Before you can begin to use the CM system you will need the following information from your webmaster or editor:
The URL of the content system. Usually something like http://content.company.com.
Your user name and password for the content system. This is optional though most organizations will require them.
The directory or directories on the staging system that you will be working in. These are usually prefixed by something like /docs/ and have sub-directories that correspond to the document classification on the web site. (e.g. /docs/events/ might be a directory where information about upcoming events are stored)
The URL of the staging system. Usually something like http://stage.company.com.
Your user name and password for the staging system. This is optional though most organizations will require them.
To use the CMS system you must install the OpenOffice suite OpenOffice suite is an open source office product available at http://www.openoffice.org/
Download the suite from the OpenOffice web site and install as per the instructions for your operating system.
Start the writer (word processor) component of the office suite.
If you are running on a windows platform you will have to configure the office suite to allow you access to the web documents. From the Tools drop down menu select Options -> OpenOffice.org -> General and make sure the “Use OpenOffice dialogs” box is checked.
Start typing your new document.
Save your document to the content server. You should enter something like http://content.company.com/docs/MyTestDoc as the file name. Do not use spaces in the file name. The system may ask you for your user name and password. If so enter the user name and password for your content server.
Re open your document by selecting the open document icon and entering the directory you specified in step 5 (e.g. http://content.company.com/docs/) and you should see your file listed (e.g. MyTestDoc.sxw).
Right click on the filename and delete it.
At this point you have configured your Open Office suite and have tested that you can read and write the directory.
The first rule of document creation is to mark text by its content not how you want it to look. For example, do not increase the font size of section headings but use the Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc., paragraph styles to format them. This ensures that your documents will be formatted correctly and that all documents will have the same look and feel.
Your editors may provide you with custom styles. If not, and you don't see how to properly format your document address your concerns with the editors. The editors in conjunction with the webmaster are able to create new styles and ensure that they render correctly.
When you create a document it is important that you provide some information about the document itself. This information is defined in the “properties” of the document. From the File drop down menu select Properties -> Description and fill in the Title and Comments sections. In addition, you may want to provide keywords for the document though this may also be done by the editor.
As you write you document do not add extra hard returns and such to make the paragraphs space properly, rather you should make sure that the paragraphs are associated with the proper style. The most common error is using the “Default” style when you want the “Text body” style. The “Text body” style adds spaces between paragraphs.
Please consult with your editor if you have any questions about styles and their usage.
At some point you will want to save the document you are working on. The first time you do this the system will pop up dialog box for you to provide a filename and a location to save the file. Save your document to the content server as you did in the validation of the OpenOffice install above. Essentially will enter something like http://content.company.com/docs/MyTestDoc as the file name. The system may ask you for your user name and password. If so enter the user name and password for your content server.
Once the file has been saved subsequent saves can occur by simply pressing the save icon (the disk icon in the upper right corner of the screen), pressing Ctrl-S, or selecting the File dropdown menu and then selecting Save. You may also turn on auto-save by selecting the Tools drop down menu and then selecting Options -> Load/Save -> General and ensuring that the AutoSave box is checked.
To open an existing document selecting the File dropdown menu and then selecting Open. In the file name text entry field enter the server name and directory where the files are stored or you may enter the root directory for the document tree (e.g. http://content.company.com/docs/ ) and log in as noted above. The file list will then show the files available on the server. Use standard file selection processes to navigate to the desired file and open it.
Once a document has been created a web version of the document. This is done with the CMS web interface by pointing your browser to the content URL (e.g. http://content.company.com) the system may ask you for your user name and password. Use the same user name and password you used when you created the document.
When the CM software loads you will see a table that lists the files in the “root directory.” The table will consist of 5 columns.
The file column lists the file or directory name. This is the name of the file as found on the system. If the file has an action of “Process” and a “Transform” has been selected there will be a “Generate” button available. If the generate button is selected the file will be processed by the system. Processing the file creates the HTML version on the staging server and may take several minutes to complete.
The Op, Nav, Sort cell comprises a set of options. The first selection specifies how the file should be handled.
If the file type is a directory the Op list will contain the following entries:
|
Option |
Use |
|---|---|
|
Exclude |
Excludes the directory from processing. The directory will not appear on the staging system and any links to files or other content within the directory will be broken. |
|
Process |
Process the directory normally. |
|
Tab |
Create a navigation tab for the directory. This makes the directory a major section of the site. |
|
Copy |
Copy the directory and all its contents. This is a recursive copy and will move all the files. This is commonly used to copy icon directories. |
|
Directory |
Handle the directory as though it were a tab directory but do not create a navigation tab for it. This is commonly used to create error documents and other items that do not show up in the normal navigation but which need to be processed. |
If the file is a true file the Op list will contain the following entries:
|
Option |
Use |
|---|---|
|
Exclude |
Excludes the file from processing. The file is ignored and no processing is done. |
|
Copy |
Copy the file to the staging server. No processing is performed on the file. |
|
Process |
Process the file via the normal XSLT processing. |
The Nav option specifies whether or not the file should be listed in the navigation for the directory. Options are “include” or “exclude”. If included the navigation information comes from the document title and comment properties; or, in the case of copied files, from the name and description columns of the table.
If the document is included in the navigation or if it is a directory tab the sort value is used to position it in the list.
The name column is used whenever the file is copied and included in the navigation. This acts as the title of the document.
The description column is used whenever the file is copied and is included in the navigation. This acts as the comment for the document.
The actions column is used whenever changes are made to any of the settings within the row. If the “update” button is not selected changes in the row will be lost. If the “reset” button is selected the old setting will be restored.
On the left side of the page is an “Options for Current Directory” box. It contains all of the actions that can be taken against the current directory.
The tabs button will generate the tabs content. Tabs are created once for each directory and are included on each web page in the directory.
Nav create the navigation. This is the list of files within the directory and includes a brief description of the files. Navigation is generally created once per directory and, like the tabs, included on each web page in the directory.
This option will generate all the documents in the directory. This will take quite a bit of time.
This option deletes all files from the staging directory. If option is selected it is recommended that the Tabs, Nav and Docs selections also be performed.
On the left side of the page is an “Options for All Directories” box. It contains all of the actions that can be taken against the entire web site.
The tabs button will generate the tabs content (see above) for every directory that is processed.
The Nav button will create the navigation (see above) for every directory that is processed.
An author or editor can create documents on the content server. Once the documents are on the content server they can be created by using the content manager (CM) application. To run the CM application run your web browser and point it to http://content.company.com . The CM interface described above should be displayed. Select use the tab navigation to select the directory where the file is located then select “Generate” for the file. After a few minutes the file will be available for viewing on the staging server.
To view the file point your browser to to http://staging.company.com/directory/file.shtml . The web version of the document should be displayed.