Welcome to the Content Management System Help Document. Here you will find out how you can use our CMS to set up your website and then administer it.
In order to manage your website, you must first enter the administration area. This is achieved by accessing the address:
{siteLink}
Your site can be reached at
{siteLink} and the administration area for your site at
{siteName}.
If the page you get by accessing the forementioned address looks something like the following picture, you made it. If not, check your URL for spelling errors.
The next step is to enter the administrator username and password. If you have done this correctly, you should now be inside the CMS administration area. As this is a brand new interface for you, we will explore it in detail in the next chapter.
As you may see for yourself, the main part of the interface has 2 areas:
- The control panel
- The detail panel
These two areas are where you'll be doing all the site management tasks. Each area has specific and important functions that we'll explore in detail.
The control panel is located at the left of the administration interface. Its role is to gather all the tools that you'll be using to perform site management tasks.
There are 4 main management sections that you can reach from the control panel:
- Content Management
- User Management
- Settings
- Help
From the control panel you can choose the actions that you want to perform on an element of the section (Page, if you are in the Content Section, Registered Users or Newsletter if you are in the Users Section)
Switching between these sections is done very easily by clicking on the tab that corresponds to the section you want to access. These section tabs have very intuitive icons which give you a clue about which section they belong to. Also, the text at the top of the control panel, just above the tabs, shows you what section you are in at the moment.
In order to access an element of a section (the pages of the site, if you are in the Content Section, or the registered users, if you are in the Users Section), you can left-click the element. In some sections, if you right-click an element, a menu will appear. You can use that menu to perform certain site management tasks. In order to learn more about this, go to the CONTENT section of this document.
The detail panel is located at the center of the interface. The detail panel shows details about the action you have chosen from the Control Panel. You can only see details about an element of a section (Content, Users, Settings). You can also perform all the actions available in the Control Panel on the respective section element directily from the Detail Panel.
As an example of the Detail Panel functionality, imagine you want to move a page in the site structure. You will choose the page you want to move from the Control Panel. You can then choose the "move" action either from the Control Panel or the Detail Panel. Once you have chosen to "move" the page, you will see all the destinations available for the page you have chosen to "move" directly in the Detail Panel.
Content is the default section shown in the Control Panel when you log into the administration area. However, if you are in another section, in order to access the Content Section click on the tab with the paper icon in the Control Panel.
Content is divided into 2 types:
- Menu pages
- Non-menu pages
Menu pages refer to the pages that appear in the site menu and that can be reached via the main menu of the site.
Non-menu pages refer to some pages that should not appear in the menu but should still be on the site, such as "Sitemap" or "User Licence".
The page structure refers to the form fields you will have to complete when you create a new page or edit an existing one. The page contains the following fields:
- Name
- Title*
- Author*
- Description*
- Keywords*
- Start-Date*
- Expire-Date*
- Redirect-To*
- Content*
The fields marked with the * symbol are advanced options and don't have to be completed in order to add a new page or edit an existion one. Only the "Title" field is mandatory.
This field refers to the title of the page as it will appear in the status bar of the browser of the site visitor. It is also important for search engines. If you look at the page as being a book, then this is the title of the book.
The name refers to the name of the page in the Content Section of the administration area. The "Title" ant the "Name" are two different things. The title of the page appears in the status bar of the browser, while the name is what appears in the site menu.
For example, if you have created a new page with the title "Title" and the name "Name", the status bar of the browser should show "Title", while the menu of the site should have an element named "Name" that, when clicked, takes you to the page you have just created.
Author describes which person has created or last edited the page. It's not a mandatory field.
The "Description" is used by search engines. The data displayed here will be available as the description of the page when people find your page using a search engine.
This field refers to the keywords used by the search engine in order to index your pages. This field can contain multiple keywords, so if you want your page to be indexed by more than one word, you can do that.
