SITECORE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS) GETTING STARTED January 28, 2010

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1 This CMS Getting Started guide is an overview of the Sitecore content management system (CMS). Sitecore is a Web site authoring tool that facilitates the development of your council Web site while ensuring that the site is BSA brand compliant. Additionally, the BSA hosts all council Web sites on a national server, relieving councils of system administration tasks. Complete instructions are available in the Sitecore user manual: Using Sitecore 6.0 and in the online help in the Sitecore interface. For advanced Sitecore information, go to the Sitecore Developer Network at sdn.sitecore.net. Just getting started? There are several things to consider before you begin to develop your Web site. Granting roles and access to Sitecore Determine who in your council needs access to the Sitecore content management system and what level or type of access each user must have. For example, should all of your Web content authors be able to approve and publish content? Should most authors be able to write and edit only? When you have made these determinations, contact Debra Kendrew ( ) at the National Council and request that these roles be assigned to designated persons in your council. This diagram illustrates the tasks and roles associated with the Sitecore workflow. A national administrator can grant and modify access to Sitecore based on your council s needs. These levels of access are available: Publisher final approval to move content to production Editor access limited to specified pages and/or sections; this role can author, edit, save, and submit content to the workflow. 1 C MS Getting Started Guide

2 Determine content If you re new to Web development, determining the content for your Web site can be a bit daunting. To get an idea of how your completed site will look, visit the Pacific Harbors Council. BSA sites are branded by the shoulder patch at the top of the main Web page. Domain name Your domain name is another consideration. A team at National Council can provide domain name management and will renew your domain name at your request. 2 C MS Getting Started Guide

3 Logging on 1. Log onto 2. Always enter Sitecore through the Content Editor (click Use Content Editor icon) not the Edit Web Site icon. The Content Editor is used for developing Web pages; the Editor is used to update existing Web pages. If you choose to hand code HTML, you can then paste the code into the Content Editor. You might have formatting issues doing so, but you can adjust the formatting within the Sitecore interface. 3. Enter your username and password. You have READ access to everything; WRITE access to your council site. 3 C MS Getting Started Guide

4 The Sitecore interface The topmost part of this page shows editing tools; this is called the Ribbon. These menu items (Home, Navigate, Review, Publish etc) house the main editing tools on tabs (Write, Edit, Insert ). Your role will determine which tabs you can access. 2. In the upper right corner, you ll see a flag (American for English language) and a number, which indicates the version of the Web page you re working on. The number changes each time you update the site. The next time you open Sitecore after changing your Web site, the latest version appears (2, 3, 4, etc). 3. The left hand content tree is where you will access your council Web page. Double click the plus sign for Content, find your council node (the house icon), and click the plus sign to see any content (like calendar page). Double click your council number to open the Web site. The Home page contains these standard elements: header, footer, and calendar default. All Web site pages are under the council Home node, and all calendars are under the Calendar council node. 4. The right hand side of the page, called the Content area, is where you ll do most of your work. 4 C MS Getting Started Guide

5 Hierarchy of the Web site header sections sections category The format of your council Web site will be like the Scouting.org site. You ll have a Home page with gray links across the top called header links for general information. Below that will be sections that correspond to your pages. Within sections, you can have categories. Within categories are subcategories, and the final element is an article. Categories and subcategories show up in the left navigation. Articles do not; articles are for Web pages that do not need to be included in the navigation bar. Article titles, however, appear on the Category or Subcategory page to the right of the blue navigation bar. In the content tree, each page is represented by a different icon. 5 C MS Getting Started Guide

6 Content Tree Icon Page The Home page is a house. A section is a purple robot. A category is two puzzle pieces. A subcategory is one red puzzle piece. An article is a pen and paper. An upward pointing green arrow is a default section that you selected from the Wizard. These sections are provided by national and are updated automatically on your council site when national updates the page on scouting.org. 6 C MS Getting Started Guide

