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How to Use InstaLeague
The following is a detailed description on how to get your league on the Internet
within a matter of minutes.
How To Index
While creating a web site for your league is a simple, straight-forward
process, you should read through this page quickly in order to run through this process
quickly and easily.
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NOTE: In order to use the Upload features in
InstaLeague you must be using Netscape 3.x or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x or greater.
Your league members can view the site with any browser. You can download a compatible
browser by clicking on either of these buttons: |
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Commissioner Name (mandatory)
Enter the name of the league commissioner here.
E-mail: (mandatory)
Enter your e-mail address in the form of yourinternetname@yourserver,
such as johnsmith@interworld.com. At the end of the web page creation process, an e-mail
will be automatically generated and sent to this address with all of your league’s
access information.
User ID: (mandatory)
Here, you should enter in your User ID that you use in order to access
The Owner’s Box.
Image Upload (optional)
The first issue you face when building your web page is whether you want
to upload an image. "Image upload" is a fancy way of saying you want to attach a
picture to your web page. If you don't want to deal with this right now, you can skip
right past this section and change it later if you like. Wasn't that easy?
If you want to include an image, InstaLeague will place it at the top of your web page
and justify it left, center, or right as you indicate. You will probably choose to attach
a photo, but any type of picture is possible, whether a sketch, diagram, or something
else. The image must be available as a computer file in the .gif or .jpg format. If your
image is stored in a different format, e.g. a bitmap, you will need to convert it to .gif
or .jpg format using a graphic program such as Paint Shop Pro. For now, all you need to do
is decide whether you want your image aligned on the left, center, or right of the page
and click on the appropriate radio button. More information is needed, but that comes later.
Page Header (mandatory)
Type in a heading for your web page in the Page Header box. Typically,
this will be your league name.
Text Box (optional)
This is an area where you can type in free form text in order to be
display on your league’s web page. This can be something like a mantra that your
league stands for or a message for your league members.
Report Listing Section (optional)
This section is used to allow you to build a list of "links"
to your league’s reports. A "link" is a place where your league members can
click on the screen and a report that is associated with that place is displayed.
This section is asking you to put in a heading for your report list. This can be
something as simple as "Reports" to anything that you want, such as "The
Stats Tell the Story".
You will be prompted to build the specific report link descriptions and upload the
report files later.
E-mail Address (optional)
If you want your E-mail Address to appear at the bottom of the page,
type your e-mail address in the box below the "Send E-Mail to:" box.
Additionally, the "Send E-Mail to:" message can be edited, e.g. "Send your
weekly moves to:".
InstaLeague Name (mandatory)
Enter your page name as you want it to appear in the InstaLeague index,
e.g. "The BSBL Fantasy League". Your league members will be able to find the
league by searching on the commissioner’s name, the InstaLeague name or by entering
the League number that the system will automatically create for your league. Also, select
the most appropriate category from the "Select Heading" drop down list to
display your web link.
Page One Completed!
Click [Update Page] to advance to the next screen.
InstaLeague will take you straight to the image upload page and/or the league report
upload page. Instructions are included below the "Add Your Image Here!" title.
This is a continuation from the Image Upload selection you made at the
beginning of this tutorial. If you want to include an image on your web page, possibly a
photo of yourself, the image must be available as a computer file in the .gif or .jpg
format.
File to upload
Select the image file of your choosing and fill in the full name and
address, e.g. "C:\MyDocs\Visuals\wolf.jpg" in the "File to Upload"
text box. Refer to the instructions below for Using the
Browse feature to Locate a File if you need help with this procedure.
Upload
Click the [Upload the file!] button. A confirmation screen will indicate
that your files have been uploaded. From there, you may refresh your browser to see the
changes or return to the previous page and continue uploading documents. Choose the latter
by clicking "here". This returns you to the screen where we just uploaded the
image.
Upload Report Files
InstaLeague allows you to attach any type of file to your web page as
long as it is no larger than two megabytes. For example, you can any of your league
reports or if you have written an article that you want to make available to your league,
you might attach it as a text document.
Many of today’s most popular fantasy commissioner packages, such as Spin Stats,
create reports in HTML format. These files are ideal for uploading and viewing on your web
site. If you have your on custom commissioner package, you should create your reports in
Text format for best viewing. If you are using a commissioner software package, talk to
your specific software vendor about generating reports for web viewing.
File Title
Type a title for a specific report, e.g. "League Standings" in
the File Title text box.
