How-to Guide
Registering and logging in
If you or your students want to do anything more with Inside a Dog than read reviews and blogs, you must be a registered user. To register, click on “Register Now” on the front page.
When registering, all you need to include is a username and password, and a valid email address. Everything else is optional. Once you are registered, you can write reviews, comment on the forums, join book clubs, or even start your own!
Your user page is accessible by clicking “My Inside a Dog”. This page will list your book reviews, books you have selected for future reading or have read, and the book clubs you have joined.
When you return to the site, you will need to log in to see your page. Click “My Inside a Dog” and enter your username and password.
Once you have registered, get i n touch with us through the Contact form, and we can make you a Trusted user. This means your reviews and other content will be posted to the site immediately, without requiring pre-moderation.
Reviews
To write a review, you first need to be logged in. Then find the book you want to review. Click “Write a book review”, and then find the book you want to review. You can do this by clicking on a cover, or putting the title in the search box.
If the book you want to review is not listed on the site, you can add it yourself. Click the “Add Book” button, and enter the title and author. If you can’t find a short blurb and an image of the cover, leave it to us – do NOT enter your review on this page!
Managing a book club
Creating the Club
Once you are a registered user, you can set up your own book club. Simply click on the Book Clubs tab at the top of the page, and then select “Add Book Club”.
On this page, you will need to make some choices about the setup for your club.
- Is the club Private? This means it will only be visible to its members. Any new members will have to be invited (see below). The default setting is for the club to be visible on the Book Clubs list page.
- Is the club Open? This addresses how people become members. The default setting is Open, meaning users of the side can be come members simply by clicking. You can alter this setting, allowing you control over who can join your club. Moderated membership allows any member to apply to join, subject to your approval (see below). Invite Only means you must send invitations for users to become members (see below). Closed means only you can make changes to the membership list.
Once your club has been created, you are the administrator for the club. This allows you to manage club members, write blog posts, and set books for the club to read.
Using your Club
Once your club has been created, there are a range of things you can do.
Blog posts
Each book club hosts its own blog. Administrators can make posts that are visible to members of the club, and the members can reply. Note that the front page of the club only shows a summary of the entries, click on the blog entry title to see the full entry and the comments.
Set a book
A book club can feature a book, which involves clicking “Set Current Book” and then selecting the book from the Inside a Dog database. If they book you want is not listed on the site, it can be added as usual. Previous books set for the club are archived.
Forum
The club forum is open to members of the club for discussion beyond the scope of blog posts. How best to use the forum (if at all) is up to you.
Please Note - once you have created a Forum topic, you will need to click on "Manange Group Forums" on the right hand bar, and change the settings to "Make Public"
Manage members
There are a range of options for managing club members available to the club administrators.
- Invite members: This screen allows you to enter usernames to be invited to your group. They will be emailed a link to follow so they can join.
- List members: this screen allows you to see all of the members of the club, and to promote them to administrators if you wish (especially useful for groups with more than one teacher), or remove members from your club.
- Approve members: this screen allows you to approve requests to join your club.
Note: Content posted by club members will need to await moderation unless they are trusted users (ten or more approved posts).
