Website Front-End

This section describes some features of the Front-End of the website – being the part that you and others see when the website is opened in a browser.  A desciption of the “back-end” (which is only accessible by logged-in members) is described on a separate page.

User Registration and Passwords:  every member of AST should be registered as a User of the website.  If you (a member) have not received an email from the website giving you your username and inviting you to register your own password, then please notify the the Webmaster and ask to be registered as a User.

Logging in:  Once registered, each member should be able to log-in to his or her account using their username and password.  The logging-in functions can be found in the “footer” area at the bottom left of the Home page as below:

Once logged in, Members should be able to:

  1. access pages that are restricted to members only (to be found under the Members menu heading).
  2. access the Members’ Forum (see below) and make contributions to it;
  3. add contributions (posts) to other forums or topics listed on the Forums page;
  4. propose new topics for the Forum.
  5. “subscribe” to receive email notifications of new posts on any Forum topic;
  6. post comments under any of the headings in the News section;
  7. “subscribe” to receive email notifications of new posts and comments;
  8. submit News items (posts) for publication.

Note: Members will initially be registered as “contributors” to the website and “participants” to the Forum. Individuals’ “role” settings (which define levels of access) can be adjusted if/when needs arise.

Additional Notes:

  1. An “SSL certificate” has been purchased for AST’s website for Member’s security since it ensures that their usernames and passwords are encrypted when they log in. [This can be verified by noting the prefix https:// (instead of http://) in front of AST’s web address in your browser.]
  2. A link has been created that automatically sends AST News “posts” to AST’s facebook page immediately they are created.
  3. Similarly, a list of the most recent “posts” now appears in a side-bar at the bottom of AST’s Home page.