Cascade CMS Tutorial Document

Last Modified 22 July 2009

COLA WEB: CMS GUIDE

Table of Contents

CMS
LOG ON
YOUR CONTENT
VIEW tab
EDIT tab
FUNCTION tabs: COPY, PUBLISH, DELETE
ADVANCED tab
FOLDER VIEW
CREATE NEW CONTENT
COMMON EDITING COMMANDS
New Paragraph
New Line
Bullets and Numbering
Format drop-down Menu
Insert Link
Insert Email
Remove Link
Insert Image
Upload Image
Link to Document
Upload Document
Update Document
ADVANCED EDITING
Anchors
Horizontal Bars
Tables
Insert a Table
Add cells, columns, rows to Table
PUBLISHING
ODD THINGS TO REMEMBER

Introduction

This tutorial is designed to assist users in the College of Liberal Arts to become familiar with and appropriately use the Cascade CMS.

Any questions or comments about this tutorial and/or its contents may be directed to Kate Grazzini ().

1. CMS= Content management system.

We're using Cascade (5.2.4). Due to support issues for Safari, we strongly recommend using Firefox or IE when logged in to the CMS.
There is a good Knowledge Base available on the Cascade website containing instructions and complete explanations(just make sure you're looking at the 5.x base; but for most of what you'll need to do, this document will suffice.
For reference, pieces of content are called "assets" in the Cascade lingo. In this document, "pages" will refer to individual page assets (indicated by a blue page icon), "folders" will refer to folder assets (indicated by a yellow folder icon), and "files" will refer to uploaded documents or images (indicated by square orange icons).

2. LOG ON

Log on to
The system will default to "Home" view.
On left, the file structure can be expanded.
On right, you'll see a series of common items or functionalities.
You can change your password by clicking on your EID at the top right.

3. YOUR CONTENT

To see your content, click the "www" folder to expand it and reveal the folders below. The “www” folder houses all of the web content for COLA. It will only show those folders to which you have access permissions.
Click to expand your office or departmentnode. Each division has a similar set-up.
_admin: This folder contains the codes needed for certain functions (web forms and individual style sheets, for example) to work.
_blocks: This folder may or may not be present. It houses 'blocks' of functionality like the header block (branding text for all pages in the administrative divisions). You should not need to modify anything in this folder.
_files: This folder is where uploaded images and documents (.gif, .jpg, PDFs, DOCs, etc) are stored. There are two subfolders, one to store images and one to store PDFs and other documents. You can create folders within "images" or "pdf" to organize your uploaded documents, if necessary. (In some cases, this has already been done.)
index: This is the splash page for your division. It should be the only editable index page for your section; while creating a new folder will create a new index page specific to that folder, those pages are not editable.
About and Staff/Contacts: Are at the top (Order) across all administrative divisions for standard consistency. "About" is generally for your division mission statement; "Staff/Contacts" will display a list of staff contacts in your office (to be drawn automatically from the database).
Faculty, Staff, About: Are in most to all departments for standard consistency. Faculty and Staff folders contain database-generated lists of faculty and staff members within a department. About folder typically contains pages describing the mission, history, and contact information for the department.
Other pages and folders: This is the content specific to your area.

4. VIEW tab

Click on your "index" page. The right side of the screen will display up to seven function tabs and default to "View" each time you select an asset.
For page assets, the CMS tab defaults to "View>Layout," displaying the page as it is rendered by the CMS. Block placeholders appear in "Layout" but will not appear on the page when it is published to the web.
You'll notice that the navigation bar on the left side of the web page does not appear to be complete; this is normal. The navigation is built and controlled separately from the page.
Clicking "Preview" will display the page as it is seen from the web, without block placeholders.
You can view the properties of a given page by clicking "Properties." Properties include:
System Metadata (information about control of the page within the CMS)
User Metadata (information about the page input by users)
Custom Metadata (which controls how the page works and displays)
Access Rights (who can see [Read] and edit [Write] the page)
"Lock" and "Configurations" you'll probably never need to use.
"Lock" is a function for the Workflow, which we don't anticipate implementing at the moment; if you were to lock a page, no one else could edit that page while you were working on it. Since each area only has one or two people who will be in charge of editing the web content, this shouldn't be a problem.
"Configurations" displays the blocks used in the selected page asset -- which pieces of code and templates affect how the page looks and interacts with the system. This functionality is currently controlled by LAITS admins.

5. EDIT tab

Still using the index page, click on the "Edit” tab – the right-side view should display the Edit screen. There are four options under Edit: Content, Metadata, System, and Configurations.

