Using your Dynamic Website Kit
- Getting started
- Creating
Content: Content Types
- Basic
Creating and Editing
- Create Content
- Title
- Page Body
- Images
- Trimming
- Editing
- Content Options
- Parent
- Input format
- Weight
- File
attachments
- URL path
settings
- Publishing
options
- Preview and
Save
- More
information
- Events
- Cloning
- Web File
Manager
- Your account
- Administration
- Books
- Taxonomy
- Content
- Logout
Your
Dynamic Website Kit has been built for you using the
Drupal
content management system. You need to know very little about Drupal,
because four of the five main layers
in the Drupal system have already
been created for you by OPLIN. The last layer—the actual site
content, the words and images that people will see—will be
created
and managed by you. This is not as hard as it sounds. This simple
documentation should be all you need to get started, and OPLIN staff
are always available to help when you need it. (If you want to dig
deeper into how Drupal works, we suggest "Understanding Drupal
concepts" at http://drupal.org/node/21951.)
The content (data) you create will be stored in a database. While this
may seem more complicated than it needs to be, it is the feature of
your Website Kit that makes it dynamic. Traditional websites are
static, meaning the content doesn't change. You create a home page and
then you create other pages and add links to them from your home page.
For someone to find a specific page they will need to be on a page that
contains a link to that page and the only links to that page will be
ones you create. Your Website Kit, on the other hand, is dynamic,
meaning your content is stored in a database and presented to the user
when the web server receives a request from a browser. You create the
information once, and then have various possibilities on how you want
it to look, and where and when someone will or won't see it.
To
start using your Website Kit, open your web browser—any
common
browser should work—and go to the URL OPLIN gives you
(typically http://<yourlibraryURL
>/?q=user);
enter the username
(usually "site_admin") and password OPLIN has assigned to you. Once you
login you will see
your website.
Notice,
however,
that your website now looks a little different. On the left side
you will see a menu of things you can now do on your website.
Creating
content will be the most common task you perform on
the website, so let's start with an explanation of that task.
As you create the content for your Website Kit, you will find that not
all content is similar. Some content will be fairly static and
important. Other content may be created, changed, and removed fairly
frequently by a variety of people. Some content, like announcements of
events, will only be needed temporarily. So your Website Kit allows you
to create different types of content.
The most typical content types you will have available in your Kit are:
- Story
- Stories are generally used for information items which are
only relevant for a period of time (e.g. news stories) and are expected
to expire. The most recent story will appear at the top of your
homepage, unless you manually override the placement.
- Event
- An Event is basically a Story that includes a start and end
date, and will only appear on your website between those dates. Events
automatically appear in the events calendar.
- Book Page
- Book Pages are designed to be part of a
collaborative "book," a set of pages tied together in a hierarchy, just
as chapters and parts of books are organized in a hierarchy. At the
bottom of book pages, your Website Kit will automatically provide links
for moving to the previous page and the next, and a link labeled "up"
that leads to the level above in the structure. A contents page is also
automatically created. Book pages will be the most commonly used
content type for the pages on your website that are not time-sensitive.
- Page
- Pages are intended to be used for static content, but they
are not a part of any content hierarchy and must be manually linked
from another page in order to access them. One possible example would
be a page of levy campaign information that's not related to any other
pages.
You will
very seldom need to create a simple Page, but will generally use Book
Pages instead.
Other types of content may also be available in your Kit, depending on
the custom options you requested from OPLIN.
To
create a new page, click on the "Create content" link in your site
navigation area. You will see a list of the types of content you can
create. (This list will depend on the content types which OPLIN has set
up for you.)
Click
on the type of content you wish to create and you get a
blank creation template.
The
Title is required, as is the
"Body" of the page. The Title is what will normally show in the menus
that provide access to this page, so make it short but descriptive. And
don't use exclamation points in your title!
Let's
look now at the "Body" section of this page, which is where you will
actually create your content. You will write things in the
body using a rich-text editor that looks very much like Microsoft Word.
