Signature Tree in Rome, Italy, copyright 2001 Arlen Byrd

Help for SiteManager

This page will provide instructions and guidance to assist you in managing your website. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

Table of Contents

Content Management

View a basic tour of the Content Manager

Page creation

  1. To create a new page of any type, click the green plus icon to the right of the page you want as the parent of the new page.
  2. You'll be asked for the page title, name and type. Page title is the visible title for the page. Page name should be all lowercase with no spaces - this is a simple slug used at the end of the url (like "about" for the About Us page, creating the complete url of: yoursite.com/about).
  3. Page types you'll actively use are:
    • Plain - for regular, standard content pages
    • Mapped/Ministry - for ministry/sub-site pages
    • News - for news and event items
    • Jobs - for job opportunity postings
  4. After clicking "edit now" you can setup page content and settings
  5. When you have finished setting up the page, click "Save and Exit" - this will take you back to the list of pages
  6. When you are ready to make the page publicly accessible, publish your page by clicking the red "-" icon to its right

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Page content

  • Content styles - you can apply styles to text and images in the editor using the Style menu on the tool bar. A few important things:
    • Make sure that each piece of main content text within a page has at least one style applied to it (regular text should have the Paragraph style applied).
    • When pasting text into the editor from another program like Microsoft Word, or another website, make sure to use the "Paste as plain text" icon to strip all formatting from the text. You can re-apply any formatting you want using the Style menu and other tool bar styles (bold, italic/emphasis, subscript, superscript, bulleted and number lists)
  • Images
    1. To add an image to a page, upload it to a folder in the Media Manager.
    2. Return to the Content Manager
    3. Click on the page you'd like to insert the photo into
    4. Put your cursor where you want the image placed
    5. Click the "Insert Media" link above the editor.
    6. The Insert Media dialog will pop up allowing you to locate the file in Media (click on folder icons to enter folders)
    7. When you locate your image, click on the file name
    8. Of the two insertion options, click "Image"
    9. Click the "X" in the top right corner of the Insert Media dialog to close it
    10. Click on your newly inserted image to select it
    11. From the style menu on the tool bar, choose a style for the image (optional)

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Ministries/Sub-sites

Ministries/Sub-sites should always be placed under their appropriate list page using the "ministry" or "mapped" page type. Make sure to input key information for each new ministry, including:

  • [If applicable] Categories - choose which categories apply
  • Contact information (if using mapping, click "Generate Coordinates" to place an item on the map)
  • Ministry page content

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News items

  • News items can be placed under the News list page or under a ministry/sub-site page - either way they will show up in the list of news items
  • News Items can be shown on the home page highlights rotator using the "Feature on front page" drop down menu when editing a news item
  • To show a news item on its ministry/sub-site page's media side bar, check the "Show on Ministry page" checkbox
  • Thumbnails should generally be at least 200px by 200px when uploaded

Job opportunities

  • Typically, job opportunities should be placed under the job list page in the Content Manager
  • On sites with ministry/sub-site pages, job opportunities can be placed under a ministry/sub-site page. In that case all job opportunities that are published pages will show on the Jobs page list

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Media Management

View a basic tour of the Media Manager

Folder Settings

  • To configure a folder and edit its settings, click on the folder in the Media Manager, then click "Configure" above the file uploader
  • Permissions can be added or removed - for a folder's contents to be publicly accessible, Group Everyone must have View permissions for the folder in question and its parent folders
  • If the folder has ministry/sub-site media items you want to show in the Media Center or on a ministry's Media sidebar, choose the ministry the folder relates to - all sub folders will be associated with that ministry.

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Photo Galleries

To add a photo gallery for a ministry:

  1. In the Media Manager, go to the folder for the ministry in question
  2. Create a new folder for the photo gallery
  3. Upload images to the folder
  4. Click "Configure" above the uploader from within the folder
  5. Click "convert to gallery"
  6. Upload a thumbnail for the gallery
  7. Put in a title, date, and description (click set)/li>
  8. Set the gallery to start slide show automatically if desired (click set)
  9. Feature the gallery on the home page if desired (click set)
  10. To add the photo gallery to the ministry's Media side bar, find and click on the ministry's page in the Content Manager, go to the Media tab, check the checkbox beside the photo gallery, and save the page

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Videos

To add a video for a ministry:

  1. In the Media Manager, go to the folder for the ministry/sub-site in question
  2. Upload the video file to that folder (.flv only for viewing online)
  3. Click on the video file
  4. Input a title, date, and (optionally) description
  5. Upload a thumbnail image (at least 200px by 200px)
  6. Input dimensions for the video or choose to automatically detect them
  7. Click "Save"
  8. Feature the video on the home page if desired (click set)
  9. To add the video to the ministry's Media side bar, find and click on the ministry's page in the Content Manager, go to the Media type, check the checkbox beside the video, and save the page

