Autreach/Backpack getting started exercises

1. Email for an invitation (explain who you are if necessary).
2. Click the special link in the email you will receive in reply (from “Backpack”, subject “Roger wants to share “Backpack exercises” with you”), and then enter your email address to log in.
3. You should see a mainly blank webpage; this is a page on the Autreach website that you can edit: go through the exercises to learn how.

Text that you type in looks like this

You may find it convenient to print this page to refer to while doing the exercises; PDF version¹ available at http://pdf.autreach.co.uk/public/Backpack_exercises.pdf

1. Add a list to the page:
   • Click List at the top of the page
   • In the text box, type   Make a To Do list
   • Click the (Add this item) button (see picture 1 below)
2. Add an item to the list
   • In the text box, type   Learn how to rename a list
   • Click the (Add this item) button
3. Rename the list
   • Move pointer over the word List
   • A pop-out Edit link appears on the left: click it (see picture 2 below)
   • Type   To Do in the text box
   • Click the (Rename this list) button
4. You have made a To Do list, and learnt how to rename lists, so check these items off

1. Add a divider to the page:
   • Click Divider at the top of the page
   • Just click the (Add this divider) button
2. Add another divider below the list:
   • Move the pointer just below and left of the list, in the white margin
   • An “Add here” tab will appear: click it (see picture 3 below)
   • Click Divider at end of line, and in the text box, type   Notes
   • Click the (Add this divider) button

The “Add to page” links at the top of page add the new object at the top: to add between objects, move the pointer into the left margin (white area) and click the “Add here” tab which appears (picture 3). You can move an object up or down using the crossed arrows, or delete it by clicking the trashcan (picture 2).

1. Add a note:
   • Move the pointer below and to the left of Notes until you see the “Add here” tab
   • Click it, and then click Note
   • Type   How to link   in the title box
   • Click in the body box, and type
     Web page addresses often start with http://
   • Click the (Add this note) button
2. Edit the note:
   • Move the pointer over How to link
   • Edit appears on the left; click it
   • Click after the http://, press return twice, then type
     http://autreach.it is a link
   • Click the (Save note) button
3. Add a link on a word:
   • Move the pointer over How to link
   • Edit appears on the left; click it
   • Click after the word “link”, press return twice, then type
     so is “resources”:/pub/1541785
     (note the double-quotes around the word, followed by a colon)
   • Click the (Save note) button

To make a word into a link, put it in quotation marks and follow it by a colon and the URL (web page address), with no spaces. For other Backpack pages, just use the page number as address (preceded by /pub/ for public pages).

This is an example of Textile ² markup (formatting); you can also use standard HTML markup.

1. Add a writeboard:
   • Click Writeboard at the top of the page
   • Type   NAME’s writeboard   into the “name your writeboard” box, where NAME is your name
   • Click the (Add this writeboard) button
   • Type   This is the first version of this document. into the large text box
   • Click the (Save this writeboard) button
2. Edit a writeboard
   • Click the (Edit this page) button
   • Delete the words “the first”; insert  *two*  after “version” (note asterisks around word to make it bold — see formatting guide link on right)
   • Click the (Save as the newest version) button
3. View the changes:
   • Click quick compare (on the right)
   • Click Go back to … in Backpack at the top

You can view earlier versions of writeboard documents using the date links on the right (but only the latest version can be edited).

Writeboards can be printed (as with all Backpack pages, only the content is printed, not the surrounding controls).

Backpack does not have built-in formatting controls (buttons for bold, italic, etc) — there are add-ons which can provide these (but its worth learning a few of the Textile codes, like *bold* and "link":url anyway).

Invite others to help you develop pages or writeboards (editing the text themselves, or adding comments), by using the link at top right.

The web page you have been editing is part of the Autreach website (http://autreach.backpackit.com/). It was shared with you using the simplest form of sharing in Backpack, just by entering your email address. You can edit a page shared like this, but not use other Backpack features.

There are two other ways of editing shared pages:

1. Open a free 5-page Backpack account
   • All Backpack account holders can share individual pages with other Backpack users
   • Larger sites (like Autreach) can share their pages with free accounts…
   • ...enabling free account holders to collaborate in work on the larger site
2. Multiple user accounts
   • All users can access all pages of site, and all other features
   • Each free account can have 2 users; paid for accounts go up to 100 users

The information above refers to sharing pages for editing, not public viewing: any Backpack page can optionally be made available in a public form for anyone to read, like a normal web page.

If you are a member of AutreachIT http://autreach.co.uk/, you will be authorised as an Autreach account user (method 2), and can sign in at http://autreach.backpackit.com/. You will also be able to use all Backpack services (Calendar, Reminders, Newsroom, Journal, etc).

Otherwise, to create a free 5 page Backpack website, and get access to private areas of the Autreach site, enabling you to collaborate in its development, you can now…

• Click on the resources link on your page
  (see exercise 3.3, or click here: http://autreach.backpackit.com/pub/1541785)
• Click on the Sign up for Backpack link
• Enter information as requested
• (You can modify “administrator account” information later, if needed)
• ...but the “Backpack site address” can’t be changed, except by starting again and copying any pages across; it’s best to make username the same as the entry in the site address box.

If you send an email with your Backpack site address to admin@autreach.it, private pages on the Autreach site will be shared with you and you will be able to edit them.

If you want to sign up for Backpack later, go to http://www.backpackIT.com/ and click “Sign up for free”; there are free 30 day trials of accounts that thereafter charge a monthly fee (credit card required for signup), but there is also a small link to “choose our free plan”.
Or just go to http://signup.37signals.com/backpack/free/signup/new
(you can enter BPSJWXH in the referrer code field to support AutreachIT).

Online documentation for Backpack is available via the links at the foot of every page.

Additional resources for this workshop will be at http://autreach.backpackit.com/pub/1541785

There is a Backpack Notes page on the Autreach website: http://autreach.backpackit.com/pub/1341452

¹ The latest version of this document is http://autreach.backpackit.com/pub/1551911

² Textile reference: http://hobix.com/textile/