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What it is
The Brand Ensemble Content Management System (CMS) is a powerful tool that makes management of our Web site easy. Using it, you can add, delete, and move Web pages; edit text
on any page; and upload and place images and files. CMS
does not require knowledge of Web authoring tools or HTML.
While the tool is designed to be simple and intuitive, a basic understanding of how it works makes it much easier to get started and produce good results. That’s what this document
is for.
3. Anatomy of a typical page 3
The CMS tool makes management of the site structure
automatic, so you don’t need to worry about building navigation
menus or defining the overall appearance of a page.
Navigation menu – This is where the pages
you create are listed. When you are on a page
(such as the “About us” page shown here)
and create a new page, it automatically appears
indented below the parent page in the navigation
menu. The menu changes appearance depending
on where you are in the site.
Copy blocks – Each page template has one or
more areas where text, images, and links can
appear. All pages are built using pre-configured
templates, so the places to insert content are
already defined for you.
Non-editable items – Some items on the
page cannot be altered using the tool. This helps
to ensure site integrity and consistency.
Tip: Be thoughtful about adding pages. The
site structure has been thoroughly researched
and carefully planned. It is very easy to create
a convoluted, messy Web site by adding
unnecessary pages.
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4. Accessing the tool 4
To edit pages on the site, you need to first log in to the administration
page. Go to http://www.edisonlearning.com/admin/login.aspx and enter
your user name and password.
When the tool first opens, you are presented
with your “My queue” in the main part of the
window. This is a listing of the pages you are
working on (if any), which have not been “pushed
live” on the actual site.
On the right you’ll see a gray box with a pencil
icon. Mouse over this and a pop-out menu
will appear.
The pencil icon changes to a push pin. Clicking
on the push pin will force the menu to remain
visible. Otherwise it automatically retracts when
the mouse is moved off it to give you more room
to work.
The only two things in this menu that are
important for basic editing tasks are the items
next to “View”: “My queue” (where you are now)
and “Home.” Click on “Home” to get into the
site itself, then navigate to the “About us” page.
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5. Creating a page 5
You’ll notice that the menu choices have changed.
First we’ll create a new page. Select “Create a
new page” from the menu. This will create a sub-page
in the “About us” section.
Fill in the title of the page, and the page name will
be generated automatically. It is recommended
that you fill in a description and keywords, to make
it easier for search engines to find the page. When
you’re done, click “Next.”
Then, choose the page template you’ll be using.
Choose carefully...the vast majority of the pages
on the site use the free-form “Content” or “Content
wide” templates. Do not use the graphic-heavy
“Home” templates without good reason. You can
always change the template later.
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6. Editing a page and applying styles 6
When the page is open for editing, a toolbar
appears above the page content area. You can
either enter text directly on the page, or you can
paste it from the Clipboard.
Tip: Microsoft Word includes a lot of invisible
information that can cause formatting problems
when pasted. Use the Clipboard tool with the
Word icon on it to paste this text, but make sure
to carefully examine the text once it’s in place.
To be safe, it’s best to do as little formatting in
Word as possible.
Make sure to apply the correct style to all of the
text on the page. Select the text you want to
format and choose the appropriate style from the
pop-up menu.
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7. Inserting graphics and files
At the upper left of the page is a gray “Image
Gallery” tool. Click the downward-pointing arrow
to see the available images, by category.
You’ll notice that our example template has a
pre-defined box at the top for a header image.
Select the “Headers” category, choose an appro-priate
one, drag it to the box and drop it in place.
You can also drag and drop images into text
boxes on the template.
Images are uploaded to the “Image Gallery,”
which is accessed from the right-hand menu.
Several image categories are provided. This list
can be easily edited. The buttons at the top
guide you through the upload process and are
self-explanatory.
There’s also a “File Gallery,” for downloadable
files like PDFs.
Once a file is added to the “File Gallery,” it’s
inserted onto the page by creating a link.
Right-click on the “Link to file” selection in the
“File Gallery” to copy the file’s URL. Then, on
the page, create a link to the file by typing the
text you want to appear and clicking on the link
tool in the toolbar. Then paste the URL of the
file into the dialog.
Tip: You can also create “hot” e-mail address
links and “jump” links to anchors in the text using
this dialog.
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8. Saving, publishing, and deleting pages
First, save the page by choosing “Save” from the
right-hand menu.
Important: The system will time out after a
period of inactivity and you will lose any unsaved
changes. Make sure you allow enough time to
complete your work on any given page before
moving on to another task.
The page isn’t on the site at this point. It is sitting
in your queue. The next step is to publish it. You’ll
notice that the right-hand menu now has a new
selection: “Go live with this version.”
When you select this, the page will immediately be
posted on the public site. Use caution! If the page
is not ready to be shown to the world, do NOT go
live with it!
The page will appear on the navigation menu
at the left, at the bottom of its group. You can
now move it to the appropriate spot by selecting
“Sort navigation” from the menu. Drag it to
the correct spot in the list and click “Done.”
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9. Moving and deleting pages
To delete a page, navigate to it and select
“Delete” from the right-hand menu. A confirmation
dialog will appear.
If you’ve accidentally created a page in the wrong
place, moving it is easy. Select “Add to other
sections” from the menu and click through the
site to place it in the correct spot.
Tip: “Add to other sections” applies to bottom-level
pages. Sections can also be moved, but this is
rarely, if ever, done.
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10. A final word
The Brand Ensemble Content Management System is a powerful tool. As such, it should be used with care. It is of the utmost importance to avoid “creep,” meaning individual changes to style, editorial voice, or presentation.
Avoid changing the site structure without good reason, changing the way subheads are used, creating new text styles, changing the way capitalization is used, inserting images or other graphics that do not match the style of the site, and so forth.
Being cautious, thoughtful, and conservative is the best way to preserve the company’s carefully crafted brand image.
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