The 2011 council elections will be on the same day as the "Yes to Fairer Votes" referendum.  We should be promoting this campaign now by using materials from the official campaign and from the party (click here for the Fairer Votes Campaign Pack from the Campaigns Department).

You can also add a button to go in the sidebar of your MyCouncillor site that shows you are backing the campaign and at the same time creates a link through to the Yes to Fairer Votes website.  As this is the non-party campaign, it's useful to make sure it is seen as you endorsing the campaign rather than it being a Lib Dem initiative.  To win we need far more people than just Liberal Democrat voters to support the campaign.

How to add a Yes to Fairer Votes badge

Log-in to the Admin area of your MyCouncillor site.  Click on 'Presentation' and then on 'Sidebar Widgets'.  At the bottom of the screen you will see a box headed 'Available Widgets'.  From here, drag and drop one of the boxes with the label 'WYSIWYG Text 1 [or another number]' up to the Sidebar where you want your button to appear.

When you have got the WYSIWYG Text widget in place, click on the smaller box that contains three thin horizontal black lines and a blue band at the top.  This will open up the WYSIWYG Text widget.  Add a title, such as "Anders is supporting..." and then copy and paste in to the main box the following HTML:

<p><a href="http://www.yestofairervotes.org/"><img src="http://www.libdems.org.uk/siteFiles/resources/AV/yes_to_fairer_votes1.jpg" width="160" height="110"  alt="Yes to Fairer Votes" /></a></p>

Then click on the x to close the box and then click on 'Save Changes' in the bottom right of the screen.  If you now go to your website, your button will have appeared.

The HTML contains all the information you need to create button, as well as the dimensions of the Yes to Fairer Votes logo.  If your sidebar size is different from the example given above, make sure that the logo is in proportion and is neither squashed nor too big.  If you find that this has happened, then edit the HTML code by changing the numbers after 'width' and 'height' to make sure they are right.  However, it's important to make sure the logo is still in proportion.

A new feature has been added to the MyCouncillor system. This is a "What you see is what you get" (WSYWYG) sidebar panel.

There are a whole host of things you could do with with this, from a simple advert for your PPC, to a Twitter feed; an automatic picture badger or a news feed.

Here's a couple of examples:

Paul Ankers has used his sidebar widget for a feed of his Twitter "tweets".

As an example I've put a Flickr photo badge (it's set to just have photos of my local area) on my website.

Will people let us know how they get along - its probably not for the beginner user, but for more advanced users it could be really exciting.

Instructions
1) Log into your MyCllr site's back end
2) Go to 'Presentation' + 'Sidebar Widgets'
3) You will see in the 'Sidebar 2' column (or in the case of your template Sidebar Z) a new entry called "WYSIWYG Text 1"
4) Click on the 'Configure' button on the right hand end of this new widget
5) A pop-up window appears to let you edit the contents
6) Make the changes you require and then press the X in the top right hand corner to close the pop-up
7) Finally, press the "Save Changes" button at the bottom right of the window.
 
Below the save button is another box that allows you to add more WYSIWYG widgets. Each appears in the sidebar and can be dragged around to the required position. Each one can have different contents.