Content Managers Guide

Overview

This document describes a how-to guide for the content manager role of AMPLE. Follow this guide to gain an understanding of how to perform operations inside the configuration management system (CMS).

Background

The CMS that is being used is called Drupal (http://drupal.org). It is an open-source application maintained (freely) by keen individuals globally. As it is open source many contributions have been made to expand its functionality into quite a widely used commercial strength product.

CMS Terminology

CMS	A content management system is a package that allows you to create, edit, display and maintain information.
Node	A node is a discreet piece of information or data for example a node is a page of text, book page or a poll. Each node has a type which dictates the type of information that it can contain for example if a node type is image then the node is actually picture.
Module	A module is an add-on component or a piece of functionality that extends the current functionality. For example modules exist to add user forums or ecommerce to your site.
Book	A book is a special type of way to display nodes. Similar to a real book you have next & previous links, also like a technical manual/book can have nested nodes with index pages and sub headings.
Block	A block is specialized content that you see on the left of the website in the below picture. Menus and navigation are good examples of blocks however blocks can be used for polls or displaying commonly used links. Blocks can also be made content sensitive i.e. If you were viewing a page about risk management you might see a block directing you a risk management product or training.

The basics

Logging In

Goto ~/index?q=user/login, an authentication cookie is kept on your machine to automatically log you in next time you visit the site.

Layout

The view that you see as a content manager is different to that of a normal user, for example below each node you will see a view & edit link. Normal users don't see this because they cannot edit data.

Access to the content manager functionality is achieved by using the links inside the navigation block which is distinguished by your username in the title.

Permissions

Your permissions to perform certain activities in the CMS is limited by the administrator. Unless you are the administrator your navigation menu will only contain items that you have access to change.

How do I scenarios…

create a node?

Under the "create content" menu item in the navigation block you see a list of the types of nodes you can create. If you are creating a node that will appear similar to the Guidelines or Quality Framework choose 'book_page' if you want a node that sits outside the above mentioned books choose 'page'.

Book page and pages are essentially the same except when creating a book page you add the page to a book at a specific point in the book hierarchy and when you create a page it is not related to a book so you must link to it from another node or put it in its own menu.

This describes the attributes of the book_page node.

Authored by	Is the author of the book page (your username)
Authored on	Time and date page was authored.
Options	Display options (just choose published).
User Comments	If other users can make public comment on your page (default=disabled)
Title	Title of your page (also what is displayed in the index menu).
Path alias	A descriptive alternate access path for your document. This is not mandatory although I strongly recommend you use the alias as it makes it easy for users. Each alias must begin with "docs/" For example the alias for Core/Non Core Activities is: ~/Contents/Generic-AM-Guidelines/commtactics/corenoncore This allows me to access the document by going to ~/~/Contents/Generic-AM-Guidelines/commtactics/corenoncore Without the alias I would have to go to: ~/index.php?q=node/682
Parent	This is the book page that is the parent of this item, book pages without a parent are root level become unique books of their own.
Body	This is the content or body of the node
Input format	Leave as Full HTML
Log message	Leave blank.
Weight	This is the position in the tree that the book pages belongs. The less the weight the lighter the item is (closer to the top) Example, if you have two pages with the parent Commerical Tactics and a weight of zero they would display in alphabetical order. If you would like one item to always be first set its weight to something like -10. (Weights can be edited in bulk through another screen described later).
Menu navigation	Leave blank unless creating a page (not a book_page) on a specific menu.
Attach new file	Leave blank

Push submit to save your node.

edit a node?

Simply navigate to the node using the book contents and click the 'Edit' link at the top of the page. (Make sure you press submit after making changes).
If your node is lost (ie no menu item) goto Administer->content from the menu and choose or search for your item.

shuffle the order of book pages?

Goto Administer->content->books->Contents book. Change the weightings and press save book pages. This may take a while to save as it contains a lot of data.

delete a node?

Edit the node and then press delete (Node is automatically removed from the menu).

add an image to my node?

When in edit mode the node screen has a little icon below the body field (icon of a picture with a plus sign). Click in your document where you would like the picture and click this icon. A new window will popup and show all the images currently in the CMS.

Click on the name of the image you wish to add check the preview and then choose:

Image to use - original
Link type (at the bottom of the screen) - html
Then click insert image. This puts the code into your page.

If you have bulk images to import see the administrator as they can quickly import images in bulk to the cms.

If the image you want to add is not on the CMS yet click 'add image' fill out the following fields only:

Title	The image name. I have been using the file name eg accdepmeth.gif
Image Gallery	Choose 'FrontPages'.
Image	Click the browse button and find the image on your computer

(Push the submit button)

reindex the search pages?

This is done automatically every few hours.

put the next and previous links at the bottom of each page?

This is done automatically if the node is a book_page and part of a book.

change colors/formatting of the content?

See your administrator