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RedDot CMS Training End User Guide

© 2006 RedDot Solutions

RedDot CMS End User Training

Privacy Policy Confidential & Proprietary This information is intended for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information which is privileged, confidential or subject to copyright. Any unauthorized use, disclosure, distribution, or copying of this communication by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you receive this document in error, please notify us immediately so that we may arrange for its return.

Notice of Copyright The RedDot Solutions Logo, the RedDot brand and the RedDot product names including RedDot CMS, RedDot XCMS and RedDot LiveServer and their associated modules are either registered trademarks or trademarks of RedDot Solutions Corporation. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Inquiries Please direct any questions to: RedDot Solutions Corporation One Battery Park Plaza New York, NY 10024 T) 212-425-3988 F) 212-425-3987 E-mail: [email protected]

RedDot CMS End User Training

Privacy Policy | 2

Table Of Contents Who Should Use This Manual...........................................................................................4

Required Skills for Editors ........................................................................................................... 4 Introduction to Content Management................................................................................5

Content Editing ............................................................................................................................ 5 Logging On to RedDot CMS........................................................................................................ 6 SmartEdit Interface ...................................................................................................................... 6 Work Area.................................................................................................................................... 6 Left Menu..................................................................................................................................... 7 Select a Project............................................................................................................................ 7

Home Page .......................................................................................................................9 Online Help .................................................................................................................................. 9

Concepts and Terminology .............................................................................................11 Content Classes ........................................................................................................................ 11 Templates .................................................................................................................................. 12 Placeholders .............................................................................................................................. 13 CMS Pages................................................................................................................................ 13 RedDots..................................................................................................................................... 14 Editing Content .......................................................................................................................... 14 Creating and Connecting New Pages ....................................................................................... 15 Connect to Existing Page .......................................................................................................... 17 Text Editor ................................................................................................................................. 19 Media Files and Images............................................................................................................. 21 Asset Manager........................................................................................................................... 23 Page Menu ................................................................................................................................ 27 Edit Elements via Form.............................................................................................................. 28 Changing Page Order................................................................................................................ 29 Disconnecting a Page................................................................................................................ 30 Scheduling Pages...................................................................................................................... 30 Searching for Pages .................................................................................................................. 31

Workflows........................................................................................................................32 The Tasks Menu ........................................................................................................................ 32 Submitting a Page to Workflow ................................................................................................. 32 Content Approvers..................................................................................................................... 33

Translation Editor ............................................................................................................36 Using the Translation Editor ...................................................................................................... 36

RedDot CMS End User Training | 3

Who Should Use This Manual This manual is designed to teach the basic concepts for content management with RedDot Content Management Server (CMS). It is intended for all current or potential content providers and content approvers. You do not need to have a background in content management or web technologies to edit content in CMS.

Required Skills for Editors In order to contribute content to you site, you do not need to know HTML or have any other coding knowledge. Various Templates have been provided for you, which you can use to create all kinds of Pages and content. In SmartEdit, you will be able to change pieces of content by clicking red dots that appear on the Page in the work area next to the content. Different dots will provide access to different types of content such as text and images. Please note that HTML cannot be entered directly by content providers. The HTML is automatically generated by RedDot CMS. Always keep in mind that the purpose for using a CMS is to effectively manage content in a large environment. CMS Administrators have spent time carefully planning a system that works best for your company.


Introduction to Content Management A Content Management System helps to manage large websites by supporting the creation, management and organization of content. RedDot CMS can be used for the following:

• Document management, enabling the administration of large numbers of documents • Centralized management of the content layout, look and feel • Decentralized content creation • Separation of content and layout • Link management to ensure valid hyperlinks • Workflow – managing work and business processes • Security – managing user authority and general access rights • Publishing webpages to a web server

The most important aspect central to a web project that is managed by a Content Management System is the separation of layout and content. In many instances the layout is predetermined by an organization's corporate design. Establishing a predetermined look and feel to web content ensures uniformity and consistency, which promotes a positive user experience. If the corporate design changes, it will have to change over hundreds or thousands of webpages. Without having a centralized way of managing layout, this would be an enormous amount of work. CMS solves this problem by using templates to describe each of the webpages. If you redesign your website, you only have to modify the templates and the content is preserved. Ultimately, you are using the system to save time and money.

Content Editing In the traditional world of webpage production, an HTML editor produces content as well as layout. The creation of webpages is normally achieved using a graphical HTML editing tool. In this classical model the HTML editor can only produce complete webpages, where both layout and content are simultaneously managed, incurring considerable effort and cost to the company. A RedDot CMS editor works purely with the content of a webpage. An editor in RedDot CMS is anyone and everyone who publishes content on an Intranet or Internet. The editor not only creates new content such as text, images etc., but is responsible for reusing existing content. RedDot CMS provides editors with an optimized working environment. The RedDot CMS editing environment is called SmartEdit. The RedDot SmartEdit interface is the simplest, quickest, and safest method of creating and editing content in an Internet or Intranet website. The RedDot Editor logs on to CMS using a web browser, navigates to a section of the site that requires content, and opens the site in Editing Mode. All areas that can be edited are indicated with a red dot. By clicking on the corresponding red dot, the Editor is shown a dialog window that matches the type of content being edited. After completing the desired editing, the CMS Page is either published and sent directly to the live production server or sent into the Workflow process for approval by the selected senior editor.