Don't be tempted, however, to
create complex pages in Word and paste them into this editor. Word
documents contain a lot of hidden formatting code that will not
translate well. You can paste portions of simple Word documents, or
other text with hidden formatting such as text from your old website,
into
the editor using the Word icon at the top of the editor—
—but
it is generally better to either work directly in the rich-text editor
or
paste from a simple text editor like Notepad. If you must have a very
specific page layout, perhaps for a newsletter, it is often best to
just
attach a standard pdf document to a simple, short Book Page. (We'll
talk more about file
attachments later in this document.)
Remember
that your page will be displayed on the web, which requires that you
consider a few conventions that differ from traditional print
documents. For instance, underlining in an online document is very
confusing for the reader, since links are underlined. Also note that it
is best not to use the plain text editor
option for creating content, unless you are familiar with html coding
and want to achieve some special formatting that is not available in
the rich text editor.
One
other icon that will be unfamiliar, but important, is the image
icon—
.
Click this
icon to insert an image into your content. Note: don't try to
upload images from a digital camera before first optimizing them for
the web, they're much too big; webresizer.com works well. A window will pop up
asking
for information about the image.
- URL
- defines the URL address of the image. You may also use
the "Browse Server" button in order to browse the files.
- Alternative Text
- short text that serves the same purpose and presents the same
information as the image. Primarily used by
assistive technology devices, so should conform to the W3C Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. For a discussion of best practices, see
http://www.w3.org/TR/2010/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20101014/G94.
- Width
- specifies image width.
- Height
- specifies image height.
- You may lock the image proportions by clicking the image of
the lock, or you can
return to the original image size by clicking on the circular arrow.
- Border
- specifies the thickness of the border you want to place
around the
image.
- HSpace
- defines the size of the horizontal gap surrounding the
image.
- VSpace
- defines the size of the vertical gap.
- Align
- specifies the alignment of the image. You can choose from:
Left,
Abs Bottom, Abs Middle, Baseline, Bottom, Middle, Right, Text Top or
Top.
-
- "Left" aligns the image with the left margin of the
page
and allows text to wrap around the right side of the image.
- "Abs Bottom" aligns the bottom of the image with the
bottom
of the
current line; usually, but not always, the same as the "Baseline" or
"Bottom" alignment.
- "Abs Middle" aligns the middle of the image with the
middle
of the current line.
- "Baseline" aligns the bottom of the image with the
baseline
of the current line.
- "Bottom" is the same as "Baseline" alignment.
- "Middle" aligns the middle of the image with the
baseline
of the current line.
- "Right" aligns the image with the right margin of the
page
and allows the text to wrap around the left side of the image.
- "Text Top" aligns the top of the image with the top of
the
tallest text
in the line; usually, but not always, the same as the "Top" alignment.
- "Top" aligns the top of the image with the top of the
tallest item in the line.
Notice the "Link" tab
on the Image Properties window; this tab allows you to make your image
into a link to another page. Now notice the "Upload" tab; this tab
allows
you to
upload your image on the fly to the page. Also, if you "Browse
Server" for images, you will have the option to save images on
the server for use on multiple pages, as you can see at the bottom of
the browse window:
Another option for uploading
files is the Web File
Manager, explained in more detail later. The Web
File Manager is a more powerful tool for managing uploaded files than
the relatively simple capabilities included in the text editor.
When a
page is
published on your site, a trimmed version is also published, a "teaser"
that usually includes the first 500 or 600 characters of your page
followed by a "read more" link to the full version. This trimmed
version is used if you place your Book Page or Story on your website's
front page and will also appear in RSS feeds from your site. To control
exactly what is included in the trimmed version, rather than cutting it
off after a certain number of characters, go to the point in your text
where you want the teaser to end and click on the "Teaser" button in
the text editor's toolbar.
A double line will appear at this point in the text in the
editor window, but it won't show up on your finished web page.
For more detailed help with using the editor to write your
page content, see http://docs.cksource.com/FCKeditor_2.x/Users_Guide.
Editing
a page is
very similar to creating a page, except that you start by navigating
through your site to the page you want to edit. Since you are logged in
and able to edit content, you will see a tab at the top of your page
that allows you to edit the page. (Note:
the "Outline" tab is a shortcut that will allow you to assign the page
to a
book hierarchy or modify its weight,
which will be discussed a little later.)
