How to use CRAYON

CReAting Your Newspaper

Registering

1. Click the link on the main CRAYON page that says CReAte Your FREE Newspaper to start.
   
2. Enter your e-mail address. It must be a working address. Choose a password for your paper, if you wish to have one, and enter it twice in the blanks provided for confirmation. Press the "OK" button.
   • Do not use your e-mail or AOL password. Make up a new password and write it down.
   • If there is already a newspaper under the address you entered, click the "read it now" link. From there you can modify your newspaper.

   Choosing your settings

   This page allows you to set up how your paper looks and works. Don't worry about these settings too much; you can always change them later.

   Title

   

3. You may choose to start your paper with a "The" or with nothing at all using the first pop-up menu. For example, use "The" to call your paper "The Daily News", but leave it blank to call it "Tom's News". Type a name for your paper in the middle field. Then add a canned suffix from the last pop-up menu. To have no suffix, choose "(none)" at the bottom of the list.

   Motto

   
4. You may enter a motto or slogan for your newspaper here for fun.

   U.S. Zip Code

   
5. If you're from the United States, enter your 5-digit zip code. CRAYON will use this zip code to find local news and weather and automatically add it to your paper.

   Page Layout

   
6. Page Layout determines how your newspaper will look when you read it and how you will interact with it.
   

   Simple Page

   This displays your links by section in a simple, one-page format that any browser can read. Any link you click will replace your newspaper with the content of the link. To return to your newspaper, use your browser's "back" button.

   Frames Browser

   This layout displays your paper in three frames, the top being for the title of your newspaper, the left for your list of sources, and the large right frame for viewing the content of your sources.

   Two Windows

   If your browser has JavaScript, you may choose the two windows view, which puts your links in a long narrow window. Using this layout, your sources display in full window, just like normal. Your narrow window works as a "remote control" for your viewing window. Make sure you have JavaScript turned on in your browser preferences with this layout or you might see just a front page and have no way to select your sources. This layout works best if your screen resolution is set to at least 800x600.

   
   CRAYON is smart enough to display the best layout that your browser can handle. Your setting sets the limit on which layout CRAYON will try to show you.

   Example: You set your page layout to Two Windows. You then read your paper with a JavaScript-enabled browser. Your paper will display in the two-windows format. You then read your paper with a frames-capable but not JavaScript-enabled browser. Your paper will be displayed in the frames layout. If you access your paper with a non-frames capable browser, CRAYON will notch down to the simple layout.

   Graphics

   
7. This setting defines how images appear on your front page. If you choose Inline Images, they will display right on your front page amongst your headlines. It might make a prettier front page, but will make your front page slower in loading because it has to retrieve the images too.

   Setting this to Links will not show images on your front page. They will still be listed in your right Frame or window, depending on your layout choice.

   Security

   
8. Choose whether you want to be prompted for a password when you read your paper and/or when you modify your paper. We strongly recommend that you require a password for modifying your paper, or anyone will be able to change it. The exception is if you are in a group of people who you want to all contribute to your newspaper; in that case leave the modify requirement off.

   NOTE: It may seem like your password is not required when you modify your newspaper because your password is stored in your cookies. To make sure that no one can modify your newspaper, Logout when you're done reading your paper.

9. You may also change your password here by entering the same password twice the fields provided.
10. You may tweak miscellanous settings for your front page, including hightlight color, the number of headlines displayed for each source, and how to display graphic sources by clicking the "Advanced Settings" button.
    1. Headlines: You can select how many (or none at all) headlines per source you would like to display on your front page.
    2. Highlight Color: This changes the color of the highlights on your front page.
    3. Index Window Size: This changes the size of the narrow left window in the Two Windows layout.

    Choosing a Source Selection Method

    Which method would you like to use?
11. To add sources section-by-section, "Standard". If you don't have much time, or you just want a good, well rounded paper to start off with, hit "Quick Paper". You can always go back and add or delete sources from your paper later.

Making your selections

1. Simply fill out the form, checking each item you are interested in. Be conservative unless you have a lot of time on your hands.
2. The numbers in brackets ([]) are the percentages of papers that have included that link.
3. You can navigate between sections by clicking the CRAYONs at the bottom of the pages. The numbers next to each CRAYON are the number of sources you've subscribed to in that section.
4. When you're done selecting sources, hit the "Create this newspaper now" button.

Changing the section order

1. By modifying the popup menus at the bottom of the form, you can change the order of your paper. For example, if you always read the sports section first, then the comics, then news, you can change your paper to be in that order.
2. The default order is the order of the sections that you just chose in the form. If you don't want reorder your paper, just leave the default selections.
3. If you do want to reorder your paper, simply change sections A, B, C, etc to reflect your order choice.
   

Publishing your paper

1. Click the "Publish this newspaper" button to create your paper. In a minute your newspaper will be returned with your selected items.
2. The next page will give you the address of your newspaper. Go to this URL to read your paper each day.

Tips for reading your paper

1. Bookmark your paper!
2. If your images seem to look the same, don't worry, you're not in Groundhog Day. Your browser probably caches images and you just need to either flush your cache or force your browser to reload the image.

Now that you've read the instructions, go ahead...