Help

This is a collection of questions and answers that users had on Dancilla by using the features.

Registration & Login

Do I need to register to access information?

You do not need to register or login. Nearly all material is accessible for everybody. Only if you want to participate (e.g. ask or answer questions, comment, upload pictures, add videos etc.)

How do I register?

On Dancilla are two places where you need to register to fully participate:

1. On the Dancilla community site
2. In the Dancilla Wiki

I cannot register. What can I do?

Please fill out the contact form, describe what happened, submit it and an administrator will get back to you.

Social Network

What is a social network?

A social network allows people to share information about themselves, connect with people they know (tagged as "friends" in the network), share information like their current status, their hobbies, upload photos, add videos, help with questions etc. All this happens on website like Dancilla which is tailored to support a community of dancers and people related to and interested in dancing.

Why should I use the social networking functionality on Dancilla?

Dancing is a social thing and brings you in contact with new dances and other dancers. You can enhance you own social dance life by being a member of the dance community on Dancilla. Dancilla helps you to connect to dancers from around the globe and point them to dance-related information, that either you or others have shared and discovered. In the end, everybody profits from the community of passionate dancers.

But, you don't need to join. All materials in the archive and most information about the community members is accessible for non-members.

How can I use the social networking functionality on Dancilla?

The documentation for all the features for the Dancilla social network can be found here: User guide

Dances

Where can I find dances?

Dance instructions

The starting point for looking for dance instructions is Dancilla/en. Dance instructions are sorted into different categories, but also alphabetically. You can also use the search field on the left hand side to search for a specific dance.

Notes

• Dance instructions are available in many languages and might not necessarily show up in you language. We will
• Dances have different names or spellings; if you cannot find a dance, try alternative versions

Music files

Music on Dancilla is provided in different file formats.

• MIDI: On the one side we have MIDIs that you can also use for seeing the sheet music (if you open the file with the right MIDI-software).
• Then we have MP3 files.
• Audio files
  • Free audio file are normally embedded in the dance instructions. A full list of files can be found on the Musik-page
  • hundreds of audio files for purchase and with previews are available in the Musicstore.

Sheet music

With the new Dancilla we included functionality that allows you to add music in abc format {TODO: explain how it works). The sheet music is normally embedded in the dance instruction.

I am looking for a dance instruction but cannot find it

There could be multiple reasons:

• We don't have a dance instruction on Dancilla (yet). If you want it, please ask in the forum or if you found one.
• Dance instructions are available in many languages and might not necessarily show up in your language. Only the search box on the left hand side will also display search results in other languages.
• Dances have different names or spellings; if you cannot find a dance, try alternative versions of spelling, or use parts of the dance name

I found a dance instruction that is not correct. What can I do?

Simply click on the edit tabstrip and the top of the text and edit the text in the editor.

I want to enhance a dance instruction. How can I do that?

Simply click on the edit tabstrip and the top of the text and add your enhancements.

How can I add new dance instructions?

If you want to add dance instructions or other texts of dance materials, do the following:

1. make sure the text is not copyrighted
2. search the Dancilla wiki (search box on the left hand side) to make sure the dance instruction isn't already here
3. if you do not get a result with search, just follow the link from the search result that says "create article"
4. enter your text, format it properly
5. do not forget to add categories, videos, sheet music etc. if available
6. save it

If you want to track the changes in this page, just simply check the box "watch this page"

How can I translate dance instructions?

If you want to translate a text, do the following:

1. create a document with the name of the dance and the a suffix that indicates the language. Example: a dance is called Scottish and an instruction is available, and you want to translate the text to Swedish. Then name the dance Scottish/se (or add the suffix /fr for French, /de for German, /en for English, /it for Italian, /nl for Dutch, /es for Spanish)
2. Now enter the translation, do all the things necessary (formatting, linking, categorizing, adding video links...)
3. Save the text
4. Click on the tabstrip "Language"
5. Select the language from the list and save the language.
6. enter on the same language tabstrip the original article name to link them (don;t forget to click the save button). This helps users later to get the article in their log-on language.

Videos

Where can I find videos?

You can find videos either

• directly in the dance instructions, embedded with a thumbnail
• as a full list in the wiki on the page Videos (Note: this page will be deprecated once all videos are migrated to a new server)
• in the video page

How can I add videos?

This feature requires that you have a video that is on a video website like Youtube, Google Videos, MyVideo.de etc. (A comprehensive list of more than 30 video websites can be found here)

• Go to My videos
• Click on the tabstrip Add video
• Insert the link to the video in the field and follow the instructions

You should see a the added video in the my video-list. All other users are also able to see the videos, can comment and rate.

How can I upload videos?

If you have a video in file form that is not uploaded to a video server like Youtube, Google Videos, MyVideo.de etc., we recommend doing that first and then use the instructions under Help#How can I add videos?. If for whatever reason you cannot do that, contact the Dancilla administrators through the contact form and they will give you access to the Upload video-feature.

If you have access to this feature, it works like the following

• Go to My videos
• Click on the tabstrip Upload video
• Select the file
• Add the information to the video
• Upload the video

The video will be uploaded directly to the Dancilla server.

Note: Currently this feature will be granted only under certain circumstances to reduce traffic and use of disk space and bandwidth.

How can I report inappropriate videos?

If you find a video in the Go to My videos-list that are not appropriate for Dancilla, you can click on the button Report. That button is located directly under the video. Dancilla Administrators will then check the reported video and take action, if necessary.

See a comprehensive list of Dancilla Policies/en.

My Blogs

How can I use My Blogs?

My Blog on Dancilla allows members to blog and share their thoughts, as well as post links or embed videos. Here are two documents explaining how to use My Blogs:

• Frontend Interface
• Basic Usage

How do I embed videos in My Blog?

If you want to embed a video from a video-platform in your blog, then simply follow the instructions from the following article: Azrul Video Mambot

Troubleshooting for My Blog

Here is a link to common problems with My Blogs and the solutions: Troubleshooting

Languages

Some or many texts are not in my language available. Why is that?

We are working on translating as much as possible. This is done with the help of the members on this website. So please take our apologies, when there is a mix of languages on the site. If you want to help with translations, then there are two areas to help:

• Look up the translation requests in the translation forums
• Become an administrator and help us translate other texts on the administration console. For more informtaion about this please fill out the contact form

Others

You have a question that is not covered here?

Then please fill out the contact form and an administrator will get back to you.