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Audio

To add an audio file for a ministry/sub-site:

  1. In the Media Manager, go to the folder for the ministry/sub-site in question
  2. Upload the audio file to that folder (.mp3 only - must not have variable bit-rate encoding. iTunes encodes mp3s pretty well)
  3. Click on the audio file in the Media Manager
  4. Input a title, date, and (optionally) description
  5. Upload  thumbnail image (at least 200px by 200px)
  6. Click "Save"
  7. To add the audio item to the ministry's Media side bar, find and click on the ministry's page in the Content Manager, go to the Media type, check the checkbox beside the audio item, and save the page

Joins for grouping files

To join video files (for multiple file versions of the same video):

  1. Go to the folder where all the files in question are in the Media Manager
  2. Check the check box beside each item for the Join
  3. Click the Join icon (chain at the top and bottom of the list of files)
  4. Rename the new Join file (anything_lowercase_nospaces.join)
  5. Click on the Join file
  6. Input a title, date, and (optionally) description
  7. Upload a thumbnail image (at least 200px by 200px)
  8. Put in a name for each file ("Larger ..." for the larger version, "Smaller ..." for the smaller version, and "Download ..." for the download version).
  9. Click "Save"
  10. To add the Join item to the ministry's Media side bar, find and click on the ministry's page in the Content Manager, go to the Media type, check the check box beside the Join item, and save the page

Note: The individual items that you join will automatically be hidden so they don't show in the Media Center. If you want an item unhidden, click on that file and uncheck the appropriate check box.

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Featured Items

Highlights/Featured Items show in their own special place on the home page.

  • You can remove or edit the current Featured Items by going to the Featured Items manager.  (Click the trash can icon beside an item to remove it, or the pencil icon to edit that item.)
  • You can also add or remove placeholders, but this shouldn't be necessary
  • To add items to the home page:
    1. Find a media item in the Media Manager, click on the file, click Configure and choose a Featured Items spot
    2. Find a news item, click to edit it, and choose a Featured Items spot, then save the news item

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Users, Groups, and Permissions

View a basic tour of the Permissions Manager

Permissions can be applied to any user or group in reference to pages in the Content Manager and folders in the Media Manager.

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User and Group Management

Users and Groups allow you to set specific permissions on individual users or groups of users.

Users can be given back end access (or not) - when editing a user, you can view more details about back end access permissions by clicking question mark beside "Back End Access".

Groups allow for permissions to be applied to multiple users at once. Several default groups (example: Administrators) are automatically managed by SiteManager. You can add your own groups and add users to those groups by clicking "Manage Members" beside the group name. In order to add/remove users from a group, you must be an Administrator or you must be a manager for the group.

Member Registration

Visitors can register themselves as users through the public website, but their requested user accounts are not activated until you have given approval. When a visitor fills out the member registration form, you'll receive an email notifying you.

To manage member registrations, go to the User Approval Manager. Carefully review any requests for user accounts. If providing management privileges, make sure you are absolutely sure of the identity of the requester.

For any accounts you cannot safely approve, make a phone call or send an email to a pre-verified address to verify the identity of the requester. Delete any requests from non-authorized people by checking the box to the left of that user request and clicking the "Delete" button.

For any accounts you can safely approve, review the suggested username and password, check the box to the left of the user(s), and choose the group you'd like to add them to, then click "Add to Group".

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Pages

When a new page is created, it automatically copies the permissions of its parent page.

To manage permissions for a page, go to the Content Manager and click the page title to edit the page in question. Once page editor is open, click on the "Permissions" tab.

To remove a current permission, check the box to its right and save the page.

To add a permission, select an entity (group or user), and choose a role. Roles with "propogate" will apply that role to the current page and all its sub (child) pages. Roles without the word "propogate" will only apply the selected role to the current page.

To learn more about page roles, click the question mark by "Set Permissions" on the Permissions tab of any page.

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Folders

When a new folder is created in the Media Manager, it automatically copies the permissions of its parent folder unless the new folder is uploaded. If the folder is uploaded, permissions must be manually applied. All folders must have the permission "View" set for group "Everyone" for the contents to be accessible to the public.

To manage permissions for a folder, open the folder and click "Configure" on the top left of the uploader.

To remove a current permission, click "remove" beside it.

To add a permission, select an entity (group or user) and choose a permission. View allows access to files, add allows access to current files and upload of new files/folders, and control allows add permissions plus ability to edit and remove files/folders.

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