Have you found a bit of open source assistive technology software that you think should be on this site, if so read on?  Are you a developer and want to add your project to the site -  if so, try this extended guide.

How it works:

Software on this site is stored in a 'software centre'.  Each bit of software has a couple of components:

• Software listing - a description of the software
• Downloads folder- a place to keep downloads for the project (also called releases)
  
• Download - either stored on OATS, or on another (external) site
  

In addition, a few things are created when you submit a project

• Poll - to allow people to vote on the project
• Help centre - a place to create resources that might be useful for other people.
• Some other developer tools, described in the extended guide.

How to submit a project

To add a project you need to be logged on.

Go to the Software section by clicking on the 'Search' tab or 'Software' link.

Go to the bottom of the page - you should see a button that says 'add new project'  - click this button.

Filling out the form

Having clicked 'Add new project' a form will appear - this is what you need to fill out to submit the project.  Each section is explained below, but in general:

• Add as much information as possible
• If possible, click 'Next' and fill out the information on the next page - don't worry if you can't though.
• When done, click 'Save' - the project wont be saved otherwise.

Actually submitting the project

Just clicking save does not submit the project - if you are happy with what you have written you now need to click 'Submit'. 

Doing things this way means:

• You can fiddle with what you have written before it is published on the site
• By reviewing the submissions we can ensure that innapropriate projects are not published on the site

Submitting a download

Most projects will already have a downloadable file - so you also need to tell us where this is. To do this you need to add a 'Software Release' and a 'downloadable file' to the project.

Reviewing process

Now you have completed this process your project will be submited to the OATS team who will review it and publish it to the website.

The reviewing process quidelines are avaliable on this site.

Form Fields - Essential

Title

The name of the software - e.g Joes Software. Don't make this too long, since it will form part of the web address for the project.

Project Summary

A brief description of what the software does and why it might be useful. A couple of lines should do.

Full Project Description

Explanation as to the nature, function and other details of the software.  Try to explain the relevance of the software to the AT audience.

When quoting from author's websites, consider using "From the author" as a subheading in order to make it explicitly clear that this is not first hand information.

Categories - Need

Choose one or more relevant categories.  These categories relate to what need the sofware meets for an AT user - i.e. what problem the sofware can help overcome.

Categories - Function

Choose one or more relevant categories.  These categories relate to what AT function the sofware fulfills - i.e. what category of AT the sofware falls into.

Contact

An email contact, must be a valid email address.

Home Page

The web  page of the software - must be a valid web page.

Logo

Author/manufacturer/product's logo - must be a valid image format.

Logo Link

This is the link that will be navigated when a user clicks on the logo - this will normally the same as the Home Page.

Screenshot

A screenshot of the software in action - very useful.