Logging On to RedDot CMS The only program you need to use RedDot CMS is Microsoft Internet Explorer (5.5 or better) web browser. RedDot CMS SmartEdit will work with Mac Safari and Netscape browsers but functionality is limited. Before you login to the system, you should disable any browser pop-up blockers that may prevent dialog windows from functioning properly. RedDot CMS makes use of dialog windows for performing various functions and you will not have access to important features if you prevent those windows from opening. You may re-enable your pop-up blocker program after you have completed your content editing session in RedDot CMS. To begin, open Internet Explorer and go to the address or bookmark for the RedDot CMS login screen (provided by the System Administrator). Logging on requires a username and password, which are assigned to you by the System Administrator. Enter your username and password, then click start

“already Logged In” Sometimes, after you log in, you might see the message “You are already logged on with another session. Do you want to cancel this session and start a new one?”

This message does not mean there is a problem. It means that last time you used RedDot, you did not log off your session. Just click “Yes” to continue and start a new session. (In general, you should try to remember to log off of RedDot CMS when you are finished, before you close the browser window. That will prevent this message.)

SmartEdit Interface After logging in to RedDot CMS, you may see your SmartEdit Home Page, containing Workflow tasks, or a view of your Project in SmartEdit. CMS will remember the last state of the environment when you last logged off. If CMS is set to display SmartEdit you may see a menu of sections within your website or a SmartEdit view of a webpage. This is the start point from which content may be edited on your site. The first Page that you see in the work area of the RedDot interface is referred to as the Start Page. Lets take a look at the different parts of the interface.

Work Area The center area of the window is the work area, where you can see the SmartEdit view of your webpages. The Start Page displays sections within your website. It will not normally be published. The Start Page provides a quick way to navigate to the part of your website that you would like to edit. Once you have located the section of your website where you would like to make changes, you will see the SmartEdit view of the webpage. It does not look exactly the same as the published website. You may notice some extra links, red dots and instructional text, but the content is the same. You can navigate through the site by clicking links as you would with any other website. The RedDots and instructional text


that appear in SmartEdit will not be published to your live website.

Left Menu Buttons on the left side of the screen are the main navigation for RedDot CMS. The following is a description of each button: Home Page – takes you back to the Home Page, which lists your Workflow tasks.

Asset Manager – is used to manage image or other media assets in RedDot CMS.

Main Menu – is where you can select a Project, create a new unlinked Page, change your User settings and modify SmartEdit display settings.

Search – will allow you to search for existing RedDot CMS Pages using a variety of search criteria.

Tasks – enables you to act on Pages that are currently in Workflow (explained in a later lesson).

Log Off – is used to end your RedDot CMS session. You should always log off before closing your browser.

Help – opens the Online Help window.

Select a Project First time users may see a blank Home Page after logging on. You can select a Project by clicking the Main Menu button on the left navigation menu and clicking the Projects link (Projects and XCMS Projects are availible only if the XCMS Server extension is installed).


If you are a first time user and do not see a blank Home Page, an Administrator may have selected one for you. Once a Project has been selected CMS will display the Home Page or SmartEdit view of the last Project that the User worked on. If you are able to select more than one Project, RedDot CMS will remember the last Project that you worked on. You may at any time switch to another Project via the Main Menu. The following steps explain how to connect to a Project: In the Left Menu you will see a button for the Main Menu. Click this button to see the Main Menu.

The Main Menu dialog window appears. Click the Projects link (or Projects and XCMS Projects as shown above).

The Project Selection dialog window appears. You will see a list of CMS Projects that are available to you. Click the name of the Project you would like to edit.

First-time Users need to also click the Web Content Manager button in the Left Menu. This button takes the Users to SmartEdit mode.


Home Page The Home Page displays summary information about the Pages within your Project:

• Pages you are currently working on • Pages you’ve submitted to Workflow • Pages needing to correction • Pages that have been resubmitted • Pages in various states of translation

Online Help If you are unsure how to use a feature in RedDot CMS, online help is available by clicking the Help button on the left menu.


This opens the online help dialog window.

In the left side of the Help window is an expandable menu with topics that you can expand and collapse by clicking the + and – icons. Here, you can find information and documentation about different aspects of using RedDot to edit your site. Click the X button in the top right corner of the Help window to close it.

In addition to the icon on the Left Menu bar, dialog windows have a button in the lower left corner which provides help for that particular topic. NOTE

Your administrators may have disabled or modified some of the features described in the online help dialog windows. Customizations often affect what you can do in RedDot CMS. If you are unsure how to use a feature and you do not find information in Help, Ask your RedDot Administrator for more information.


