Frequently Asked Questions

What is this website about?

This is a website for the 1997 graduates of Dublin High School (DHS) in Dublin, California. It's main purpose is to be an online gathering point for the DHS Class of 1997 alumni, and to disseminate information about the upcoming ten-year class reunion in 2007. 

I can't post a blog or comment!

You have to register with the site to post comments or blogs.

I just registered on the site but I can't login.

When you first register, you will receive an automated email message to the email address you provided. This message contains a link to validate your email address and finish the registration process.

I'm already fully registered on the site, but I'm having trouble logging in.

99 percent of the time, login problems can be traced to cookies. You must have cookies turned on. Joomla uses them to remember your user preferences, display preferences, and comment preferences. If you have cookies on, and it still doesn't seem to work, then it might be a cookie logjam. You might have an old, non-working cookie lying around which prevents the setting of a working one.

How do I post a comment?

You have to register with the site to post comments. To post a comment: find the blog you wish to respond to, then click on "Add a comment" near the bottom of the blog. This will open a new comment box. Put a title for your comment in the title box. Put the body of your comment in the large box. Use any html formatting you want to.

How to post a blog:

After you login, in the menu box on the bottom left, click on "Post/Edit Blogs." This brings up a row of icons across the page; click on "Create Blog." Give you blog a snappy but appropriate title so that people know what they're getting. You can put your entry into the intro copy box, but if it goes on longer, you may want to consider putting the rest of your entry into the main text box.

The blogs don't seem to let me post something unless I have a certain number of characters in it. Why?

The blogs on this site have 200-character minimums, to promote longer, more well-constructed blogs. After all, we want to read the details of your life and your recollection of high school! If you'd like to write short notes, may we suggest either leaving comments on a specific blog item, or using the guestbook and private messaging system in the user profiles. In the future, this site may install a bulletin board or open-thread system, to facilitate shorter running conversations.

Can I edit my blog once I post it?

Yes. Be sure that you're logged in; in the menu box on the bottom left, click on "Post/Edit Blogs." In the middle of the page there is a tabbed window with a list of blogs you've published. Next to the title of the blog you want to edit, click on the pencil icon and make your changes. Be sure to save your changes by clicking on the floppy disk icon in the upper left.

How do I upload pictures?

After you login, in the menu box on the bottom left, click on "Upload Photos." In the tabbed window, you have a choice of uploading either a single file, multiple files, or scanning a web directory for multiple photos.

How do I add my location to the map?

After you login, in the menu box on the bottom left, click on "Map Your Location." Fill in your city, state and zip code. If you are outside the United States, be sure to specify your country. Then click on the disk icon to save your location. It takes a few minutes before your location appears on the map, so please be patient. 

What are the community standards for DHS 1997? Can I use four-letter words?

Hey, we're not in high school anymore (thank goodness!) so you won't be punished for swearing, but use good judgment and try to keep it to a minimum. We're here to reminisce and have a good time, so please exercise common courtesy with your fellow alumni.

As is the case for many online community sites, some things that are grounds for being barred from posting include personal insults, racist, religiously-insensitive, or homophobic statements, and posts that are intended to incite anger. Any comments or blogs that contain such material are subject to being removed by the administrator. These same rules apply to uploaded photos. Although we are pretty open as far as visual taste goes, please don't post nekkid pictures or anything depicting questionably legal behavior.

Probably none of this stuff will be an issue, so let's just have fun. 

How do I update my profile?

After you login, in the menu box on the bottom left, click on "View My Profile." The profile set-up is similar to networking sites such as Friendster and Myspace. Also, there are tabs along the bottom that tell you what blogs you've posted, images you've uploaded, connections you've made (same as your friends in MySpace).

For more info on this, visit the Community Builder website.

How do I view other people's profiles?

After you login, click on the "Find my classmates" link in the menu box on the bottom left side. There you'll find a directory of registered alumni; clicking on their portrait takes you to their profile page. There you can leave guestbook messages (similar to comments on MySpace) and even send private messages and emails.

Alternatively, when you read blog entries, you can click on the names of the authors to view their profile. 

How did you make this website?

This website was built using Joomla! , an open source content management system. The features of the site use the following extensions: Community Builder, Facile Forms , Google Maps API, Joomblog, MyPMS Open Source , Recommend, and Zoom Gallery

Can you add [xyz] feature to the site?

We can certainly try, as long as it's in keeping with the scope and intent of the website. Please do send suggestions for improvements here.

I can't get such-and-such feature to work! -or- How can I do [this-and-that]? 

Contact us and let us know what you're having trouble with, we'll try to talk you through it. To be honest, the administrator doesn't know very much about web programming, so there's a chance that any problems may be due to limitations in the web extensions themselves. (However, anybody who does know about web programming is welcome to become an administrator!)

I tried contacting you and I haven't received a response yet!

Currently this site is adminstered by one person, so please be patient.