For example, say your page called "The widget of tomorrow" offers information about building better widgets. Your keywords could be "building widgets" or "building better widgets". If a visitor then uses a search engine to search for "building better widgets", he will find your page among the results.
When you create a page, you can assign it a "Start-Date". This means that the page, although it already exists, will not be available for the visitor to see on the site before the date set in "Start-Date".
For example, if today is the 1st of May 2006 and you need to have a new page set up for some event that starts on the 15th of May, you can create the page at any time, assign it the 15th of May as the Start-Date and the page will only appear on the page starting with the 15th of May.
The Expire-Date field is used to set a date when a page should automatically not be available for the public anymore. The page will still be on the site for you to see in the administration area, but the visitor will not see it anymore.
For example, say you have a page that announces you company organizes a contest that takes submissions by mail until the 1st of October. By makind this page expire on the 1st of October, any visitor that enters the site later than the 1st of October will not see the announcement anymore so you will not be getting any late submissions.
This field allow you to redirect this page to its first child page or to a custom URL. This field is useful if you want the page to appear as part of the site menu, but not have any content on it.
As an example, imagine the following scenario. You have in your site menu a section called Products. This section has 2 subsections, meaning 2 child pages names Automobiles and Motorcycles. If you want the user to be redirected to the first product (the first child page - Automobiles) when he clicks on Products in the menu, you will select the First child Page option from the Redirect To field on the Products page. This way, although he clicks on Products in the menu, he'll be taken directly to the first product without seeing the contents of the Products page.
This field refers to the actual content present on the page. The content can be made up of text, pictures, table, hiperlinks, etc. The editor will help you format your text exactly the way you like.
In order to view a page, meaning you view its contents in the Detail Panel, you can either:
- Left-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
Or
- Right-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "View page" in the menu that appears
In order to edit a page, do the following:
- Right-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Edit Page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, complete the fields "Title" and "Content"
- Click on "Show advanced options" if you need to complete more info
- Complete the fields that have appeared
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel.
Or
- Left-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Edit Page" in the menu that appears in the Detail Panel
- Do steps 3…6 from above.
Preview page opens the page you want in a new window of the browser.
In order to preview a page, do the following:
- Right-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Preview Page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
Or
- Left-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Preview Page" in the menu that appears in the Detail Panel
In order to add a new page to the site structure do the following:
- Right-click on the page in the Content Section of the Control Panel under which you want the new page to be added. If, for example, you have a page named "About Us" and you want this section (About Us) to contain two subsections, called "Values" and "Mission", you will click on the About Us page in order to create one of the two subpages (Values or Mission).
- Click on "Add child page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, complete the fields "Title" and "Content"
- Click on "Show advanced options" if you need to complete more info
- Complete the fields that have appeared
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel.
Or
- Left-click on the page in the Content Section of the Control Panel under which you want the new page to be added
- Click on "Add child page" in the menu that appears in the Detail Panel
- Do steps 3…6 from above.
In order to add a Non-menu page, do the following:
- Right-click on "Non-menu pages" in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Add child page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
- Do steps 3…6 from above.
In order to delete a page from the site, do the following:
- Right-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Delete Page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
- Click "OK" in the dialog box that appears
Or
- Left-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Delete Page" in the menu that appears in the Detail Panel
- Click "OK" in the dialog box that appears
In order to move a page in the site structure, do the following:
- Right-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Move Page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
- In the Detail panel, click on the arrow that represents the desired destination of your page
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel.
Or
- Left-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Move Page" in the menu that appears in the Detail Panel
- Do steps 3 and 4 from above.
Hiding a page means making it unavailable for the visitor to see. The page still exists and you can see it in the administration area. Show is the opposite action, meaning Show makes a hidden page available for the visitor to see.
