Adding a Guestbook
Last updated on by Freeola Support
The RQS easy website builder helps you to design your pages with the addition of Page Sections. These Page Sections can be added almost anywhere on your website giving you the opportunity to make something really unique.
This guide will outline how to add, edit, and make use of one of these Page Sections, Guestbook.
A Guestbook can be used by your site's visitors to get in touch and leave comments about the site or to let you know what they think about your content. These comments are moderated before they appear within your pages using the RQS editor.
The following guide assumes you are adding a new Section to an existing page. If you are creating a new page and using a Guestbook Section as a starting point, the following process is exactly the same.
Adding a Guestbook
Adding or Editing an Introduction
Editing the Add Comment Button
Editing the Guestbook Styling
Customising the Thank You Page
Moderating & Managing Comments
Moving the Guestbook Section
To add a new Page Section to your page right-click any area within your content to open the RQS Menu, then select Insert Page Section. From the secondary menu that opens, choose where you would like the section to initially appear. You can either Insert Section Above or Insert Section Below the selected location.
This placement isn't final, you can still move your Page Section once created.
Once you have chosen your initial placement the Add Page Section window will open allowing you to select a Section Type. For this guide, we are selecting Guestbook. Click Add Page Section to continue.
Once you have added your section you will be taken back to the RQS Editor, with your new Guestbook displayed in your selected location.
The sample Guestbook includes a small section intended for a short introduction for the section. You may find this useful for providing your visitors a brief outline of the information you are hoping to gather from their Comments.
To edit this section, Right-Click anywhere within the Guestbook area then select Edit Intro Content.
The introduction section of your Guestbook will have, by default, a Text Area and a Button. However you can also add other elements in the same way as any other Content Section of the site. A full in-depth guide on adding information to this section type can be seen on our Content Section guide.
However, if you wish to simply edit the default text you can do so easily by Right-Clicking the area and selecting Edit Text Area. If you wish to remove the Introduction Text completely select Delete Text Area from the Right-Click Menu.
As with any other button on your website you are able to customise the look, behaviour and position of the Add Comment button found within this area.
To change the position of the button simply 'drag and drop' (or 'click and drag') the element to your desired location. Releasing your mouse button will lock the button to the new location.
To change the text on the Button, Right-Click the Button then select Edit Button. This will open the Edit Button window, which provides two options:
Button Text - What you would like to appear on your button.
Link Location - What will happen when the button is clicked. As this button allows your visitors to send you their comments we recommend not changing this option.
You can also change some elements of how the button looks. To do so Right-Click the button then select Layout & Colours, this will open the Element Layout & Colours window.
This new window will provide several options on modifying your button, which we will explain below:
Padding - This option allows you to 'pad' around the button giving it more, or less, space in relation to the other elements. As this is an advanced setting, we recommend leaving this as default unless you have a specific reason to alter this.
Alignment - How your button aligns with other sections of the Introduction. Unless you have multiple Elements within this Section, this setting is unlikely to have any affect.
Border - These options allow you to enable and adjust a border around your button. The Width, Colour and Style of the border can be adjusted, along with which parts of the Button will display the border.
Background - This section allows you to add a background to your Button Section. If you would like to do so, click the large rectangle within this section (a grey checkerboard pattern by default) to open the Element Background window. While this window allows you to set an image as the Element Background, for such a small area we would recommend using Colour Only.
The colour and corner style of your Button can be set within the Website Styling menus. Our guide on using this menu can be read here.
Once you have finished editing the Introduction, click Finish or an area outside of this Section to save your changes.
By default, the Guestbook will use your Site Colour Scheme. However, should you wish to customise this section of your site to make it stand out from the rest, you can do so from the RQS Right-Click Menu. To open this menu, right-click anywhere within the Contact Form Section and choose Section Styling from the menu.
If you would like your custom Contact Form background to cover the entire width of your site tick the Custom Full Width Background, if you would like your custom background to only cover the Contact Form section of the page, tick Custom Content Width Background.
These options are not mutually exclusive; the RQS Builder allows you to use both options simultaneously, individually, or not at all.
Once you have decided where your custom background will display, click the large rectangle underneath your selection. This will open the Edit Background window.
This window will offer two tabs: Customise will allow you to create a new background using either a solid colour or image and Existing Backgrounds will allow you to choose from a previously created background.
The drop-down menu on the Customise tab provides several options:
Colour Only - This option allows a solid colour background. By default this will be a transparent colour, but you can change this easily by clicking the small colour square.
Image - These options will allow you to use an image as your section or site background. To select your image select Image, this will open your Media Library. You can either select your desired image from this selection, select a Stock Image or use Upload Media to add a new image. You can also change your background colour should your image selection not fill all available space.
