Spruz Owners' Community For owners of websites powered by the Spruz Platform

We will pay you from $10 - $50 for quality video tutorials about using the Spruz system.

We get e-mails all the time from members of the Spruz community inquiring about job openings, most of which people are wanting to do from home. So we have decided to open up some opportunities for community members instead of hiring on more staff to fill the need at this time. If this goes well, we will try to bring even more opportunities to our loyal community. Below are details about what we currently have available for you to do.

Technical: Each tutorial video needs to be between 3 – 5 minutes in length, if the project you are teaching requires more time to explain all the steps please break it up into multiple parts. Multiple parts will count as individual videos for payment. Make sure to have clear easily understandable dialog and quality screen capture that is easy to make out. Keep in mind that your tutorial video will be viewed in the YouTube player, so optimize your video for that size.

Submission and Use: Once you have recorded your tutorial video on one of the needed topics listed below, upload your video to your YouTube account. Then send an e-mail to staff@spruz.com with the link to your submission and the words “Spruz Tutorial” in the subject.  Your tutorial will then be reviewed by our staff for accuracy, quality and usability.  If we decide to use it on the site system we will contact you to arrange payment and delivery of the original file. If the video needs to be improved first we will send you a critique listing what needs to be corrected before we can use your tutorial.  Please be sure to follow the guidelines or we will not be able to use your video, only quality tutorial videos will be accepted.

Subjects that we currently need tutorial videos for:

• Full site creation on the Spruz system from start to finish, multi part is fine, all the basic site components. Everything but styling.
• Using the Design Editor and Overlays, including adding custom images.
• Adding Custom Header And Footer with the Custom Scripting Section
• Embedding Music
• Setup and management of Groups and Members
• Managing Site and Forum Permissions
• Using the File Manager
• Forums Setup and Management
• Using dynamic pages and page elements in the page Builder
• Setup of the Shopping Cart
• Managing the Shopping Cart

Finally please go to this site for tips on making good video tutorials. http://www.blendernation.com/2007/01/31/how-to-produce-a-good-video-tutorial/

Only quality tutorials will be used, but the rewards will be many as not only will you get the money from us and also you will be credited in the video with your web address if you want it included. The amount of pay will be factored based on depth, length and quality of the video. Approval for use will be at our sole discretion.

One of the newest elements includes a Mini Calendar. With the Mini Calendar you can now display your upcoming events on any page. We have also added site tags and another great element. If people found your site though our search pages your site will have search tags created. Make sure you have filled out your site keywords in your site properties section of your site.

In the page builder we have added a few new page template/links that includes a new member searching section. Now visitors can search your site members that have edited profiles on your webpage. Members are homed to your page anytime they edit their profile on your site. If that member joins another site and edits their profile there then they won't be searchable on your site unless the person does a network wide search.

We have included several style formatting fixes, and bug fixes along with this update.

We would like to hear more ideas of page elements you would like to have access to use on your webpage. Let us know what you think about Polls, other forum element ideas, etc. Be creative and give full details when posting. Remember do not post help or support related questions on the Admin Announcements. If you have issues please post them in our forums or email support@spruz.com

You may notice some changes with the section icons on the administration areas of your site. We are continually working on improvements to make our system easier for new and old users to navigate and find there way.

We have removed the Yellow or System Category and put those functions into the Content Category. In addition everyone should use the Page Builder to edit options for your forum, downloads and gallery. Many areas are now editable from the main pages of your site. For example your site news/Blog can now be fully controlled and managed from the blog component by clicking on the menu option and going to preview the page. You will see icons for editing and deleting posts along with links for adding new blog entries and categories.

SPI has started, SPI short for Spruz Program Interface will allow you to reuse your own site data to create new components and features within your site. SPI will be a component that will have its own updates to add new functionality and features. It works by allowing our users to enter special variables to output site information and structure. $time displays the current local system time. At this time these functions can only be used in Custom Elements and new pages.

For example if you create a new page and want to auto fill what your site domain name is you would use my.spruz.com. We have also added a stats display processor. While you don't see a stats tracking on your site we do store information about your site traffic. We have created a new Stats Element that you can add to your page that uses SPI. You can click edit after adding it to your page to get an idea on how it works.

As part of our continual dedication to your web site we have corrected a number of reported errors that dealt with adding forums, Blog Entries and on the profile pages.

Remember your feedback is important to us. We make improves, feature additions, and UI advancements largely from what our users report. At the same time we do not know if a feature is working good for one of our users unless some takes the time to say they like it or this works for me. Please take a moment and send us some feedback even if it is just to tell us we are on track. Click on any of the feedback words to send us Feedback now.

Thank you,
Jay Roberts
CEO Spruz Inc.