Touchtown Management Basics

Touchtown Management Basics

This is compiled by a resident, so although things may read a little ageist, keep in mind that I am writing about my peers, so we are probably OK as far as discrimination goes. Now . . . as far as WHY things are the way they are:

  • The eyes of older people are not as sharp as yours
  • We don’t read as quickly as you do. We need more time or fewer words.
  • The text needs to be bigger, or we just give up.
  • We don’t care too much about pretty graphics – give us the information!

Adding an Event or Activity

The most important thing to remember about adding an event (that will appear on Channel 1-1) is to keep the type large enough for older eyes to read. Ballpark of 66 point is ideal for this. Never ever below 56 point. Also, our minds also don’t process words quite as quickly as they used to, so keep the number of words to a minimum. 40 is the ballpark I use. If you can EASILY read it on your Slide Activity Overview or Announcement Overview screen in about five seconds, you are probably OK. If you have to strain the least bit, consider making the type font larger. Here are some basic guidelines.

  • Generally speaking don’t use a font that is less than 60 point type
  • Bigger is better. If you go below 56 point, it should be for information that is not really relevant to your message, cause we won’t be able to read it well
  • Try not to have a heading that is over 8 words.
  • Your description of your activity or announcement should be only 30-40 words in length. Again . . . if it is more than that, we won’t even bother!
  • Don’t have the background be too busy – our eyes don’t have the definition they used to.
  • Pretty graphics are fine, but keep them of secondary importance. We want the information more than the pretty pictures.

With that in mind, let’s go through the interface.

  • Add an Activity
    1. Enter Title, Location, and Description – Keep the number of words to no more than 8 words in the title and ideally 20 words in the description, not more than 30-40. Only in rare cases should you have more than 40 words on it – and then only a few over.
    2. DO NOT use pdf or jpg files. They are not readable by Alexa, Siri or Roadrunner, and cannot be “seen” by our visually impaired residents.
      There is enough design flexibility in Touchtown that you can “come close” to the design you want. Remember the info is more important.
    3. TOP SECTION
      1. Check Special Event (Calendars) if this is a one-time occurrence
      2. Check Attendee Registration (ie) if maximum count for buses
      3. Complete other criteria if appropriate
      4. Specify duration of event.
    4. SCHEDULE EVENT BOX
      1. If it is a one-time event, check this button.
      2. If it happens on a repeat (or multiple) basis, check this button. Determine if it is a weekly or monthly event, and then make the appropriate settings.
      3. If you select multiple times, you will be given an option to edit specific choices. Click on “Manage Single Occurrence.”
      4. If you mess up the times, the easiest way is to delete the event times and re-enter them.
    5. LARGE POSTING BOX
      1. Category:
  • Announcement or Activities (Dining = Dine Services only) Announcements will appear on TV only – not the Roadrunner
  • Activities will appear on TV and in the Roadrunner Calendar.
      1. Activity Type:
  • You will only be able to select ONE of these. This is a general category, and really doesn’t affect where the post appears.
      1. Tag: Select multiple tags if appropriate
  • You will be able to select multiple tags.
    • Recurring if it happens on an ongoing basis
    • Committees if it is something like the Resident’s Council, Building committees, Life Enrichment committee, etc.
    • Community Wednesday for only CW events.
    • Reservation needed for things like shopping trips, dine-outs, vaccine clinics, etc
    • Payment required for something like “Goodfellers”
      1. TV+:
  • For now, TV Channel 1 is the only one you should check.
  • TV2 is for Korry and Maria only
      1. Digital Signs:
  • This has also not yet been implemented. Do not check these.
      1. Calendars: This will determine on which monthly calendars the entry will appear. For example: Some PV activities do not include IL residents. Check ONLY those events to which your event fits.
      • Usually click Calendar. This will post to the Roadrunner.
      • CAREcorp has their own calendar. Click if volunteer slide.
      • Dining Event (if an on-campus or bus-driven dining event)
      • Fitness Classes (usually Mike)
      • Holiday Season (if appropriate)
      • Life Enrichment (check all who are invited to participate)
        • If it is only PV, only check PV. Ditto for Virginia Piper, Sierra Springs, Vermillion Cliffs. If both PV and IL are invited, check them both.
      • Life Long Learners (if this is a LLL event)
      • On Campus Entertainment (I assume this refers to musical and theatrical events that are open to everyone. Not sure.)
      • On Campus Entertainment-2 (unknown)
      • Residents Council (if appropriate)
      • Spiritual Life (if appropriate)
      • Virtual Programs (unknown)
        • On Campus Entertainment – 2 generates the TV Guide
      • Web Activities (unknown)
      • Apps Resident View must be checked to appear in Events and Programs
    1. Extensions: Right now, I THINK that the only one that is active is Alexa integration. This will allow the event to be announced over Alexa’s My Community skill.
    2. Usually Let Touchtown design my slide. You can change it later. There will be instructions on how to change TT’s choices.
    3. Keep High Definition checked
    4. Click SAVE and you will see your slide
    5. NOTE: If you cannot read the small size graphic on your computer, residents watching it on TV will not be able to read it either. Click on the slide, and modify the boxes and type to make it easy-to-read. See type font size and number of words on earlier pages.
  • Add Dining
    • This should be reserved for entries by Dining Services only
  • Add an Announcement
    • This is for “non-calendar” events such as Gate is Broken, Gift Shop is opening, CDC updates, Employee Appreciation, Around the Block
  1. Enter Title
  2. Enter Description
  3. Decide when you want it to appear
    • Starting on what date
    • Play forever, or stop playing on a certain date
    • Decide if you want the slide to appear more or less than rotation
    • It can also just show on certain days, like “Community Wed”
  1. Category
    • Decide if it is an Announcement or Activity
  1. TV+ : Check ONLY Channel 1
  2. Digital Signs: Do not check any at this time
  3. Extensions: Check only Alexa integration at this time
  4. Usually Let Touchtown design my slide. You can change it later.
  5. Keep High Definition checked
  • Add Movie: Please do not click this button.
  • Add Video File: Please do not click this button.
  • Add YouTube Video: Please do not click this button.
  • Add YouTube LIVE: Please do not click this button.
  • Add Touchtown LIVE: Please do not click this button.
  • Add document: Please do not click this button.