Resize to fill area - This option will resize your image to fill your background space completely. This option is not recommended for very small images.
Fixed position sticky image - This option will expand your image to cover the background, but this will remain static when scrolling through the page content. As you will likely only see a small part of this image, this is not recommended for an individual section of the page.
Centred at original size - This option will set your image central to the content. If the image is too small to cover the entire area, some tiling (or repeating) of the image will occur.
Tile over entire area - This option will repeat your image over the entire background area. This option is recommended for smaller, simple, images.
Custom - If you wish to further customise how your background image displays, this option allows you to do so. Recommended for Advanced Users only.
Once you have made your decision, click Finish to save.
If you would like to use a different colour font in your Guestbook from the rest of your site tick the Custom Text Colours box on this window.
This option will allow you to set a custom Text, Link and Link Hover colour. Simply select the colour block next to each option to open the colour picker.
As the fields on the Guestbook will always be white, we would recommend not using white as your text colour for this Page Section
This short section allows customisation of the Breakpoint (The point at which your content begins optimising on smaller screens) and Padding (The size of the space between the content) of this Site Section.
Unless you have a specific reason to do so, it is recommended to leave both of these settings as Off.
If you have designed content styling already within RQS you can easily select it from this tab.
Once you have decided on your changes, click Finish to save and close the window. You will now be returned to the editor with your changes in place.
After filling in your Guestbook your visitors will be taken to a Thank You/Confirmation Page. This basic page should normally feature a small line of text, typically giving a brief confirmation that the form was completed successfully.
To edit the content or look of this page Right-Click anywhere within the Guestbook Section then click Go To Thank You Page.
To edit the content of this page Right-Click then select Edit Content. You can choose to keep the content simple, or expand this page with additional Elements.
If you would like to learn how to use Content Sections in-depth, please visit our Using Content Sections Guide.
To edit the styling of this page, Right-Click then select Section Styling. A guide on changing the Section Styling can be seen above.
In our example, we have made use of the Existing Designs tab, and selected the colour scheme we designed for the Guestbook.
Once you have finished designing this page, Right-Click then click Go To Guestbook.
Before your visitor's comments appear on your site, you will need to moderate these. This moderation process allows you to ensure that only content suitable for your site and visitors appear on your pages.
When a comment has been made on your Guestbook you will receive a notification within the RQS Notification Feed and also via email.
To moderate Guestbook comments either click the Notification Feed Icon in the RQS Menu or Right-Click within the Guestbook section and select Manage Comments from the menu.
The Manage Guestbook Comments window will open and show you all comments made on your Guestbook that have been approved or are awaiting moderation. The window offers 5 columns:
Name/Website - This column will display the Name provided by your visitor as well as any information they entered within the optional website field.
Comment - The entirety of the Comment left by your visitor, as it will appear on the site.
Edit - The paintbrush icon allows you to edit the Comment.
Delete - Clicking the Trash Can Icon will delete the Comment, you will be asked to confirm this action on a separate window. Any Comment deleted is unrecoverable.
Approve - A tick within this column will publish the Comment to your Site Guestbook. Any Comment without a tick within this column will not display but will still appear within this window.
The RQS Builder gives you the opportunity to edit any Comment made within your Guestbook. To see the options for editing, Click the Paintbrush Icon next to the Comment in the Manage Guestbook Comments window.
The Edit Guestbook Comment window allows you to make changes to a Comment made on your Guestbook. Typically this feature is best used to fix any spelling mistakes, or to remove anything you feel is not suitable for your site.
This window allows you to edit the following:
Visitor Name - The information that will appear next to the Name field in the Comment.
Website - The information that will appear next to the Website field.
Comment Date - The Date that the Comment was posted. Clicking into this field will open a calendar allowing you to alter the date of posting.
Show Comment Date - A tick in this box will show the Comment date in your Guestbook, removing the tick will display the Comment with no date.
Comment - The Comment your visitor left. Use this area to edit the post by your visitor, should you so wish.
Approve Comment - Tick this box to enable the Comment to appear on your website. Ticking this box will also tick the Approve box on the Manage Guestbook Comments window.
If you would like to undo your changes click Cancel. To remove the Comment completely click Delete Comment.
Click Finish to save your changes and return to the Manage Guestbook Comments window. From here you can manage your other Comments, or click Finish to return to the editor.
If you would like to change where your Guestbook appears on your webpage Right-Click and select Move Page Section from the RQS Menu. This will open a secondary menu that will allow you to move the Section Up, or Down the page.
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