Page Editor Help
Access
The page editor is accessed by invoking http://www.AboutIT.co.nz;
Choosing My WebSite
Entering your AccessName and Password (both case sensitive).
You are then on the Maintenance screen which shows a menu and a list of all pages.
A page can then be selected by clicking on Edit [icon is a Page and Pencil] for that page - all pages you can edit are listed.
A new page can be created by choosing Create New Web Page or Import a Web Page.
A page may be previewed by clicking on the page name itself. [Note: Previews do not enable links.]
A page may be deleted by clicking on Delete [Icon is a Garbage Can].
Pages may be copied [2 Page icon].
Page Properties may be set. [Page and Hand icon]
At the top of the Pages (above the icons) may be Show Archive Pages. When this has been clicked on you will see the Archived Pages and the link will now be Show Non-Archived Pages.
Pages are normally published to the "Delta". The Delta is a "sandpit"; a place to view the site before publishing it generally.
Pages may be published using Publish Changes or Publish All to the Delta where the web-site may be viewed directly at http://AboutIT.co.nz/deltaname or click on Delta.
Publish Changes: Changed pages only may be published to the delta [but if you have changed Link From then all pages may need publishing].
Publish All: Publishes all pages to the Delta [but not to the Destination.]
If the publicly visible web site has been established then Publish to Destination.
A browser shows the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in the Address text box at the top of the browser. A URL normally begins with http:// but this is often inserted by default. The next part of the URL (up to the next slash) is the Domain Name which is case Insensitive. What follows the slash is case sensitive. The Domain Name may include www. - this is convention only - strictly speaking there are usually 2 distinct Domain Names with and without the www but it is common practice for the one to be directed to the other - but not always - so you may need to try both.
Edit
Each page is divided into Sections. These Sections are required only if you wish part of the page to be a Table or to separate parts of the page to be linked to a Table of Contents. A Table of Contents is commonly used for FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). However it is often convenient to split a page into sections to reflect the content structure. Use a section if you wish to have a link to a specific part of the page other than the Top.
Sections need to be used to separate the distinct adverts, promos, testimonials, etc which are used on 3rd column pages.
When you first go to Edit the page the first section will be bounded by bars at the top and the bottom and the rest of the page will be below. You may scroll down the page and select a section to edit. When you mouse over other sections each section is highlighted by a yellow background. Clicking will move the yellow area to the Section for detailed editting.
Each Section
Each section has three bars.
The top bar has text boxes or Drop-Down Lists for: Section Name, Format, Font, Size.
The second bar has icons for: Save, Cut, Copy, Paste, Select/Deselect All, Remove all formatting, Undo, Redo, Bold, Italic, Align Left, Align Center, Align Right, Justify Full, Ordered List, Bulleted List, Outdent, Indent, Text color, Background Color, Horizontal rule, Insert link and Insert Image.
The bottom bar has text and icons for: Go to section number/name, Insert section Above/Below/Above first/Below last, Insert Table, ToC, Preview, Delete section, Move section up, Move section down, Join to section above and Join to section below.
The editing style is known as OVA, Object-Verb-Action. Always position the cursor or select text with the cursor, then mouse over the icon to chose the verb then click for action.
Please note that ending text with an Enter keystroke denotes a paragraph (<p> in HTML) and will leave a gap nearly as big as a blank line. Using Shift-Enter will create a line break only (<b> in HTML). [Varies in some browsers.]
Section Name: Give the section a name if it is to be a table or an entry in a Table of Contents or a link tag so a link can point to this specific section and a user can jump to this position within the page.
Format: Format can be H1, H2, H3 or
Font: The font may be selected - we use only the Microsoft defaults for the 5 fonts that simple HTML permits. Be aware that the browser (and not you) determines what fonts are actually used. In general use remove Formatting if you want the Page Default. If you want special fonts Contact Us.
Size: Select the size as one of Very Small, Small,
Save: Click on Save from time-to-time when working on the same section for some time.
Cut: Cut deletes the selected text but retains it on the clipboard.
Copy: Copy copies the selected text to the clipboard.
Paste: Paste inserts at the cursor position or over any selected text, the text on the clipboard. [Cut, Copy and Paste do not work under Mozilla]
Select/Deselect All: This icon allows selection of all the text or de-selection if already selected.
