The VKC content manager (CMS) allows for editing of the database information used to draw pages on the site. The general steps for making pages are described here.
Browsing a Page
Selecting a row on the page listing grid then clicking the browse selected page button loads the selected page into your default browser for you to look at. You can also browse the page in the page editor window. Browsing a page opens a new browser tab, it may be more efficient to simply hit refresh to see any page changes or to close the page after you are finished looking at it.
Making a New Page
Click the “Create a New Page” button on the left of the CMS. You will be asked for a page title and URL. The URL in the content manager should not begin with a /. The URL will be added to /vkc/ with the server address in front automatically. The URL should end with a /. For example a url of about/ will go to the page:
http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/vkc/about/
URLs should not contain spaces but otherwise can be anything. The URL is automatically checked to be sure it has not already been used. It is best to use URLs to establish sections of the site. For example the urls about/, about/mission/, about/history/ all refer to content the is under the about the VKC section of the site. While technically this is not a requirement, it will allow for the best easy of use by both web editors and the public users of the site.
Additionally you can duplicate pages that are already about the same as what you need for a new page. You duplicate a page by selecting its row in the grid of pages and click the duplicate selected page button. You will be prompted for a new URL.
Editing a Page
You can load a page into the page editor screen by either selecting the row in the grid of pages or by double clicking the row. This loads the page into the page editor. You can have multiple page editors open at the same time if desired.
The grid of pages can be sorted by clicking the heard at the top and it can also be filters by clicking the small down arrow next to the header to aid in finding the page you want to edit.
The Page Editor
The page editor allows for editing of the content components on a single page. You can open as many page editors as you would like to in order to allow for copy and pasting. There are three sections.
- The left section has information about the page including whether or not to list it in the a-z index. The topics tab on the left section allows you to relate the page to topics for display in the topical index.
- The middle section displays a stack of the components on the page and allows for changing the sort order of the components. The components are drawn on the page using the sort order. You can save the sort order using the buttons in the left section and browse the page to see the effects and get it looking how you want it to. Normally the main menu should be first in the sort order followed by a headline if desired. You can also remove components from a page in the middle section. Removing a component does not delete it, it simply removes it from the page. The component stack buttons also allow you to get a list of what URLs a given component is used on.
- The right section allows you to add new components to the page. Once you click the component type you want to add you will be allowed to pick an existing component form a drop down or simply save the component as a new component of that type.
For more information on component types see the components description page.