“Content". This is where you'll spend most of your time.
For division index page:
Masthead (administration only) is the marquee image at the top of the splash page.
Welcome Title appears at the top of the left-most content column.
Welcome banner will insert an image at the top of the left-most column, under the Welcome title.
Welcome Message is the content for the left-most column.
Attention Box appears at the top of the far-right column.
Link Box appears at the bottom of the far-right column.
For all other pages:
(Inline Metadata) Display Namecontrols what label appears in the left-hand navigation on the website; often this will be the same as the label that appears in the file structure on the left side of the CMS interface. This label should be short, wherever possible, so that it displays appropriately on the web. For the index page, this field is hidden.
Each page has a Page Title. Page Title appears at the top of the page and as the title in the top of the web browser. This can be a longer title than the Display Name, but should be the name of the page or information on that page -- Recent Award Winners, Staff Contacts, or About Academic Affairs, for example.
Each page should have a Main Content field, which will appear as the main or central block of text on the page.
There are two page templates in place for administrative offices: page with sidebar, and page without sidebar. For pages with sidebar, two additional boxes will display on the "Edit>Content" screen: Attention Box and Link Box. In the right-hand sidebar of the webpage, the Attention box appears at the top, and the Link box below.
Business Affairs has an additional template for the Procedures Guide called manual page; this page has four fields in addition to the Main Content field: How It Works, Links, Contacts, Tips or FAQs. These fields correspond in order to the fields displayed on Procedures Guide pages, each automatically displaying its appropriate title.
Departments have a number of possible page templates: alternate homepage, crop page, crop page no sidebar, full-masthead page, full-masthead page no sidebar, feature, page, page no sidebar. The classification of the department internally will dictate which page template options are available. Alternate homepage contains the same fields as the division index page. Pages (crop, full-masthead, plain) have three fields in addition to the titles: Main Content, Attention box, Link box. Pages without sidebars lack the Attention and Link boxes that form the right-hand sidebar.
For any page:
The content fields are for the text, images, etc on a page. All fields are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) boxes; what you type and format in these fields should appear that way on the web.
NOTE: Content here is affected by the overarching style sheets, so be aware that small discrepancies may occur.

“Metadata”. This pane displays the User Metadata options and the Custom Metadata options. User Metadata contains the Page Title (as set by the “Edit>Content” Page Title field) and any keywords associated to the selected page asset. At this time, we are NOT using page keywords.

“System”. This pane lets you change the System Name for a page or folder -- the label for the page/folder within the CMS. Spaces should be replaced by hyphens ( - ) or underscores ( _ ) in this field.
NOTE: if you want to change the label displayed in the web navigation, remember that that field is in "Edit>Content" under Inline Metadata.
“Configurations”. This pane allows editing of the blocks used in the selected page asset. This functionality is currently controlled by LAITS admins.

6. FUNCTION tabs: COPY, PUBLISH, DELETE

“Copy”. This tabs lets you make a copy of an asset and place it in a different location.
“System Name” is the name of the asset copy.
“Parent Folder” is the destination of the copy. To modify the location, click on the folder icon OR the location address. A pop-up box will let you navigate through the file structure to the appropriate folder. Click the name of this folder to select, then click “Confirm”. The new location will appear as the location address for “Parent Folder”.
“Bypass Workflow”. This option lets you make the change immediately, regardless of Workflow controls. Since we are not currently implementing the Workflow controls, make sure this box is checked.
“Submit” will commit the changes. “Cancel” will return to the previous screen.
“Publish”. Allows you to publish the asset to the web.
“Destination” should read DEV PHP (until August 1, 2009).
“Publish Report” messages will appear in your CMS message inbox (visible from “Home” view). These confirm asset publication, and report any errors that occurred.
“Publish Mode”. To publish an asset to the web, make sure “Publish” is selected. To remove an asset from the web without deleting it, choose “Unpublish.”

"Workflows". Where turned on, allows for workflow control of pages and publishing.
"Workflow options". Settings for current asset controls: "None required", "Inherit from parent folder" (containing current asset), "Do not inherit". Current settings can also "Apply to child folders" (those contained under/within current asset).
"Add workflow". Will add asset to an existing workflow specification.
“Delete”. Removes assets from the CMS.
Most assets can be removed from the web (unpublished) at the same time as deletion. If you are deleting an asset, make sure to unpublish it from the web, so that the content on the COLA website is the most up-to-date version at all times.
“Confirm”. Bypass Workflow will ignore the Workflow controls and immediately remove the asset; since we are not currently implementing the Workflow controls, make sure this box is checked. “Submit” will delete the asset, “Cancel” will return to the previous screen.