Concepts and Terminology In order to gain a complete understanding of how to use RedDot CMS, you will need to learn some basic terminology.

Content Classes Every CMS Page, which is not the same as an HTML webpage, is based on something called a Content Class. Content Classes contain Templates and Placeholders, which are used to produce completed CMS Pages. System Administrators create Content Classes for Editors and Authors to use. Content Classes allow content providers to focus on creating and editing content in Placeholders. Templates provide all of the code for the Page and Placeholders contain the content. It is important to understand that Content Classes are not Pages, but they define the structure of Pages. Templates are like blueprints and a CMS Pages are like houses. A blueprint describes the structure of the house, and the house is built according to the structure defined in the blueprint. Similarly, a Content Class describes the structure of the Page, and the Page is built according to the structure defined in the Content Class. Some Content Classes are used to describe foundation structures for webpages and other Content Classes describe smaller pieces that appear in one section of a webpage. To use the blueprint analogy, a building plan has instructions that are used to describe the outer or main structure of the building. A more specific blueprint may describe the layout of a living room with symbols that represent types of furniture that may go into that room.


A main/foundation Content Class may describe the outer structure of the webpage that has a three-column layout. You can see a top area for the branding section of the webpage, a section for the left navigation, a right column area for ad space and the main content area in the center. Each section has one or more Content Class that describes what types of content and structure can go there. A specific Content Class describes a section of a webpage such as the left side containing the navigation links, images and ad space. Placeholders represent each of these components that appear in each instance of the left navigation.

Templates Templates contain the code that describes the layout of Pages in CMS. One of the reasons for using a content management system is to ensure a consistent look and feel throughout the website. Templates allow you to create many Pages that share the same structure. If you need to make a change to a Page layout or design you can simply modify the Template and your content remains the same. It is possible to have many Templates in a single Content Class that describe the format of the same content in different ways. This enables you to display your content in different media such as HTML for your website, WML for display on a mobile device or plain text for printers. For example, this Content Class contains Templates for HTML and XML which can be used to format the same content in different ways.


Placeholders Placeholders are objects that generically describe content. Templates describe the general layout of a Page. This layout describes where on the Page your images and text go. The images and text are contained in Placeholders. Content Classes contain Templates and Placeholders, which are reusable for creating similar Pages with different content. Placeholders may be used in Content Classes to indicate that an image belongs at the top of a Page or that a paragraph of text appears in the middle. When you edit content by clicking red dots , you are editing Placeholders. Content that is put into Placeholders are stored in a database which may include images, text, files or other forms of content. This is how RedDot CMS manages content throughout the entire system. Centralized content management makes content editing simple, secure and most importantly, reusable. That saves significant time and effort for everyone involved. Managing content in this way allows site editors to update content without worrying about layout. Using the same Content Class for similar parts of your website guarantees that each Page has the same look and feel.

CMS Pages An instance of a Content Class is called a Page. You could also say that a building is an instance of a blueprint. Just like many buildings can be constructed using the same blueprint, many webpages can be created using the same Content Class. A CMS Page is not the same thing as a webpage. CMS Pages are typically pieces of webpages that fit together in specific places. CMS Pages can be put together, sort of like a puzzle or rooms in a building, to create a larger whole. This way you can create different kinds of CMS Pages and put them together in a variety of ways to create a complete webpage. Sometimes, a webpage is made of exactly one CMS Page. However, most webpages are made up of two or more CMS Pages. NOTE

When working in RedDot or reading these manuals, you see a reference to a “Page”, it is generally referring to a CMS Page, not a complete webpage. In order to help make the distinction more clear in RedDot CMS End User Training, the RedDot term Page is capitalized and italicised and HTML webpages are referred to as “webpages”.

Bringing it all Together Comprehending the relationship between Content Classes, Templates, Placeholders and Pages is critical to learning RedDot CMS; Content Classes contain Templates and Placeholders. Templates describe the layout of Pages, Placeholders contain content and Pages are instances of Content Classes. Each Page uses a Content Class to describe what types of content can be entered and where the content should go. If you are still unsure of what each component does or how they relate to each other, you should review this section.


RedDots All content that a content contributor, like you, wishes to change can be accessed and edited by clicking on various types of red dots in the work area. With the proper authorizations, other types of red dots allow content contributors to create new areas and new webpages in the site. Below is a list of red dots that could appear in the work area. The table contains breif descriptions with indepth descriptions and functionality folllowing the table.

OpenPage RedDot Opens a RedDot Page for editing.

ClosePage RedDot Closes the Editing Mode of a Page and saves all changes.

Edit RedDot Opens the Editing Mode of a content element.

MultiLink RedDot Opens the Editing Mode of an element that can link to multiple Pages.

Link RedDot Opens the editing mode of an element that can link to a single Page or URL.

Translate RedDot Opens elements in the Translation Editor that require translation.