In order to hide/show a page, do the following:
- Right-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Hide Page"/"Show Page" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
Or
- Left-click on the page name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Hide Page"/"Show Page" in the menu that appears in the Detail Panel
The Deactivate Site command shows your visitors a "Site inactive, please return later" personalized message. When a visitor accesses your site he will get a message and will be unable to see the contents of the site. That does not mean the site does not exist. It only exists for you to see in the administration area. Activate site is the opposite command. It activates a deactivated site, making it available for the public. Think of these commands as general, site-wide "Hide/Show" commands. In order to hide each page, you hide it all in one click.
In order to activate/deactivate your site, do the following:
- Right-click on the site name in the Content Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Deactivate Site/Activate Site" in the menu that appears in the Control Panel
To access the Users Section of the Control Panel, click on the tab with the child face icon. The Users Section has 3 subsections or elements:
- Registered Users
- Send Newsletter
- Newsletter archive
Registered Users refers to the users that have registered on your site to receive a newsletter. In the Detail Panel, you can see information abaout all the users that have registered, such as the Name of the User, the Email address or the date when the user registered for the newsletter.
In this section you can Add or Delete users.
In order to Add a new User, do the following:
- Click on "Registered Users" in the Users Section of the Control Panel
- Click on "Add User" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
- Complete the required fields
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In order to Delete an existing User, do the following:
- Click on "Registered Users" in the Users Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, check the box in front of the user information you want to delete. You can choose multiple users to delete.
- Click on "Delete User" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In order to send a newsletter to the users who have registered to receive one, do the following:
- Click on "Send Newsletter" in the Users Section of the Control Panel
- Complete the fields required in the Detail Panel:
- "Subject" is what the subject of the email will be in the recipient's mail client
- "From" is what the sender will be in the recipient's mail client
- "Content" is the actual content of the newsletter.
- Click on "Send" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
DO NOT ERASE THE LINE: "To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click here" FROM THE CONTENT BOX. ERASING THE LINE MEANS THE NEWSLETTER BECOMES SPAM.
The Newsletter Archive is the place where you can find all the newsletters you have sent over time. In order to access it, do the following:
- Click on "Newsletter Archive" in the Users Section of the Control Panel
If you have sent newsletters, you should see in the Detail Panel all the newsletters you have sent. You have information on the Subject of the newsletter, the "From" field, the date when you sent it and the number of users who received it.
To view the detailed information about one specific newsletter, click on the "Subject" field of that specific newsletter. The detailed information, including the content of the newsletter should now appear.
To view the detailed information about one specific newsletter, click on the "Subject" field of that specific newsletter. The detailed information, including the content of the newsletter should now appear.
In order to delete a newsletter, do the following:
- Click on "Newsletter Archive" in the Users Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, check the box in front of the newsletter(s) information you want to delete. You can choose multiple newsletters to delete
- Click on "Delete Newsletter(s)" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
The Settings Section can be accessed by clicking on the tab with the wheel icon on the Control Panel. The Settings Section contains some general website settings that you can change according to your wishes.
The General Options refers to some settings that account for the whole website.
These settings include:
- Changing the administrator password
- Changing the language of the administration area interface
- Changing the site graphical template
- Changing the company logo
- Changing the site title
In order to change the Administrator password, do the following:
- Click on "General Options" in the Settings Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, choose your administrator username (you can keep the default one: "admin")
- Enter the old admin password
- Enter the new password you desire
- Entre the new password again, to avoid spelling errors
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In order to change the Administration Area Language, do the following:
- Click on "General Options" in the Settings Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, under "Language Options", select your desired language from the "Language" drop-down menu.
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In order to change the Website Template, do the following:
- Click on "General Options" in the Settings Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, under "Site settings", select your desired template from the "Template" drop-down menu
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In order to change your Website Name (Title), do the following:
- Click on "General Options" in the Settings Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, under "Site settings", write the desired name for your website in the "Site title" textbox
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In order to change your Company Logo Image, do the following:
- Click on "General Options" in the Settings Section of the Control Panel
- In the Detail Panel, under "Site settings", click on "Browse" button if your image is on your computer or in your network, or enter the URL for the image directly if the image is found somewhere online
- If you clicked the "Browse" button, now select the image you desire and click on "OK"
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
Templates
In this section you can choose one layout for the front-end from the available front-end templates:
- Click on the template you wish to select
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
You can also upload a new template:
- Select the archive containing the template by clicking the "Browse" button
- Click on "Save" in the upper part of the Detail Panel
The design options allow you to change the colors of certain template elements, as well as the font types and sizes. Among the elements that can be modified are menu items, backgrounds, buttons and many more.
