Before you can write for us you need to create an identity on the site. Signing up for site membership is free and enables you to enjoy an enhanced experience from the site whether you intend to contribute information to us or not.

Once you have signed up, there is a link back to this page.

Content is added according to the following workflow:

Content can only be added when a user is logged in.

It's a good idea to have two browser windows (or tabs in Firefox) open when you use our "how-to" so you can refer back to these pages for information and enter the information in the other.

• If you are using Internet Explorer, you can open a new window by entering Ctrl N in Windows, or Apple N on your keyboard in Macintosh
• If you are using Firefox, you can open a new Tab by entering Ctrl N in Windows, or Apple N on your keyboard in Macintosh.

If you have not created an identity yet, see how to do so on our signing up page

Use your "Login Name" and "Password" if you have already created an identity or follow the "New user?" link if you have not. It's in the <—left column and should look something like this...

Once logged in, content is created in your personal folder. Go to the top right of page and select "My folder" - it looks like this...:

New icons will appear at the top of your page which look like this:

Select "add item". It looks like this...:

Choose as follows:

• news item - for any news story
• rich document - for any other article (this selection also permits you to add images)

Make sure you select appropriately. Rich documents are great for editorial but they will not appear in the news section.

The editable page will load, like this:

Enter a title and a description.

Type or paste your text.

Use the Word-like controls to add format to your document (don't be too fussy about this - the most important thing is to get your text to us). Hover your mouse over the controls if you want to know what they do.

You can upload an image or a document you are referring to (PDF or Word files only please) from your hard drive. Always write something into your page before adding images or documents. A page cannot be saved without a title or text.

To add an image or document from your hard-drive click "browse" next to the appropriate box:

and if they are sized, include the images and logos you have uploaded in the page (if they are not cut to size, load up the image uncut and let our production team do this):

To upload an image, click "browse" and locate it on your hard drive.

Click "Save" to upload it.

We recommend you let us place images when we format your page, but you can use the image placement feature to add the image/logo to your page:

Once you are happy with what you have written (or want to come back later) save the page

The page will be held in your personal folder. It will be discoverable on searches, but not on the system.

The "state" menu dictates how the system sees your story:

• public draft means that the story is visible by you and the content can be found in searches. It will not however appear in the menu. Leave a story as a public draft if you have not finished it and want to come back to it later.
• make private means the item is only visible to you and cannot be viewed in searches or to editors. It is only visible to you.
• submit means your item will be submitted to our editors. There is no need to tell us you have sent it. It is automatically flagged up on our screens.

Once you have submitted your article, it goes into a "pending state". You can retract it - effectively withdraw it to work on it further, which removes it from the hands of editors or make it private, which removes it from all view.

Once submitted and approved, our editors will normally publish it in an appropriate area of the site within 4 hours.

• You will always be able to edit and add to any article or story you have written.
• No one else (save our editors) will be able to change or sabotage any article you have written.