Mandatory RedDot Opens elements that must contain content.

ReleasePage RedDot Identifies a Page submitted for release.

LockedPage RedDot Identifies Pages or elements currently being edited by other Users.

Form RedDot You can edit all of the content elements of a Page together in a single form.

Editing Content When the Page is open other types of dots become visible which you can use to edit or create content. Now that the other dots are visible, clicking one of these content dots will open up a window for editing the corresponding content. There are several ways to enter content into a Page depending on the type of content, such as media, images and text. Large blocks of text content are entered using the RedDot Text Editor, which is like a word processor. Details about the Text Editor are covered in a later lesson.


OpenPage RedDot At the top of the Page* you should see a red dot with an arrow in it . This is called the OpenPage RedDot. If you click this dot the Page will be opened so that you can edit content. After opening the Page you will be in Edit Mode. You will notice that the Page Menu appears at the top of the browser window. The OpenPage dot changes to become a ClosePage RedDot (the arrow switches directions) which you can click to close the Page again. Red dots, editorial notes and instructions provided by your CMS Administrators are for content editing purposes and will not be visible on your published webpages. Here is an example of an administration note:

[Click the red dot to edit article text.] * OpenPage red dots do not always appear at the top of the Page. This is the most common location for them but your Administrators may have placed them in a location that works better with your webpage layout. Each HTML webpage may have many of these.

ClosePage RedDot After you have finished working on a Page, you can close it by clicking the ClosePage dot . This will hide all of the other red dots. You can also close a Page by simply clicking on a link to go to another Page in the site. After closing your Pages by clicking the ClosePage dot or clicking a link on the webpage, RedDot CMS saves your changes.

Edit RedDot The Edit RedDot is the plain RedDot that is visible after opening a Page. It is used to edit individual pieces of content in a Page. Examples of Placeholders that can be edited with this RedDot are Headlines, text content, images and more. Generally, an Edit RedDot is placed next to the content that it controls. Often, there is a label next to the dot, describing what it is for.

Simple Text Some of the red dots control simple text. For example, a news story title is usually a piece of short, simple text. If the news story title has a red dot next to it, you could edit the text by clicking the red dot next to it and entering a value into the field. A dialog window opens, with a simple form for you to change the value. Modify the text in the text field (for example, make it shorter), and click OK to save the changes.

Creating and Connecting New Pages Whenever you want to create a new CMS Page in RedDot, you must “Create and Connect” a Page. There are two types of RedDots that allow you to Create and Connect a new Page to the site:

The MultiLink Dot This dot is called the MultiLink dot, because it corresponds with an area where multiple CMS Pages can be connected. It is possible to Create and Connect new Pages, Connect to Existing Pages, Reference Pages, Reference Links, and modify the sort of connected Pages. You may see this type of RedDot in an area that contains teaser links to other Pages or areas that contain many complete RedDot Pages.


Create and Connect a New Page. You may see a list of possible Content Classes that can be connected to this Placeholder. If so, you select the Content Class that properly defines the structure for the Page that you would like to connect. If you do not have a choice of what Content Class will be connected to a Placeholder, CMS will select the Content Class for you and prompt you to enter a Headline.

Enter a Headline for the new Page. In RedDot CMS, every single CMS Page has a Headline. The Headline is the name of the Page. Sometimes, the Headline is also used as content in the. Other times, the Headline is just a descriptive name that does not appear in the Page. If you are not sure what to enter as the Headline, just enter a short description of the Page.

Click OK to save the Headline. After completing this step, your new Page may be visible but you may be required to click an OpenPage red dot to enter content into the Placeholders. In general, when creating Pages with a MultiLink dot, new Pages are added to the top of the list, above the existing Pages. If you want to move the new Page to a different position in the list, you can click the MultiLink dot again, and selecting Edit Page Order.

1. Click the name of your new Page so you can edit the content.

2. Open the Page for editing.

3. Click the red rots to enter new content.

4. Close the Page when you have entered values in all of the Placeholders.

Link RedDot This dot corresponds to a link in a Page, where one (and only one) CMS Page can be created and connected. Creating and Connecting a Page to this link will replace the existing Page with a new one. CMS will prompt you to make sure that this is what you want it to do.


Connect to Existing Page This is for reusing Pages that may also exist in another section of the website. That way, you do not have to create the same Page with the same content more than once. Click the Connect to Existing Page to open a search dialog window. Enter search information such as the Page ID (or range of IDs), content text or a Page Headline and click the Start button to initiate the search. You will see a list of Pages organized by ID that match your search criteria. You may preview that Page to verify that it is the one you would like to connect to. You may preview a Page by clicking the Preview button on the right side of the dialog window. If you do not have permission to view a Page the preview will be blank. Click the Page title next to the ID to connect it to this MultiLink Dot. This will close the dialog and you will see the Page that you just clicked appear as content on the Page.