Remove All Formatting from the selected text: This icon removes all formatting from the selected text. [Think first!]
Undo: Undoes the last formatting action.
Redo: Re-does the last formatting action.
Bold: Makes the selected text bold.
Italic: Makes the selected text italic. (Note: There is no underline as this would be confused with links which by default are underlined.)
Align Left: Aligns the whole paragraph to the left.
Align Center: Aligns the whole paragraph to the center.
Align Right: Aligns the whole paragraph to the right. (Note: Unless the template or Cascading Style Sheet has set this area of the Window to a fixed width, the right-hand margin may move - use sparingly.)
Justify Full: Aligns the whole paragraph by justifying both sides. (See note above)
Ordered List: Numbers and indents selected paragraphs.
Unordered List: Places bullets to the left and indents selected paragraphs.
Outdent: Moves selected indented paragraphs to the left.
Indent: Moves selected paragraphs to the right.
Text Colour: Sets the colour of the selected text.
Background Colour: Sets the colour of the background.
Horizontal Rule: Rules a line across the whole page at the position of the cursor. If the cursor is in the middle of text it will break the text into two lines so usually you will want to position the cursor at the left or right end of the text line.
Insert Link: Brings up a pane with the following fields: Link Type, Select Page, Link Text, Open Link in New Window.
Link Type: Own Page links to a page of this site; the page must already exist. Own Sections links to a section of a page; the page and section must already exist; the section can be in this page. Remote Page is a link to a page of some other site - you must find the page and copy the complete URL from the address bar of the browser into the text box which will appear called Address - you can then check it by clicking on Try. Office Files allows you to select an Office file you have previously uploaded using the Import Office facility. Email allows you to insert an email address - note that such addresses begin with "MailTo:". Top inserts a link to the top of this page. Home inserts a link to the home page of this site.
Select Page: Depending on the option you have selected above this drop-down list will give you your choices. However Remote Page and Email cannot offer you a specific list of choices.
Link text: is the text that will show which the user will click on and which by default will be underlined and blue. It is strongly recommended that this text is meaningful in the context - avoid using words like Click Here (because search engines lower the weight put on phrases which are not in specific parts of the target page).
Open Link in New Window: is used if you expect the user to see one page and to return here.
Insert Image: shows text boxes for Select Image, Alternative Text, Border and Wrap Text.
Select Image: Provides a drop-down list of all the images that have previously been uploaded using Import Image and may have been changed by Edit Image and Make Image Thumbnail. If Remote Image is used the text box below changes to Image URL and you must enter the complete URL and you can then check it with Try. Note: the images names have the size as part of the name.
Alternative Text: When entering an image always provide meaningful text - it is used for a mouse-over and by search engines so make it meaningful using your preferred search words.
Border: A border can be set around an image. It is measured in pixels - smallest unit of user's screen.
Wrap Text: Can be Image Left or Image Right and indicates where the text will be placed relative to the image. If you do not want text to flow up around the image start a new section.
Bottom Bar
GoTo Section: On large pages you can jump to other sections. If a section is named the name will appear in the drop-down list.
Insert Section: Options are Above (this section), Below (this section), Above First (ie the very top) and Below Last (ie the very bottom).
Insert Table: Will insert a new section as a table.
ToC: Will insert the text at the beginning of the section (up to the first line break) as an entry in the Table of Contents.
Preview: Will display the whole page in another window (but with links disabled). Use this frequently to check the layout of the whole page.
Delete: Will delete the entire section.
Move Up: Will move this section up one section (unless at the top).
Move Down: Will move this section down one section (unless at the bottom).
Join with Above: Will collapse the two sections together. (Check the formatting just below the join.)
Join with Below: Will collapse the two sections together. (Check the formatting just below the join.)
Finish
When you have finished editing a page click on Finish.
You will then return to the Maintenance page.
Edit Page Properties
Page Name - The page can be named here. Use short meaningful names in good English. It may contain spaces and uppercase. When the page name is used as part of a URL the spaces will be replaced with underscores. Page names must be unique. If the page is in the Menu this is the text that will be used.
Long Page Name - The long page name is used in What's New and as the caption of the page in the browser. The caption is the very top of the Window next to the Browser logo. It is also used by search engines and so should contain some of your important search words. It shows as the name of the page in search results and so should be meaningful to your users or prospects. Make the title meaningful because some search engines will index the page via this name. Use Title Case.