7 Developing your Web site: Site Wizard To set up the main elements of your site, use the Site Wizard. The Site Wizard organizes and simplifies the creation of home page, tabs, and navigation. Most of your work is done from these tabs at the top of the Sitecore page: Home, Publish, and Review. In addition, the National Council has developed content on some standard Web pages, such as Popcorn Sales, so your council staff does not have to. This also ensures that we all deliver a consistent and BSA branded message to the public. From the left hand tree, right click on your house icon, then select Insert then Site Wizard. The Site Wizard includes four elements. You can update your selections at any time. 1. Title and Theme Color. Type a name for your site. Then pick a theme; Scouting is the default and currently the only available theme. The theme is the style sheet that determines the fonts, colors, and a general layout. Your default Home page is a one column layout, but your other site pages can be multi columned. Click Next. 2. Home Page Applications. The Ticker is an animated (Flash) object of images that reads from one of our national council RSS feeds. You can update the ticker with images from your council. See an example of the ticker on the Scouting.org home page. 3. Sections. Choose from sections already created and updated by national; or, create your own sections. These are the blue links across the top of the pages (See Scouting.org.) Mark the check boxes for any section you want to add to your site. Then if you want a custom section, type the name and click the Add Section button. The section appears in the Added Sections list. To delete a section, click the red x icon and select OK. Click Next. 4. Section Layouts. All your sections appear on the left and the layout options appear on the right. You can have a one column page with content across the page and navigation at the top, two columns with navigation on the left and content on the right, or three columns with navigation on the left, content in the middle, and widgets on the right (the only option for widgets). You can apply the layouts to individual sections or to all sections. Click Save and Exit. Expand and collapse the Home node; you should see the sections you added in the navigation bar on the left. 7 C MS Getting Started Guide

8 Adding content Now that you have the basics for your site, you can create additional levels of content. For each section you created in the wizard, you can add the next level of content: Category. To add another level of content, add a Subcategory. To do this, from the left hand content tree, right click on the section name and select Insert, then Category. Name the category page and click OK. Do the same for subcategories and articles. Note: To ensure you see all site content in the navigation bar, click View, and then click Entire Tree. The next level of content is an Article, which does not appear in the navigation bar. The article titles, however, appear at the top of the Category or Subcategory pages to which they are added (to the right of the blue navigation bar). Adding sections 1. Select your council site from the Content Editor. 2. From the Insert menu, click Section. 3. Enter a name for your new section and click OK. Adding categories 1. Select the Section to which you want to add a new category. 2. From the Insert menu, click Category. 3. Enter a name for your new category and click OK. The page you just created appears in the Content area and you can add information to it. Title Body Title: Type the name of the page that will appear on your site. 8 C MS Getting Started Guide

9 Body: In this section you will enter the most of the content for each Web page you create. Click Body, and then click Show Editor to open a new window into which you can type or paste information for this page. Use the tools across the top of this Webpage Dialog window to format the content; hold your mouse over each icon to learn how to use the feature. Links Media Media. Use the Insert Sitecore Media tool to import graphics and other media from the Media Library to your content area. (To upload media, see Media Library later in this document.) Links. Use the Insert Sitecore Link tool to link to internal pages, for example, other pages on your site or to pages on other internal sites. Use the Hyperlink Manager tool to set links outside of Sitecore, for example to a popcorn vendor site. Widgets. The call to action widgets are reusable pieces of HTML that draw attention and provoke action from the user. Think of them as banner ads that draw the user to other parts of your Web site. Widgets appear only in the in the right column of two column and three column layouts. You can create your own widgets or use those available from Scouting.org. These widgets are available: Follow (links to the BSA s pages on social networks), Highlights (countdown to jamboree), and QuickLinks (links to recruiting tools). Adding subcategories 1. Select the category to which you want to add a new subcategory. 2. In the Insert menu, click Subcategory. 3. Enter a name for your new subcategory and click OK. 9 C MS Getting Started Guide