Reference Page Referencing Pages is similar to connecting to existing Pages, but you may only have one reference per link Placeholder. The result that you will see in your published webpage is the same as connecting to the Page. You may want to reference a Page rather than connecting to it if you only want one Page to appear in that section of the website. Links that are edited via the link RedDot can only ever have one Page connected or referenced at a time. MultiLink RedDots have the ability to contain many connected Pages but only one reference.

Reference Link Links may reference other links in RedDot CMS. When a link references another link, both links point to the same place. For example, a link that takes you to the Midwest Corporate Communications website may be reused by pointing other links to the original link. Reusing links will enable you to edit a link in one place instead of making changes to every instance throughout your web site.

Translate RedDot The Translate RedDot is used to indicate content that requires translation in the Translation Editor. For more specific information, please refer to the Translation Editor section.

Mandatory RedDot You may notice a flashing red dot that looks like this: . This red dot indicates that content is mandatory in that Placeholder. A value is required where the text is found. If this Placeholder does not contain a value, you will be warned that you cannot submit the Page to Workflow until a value is entered.

ReleasePage RedDot ReleasePage RedDots indicate that a Page is waiting for release by a content approver in a Workflow process. You will only see these RedDots after you submit a Page to Workflow from draft status and click the OpenPage RedDot for that Page.


LockedPage RedDot LockedPage RedDots indicate that you do not have permission to edit the corresponding Placeholders or that someone else is currently editing that Page. You can see if someone else is editing the Page by placing your mouse cursor over one of the LockedPage RedDots. You will be able to see the other User’s login name.

Form RedDot Form RedDots will allow you to open a dialog window that displays all editable Placeholders for that Page. You can get the same result if you open a Page for editing and click Edit Elements Via Form from the Action link in the Page menu.


Text Editor Some Edit red dots that contain larger amounts of text require more than a single line field. You may need additional formatting that is not included in the Template. RedDot CMS has a built in Text Editor that enables you to enter and format large blocks of text. To edit a large block of text, click the red dots that appears near it to open the editor in a dialog window.

The RedDot Text Editor is a WYSIWYG tool. WYSIWYG tools (pronounced "wiz-ee-wig") are editors that allow you to see what the end result will look like while the document is being edited. The editor generates HTML code for you so you do not have to learn HTML in order to format text in the way that you want. It is important to note that the RedDot Text Editor is designed to format large blocks of text but it is not designed to create entire webpages like Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. RedDot CMS is a content management system which serves a different purpose than a tool designed exclusively for building websites. Once you open the Text Editor you can enter text with formatting, styles, links, images and tables and see what it will look like while you work. You can also copy-and-paste text from your word processor, a webpage or practically any other application that contains text or HTML. Copy the content from the source location and paste it into the Text Editor by

pressing Ctrl-V or by clicking the paste button in the tool bar. NOTE

Sometimes you are only able to paste plain text without preserving the original formatting. The RedDot paste button usually helps to prevent this problem.


Text Formatting The toolbar of the Text Editor contains various formatting options. For example, we can make some text bold by using the

button. Use your cursor to select the text that you want to make bold.

Then click the button in the toolbar The selected text is made bold. NOTE

Most keyboard hot keys work in the RedDot Text Editor.

Inserting Links It is also possible to create hyperlinks in the Text Editor. You can convert text into a link by selecting the text that will become a link and clicking the globe Icon on the toolbar.

The Insert/Edit Link dialog window will open, allowing you to edit the properties of the link.

We can type the address in the HREF field to link to an external web site. (You must include “http://”). To open the address in a new window, enter “_new” or “_blank” in the Target field. Click OK to save the changes and create the link. NOTE

The link is not clickable in the Text Editor. You must close the Text Editor and test the link in your webpage.


Other Options There are many other possibilities in the Text Editor, including:

• Inserting images • Check spelling • Creating and formatting tables • Creating bulleted or numbered lists • Changing text color • Changing fonts • Other text formatting

In general, to find out what a button does hold your cursor over it. A tool tip description will appear that tells you what the button does. For more detailed information about the Text Editor and how to use the various formatting capabilities refer to RedDot’s online Help.

Media Files and Images Files including, but not limited to, PDFs, video or sound are called Media Elements. To edit a media element, click the corresponding Edit RedDot. A media file can be either added or removed by clicking the RedDot. We want to add a file, so click Edit Element Content.

We have two options:

Selecting an existing file The files that are listed are files that already exist in this Project. We can preview any file by clicking the Preview link, in the right column. We can select a file by clicking the file name. Or:

Selecting a file from your computer

To select a file from your own hard drive, click:


This will open another window where you have to enter the path and filename of the image on your hard drive. Instead of typing the path and file name we can click the “Browse…” button to select a file.

Locate the file you want to connect and double-click the file name. Or, select the file name and click Open.

The path and file name of the file are shown in the form. Click OK again to upload the file.

The dialog window closes, and the file you selected will now appear in the list of files located in the RedDot database. You can use the file as content on a webpage by clicking the file name to select it and clicking OK to insert it into your Page.