Once
you click on "Edit," you will see a screen that is almost identical to
the content creation screen, and behaves similarly.
Let's
look now at all the options that are available on this screen for
managing your page content.
Whether editing or creating content, there are options which can be set
that control how and where a page will be displayed to visitors to your
website. Below is an explanation of some of the most important options.
This
option is required if you are working with Book Pages; it
allows you to create and organize multi-level menus that
collapse and expand. For example, in the image of the About Us page a
little earlier in this
document, the Parent item is "About Us" (and its Parent is
"<Primary links>," meaning it has no Parent), while
"Board of
Trustees," "Friends of the Library," "Hours and Locations,"
"Rules and Policies," "Services," and "Staff Directory" are
all "child" items of the Parent "About
Us." You could see this if you were to open the "Outline" tab on the
"Board of Trustees"
page.
If you see this, DO NOT
change it! This has been set by OPLIN.
(We were able to hide this option for some types of content, but
unfortunately not for all types.)
This option is found under "Book outline." It allows
you to set a relative position within the
menu: an item with a heavier "weight" (higher number) will appear below
an item with a lower weight. (If all items have the same weight, they
will display in alphabetical order on the menu.)
This
option allows you to browse your computer and attach a
file to your page. The maximum file size is 2Mb, which is about the
largest file you should expect your users to be able to comfortably
download. If you wish, you can (and probably should) change
the name of the file if
you want to use a name that makes more sense to your website visitors
(such as "Files in Drupal" in the example below).
After attaching a file, you will see a URL generated
of the location of your file, and can use this URL to create a link to
the file in the Body of the page.
If the
"List" option is checked, the file name will also
appear on the bottom of your page for visitors to download. If you
attach more than one file, you can use the arrows icon to the left of
the file name (not shown) to move files up or down in the list.
A
"normal" Drupal page will have a URL like
http://drupal.org/node/21951—not very handy for verbally
telling
people how to get to the page or remembering a page address. Your
Website Kit is set to automatically rename your pages using your page
title, so you will have URLs like
http://www.mylibrary.org/content/board_information.
If you
want to use something different in the
URL, uncheck the "Automatic alias" box and enter your preferred alias.
In the example above, for example, the URL will
be http://www.mylibrary.org/board.
These
options control if and when your content will be visible
on your website. You rarely delete content once you have created it;
instead, you just unpublish it and it will not be visible to visitors.
If the
"Published" box is checked when you submit the item after
you've completed it, then the item will be visible to visitors to your
website; if you want to hide the page and publish it later, after you
have done more work on it, for example, then uncheck
this box.
If you
check "Promoted to front page," your item will appear on your
website's home page as well as in the menu you specified. "Sticky at
top of lists" keeps a news item at the top of your home page, instead
of placing newer news items above it. Use this option with
moderation! If you make more than one item sticky, your sticky items
will appear with the newest sticky item at the top.
Tip:
If you really want more than one sticky item, then you can control the
order of the stickies with this trick: go to the "Authoring
information" option and manually change the authoring date to make your
top sticky item "newer" than the others.
Once you are finished working on an item, it is a good idea to
click on the "Preview" button at the bottom of the page to be sure it
looks as you expected. If not, you are able to edit the content from
the bottom of the preview page. When you are satisfied that everything
is OK, click on "Save." Nothing will be saved until you choose "Save."
If you want to save the page as a draft, or work on it with
others, just remember to unpublish it before you submit it.
If you want to discard all of your unsaved work and start
over, click on "Cancel." Once a page has
been saved, a "Delete" button will appear at the bottom of the
editing view if you want to completely remove the page from your server.
Other options are probably self-explanatory. If you need
more assistance than the on-screen hints, or would just like to see a
different explanation of how all these options work, we suggest Caign
Web's Drupal guide at
http://www.caignwebs.com.au/drupal-user-guide/default-content-management-facilities.
You can also just call OPLIN Support at 1-888-966-7546, or email support@oplin.org,
or chat with us at http://support.oplin.org.
