Help with Content Creation and Editing
on the Seniors Resource Network

This page is rather old. A newer site exisits at help.cimnet.ca that is more current.

 

  How to Navigate the Site
 

The Seniors Resource Network (SRN) is located at http://seniors.cimnet.ca   The Home  page features a left-hand vertical Navigation column showing the primary "categories";  the content is in the larger right column.
  • The left-hand Navigation column features hyperlinks to first level content, such as "Seniors Organizations", "Finances " or "Health". 
  • The right-hand column features "items" within the selected category or, 2nd and 3rd level content. 
  • A "Go"  graphic with each right hand "item" links to more content; 
  • Home at the top of the page returns the home page
  • Search is not yet implemented
  • Login is used to for editing content
There is a "parent child" relationship with content. A Parent in a primary category (left hand Navigation column) links to Children on the first level (right hand content column). A first level Child can become a Parent if it links to second level children beneath it, a second level child can become a parent if it links to  third level children beneath it. The first two levels of content are displayed in the right hand column with the left-hand Navigation column visible. The third level displays full screen width (the left hand Navigation column disappears), but a "Back button" is displayed to get you back to the second level content. These Parent Children relationships form what are called "content chains", chains linking together related information. A little confusing at first, but more clear when you work with your content.

For example, if you go to the SRN Home page site, and click on "Seniors Organizations" in the primary category left-hand Navigation column,  you will see a full listing of all the Seniors Organizations included in SRN thus far in the right content column (the "children" of Seniors Organizations). If you click on a "Go Button" next to one of the seniors organizations, you will go the child of that item on the second level. If there is a "Go Button" on the second level you will go to the deepest third level at SRN.

Logging In
Prior to creating/editing any site content, a user must obtain a username and password that will allow editing of their allowable portion of the site. 
Upon receiving the username and password, the user can proceed to the site at http://seniors.cimnet.ca and click on the "login" icon at the top of each page
A valid username and password must be provided in order to proceed further and edit site content. Once successful login has occurred, the user will be able to edit areas of the site according to their permissions.

 
A successful login allows a user to easily create/edit content on pages for which they have permission. Very basic HTML may be used to produce changes in layout and fonts on the page; or,  plain text with NO HTML may be used. Text may be selected and copied from a document on your local hard disk, then "pasted" into SRN. Considerations for this module include a tool for uploading images to be displayed on the page and discussed later.

When a user logs in and has full access, buttons to edit each content item appear:

A button to add a new item below the current item;

A button to delete an item (caution should be exercised when using this button as all its children will be deleted too.

A button to edit the group text, page heading and abstract text, or page content

A button to move an item or page down in the order of display;

A button to move an item or page up in the order of display.


Editing Content
 
Click on the plus-sign/cross icon to add a new content/item. A dialogue box will appear, where you can create: a Title, control what the content can "Link" to, control if the Content is HTML, text or an image. Permissions for the public to see the content or not, and save or cancel your work. 

 

Clicking on the pencil icon will bring up a dialogue box for an existing item and allows editing of the item's contents.
Use the X icon to remove a group. Take caution with this function, as removing an item also removes all of its children in its "chain" or items "below" the current item.


Editing Page Content
 
The top section of the Create/Edit Dialogue box deals with the "Title" of the item.

Show Title: controls if the title is displayed or not.
Title Text (EN): The text of the title for English
Title Text (FR): The text of the title for French (not yet implemented)
Font Style: what font style will be used for display. The Drop down has options.
(edit fonts): allows you to create or edit Font Styles. PLEASE, don't edit any existing fonts as they affect other pages site-wide!
Heading Level: Used for "Table of Contents" content choice. (see below)

 
LINK gives you choices of how this content can link to other content.

Default: will display the "Go" graphic as a hyperlink to more content on a level "below" the current one (its' child). You will only have one more level below your current level as your content is generally already on the second level.However, you may have as many items as you wish on a level. Default is the most used choice under Link if you wish to go to the third level.
Link: allows you to enter a "parameter" (a fully formed URL to another website outside of SRN e.g.. http://www.microsoft.com). The user will leave SRN when they click on "Go". Probably not used much in SRN. 
Link (popup): allows you to enter a "parameter" that will popup a new browser window so the user doesn't leave SRN. The second most used choice under Link.
Default and Popup: does both, probably never used for SRN
No Link: used when you don't want to link anywhere and not have a "Go" button appear.
Link to a Layout: is not implemented on this site

 
CONTENT gives control over what kind of content will be displayed in the current item.