File Description (optional)
Describe the report.
File to Upload
Select the file of your choosing. Fill in the full name and address in
the "File to Upload" text box. Refer to the instructions below for Using the Browse feature to Locate a File if you
need help with this procedure.
Upload
Click [Upload] to transfer the file to your web page. A confirmation
screen will indicate that your files have been updated.
Congratulations!
You now have a web page. Click on your link to view the results. An
email message will be sent to you automatically with all of your league page’s access
information. You should print out this information and forward it to your league members.
Editing your web page is almost identical to the creation process. From
the menu page, you will select Modify your InstaLeague Page. This will take you to a
screen where you will be prompted for the information that was emailed to you when you
created your league’s page. Fill in this information and press [Submit]
You will come to a screen that is identical to the one that you saw during the creation
process, but all of the fields will be filled in with your league’s page information.
To change any information on the screen, simply make whatever change is necessary and
click on the [Update Page].
Uploading New Reports
To go to the Upload Reports screen, click on [Update Page] from the
initial page. This will take you to another screen that will allow you to Upload any new
reports and Delete any existing reports. If you are wanting to replace a report with a new
version of it, you will first want to delete the existing report and then upload the new
version of the report.
Delete Report Files
To delete any or all of your existing report files, simply click on the checkbox
next to the report file(s) that you want to have deleted and then click on [Delete
Reports].
Upload Report Files
InstaLeague allows you to attach any type of file to your web page as long as it is
no larger than two megabytes. For example, you can any of your league reports or if you
have written an article that you want to make available to your league, you might attach
it as a text document.
Many of today’s most popular fantasy commissioner packages, such as Spin Stats,
create reports in HTML format. These files are ideal for uploading and viewing on your web
site. If you have your on custom commissioner package, you should create your reports in
Text format for best viewing. If you are using a commissioner software package, talk to
your specific software vendor about generating reports for web viewing.
File Title
Type a title for a specific report, e.g. "League Standings" in the File
Title text box.
File Description (optional)
Describe the report.
File to Upload
Select the file of your choosing. Fill in the full name and address in the
"File to Upload" text box. Refer to the instructions below for Using the Browse feature to Locate a File if you need help
with this procedure.
Upload
Click [Upload] to transfer the file to your web page. A confirmation screen will
indicate that your files have been updated.
Following is a description as to how to use the InstaLeague system with
Spin Stats software. If you are using another league commissioner tool, talk to your
specific software vendor about the details of generating reports from their system so that
you can view them on the Internet.
The latest version of the Spin Stats for Windows league commissioner software can
create your league’s reports in HTML format which is ideal for using with
InstaLeague.
When you are ready to generate your league’s reports, instead of choosing to print
them to the printer, click on the HTML destination choice in the Spin Stats software. Spin
Stats will create the report and will then prompt you for a filename to give this report
on your computer. These files should be named in a way so that they will have an extension
of HTM. For example, if you are printing out your league’s rosters, you might want to
name this file ROSTERS.HTM.
Once you have created all of your HTM report files, you are now ready to upload them to
your league’s web site. Following the steps described above to upload your report
files.
Let's say you want to include a file called myleague.jpg located in a
subdirectory of your C: drive. The full file name and address is
"C:\MyDocs\Visuals\myleague.jpg." The easiest way to identify this file for
upload is to use the browse feature.
- Click the [Browse] button. On Windows 95 machines, this action calls up a "File
Upload" box, including a "Look in" drop down menu, a large window
containing files and folders, a "File name" box, and a "Files of type"
drop down menu.
- Here is what you would do if you were navigating to our sample file,
"C:\MyDocs\Visuals\myleague.jpg"
- In the "Files of type" drop down menu, select "All files (*.*)."
- In the "Look in" drop down menu, select the directory where the file resides,
e.g. "(C:)" The large window would then display the folders and files within the
C directory, including a folder called "MyDocs."
- Double-clicking "MyDocs" would reveal its contents, including a folder called
"Visuals".
- Double-clicking "Visuals" would reveal its contents, including a file called
"myleague.jpg".
- Double-clicking this file would close the File Upload box, and the "File to
Upload" text line would display "C:\MyDocs\Visuals\myleague.jpg."
Though you will not have this specific example on your computer, you can experiment
safely with the browse feature. If you wind up with an incorrect file selection in the
"File to Upload" text line, you can start fresh with the browse feature, and any
new file selection will replace the old.
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