As a
library, one of the most common information items you create for your
page will be event announcements. The next several upcoming events will
appear on the upper left side of your library home page, where they
will be most visible to visitors, and all upcoming events will
automatically appear on your Events Calendar. The creation of Events
differs from
Book Pages (and Stories) in some significant ways.
When
you create or edit an Event, what you see at first is very similar to
what you would normally see
when creating a Book Page:
Further down the screen, however, is a boxed area that allows
you to specify the timing of the event:
If the "Event has time" check box at the top of the page is
unchecked, that indicates that
the event lasts all day and does not have start and end times; the time
fields will disappear from the box. If you check "Event has end date,"
a row of fields identical to the "Start date" fields will appear,
allowing you to set an end date (or time) for the event.
The
"Start date" and "End date" refer to a single event. A
book festival, for example, may last for several days, while a
storytime will start and end on the same date, the ending being an hour
(or whenever) later than the start.
If an Event repeats, first create
and save the single Event, then go back to edit the Event and duplicate
it by clicking on the "Clone" tab at the top of the page:
This will bring up a cloned copy of the page so you can change
the
dates and times and save it as a new Event. Note the warning at the top
of the page: your new Event will not be saved until you submit it.
Also, be sure to edit the title of your cloned event, otherwise it will
automatically appear as "Clone of..." followed by the original title.
This is a simple but powerful module that allows you to manage
the files you upload to your website. While the text editor will allow
you to upload image files on the fly, the Web File Manager also allows
you to manipulate those files, and even see previews of images.
When you right-click on the name of a file, a menu of possible
actions appears, including the ability to delete image files. You can
also organize your image files into folders you can create by clicking
on the folder icon.
If you click on the "My account" item in the main navigation
menu (found on the left side of the page), you will have the
option of changing some of your account parameters under the "Edit" tab.
OPLIN will have a least one account set up for you already,
usually called "site_admin." You will probably want to edit the e-mail
address, and may want to change the password. Multiple people can use
the same account at the same time, so one account is usually
sufficient; remember to use your log messages when you create content,
however, so you know who did what to your site! If you wish, OPLIN can
create new, specific accounts for you that only have permission to
create certain content types (e.g., Events).
There are several other links in the left-side user menu that
allow
you to perform some administration tasks on your site. Let's look at
some of the more important
administration tasks.
The Books task gives you a tool for quickly changing the
structure of an entire "Book" from your site, without the need to
individually edit Book Pages.
As you can see, this is a clear depiction of the hierarchy of
the
Book Pages within the Book. You can edit or delete Book Pages directly
from this menu, and you can also change the order of the Book Pages by
using the arrows to the left of each title.
By using categories (taxonomy), you can organize your site
content
according to broad subject areas or target audiences, such as
adults, teens, or children. This is perhaps most useful for Events,
because it allows viewers of the events calendar to show only teen
events or adult events, or events at specific locations, for example.
Start by creating vocabularies. These control the type of
content that will be grouped into the category and allow you to
describe the category, etc. In practice, you will probably only set the
the required elements, which are the name and the content type(s). You
will also associate each vocabulary with one or more content types
(e.g. Events).
The Vocabulary name should be short and cover a wide area of
general
material, such as "location" or "age group." This name will appear in
the
pull-down menus that allow your website content to be filtered by
location, by age group, etc.
Once you have created a vocabulary, you can add terms to it.
These are like sub-categories. For instance, the terms in a "Location"
vocabulary might be the names of your library branches.
For more information about Drupal taxonomy, see http://drupal.org/handbook/modules/taxonomy.
Perhaps the most useful item in the Administration menu is the
link to Content. This gives you "control panel" access to all the
content
in your website.
By using the pull-down menus at the top of the page, you can
see and modify all the content in your site, including unpublished
content. You can also select a number of content items and transform
them all at once by using the "Update options" pull-down menu. Your
options here are to publish/unpublish, promote/demote to front page,
add or remove stickiness, or delete. This can be very handy, or very
dangerous; be careful!
Remember
to logout when you are done (at the bottom of the
left navigation area); the next person to use your computer will have
access to your content if you don't logout. After you logout you will
be returned to the normal view of your website, without the "Edit"
button at the top of the pages.