With such a large family, it is extremely difficult to keep track of everyone's whereabouts and contact information. The goal of the address book is to provide a centralized place accessible to everyone that contains the latest information. The beauty of this address book, is that it is self-updating. Each of us can (and must) keep our own records up to date as our situations change. Of course, the information is only as up-to-date as we all keep it!
In essence, the Address Book is just another album in the photo gallery, but it is password-protected so that our contact information is not available to the general public. Information on using the photo gallery is here, but this document will cover the particular aspects related to the Address Book.
When you click on the Address Book in the menu, you will be brought directly to the login screen (if you are not logged in already). Enter the standard username and password, and click "Login". You may have to log in even if you have logged in elsewhere in the site. Please let me know if you have lost the username and password.
You should be redirected to the Address Book. This, however, has proven buggy at times. If you are brought to the standard photo gallery, or back to the login screen, try refreshing your browser or even quitting and restarting your browser. Hopefully you wont run into this problem very often.
To get anyone's contact information, including home address, phone number, or e-mail address, just click on their picture. Pictures are sorted alphabetically by last name. Children who share an address with their parents are listed under their parents' picture. Anyone with a unique address should have their own picture. When you click on a picture, a new page including all available information will be brought up.
If you have updated information for yourself (or for anyone else who hasn't updated theirs), you can update it directly on the web site. There are two ways to edit the text. From the main address book page, you can select "Edit Text" from the "<< Edit Picture >>" menu underneath the appropriate picture. If you're already looking at an individual, and the info is out of date, click the "[edit]" link next to the name. In either case, you will be brought to a form with text boxes for Addresses, Phone Numbers, E-Mails, and Other Info. Do not change the Caption (name) box.
Each box can contain many lines of text. If you have a long address or multiple address, just keep typing and scroll down if you need to. If you only have one address, there's no need to label it, but if you include multiple address, it might make sense to say "Mailing:" or "Home:" or whatever in front. For phone numbers, it's a good idea to label all the numbers, H: for home, W: for work, F: for fax, M: for mobile or cell, etc. Furthermore, if you have different numbers for different family members, you may want to put a name in parentheses too, like "M: (617) 797-2523 (Brian)". Same goes for e-mail addresses, if it's not obvious!
Other information is open to broad interpretation. Maybe it's the summer house info... Maybe it's your AIM account... Maybe it's your shoe size... No real constraints in the Other box.
That's it. If you have other questions, contact brian@thecaputos.org.