7. ADVANCED tab

“Access”. Displays access permissions for the selected asset, by “User”, “Group”, or “All”.
“Unassigned” users have not yet been assigned permissions for the selected asset.
Users assigned to “Read” can view, but not edit, the selected asset.
Users assigned to “Write” can view and edit the selected asset.
“Audits”. Contains the change control information for the selected asset. Search options are by date range and audit type.
“Reference”. Creates a placeholder for the selected asset in another location.
“System Name” is the name of the reference.
“Parent Folder” is the destination of the reference. To modify the location, click on the folder icon OR the location address. A pop-up box will let you navigate through the file structure to the appropriate folder. Click the name of this folder to select, then click “Confirm”. The new location will appear as the location address for “Parent Folder”.
“Submit” will commit the changes. “Cancel” will return to the previous screen.
“Versions”. A list of Publish dates for the selected asset, in reverse chronological order. Contains asset file path, last modification date, last modification user, and any comments.

8. FOLDER VIEW

To view the contents of a folder, click the folder name in the file structure. The right-side will display the contents as a list, withthe asset “Name”, “Order”, “Last Modified” date, “Last Modified By” user, and “Actions” that can be taken.

You can sort the folder by Name, Order, modified date, or user by clicking the appropriate column title at the top. The folder view defaults to your last chosen sort method for any folder; if none, the CMS will display the assets sorted by name.
“Order” controls the order in which the assets appear in the left-hand navigation on the website, with 1 at the top of the division section.
NOTE: Index pages for subfolders (NOT the splash page at the division-folder level) are set to output nothing; this means that these pages automatically redirect to the #2 asset. Make sure the first page you want to display on the web is at the #2 position.
NOTE: Currently the CMS redirects to the first page asset in order. If you have a folder at #2 position, and a page at #3, the website will display the page first when that folder link is clicked, though the displayed order will be correct for the navigation. We are current working around this feature by including a page asset at the #2 position in subfolders.
The first four Action buttons move assets within a folder: “Move to Top”, “Move Up”, “Move Down”, “Move to Bottom”. You can also drag an asset within a folder to change the order -- make sure to sort by Order first.
The other two Action buttons are “Edit” and “Delete”. (See sections 5 and 6 for explanations.) Be very careful about deleting assets.
NOTE: For those assets to which you have Read (view) access but not Write (edit) access, the only permitted actions are the "Copy" and "Publish" tabs.
“With Selected” drop-down menu is dependent on permissions; some or all of the following actions may display.
“Copy”, “Publish”, “Delete” will present the same screens as described above (section 6).
“Move”. If you need to move a page from one folder to another, click the folder where the page is currently stored.
Select (checkbox) the asset/s you want to move from that folder.
In the “With Selected” drop-down, choose "Move".
The right-side pane will ask you to choose the “Parent Folder”. Click on the folder icon OR the location address. A pop-up box will let you navigate through the file structure to the appropriate folder. Click the name of this folder to select, then click “Confirm”. The new location will appear as the location address for “Parent Folder”.
"Submit" will commit the move, “Cancel” will return to the previous screen.
After submitting, the right-side pane will return to the folder view, and a confirmation notice of the move will appear at the top of the screen.
You can move multiple assets at once; simply check the boxes of all appropriate items before selecting “Move”.

9. CREATE NEW CONTENT

To create a new page: make sure that the folder where you want the new page to go (or any page within that folder) is highlighted on the left. Administrative users should click "New>dean>(office)". Department users should click “New>targeted” or “New>standard” depending on department classification (only one should appear).
Select the appropriate page template.
The right-side of the screen will look similar to the "Edit>Content" pane; enter a unique “Display Name” (this will become the “System Name” for that asset) and then add content to “Page Title” and the content areas. When you are finished, click "Submit". The new page will appear in the refreshed file structure.
To create a new subfolder: make sure the file structure highlights the folder within which you want a subfolder. Click “New>folder” ("New>dean>folder" for administrative users). Enter a unique Display Name (it will automatically change the System Name) and click "Submit". The new subfolder will appear in the refreshed file structure. New folders automatically have a redirecting index page; remember that these index pages are not editable. You must create a new page (at #2 position) for the folder to appear in the website navigation, since the CMS interprets these folders to be empty (no content to display on redirect).

10. COMMON EDITING COMMANDS