Getting Started¶
This handbook provides comprehensive coverage of our projects and provides the foundational knowledge required to understand how all the pieces fit together. Rather than being bound to the whims of a hosting provider, you will have the knowledge required to focus on the needs of your 12-Step group.
Your Responsibilities¶
In order to successully navigate this handbook,
You Must:
Start from the top and work your way down, one page at a time.
- Carefully read each paragraph on each page–we don’t have fluff.
Analyze it as if you were reading The Big Book.
Make sure you understand each concept before moving to the next.
Take a break from the material, especially when feeling overwhelmed.
Review the same documentation after a break to verify it makes sense.
Ask for support if you can’t figure something out.
Target Audience¶
Our documentation is intended for anyone who wishes to be “the website person” (i.e. “website administrator”) for their local 12-Step group.
Like any role, this position requires specific skills, and not every person will be willing to learn or able to learn these skills. Recovery Source provides this handbook, other website solutions, and other support options, but only the reader can determine if they are the type of person who can/should fill this role.
The following job description provides a basic outline of what typically needs to be prioritized in order to operate a successful website, tailored toward the needs of 12-Step sober support groups.
Website Administrator¶
As a website administrator, you will be responsible to:
- Identify a point of contact who is ultimately responsible for meeting data!
This may be you or a registrar.
Ensure there is a responsible party in charge of web-related expenses.
Train other users in your region how to request (or make) changes to content.
Monitor and review all changes made to the website(s) you are responsible for.
Learn how to first identify an issue and then troubleshoot the root cause.
Engage with users who make invalid changes, to provide additional training.
Seek training when you find yourself unable to accomplish a task.
Documentation Requirements¶
This list provides some practical considerations that help define our audience:
Readers must be told how to copy an example file.
Readers are extremely unlikely to look beyond our own documentation.
Readers are extremely unlikely to search our documentation when facing issues.
Those who follow along may be doing so from a mobile device (mobile-only user).
Scope¶
This handbook teaches the fundamental concepts required to obtain a very basic
understanding of how websites work. In order to avoid overwhelming the reader,
our scope is limited to practical application of Recovery Source projects.
Where appropriate, we attempt to briefly touch on additional use cases and share links to external documentation. The further you drift from our documentation, the more you will have to rely on searching for other documentation to support your efforts.
Knowledge Checks¶
Each section of this handbook is built as a tutorial, with detailed project
documentation left as the final result. Tutorial-based sections are concluded
with a Knowledge Check that allows you to check your understanding of the
material that you just read.
You are highly encouraged to use these sections as “a good stoppingpoint,” and take a break before going back one or two pages. Remember to take things one page/topic at a time.
Check Point
Can you commit to being a Website Administrator for your 12-Step group?
Step away for a moment, to carefully consider if you will be happy to have learned these skills when your time in this role is concluded.
Important
Remember that your own sobriety comes first!