This is a Pass Through Page - This tick box indicates that this page is fully formatted HTML already. This will normally arise because the page has been taken from an old web site, or has been hand-coded because it has some very special HTML in it or it has been generated by a Contact Management System.
This is a Third Column Page ? This tick box indicates that this is a third column page ? see explanation below.
Sub-Editor ? A site may be maintained by the Editor (who created the site) and by sub-editors. The Editor may set-up a sub-editor (see Maintenance Page). The Editor may mark a page as belonging to a sub-editor. Further pages may be owned by a sub-editor. A sub-editor can create new pages but they must be linked to a page also owned by the same sub-editor. Hence a sub-editor can edit a sub-tree of the menu (or explicit pages).
Search Description ? The search description is meaningful to search engines. Include all the phrases that you expect your prospects to use in a search engine to find this specific page but in properly formed English sentences. Keep below 250 characters. Do not repeat the same phrase. These same phrases should occur in the initial 250 characters of this page.
Meta-Data ? Include all your search words or phrases separated by commas. Do not repeat them. Meta-data is used to help search engines find this page. Different search engines use different criteria and they change them from time to time. Enter a list of words or multi-word phrases separated by commas. Enter all your product names, your brand names and any alternative spellings, similar product names and product groups. Note: Google does not use this facility because some sites use competitor?s brand names.
Link From - You may link this page to the menu system on All pages or on any other page by selecting a page here. This facility gives a multi-level hierarchial menu. If the page is not going to occur in a menu but only by an explicit URL then choose [Explicit]. Choose Explicit for ?3rd Column Page?.
Page Defaults ? These settings apply to any sections where there was no specific formatting.
Generate ToC/FAQ ? [Table of Contents and Frequently Asked Questions] This option creates a list of all headings at the top of the page or just above the section entered in From. These headings are active and reposition the user. At the end of a topic (just before the next heading) a Top image (link) is positioned automatically. Headings are chosen by the ToC tick box on each section.
Use this facility when the size of the page will exceed 3-5 ?Page Downs?. Design large pages to exploit this facility.
Appear on What?s New ? A link to this page will appear on the What?s New page (and for an email) from this date to the end of second date.
The What?s New page is created whenever you add or change these fields. You may subsequently edit the page. The page is regenerated each night as the dates take effect. Large sites should always have a What?s New option usually at the top of the menu.
Security ? This may have a value of 0-9. It is used on pages which will be restricted to selected users.
Archive ? If a page is Archived it is removed from the menu but included in an alphabetical list of pages under the menu item Archive. Move your obsolete pages to Archive. It is better not to delete the pages entirely as some search engines downgrade the site if pages keep disappearing. The pages will be found by Search. The Archive tick-box must be completed on the Web Site Detail page.
Update ? this button actions the changes in the page pane and returns you to the Maintenance Page.
Note: If you are using the standard template you must create a page called ?Contact Us? and a page called ?Site Policies?. Look on other web sites for examples with these names.
3rd Column Pages
If your template has a 3rd column then you may use this option.
A 3rd column conventionally appears to the right and contains various items (?Segments?) such as Customer Quotes, References to allied sites, advertisements, hot news. Each of these Segments appears randomly in the third column on any page of the site but will remain the same for one session by a viewer.
The 3rd Column page is created like any other page but should have the following form:
Each Segment should begin with a Section which has a section name. No other sections should have a section name.
Sections can have links, images, etc.
Because the third column is normally quite narrow use smaller font sizes than for the rest of your pages.
Publishing
To publish your new or modified pages click on Publish Changes.
If you have added pages which are to appear in Menus then you may need to click on Order and check the sequences of pages. Note that pages linked using [Explicit] do not show in Order.
If menus have been changed or new pages added which are not [Explicit] then click on Publish All. This publishes to the Delta. The delta can be used as you work until you are satisfied with all your changes.
Publish to Destination: This publishes to your own web site.
Publishing takes time ? for large sites a long time. If your browser times out, wait for an email message to say completed and re-enter.
Validate your changes by clicking through all links.
Browsers
AboutIT comprehensively tests under Microsoft Internet Explorer V6 and later. We also test under Mozilla. There are however some differences. We do not test unde other browsers as they in total are less than 1% of users.
22A Goldie St St Heliers, Auckland, Ph: 09 585-1580