Asset Manager The Asset Manager can contain many types of files but it is most often used for images. All files that you upload into CMS are stored in a database. In the RedDot interface, these files are managed in folders that can be configured to appear as lists or thumbnail views. Non-image files are normally stored in standard file folders which display files in a list format. Image files are normally stored in an Asset Manager type of folder. Asset Manager folders will enable you to see thumbnail views of files as well as metadata. CMS will automatically generate thumbnails for each image that you upload. You will most often use the Asset Manager when you are editing image content via red dots. It is possible to view the contents of Asset Manager folders by clicking the Asset Manager button in the Left Menu.

You can see a thumbnail and built in metadata or custom metadata by clicking on the file name below the thumbnail.

If the image that you would like to use is not currently in the Asset Manager, you can upload the image in a similar manner that you would if it was a media file. Click Select file from local file system above the thumbnails to browse and select an image from the local file system.


You can preview images by clicking on the thumbnail image in the left panel of the dialog window. Click the file name below the thumbnail to select and view information about the selected file, which appears on the right side of the dialog window. You can see information about the file size, dimensions, original author and date of upload. If you do not see metadata in the upper right panel or the thumbnail is not correct, you can click Refresh Thumbnail and File Information to update the thumbnail image and data. You will see a refreshed view of the image thumbnail and an updated set of metadata.

In addition to refreshing the thumbnail and file information, you will see a number of other links in the lower right panel. It is possible for you to crop images in the Asset Manager by clicking the Crop Image link. This opens a dialog window that shows the image framed with an outline that can be dragged to set a visual cropping area. You have the option of overwriting the old image or typing a new file name that CMS will assign to the new file that is generated with the new dimensions. Cropping images in the Asset Manager is not a precise method of editing images. It is only intended for visually editing images to approximate dimensions. If pixel perfection is important you should use an external editor such as Adobe Photoshop.


You can update the file if changes were made outside of CMS. This will prompt you to upload the changed file. The file names must be the same in order for the new file to replace the old one.

If you do not need a thumbnail view of a file or if you would like to see the files in a list, you can switch views between thumbnails and a list by clicking the List or Thumbnail links at the top of the left panel.


In time, you may have hundreds of images in the Asset Manager. Therefore you need an easy way to find what you are looking for. At the top of the dialog window, you can search for files by file name, original author or the last editor. This will help you to locate images. Wildcard characters are supported in the search field.


If you have multiple folders to work with you can switch you view to the other folder by clicking the Switch Folder link at the top of the left panel.

NOTE

Remember that other users will be using these assets in their webpages. Modifying an image in the Asset Manager will affect every Page that uses this image as content. Make certain that you will not adversely affect other parts of your web site when making these types of changes.

Page Menu The Page Menu is the gray menu that appears at the top of an open Page. It is only visible if a RedDot Page is open for editing. These links allow you to act on a Page in various ways. Each of these buttons will be explained in this section.

NOTE

In some cases, you will notice that the links are gray and you are unable to click them to access their features. Gray links indicate that you do not have permission to access that function for this Page.

The following is a description of some of the things you can do with this menu:

The Properties button will allow you to edit properties on Pages in CMS. This dialog window will allow you to modify the Headline of a Page, which is the non-unique name given to Pages in CMS. Each Page in CMS must have a Headline, which can optionally be displayed as content. You can also edit the name of the published webpage by entering a value into the File name field.

The Actions dialog will allow you to perform various actions on Pages. You can preview Pages, publish Pages, submit Pages to Workflow, edit content elements in a form, delete Pages, replace the Content Class with another one or use plug-ins. Plug-ins are used by administrators to extend the functionality of RedDot CMS. They can do just about anything so a specific explanation is not practical.


This menu will allow you to schedule the appearance of Pages. You can control when webpages are visible on your live website based on a predefined time. This is especially useful for time critical content like daily news stories. You may want today’s news to be displayed for one day. CMS will publish Pages on the date that they are supposed to appear and that Page will remain on the live webpage until the scheduled removal date. At that time, CMS will publish without the Page that was scheduled for deletion.

Keywords in RedDot CMS is used to enter descriptions for RedDot Pages. They are not the same as keywords that describe webpages for search engines. You use them by assigning keywords to Pages. You can then define keyword linking on MultiLink RedDots by clicking the red dot. The result will be that all Pages with the same keywords will be connected to the MultiLink RedDot.

Notes is used to communicate information about Pages to other users. You may make comments about Pages by opening a Page for editing and opening the Notes dialog. Notes may also be visible in the Workflow process. If an approver rejects a Page, they can type in notes that explain the rejection. The person editing content can make the requested changes based on those comments. If you click the Notes button and do not see anything, the Administrators have not created a note for that Page. You may not be able to edit notes depending on permissions that have been assigned by your Administrators.

