Set up your publication

Sign in as the administrator you created during installation, then work through Dashboard → Settings. Settings are stored in the database and take effect straight away; nothing needs a restart. The settings reference lists every option and its default.

Name and identity#

Under Settings → General, set:

• Publication name, shown at the top of every page and in every email.
• Tagline, one short line under the name.
• Description, a sentence or two used by search engines and link previews.
• Published by and Organization website, for the club, department or organization behind the publication.
• Contact email, shown in the footer so readers can reach the editors.
• Time zone. Dates are shown, and issues scheduled, in this time zone.
• Footer text, optional Markdown at the bottom of every page.

The publication’s name, logo and colors are independent of QuillSail’s. Readers see your brand; QuillSail adds only a small “Powered by QuillSail” credit in the footer.

Look and feel#

Settings → Appearance opens the publication designer. Start from one of five styles, then adjust type, colors, layout, the homepage hero and email presentation, previewing each change before you save. See design and themes.

Pages and sections#

Under Pages, edit the starter About, Writing guidelines and Privacy pages, or add your own. Pages are written in Markdown and can appear in the site’s navigation. The writing guidelines page is linked from the editor, so writers can check the rules as they go.

Under Sections, organize articles into departments. New sites start with News, Features, Tutorials, Opinion and Community. A section can stop accepting submissions while keeping its existing articles.

Who can join#

Under Settings → Accounts, choose Who can create an account:

• Anyone.
• Only people with an email address at the domains below, such as example.edu. Subdomains are included, so example.edu also allows mail.example.edu.
• Nobody: administrators add people.

You can also show your reader groups on the sign-up form, and require new members to agree to a page, such as a code of conduct.

To add someone yourself, open Dashboard → Members and add them by email. QuillSail emails them an invitation to set their password. From the command line, quillsail user create makes a confirmed account and quillsail user add-group puts someone in a group.

Under Dashboard → Members you can also block an account. A blocked person is signed out at once and can’t sign back in. Only administrators can block another administrator.

Submissions#

Under Settings → Writing, decide how the Write for us page behaves:

• Accept submissions. When it’s off, the Write page explains that submissions are closed, using your own message.
• Write page introduction, in Markdown.
• Writing guidelines page, linked from the editor.
• Writers must pick a section before submitting.
• Word limit. Writers see a warning when they go over. 0 means no limit.

Newsletter defaults#

Under Settings → Newsletter, set the sign-up heading and text, the reply-to address, and the default subject line. The subject can use {site}, {number} and {title}, as in {site} #{number}: {title}. Also choose whether articles in emails show a summary or the full text, write the welcome email, and add an email footer.

Many email providers and anti-spam laws expect newsletters to include a physical mailing address. Add yours here.

To let another website, such as your club’s main site, host a sign-up form, list its address under Websites allowed to embed the sign-up form. See the public API.

Email#

Until you connect a sender, email isn’t delivered: depending on the installation, it’s written to files (the desktop app and Docker Compose) or to the server log. Connect Gmail, Outlook or an SMTP server under Settings → Email; see Gmail, Outlook and SMTP. Then send yourself a test message, and check email and delivery before your first real issue.

Before you invite readers#

• Publication name, description and contact email are set.
• About, Writing guidelines and Privacy pages say what you mean.
• Reader groups and their joining rules suit your community. See groups and permissions.
• Editors are in the Editors group.
• A sender is connected, and a test email arrived in a real inbox.
• The mailing address is set under Settings → Newsletter.
• On a server: backups are scheduled. See backups and upgrades.