How to set up your platform (administrators)

Before you can start inviting people to your platform it needs to be set up. Getting everything ready is simple. Still, there are a few things to keep in mind. This article is here to guide you through the steps, helping you create an inviting and well-organized platform that makes visitors want to contribute their ideas.

The Community page is your "Homepage", where the participants will be able to find all your projects. 
The Project page is the showcase for one of your projects (if you are running several ones, or if you have an important project with several audiences targeted on different digital spaces/phases in your project).

Therefore, you can have different Projects pages of your Community Page. 

Keep in mind that the Civocracy team is to help you design the structure of your platform. 

Note that the Civocracy team might have already created the COmmunity page for your organization. If it is the case, the team will let you know and guide you through the next steps, to edit the Project page. 

First things first: choosing the right pictures

Your Community page and your Project Page are the entry points for all people looking to participate in your concertations or to find out more about your community. It should be set up in a way that makes it look both representative of your community and inviting to new users. Choosing the right pictures is a central part of personalizing your platform. 

To upload pictures on your community homepage, click 'Go to settings' at the top of your page. 
There's 2 types of visuals you can add to your Community page.

• Choose a Community cover photo: The panoramic photo will stand out most on your Community page, so make sure that it is pleasant to look at and draws users in! The recommended size is 730 x 400 pixels (PNG/JPG).
• Choose a logo: The logo will appear in the top center corner of your Community page (and then on the top right of your Project page. You can edit it in the Settings of your Community page. If possible, it's best to use your official logo. Choose a format of 180 x 80 pixels.

In addition to personalizing your Community and Project pages, you also have the option of adding visuals to your engagement modules. We strongly recommend that you do this as it allows users to quickly discern the topic of the concertation, thus encouraging engagement. The more you can create an overall campaign visual identity. 

You can also add many elements, such as the URL links to your website, and different social media.

Creating new project pages for your Community page

Being well-informed is a prerequisite for any constructive exchange. Making additional information - on the topic of consultation, the process of digital citizen participation etc. - available to the users will therefore greatly enrich your consultation. Civocracy let's you add different Project pages.

To add a new Project page, click on 'add a page' at the bottom of the Community page. 

To set up this new Project page

Once you've added a new Project page, you can edit the different information sections and visuals. To do so, go into the "Settings" section. You can then:

1. Set up the Project name (short, catchy, as a tagline!)
2. Choose a cover picture: this photo will appear in a little format on your Community page and in a bigger size (zoomed in) once participants go on your Project page. It has to be appealing for them to click! The recommended size is 1440 x 250 pixels.
3. About this Project section: this defines the purpose of your project and why the participants should engage. Be concise and clear. It should not be too long. 
4. What will happen with the results section: this allows the participants to understand what the data of the contributions will be used for, how, and in which time frame. 

    
5. The URL of your project: you can customize the URL of your project but be careful, once you started to communicate on your project and spread your URL around, we highly recommend you not to change it anymore.

Then, click on next. You will arrive in the second part of the setup. There, you will be able to edit: 

You can now create your project page by clicking on "Add project". The next step will be then to create your engagement modules. We invite you to check this article for more information about this next step. 

 

If you need to delete your project page, "Go to Settings" > on the left menu at the very bottom, you will find a button "Delete project".