10 Adding articles 1. Select the section, category, or subcategory to which you want to add a new article. 2. In the Insert menu, click Article. 3. Enter a name for your new article and click OK. Deleting content The Delete icon removes all versions. The Versions icon deletes only the version. To delete a section, delete it, then go to the council node and publish from there. Delete actions are not part of the work flow, so you have to manually publish to update the content after a deletion. Sitecore saves the various versions of your site. You can go back to a previous version, if needed. You can also restrict versions so that it is not published before a particular date. 10 C MS Getting Started Guide

11 Locking and unlocking items When you edit an item, it is locked. This prevents others from attempting to edit the item at the same time. Locking an item To lock an item: 1. In the Content Editor, navigate to the item that you want to edit. 2. On the Home tab, click Edit to lock the item. 3. When you lock the item, the functions and commands that are available to you are activated in the Content pane. You can now start editing the item. Unlocking an item When you have finished editing the item, you must remember not only to save the changes but also to unlock the item so that others users can edit it. To unlock the item, click Edit. As a content author, you often have to make extensive changes to many items on the Web site. This can mean that you have to lock many items and keep them locked to ensure that your changes are implemented consistently across all the items. Sitecore keeps track of all the items that are locked to ensure that nobody else can edit them but it also keeps track of all the items that have been locked by each individual user. To unlock the items you have locked: 1. In the Content Editor, click the Review tab. 2. In the Locks group, click My items: The My Items dialog box lists all of the items you have locked. Yo u can have locked these items during the current session or during previous sessions. 3. Select the items that you are finished editing and click Unlock to unlock them or click Unlock All to unlock all the items. 11 C MS Getting Started Guide

12 Calendars The Calendar folder holds your calendar data. You cannot upload existing data into a Sitecore calendar; you must enter each item. The Header Links folder defines the gray calendar headers. You can link to an external calendar or event registration system. Currently the Sitecore software does not contain e commerce and event registration functionality. You can, however, link to an external site. Setting up your calendar To set up your calendar: 1. Select the Calendar page in your site hierarchy. The calendar page must be set up as a twocolumn right layout. To check the layout, select Presentation from the Ribbon, then select Details. On the resulting window, select the layout name at the top; this opens a new window with a drop down of layout options. Select ScoutingTwoColumnRightLayout. 2. In the Title field, type a name for your calendar; this will appear on the Calendar page. Click Save. 3. Click on the Publish link on the Ribbon and select Page Editor. Your calendar appears. 12 C MS Getting Started Guide

13 Creating an event To create an event: 1. Find the date on the calendar and click the plus sign. 2. Complete all fields for your event and select Save, then Close. This moves the page under the correct path. You don t have to publish calendar data; when you save, it s live. 3. Notice that under the Calendar drop down, you can select either the council default calendar or the district calendar. 4. From View Specific Date you can view the next eight upcoming events. Maintaining multiple calendars Some councils maintain district calendars in addition to the council calendar. You can create as many calendars as you like. To create another calendar, in the content tree right click on the Calendar node and select Duplicate. Name your new calendar and click OK. To populate the new calendar, click the Publish link in the Ribbon and select Page Editor. 13 C MS Getting Started Guide

14 Publishing: the Sitecore workflow To make the site available to the public, you must publish your content. You must be an administrator to publish all content. Editors can edit content, but they cannot publish content. The content must be approved before it is published. The publish settings feature allows you to set a date on which a Web page is published. These are the steps included in the Sitecore workflow: 1. Enter your content, edit it, and save it. 2. Select Publish, Preview to view your page. 3. Send it for review by selecting the Review link on the Ribbon and then the Submit link. Optionally, you can enter a comment for the reviewer(s) if many people in the council develop content. 4. The reviewers/editors approve or reject the content. Select the Review link on the Ribbon, then click Approve or Reject. (If rejected, previous version? 5. Once approved, you can publish it. Select the Review link on the Ribbon, then click Approve. At any time, you can click the down arrow on the Edit icon (on the Home ribbon) to see the state of workflow, or select the Workbox link on the bottom black bar. From Workflow, I can see all of the items in my workflow. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Workflow. 14 C MS Getting Started Guide

