NABA's Butterflies I've Seen Quickstart Guide

Step 1:

Find and click on the "Log On" button in the top right of the navigation bar.

Step 2:

At the "Log On" page, click the "Register" button and complete the form create a personal user account. Shortly after submitting the form you will receive an email at the address that you provided. The email contains a link that will activate your account by clicking on it. After activation, you can navigate to the log on page, and log on using the username and password you chose during registration.

Step 3:

To enter sightings, click on "Field Trips" in the navigation bar at the top of your screen. A new screen will appear with a list of the field trips you have entered to date. If this is your first use of the system, there will be no field trips to view. Click on the "Add Trip" link to the top left, underneath the primary navigation bar to add a new trip. A new screen will appear enabled you to choose the location, and other details about where you observed butterflies during your trip. Fill in the form as accurately as possible and click "Submit".

Step 4:

Once you have submitted your new trip you will be redirected to the Edit Trip Sightings screen. If you scroll down you will see a paginated list of all species on record in the state in which the field trip took place. You can now enter details about the quantity, lifestage, and general notes of all of the butterflies you saw during your trip. You can manually save all your entries by clicking the save button as they appear, or by sorting, filtering, or paging the table. If there are problems with your entries a popup message will be displayed to help you correct those issues before you continue.

Menu Overview

• Main Menu
  • News: This displays current news articles about butterflies. Clicking here brings up a submenu that allows you to read the news about butterflies, view a list of articles about butterflies and to post new articles about butterflies. If you post new articles, they will be sent first to an editor before posting.
  • Discussions: This displays the list of current discussion topics posted by other butterfly enthusiasts. You may create new topics as well as post messages to other users here.
  • Life List: This displays your life list and brings up a submenu that also allows you to edit your life list.
  • Field Trip/Sightings: This displays a list of your field trips and brings up a submenu that also allows you to add a field trip and view a lit of your sightings.
• News - Submenu
  • Current News: A list of recent news items.
  • News Archives: A complete list of articles that have appeared on the site.
  • Submit News: A form for sending in a news article for publication.
• Discussions - Submenu
  • View Topics: Lists all of the discussion topics available.
  • Add Topic: Allows you to enter a new topic for discussion
• LifeList - Submenu (Registered & Logged On Users Only)
  • Edit LifeList: Displays the life list where you can enter notes, or mark species as having been seen (regardless of having entered data for a field trip)
• Field Trips - Submenu (Registered & Logged On Users Only)
  • View Trips: This lists all of the field trips you have entered into the system
  • Add Trip: Add a field trip (sighting) to the database. When you add sightings into the system your Life List will be automatically updated.
  • All Sightings: This lists all of your butterfly sightings for all of your field triups. This is a 2 step process. First you select what information you would like to see (and perhaps limit it by creating a filter). Then you will be presented with a list of all the data.

Glossary

Field Trip

A date and location where one or more butterflies were seen. This can range from a 3 day journey, to walking around in the back yard. We needed some way of tracking the when and where of a butterfly sighting and the name "Field Trip" is used. You must create a "Field Trip" in order to enter a butterfly sighting.

Life List

A list of all species (the NABA list), with a place to mark which you have seen. This lets you simply identify if you have ever seen a particular type of butterfly (it does not track any details).

Sighting(s)

The sighting of a particular species of butterfly (1 or more) at a particular time and place. In the system a "Sighting" just stores the species and number of butterflies seen. Each "Sighting" is linked to a "Field Trip" which provides the date/time and location of the sighting.

Sightings List

This is a list of all of the sightings you have entered into the system (regardless of the field trip they occurred on).

A Note of Thanks

We would like to take a moment to give a large note of thanks to Scott Diemer, Jim Springer, and Jeff Glassberg for their work on this document, as well as all of their assistance with the development of this web site. We would also like to thank the generous support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for their grants in support of this web site.

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