Status is a dialog box that contains information about the Page. You can see general information that helps to identify the Page and the status of the Page in the Workflow process. The Page Lock section shows who is currently editing the Page. This is blank if the Page is in the Workflow of another User. You can see when Pages were last changed and who is responsible for those changes. You can see where Pages will be published in the Publication settings section. If you are not sure why your content changes are not showing up on your live website you can check the status of the Page here. It is likely that your Pages have not been published either because the scheduled publishing job has not yet run or your content edits have not been approved.

Edit Elements via Form If you click the Actions link a menu opens with other actions related to this Page. Click Edit Elements via Form .


RedDot will open a form with all of the content elements in the opened Page.

You can use this form to edit all or most of the content in the Page, instead of clicking the red dots. For some of the

elements you must click the button next to the form field. That is because some elements require a special dialog in order to select the content (such as the media files or a text element that requires the Text Editor). Click OK when finished editing content. Or, if you haven’t changed anything, you can click Cancel.

Changing Page Order There are some areas where multiple CMS Pages can be connected. These areas are designated by the Multilink red dot

. If there are multiple CMS Pages connected in a multilink area, you can usually change the order of the Pages by clicking the Multilink red dot. After clicking the red dot, a menu opens with several options. Click the link named Edit Page Order.

NOTE

You may not always see the Edit Page Order option when you click a multilink. If you don’t see that option then it is not possible to change the order of Pages in that area.


After selecting Edit Page Order, you will see a list of the Pages that are connected to this area. To move the selected Page to a different position, we must use the four buttons to the left of the list. The following is a description of each button:

Moves the selected Page to the top of the list

Moves the selected Page up one position

Moves the selected Page down one position

Moves the selected Page to the bottom of the list When the popup window closes, the webpage is refreshed then we can see that the Pages are now in the order that we selected.

Disconnecting a Page Just as you might want to change the order of Pages that are stacked in the same area, you might also want to disconnect a Page. This is very similar to changing the sort order: Click the multilink dot that corresponds to the area where the Page is connected Click Disconnected Pages from List

In the window that opens, select the Page or Pages you want to disconnect, then click OK. After you click OK, the selected Page (or Pages) is disconnected from the list.

Scheduling Pages You decide when Pages will appear on your website by defining a Linking and Appearance Schedule for the Page. Click the Linking menu to open the Edit Linking/Appearance Schedule dialog window. Click the clock icon on the right side of

the dialog window to define the dates that you would like the Page to appear on your webpage. Click the button to open the calendar for the From and To calendar. You can select the date and type in a value for the time in each field. When the webpage is expired, a publishing job will run and the Page will not appear on the live website.


Searching for Pages You can search for Pages in CMS by clicking the Search link in the Left Menu. You can search for text in documents, Content Class, Page ID, Creation Period, and Alteration Period. Since you may have many results in the search, you can restrict your search results to a maximum number of results. Click Start to initiate the search. You can preview Pages by clicking the link on the right side of the dialog window. Clicking the name of the Page will load that Page into the SmartEdit work area.


Workflows What is Workflow? Workflow refers to the approval process of Pages that are created or modified. Whenever a new Page is created, or when an existing Page is modified, it may need to be approved before it gets published to your website.

Triggering Workflow Workflows can be triggered by many actions that occur in CMS. Most often, Workflows are triggered when you make a change to a Page or create a new Page. When you are finished making changes, you need to submit the Page into Workflow, so that it can be approved. To do this, you need to use the Tasks Menu.

The Tasks Menu Each content contributor needs to monitor the tasks to make sure that created and modified Pages are sent to the Workflow so they can be approved and published. Please note that there may be a small delay after editing a Page before the Tasks button text turns red. However, the Page will be in Workflow and can be accessed even if the Tasks button is still white. Select the Tasks button to open the Task Menu.

Pages Saved as Draft

When you create a new Page, or edit the content of a Page, the Page has the status of Saved as Draft. This means that the Page is still in your workspace, until you decide that you are finished making changes, and you are ready to submit it. When a Page is Saved as Draft, you are the only person who can see the changes that you made. It will remain Saved as Draft until it is submitted to Workflow.

Submitting a Page to Workflow In the Tasks Menu, click the link [Number] Edit Pages to see your list of your Pages that are saved as draft, and need to be submitted to Workflow.

We can submit Pages to Workflow by clicking the icon to the right of it.


(If there are multiple Pages, you can submit several all at once, by selecting the checkboxes next to each Page, then clicking “Submit selected Pages to Workflow”) After the Page is submitted to Workflow, it is now in the hands of someone else, who is responsible for releasing the Page.

Preview, Redlining Preview and Undo Changes Before submitting a Page to Workflow, there are some other possible actions:

Preview the Page. This will show a preview of the Page in a popup window.

Preview in Redlining Mode Redlining Mode shows you the changes that have been made in the page. Content that was removed is show in red strikethrough. Content that was added is shown in green highlight.

Undo Changes. Use this if you change your mind, and you want to abandon or cancel the changes you made. The Page will go back to the way it was before you made the changes, and it will no longer be Saved as Draft.