15 Media Library The Media Library contains several folders: each council has a Media Library folder for images and other types of media, and the National folder contains BSA images available to everyone. You can only access and view the contents of your council node. However, strictly speaking, the contents published there are not secure. If someone has the folder URL, they could access the contents. While this is unlikely, it is an important consideration when deciding what types of material to publish to the Media Library. Images You can upload images or other types of media, such as videos, to your Council folder. For images, Web standard graphic formats are recommended (.gif,.jpg,.png). Click Upload to import your own graphics. If your image archive is extensive and you wish to upload the images to the Media Library, our servers can archive images. Before uploading, ensure all images are 72dpi resolution and 500 or 600 pixels wide. Note: If you link to media externally, you do not have to upload images and videos to the Media Library. Every time you upload an image, it is saved as a new image. Any image you want publicly available needs to be published. Smart Publish publishes all images that have been changed since the last time you published. Unlike the Site Wizard, the Media Library does not follow a workflow; you must manually publish items added to the Media Library. Click Publish > Publish items > Publish sub items. This publishes all content. Portable Document Format (PDF) Files We do not recommend publishing PDF files on your council Web site. If there are documents that can only be published as PDF files, please contact us for instructions for storing these files on a BSA server (filestore). You can then link to the PDF files on our server. It does not require HTML knowledge to do so. 15 C MS Getting Started Guide

16 Miscellaneous Special characters Do not use spaces in Web site names or Web page names. Additionally, do not use these special characters: Blogs dashes ( ) and or You can link to blogs. Councils can use Wordpress to link to blogs and show most recent posts. This would allow dynamic content to appear on the Web page. Inline frames (I frames) The majority of your information will be published in the content area. You can frame a window within the Body section, though this is not a best practice. You would put text before I Frame in the body and the Text after the I frame in the Bottom Text. Column designs are on Scouting.org, which uses a 3 column page layout: Column 1: Left navigation bar Column 2: Body section Column 3: Call to action widgets 16 C MS Getting Started Guide

17 Q&A Q: How do I maintain my old site during the beta period for my redesigned site? A: Shift your old Web site to a subdirectory so the old site continues to function and you can use part of it until you determine the beta site is ready to replace it. Q: When I am ready to go live, how do I point to our council URL? A: Steve will create documentation for hosting that includes how to set up a host file, which fakes your PC into thinking it s a Sitecore site. Q: How do you format categories and subcategories? A: Check for updates that Steve posts on Scouting Community. Q: Can I create a customized cascading style sheet (CSS)? A: Not at this time. Q: Can I add JavaScript in text? A: Yes. Q: Do you support.phi or.php scripts? Does that include.net controls? A: Not currently; we would have to research an alternative to this. Q: Can you create hotspots, for example, a council map with links? A: Yes, you can create image maps using JavaScript or Flash. Q: What tools do I need? A: Primarily you will use the Sitecore software to build your site and add content to it. Photoshop can be used for images and design elements, and you can use Dreamweaver for HTML coding. Q: Can I use a cascading style sheet (CSS) to develop my site? A: Yes, we can provide a CSS that you can import into the metadata area of Sitecore. Contact the National Council if you are interested, because we will have to host that CSS file for you. Q: Are CSS templates for Doubleknot pages available? A: Yes, we have other style sheets you can use. Contact National Council for more information. Q: Can I move the council site and the Order of the Arrow site if they have two different URLs? A: Yes, contact the National Council to learn more. 17 C MS Getting Started Guide

18 Web resources This page contains links to Web resources for all facets of Web site development, maintenance, usability, security, etc., including the BSA Style Guide. Design Lipsum.com provides greeking, or dummy text, for Web pages in development. When you add a new section or article and want to see what your finished page will look like, paste Lorem Ipsum filler text as a placeholder until your page s content is written. Pixlr.com: Don t have Photoshop? Try this free online alternative to resize, crop, and edit images. If you are planning to add images to your site, you will most likely have to resize them for Web accessibility. Best practices For information about creating a helpful and easy to use Web site, read the Best Practices Manual. Usability Style guides C MS Getting Started Guide