]- but I would recommend using
.pdf
• Not everyone has Microsoft Office programs, so by saving in these
formats, you will allow them to pick up a word document in the
program they have or an excel document in whatever
spreadsheet/database program that they utilize
17

18. Adding your new page to the Index Page
• After you have created your new form (page) and attached all your hyperlinks and
completed your formatting, now you have to actually put it on the website, as
while you are working to create it, it is not actually on the site.
• The important thing is knowing how you saved it and where it is located.
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19. Change Location of Files – ie. Archiving
Old Minutes
• First Create a New folder (file/new/new folder/ standard folder, ie. Under
the Minutes folder, create a folder called 2010
• Then drag the minutes that you have into that folder, the same as moving
documents from one folder to another in any other program
– Click on Documents, highlight them and drag them into the new location
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20. Adding Events to the Calendar
• Click on Calendar
• Double click on the date that you want to add the event into
• You can copy and paste or type information into the message area
• Click on Calendar
• Double click on the date that you want to add the event into
• You can copy and paste or type information into the message area
20

21. Working with Pictures
• Make sure you are using a program for pictures that you can
change, size or save images within.
• Always save your programs as .png or .jpg
• Size Matters: no one photo should be over 35K as it will take
a ton of time to download. The smaller the better.
– No image should be larger than 600 pixels, and 300 pixels
is best.
• Make sure you are using a program for pictures that you can
change, size or save images within.
• Always save your programs as .png or .jpg
• Size Matters: no one photo should be over 35K as it will take
a ton of time to download. The smaller the better.
– No image should be larger than 600 pixels, and 300 pixels
is best.
21

22. Changes to Home Pages
• Do not change the home pages fonts, colors or setup. This
was chosen by the City when the website was first designed.
This creates uniformity across the board for all webpages
within the website. This allows for easier access for the
public. This set up disabled for your use and is the second tab
when you go into the index.
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23. Changes to Home Pages
• Items that can be changed on your home page
– Updates to contact information
– Hours
– Your home page picture
– The message at the bottom of your home page
– Your individual links and documents
– Your Staff Table (of which there are 5 additional sections)
• Items that can be changed on your home page
– Updates to contact information
– Hours
– Your home page picture
– The message at the bottom of your home page
– Your individual links and documents
– Your Staff Table (of which there are 5 additional sections)
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24. Changes to Home Pages
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25. Changes to Home Page
To change the message on your home page
 Click on the arrow, and pull up to open up that portion of the page.
 At this point, it is like a word document and you can type or copy and paste the information into this area.
Dragging up at this point to open
the area
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