My Pages in Workflow After you submit a Page to Workflow in the Pages Saved as Draft area of the Tasks Menu, click the button to go back to the main Tasks Menu. You might see an entry that says My Pages in Workflow. This refers to Pages that you submitted to Workflow, and are now waiting for approval by someone else. It will stay there until it is approved or rejected by the responsible person. After you submit a Page to Workflow, if you change your mind (maybe you want to make more changes to the Page), you can pull it back to your workspace, as long as it is still waiting for approval. To pull a Page back and reset it to Saved as

Draft, view the list of My Pages in Workflow, then click the button next to the Page.

Pages Waiting for Correction If you submit a Page to Workflow, the person who is responsible for approving the Page has the option of rejecting it. If the Page is rejected, it will be sent back to you, you will see Pages Waiting for Correction in your Tasks Menu. You need to make more changes to the Page. After you make more content changes, it will appear under Pages Saved as Draft, and you can submit it to Workflow again. If a Page is waiting for correction, you cannot simply re-submit it to Workflow. You must make more changes first. Your Tasks Menu might have a note next to the Page with comments from the person who rejected it. If necessary, ask the person who rejected to give you more feedback.

Content Approvers If you are someone who is responsible for approving content that was edited by other people, after a Page has been submitted to Workflow, it will appear in your Workflow tasks queue, indicating that you need to approve (release) the Page. If your tasks menu has an item that says “Pages waiting for release”, there is at least one Page that was submitted to Workflow by someone else, which you must approve before it will be published.


Home Page View:

Tasks Button View:

Click the link indicating the number of Pages waiting for release to see the list of Pages. In this example, 1 Edit Pages. The resulting screen tells you for each listed Page:

• The person who submitted the Page (“author”) • When the Page was submitted (“Changed: 11/5/2004 6:02:28 PM”) • The number of users who must release it (in this case 1) • The user or group who is responsible for releasing it (“Admin”)

You can take the following actions from this dialog window or directly from your Home Page:

Preview the Page This will show a preview of the webpage in a popup window.

Preview in Redlining Mode Redlining Mode shows you the changes that have been made in the Page. Content that was removed is show in red strikethrough. Content that was added is shown in green highlight. Release the Page If you approve of the changes, you can click this icon to release the Page. NOTE


It is possible to select and release multiple Pages simultaneously.

Reject the Page If there is something you don’t like, you can click this icon to reject the Page. You might be prompted with a comment field to enter a reason for rejection. It will be sent back to the author for further correction. Depending on how the Workflow was configured, the original author may receive an Email notification about the need for correction in addition to the notification that appears in that person’s Workflow tasks queue. Edit the Page yourself. If you want to make changes to the Page yourself, rather than send a rejection to the author, you can click the Page headline to open the Page in SmartEdit. You can click RedDots to make changes. The Page will then revert to draft status in your Tasks menu and you must submit it to Workflow again so that it can be released.


Translation Editor What is the Translation Editor? If your website has more than one language version and you are designated as a translator, you can use the Translation Editor features to easily manage multilingual content. Content is generally developed in one language and then translated into others. The CMS Translation Editor is a special interface that allows translators to efficiently target content that needs to be translated from one language to another. The Translation Editor also allows translators to view the original language content and the translated language content within a single window.

Using the Translation Editor Clicking the Translation Editor option in the Left Menu will open that translation interface.

This interface begins with the Control Center.


The Control Center shows all the Pages that require translation. Configuring the options in the Display Filter area can filter this list of Pages. You can limit your list of Pages based on Page status (new, changed, rejected) and content class. You can also sort the results and limit the number displayed.

The Pages Waiting for Translation area displays the Pages that are available to be translated.

Selecting the name of the Page will open the Page so that the contents can be translated. The other icons each perform different functions:

This opens a preview of the Page.

This determines that the Page will not be translated. This means that the Page will stay as it is currently in the translated language. If it is a new Page, this means that the Page will not exist in the translated language.

This approves the Page for the translated language. This is the equivalent of submitting the Page to Workflow. To begin translating content, select the name of the Page.

This opens the Page for translation. The opened Page will contain a flag dot for each piece of content that can be translated.


Selecting this dot will open the corresponding Text Editor interface. This interface consists of a split view. The top portion is the original content. This cannot be edited. It automatically has Redlining enabled, which will show the most recent changes to the content so that you know what needs to be translated.

New content will be highlighted in green. Removed content will be crossed out in red.


The bottom portion consists of the content for the current language that you are translating into. You can enter any content in here and it will become the content for this language.

Save the content as with any other type of editing. NOTE

This interface will look different for different types of content, but it will function the same way. Anywhere that translation is possible you will have this split view.

You can return to the Control Center at any time by selecting the Translation Editor link in the Left Menu.

Once the translation is complete, you can approve the work you have done with the icon.


After your translated Pages have completed any required Workflow processes, the Page will be published.


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