HTML: (HyperText Mark-up Language) allows you to enter HTML tags/codes for full control of the content. New lines/paragraphs require a <br> (break to a new line) or <p> (paragraph break to a new line and add a blank line) tag,  else text will appear as one l-o-n-g paragraph.
Text: allows you to enter or paste raw text that will give you new lines in a type of WYSIWYG style. HTML tags can also be added.
Image: allows you to upload an image/graphic from your local hard disk to be displayed in the content item.
Table of Contents: displays the title text of any items you have given a "heading value"  as a bulleted list. Useful near the top of a page if you have many items on the page.

 
FONT STYLE allows choice of what font style is used to display text in the content item. Please do not edit these as they are used site wide.

Default: Times Roman at about 12 points
Left Hand Nav Bar: Bold Times Roman default
1st & 2nd Content Body: Times Roman Default
Left Hand Nav Arial: Bold Arial Face used on the Navigation bar.
Small Title: Bold Times Roman one size larger than default, good for small/sun titles.
1st & 2nd Content Title: Bold Times default
Big Title: Bold Times Roman two sizes larger that default, good for main headlines.

If you require a new font style consult Richard <denesiuk@crm.mb.ca> for its creation.

 
ENGLISH is the text box where you may either type or paste (copied text from a document on your local hard disk to the clipboard) the text for the content item.

If the Content: choice is Text , this is pretty much a WYSIWYG editor, with line breaks/paragraphs behaving as you see them. HTML tags/codes may also be used here to change physical attributes, place images, reference external links, or any fancy stuff you can do in HTML.

If the Content: choice is HTML, <br> and <p> must be used for line breaks and new paragraphs. 

FRENCH will be where French content goes when implemented in the future of Community Connections.

 
SECURITY See the Help link in this dialogue for detailed help. Mostly you will just need to check/uncheck the first checkbox under "Read" in the "Public" line. Unchecked it cannot be viewed by the public. Most things here should be "greyed out"

 
OTHER OPTIONS allows you to "flag" New and Updated items by entering a value for how many days you wish a New/Updated graphic to be displayed next to the current content item.

 
SUBMIT and the "check mark" mean to save your work in the current window.

CANCEL or the "X mark" means to NOT save the changes/edits you have done in the current window.

NOTE: make sure the editing window has completely loaded and is done before you click Submit or the "check mark" else you may lose some of the content! Be patient on a slow connection or when the Internet is slow. Wait for "Done" in the status bar of the window.


Uploading an Image
 
CONTENT IMAGE is a tool to upload an image from your local hard disk to the web server.

"Select an image from the image gallery" is not functional yet, nor is "image alignment".
 

"Upload a new .gif or .jpg using this tool" and "Caption"  do work.
 
When you click on "this tool" (above) you will see the dialogue box at the left.

This will allow you to select an image from your local hard disk if you click on "Browse", or enter the full path in "location" if you know it, e.g.. C:\Images\filename.jpg
When you click "Browse" a Choose/Open File dialogue box opens prompting you to navigate to the folder on your local hard disk where the .jpg or .gif image file resides. You may need to change "Files of type" (at the bottom of the dialogue box) to "All Files (*.*) to see the image file.

Please, try to prepare you graphic files so they are not too large. 400-500 pixels should be the maximum width. This keeps file sizes small for faster transmission over the Internet, and, so they don't "bleed" off the screen to the right.

Select the file you wish, and click "Open".  Then click "Upload" when returned to the previous screen. Wait for the image to fully upload.
You are then given a dialogue box confirming the Image has been uploaded.

The "Description" text area allows you to provide a brief description of the image for use in the image gallery feature when it becomes available.

Click on Submit. You will then get a small window saying "Security Fix. Image Upload complete". Close that window. 
You will be returned to the main "Edit Window" where you can enter an optional  caption for the image/graphic. You may also "Select an image alignment" for the image which may or may not work (hopefully fixed in the future).

Click on Submit to complete the image upload/placement, or cancel to discard the image placement.


  Logging Out
 
To facilitate content editing, session time is fifteen minutes long (in other words, a user won't lose changes made unless they wait longer than fifteen minutes between saving).
It is a good practice for the user to log out when they are finished editing, and they can do so by going back to the login page and clicking on the logout button. At that time, the editing buttons will disappear from the pages, and the site can be viewed as a regular user.