Edit will recall Announcements, Dining and Activities

  • Click EDIT to bring up a list of Announcements, Dining and Activities
    • Click the minus sign to collapse (or hide) a segment
  • See Manually Editing your Slides on page 5 for more details.

Preview will let you take a look at the information that will appear on a specific date at a specific time. For example: What will appear June 17 @ 4 pm.

Print will allow you to print a slide (to use for flyers) or a calendar. It can then be exported to your computer and/or uploaded to the system.

Crawls (Notify Korry) will allow you to print SHORT blurbs that will crawl at the bottom of the slides on Channel 1-1 and 1-2

Layouts (Korry only) will allow him to change the layout of how things appear on Channel 1-1 and 1-2.

Gallery (Notify Korry) is where all of our graphics are stored.

Settings (Korry only) is where you set the icons for events that will appear on the calendar.

Users is where accounts for residents, prospects, family and staff are managed.

  • User name: First initial, Last name, dot pb
    • (eg) hshinkle.pb family
    • There are some cases where there will be more than one:
      • Donna Samson user name: dsamson.pb
      • Don Samson user name: dsamson2.pb
      • Sometimes they will put donsamson.pb
  • PW:
    • First two letters of first name
    • First two letters of last name
    • Last two letters of last name
    • Last two numbers of apartment number: 00 if not a resident
    • Third letter of first name CAPITALIZED
      • (eg) Herman Carver PS 124 HeCaer24R

Occasionally you will have someone with only two or three letters in their last name. In that case, fill in the spaces with x. The same with first name (third letter)

  • Don Ho PS 124 DoHoxx24N
  • Don Yee PS 124 DoYeex24N
  • Vi Samson PS 124 ViSaon24X
  • Vi Ho PS 124 ViHoxx24X

Modify User Standards

  • User Name: hshinkle.pb
  • Type of user: usually Resident
  • Staff information: if appropriate
  • First Name: legal name
  • LOCATION (building) Use: N, S, VPR, CC, PH, CPS, CPN or CPW
    • Follow Building designation with number: (eg) CPN 3120
  • Mailing Address (the address used by the Post Office)
    • For Plaza South 1668
    • For Plaza North 1694
    • For Plaza View 1616
    • For Patio Homes 1660
    • For VPR or Care Cntr 1712
    • For all Central Parks 1650
  • Phone Ext: 15053 Format: 1xxxx
              • Home: 602-544-5053
              • Mobile: 602-999-4120
              • Office or Fax 602-544-5555

Not (602) 544-5053

Upload Picture if available

Edit Profile Add or change photo if appropriate

Preferred name: Henry might be “Hank”

Personal information if available.

Under Hobbies put information from Gaming Connection

Apps is where files are uploaded or created that will appear within the icons of TT

Manually Editing your Slides

After you have created your slide, you may want to edit it to change the background, the font size or any other aspects that Touchtown “automatically” put on your slide when it created it.

Changing the Text

  1. Click on the Edit button at the top of the page
  2. Enter a word or two in the search box that will help isolate your slide from the other hundred slides currently appearing. Let’s say, for example, the word COFFEE.
  3. You will see about five or six slides appear.
  4. Click on the slide that says Touchtown Coffee Club.
  5. You can change the size of the font by first clicking on the text to select it, then highlighting it. You can then edit the size or color by changing the values at the top of the page.
  6. The text will reduce in size if the text box reduces in size

Changing the Background Slide, Text, and other components

  1. This is a little tricker, but not too bad.
  2. Click on the corner of the slide, being careful to not select any text. Once you select the background, go to the right and click the trash can.
  3. To add another background, you can use existing backgrounds, or upload your own.
  4. You can add boxes and images (not background) by using the toolbar as the left of the screen.
  5. FIRST, if you want to use your own graphic, you will have to upload it. Here’s how to do that:
  • UPLOADING AN IMAGE TO THE LIBRARY
      1. Find your image you want to upload
      2. Select the appropriate directory for your graphic
      3. If it is to be used for a single event that will be going away, put it into the TEMPORARY subdirectory.
  2. Now to put your graphic into your Slide, use the toolbar to the left
  3. Once uploaded, you can click on the corners to resize and move it around to where you want it.
  4. When you are done, click SAVE.
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