The design options are divided into 3 categories:
- Color
- Text
- Other options
In order to change the color of an element, follow the steps:
- Find the desired element in the Design Options list
- Click on the colored square. This square represents the current color of the element
- Pick another color from the menu that appears
- Click on Save in this menu
- Click on Save in the upper part of the Detail Panel
In the Font Options, you can also change the type and size of the font, not just the color.
In case you'd like to restore the template to the initial colors, click on "Restore Defaults" in the upper part of the Detail Panel.
The text options allow you to change certain text messages that automatically appear in certain situations.
In order to change a text message, follow the steps:
- Delete the text you wish to change from the appropriate textbox
- Insert the desired text
- Click on Save in the upper part of the detail panel
Let's now explain what some of the messages stand for:
- "The e-mail address already exists in our database!" - This message appears when a user that's trying to subscribe to the newsletter has inserted an email address that's already in the database
- "This site is property of Your Company. All materials on this site are property of Your Company. All rights reserved." - this text appears in the bottom of your site pages. You should change this text first and insert the name of your company.
- "An error occurred when trying to add your information to our database!" - this is an error message that appears when the newsletter registration information can't be inserted into the database due to some error.
- "A confirmation e-mail has been sent to your e-mail address! To successfully subscribe to our newsletter, you must click the confirmation link" - appears after the user has inserted correct newsletter registration information and has clicked on Subscribe
- "Search Results - keyword:" - appears as a title of the search results after a search inside the site
- "There could not be found any pages that contain the specified keyword" - error message that is displayed when no results could be found in a search
- "Please enter a keyword in order to search our website!" - this message is displayed when a user tries to search the site without providing a keyword
- "The confirmation e-mail could not be sent. Please try again!" - this is displayed when a user has inserted correct newsletter registration info, has clicked on Subscribe, but a confirmation message could not be sent due to some error
- "You have successfully unsubscribed from our newsletter!" - appears when the user has unsubscribed to the newsletter
- "You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter!" - appears when the user has subscribed to the newsletter
- "An error occurred. You could not be subscribed to our newsletter! Please try again!" - there is an error that prevents the user to subscribe to the newsletter
- "The name field is required!" - this is displayed when a user clicks on Subscribe without having inserted his name in the name field
- "The e-mail address is not correct!" - this appears when the user has clicked on Subscribe without having provided an e-mail address in the correct format (name@domain.tld)
- "The keyword must contain at least 3 characters!" - this is displayed when a user tries to search the site by providing a keyword that's shorter that 3 characters
Export
To export your website:
- click the "Export" button from the backup section.
You will able to save an archive containing your website's current template and structure.
Import
In order to import a previous version of your website:
- upload the correct archive
- click the "Upload" button from the upper part of the detail panel
You might be asked to give some writing permission on the webserver. This is necessary in order to upload the files automatically.
You can also upload the files manually, by extracting them from the archive and import install/db/export.sql script into the database.
Important: Only backups created with the current version of the system can be uploaded.
The update section can be found in the settings section of the administration panel.
- upload the correct archive
- click the "Upload" button from the upper part of the detail panel
You might be asked to give some writing permission on the webserver. This is necessary in order to upload the files automatically.
You can also upload the files manually, by extracting them from the archive and import db/db.sql script into the database.
{if:showBranding()}
In order to register your copy of Bluo, you must obtain a registration key from
www.bluocms.com.
Enter the key into the input text and click the register button and the current the limitations will be removed.
{end:}