Introduction to CommonSpot 5.0. Presented by OHSU Web Strategies

Introduction to CommonSpot 5.0 Presented by OHSU Web Strategies

Introduction to CommonSpot 5.0 Lesson Summary Turning Off Web Browser Pop up Blockers Internet Explorer 7.x (Win): Tools Pop-up Blocker Turn Off Pop-up Blocker Firefox 2.x (Win): Tools Options Content Block pop-up windows Firefox 2.x (Mac): Firefox Preferences Content Block pop-up windows Logging into CommonSpot Open location http://authoring.ohsu.edu/[yoursite]/login.cfm and then type assigned User ID and Password in the Login window. Click OK to complete the login process. The CommonSpot Menu Bar Mode Indicator: Shows current mode (Read, Author, Edit, Approve). Show Settings: Toggle the display of Container Tools, Element Tools, and New Element Links. Contains CommonSpot s knowledge sharing and discovery tools. Controls the different modes in which a given user can view the page. Allows contributors to interact with the properties and settings of the page. Creating a Page in a CommonSpot Subsite Click the Properties & Actions tab in the CommonSpot Menu and select Create New Page from the list. In the Create Page window, navigate to the required userx subsite via the dropdown menu, then click the Next button. In the Template Gallery window click the appearance triangle next to a template category and click on a specific template. Enter the name and title for the page (the first page in a subsite should be named index in lowercase). Complete the Description and Keyword fields and click the Next button. Accept the default custom metadata and layout and click the Finish button. When the blank index page is rendered, click the Activate Page Now button at the top of the page to make it active. 2

Logging Out of CommonSpot On the CommonSpot Menu, click the Page View tab and select Logout from the list. Opening an Existing Page on a CommonSpot Subsite Click the Properties & Actions tab in the CommonSpot Menu and select My Pages from the list. Navigate through the document listing to find the page, and click on the name of the page to open it. When the desired page appears in the background, close the My Pages window. Changing the View Mode of a CommonSpot Page Click the Page View tab and select the Author option to make changes to a page. Select the Edit option to view changes made by another user with edit rights to the page. Select the Read option to view the page as it would appear to the world in a web browser. An additional option named Approve will appear if an approval hierarchy has been established for the CommonSpot subsite. Defining the Container Layout of a Template Page Click on the icon labeled container to bring up the Container menu. Click the desired icon to establish setting or change the layout of the page. Inserting a new Element on a Page Click the ghost text Click to insert new element, expand the appropriate category in the Element Gallery window by clicking the appearance triangle, and click the name of the element desired. Editing an Element on a Page For a new element click the ghost text Click here to define the (element name) and in the resulting window edit the contents. For an existing element click the Work In Progress icon or the Element Tools icon to the left of the element and select the appropriate icon in the Element Tools menu to edit it. Deleting an Element on a Page Click the Work In Progress icon or the Element Tools icon to the left of the element, then click on the more dropdown. Select Delete from the list and click OK to confirm the deletion. Inserting a Formatted Text Block (the most versatile text element) Click the ghost text Click to insert new element, expand the Text Elements category in the Element Gallery window by clicking the appearance triangle, and click the Formatted Text Block text (with or without header). 3

Working with the Formatted Text Block (with or without header) Cut, Copy Paste, Undo, Redo Bold, Italic, Underline; Left, Center, Right Align Numbered and Bulleted Lists Decrease and Increase Indent Clean HTML Content (remove Word markup and HTML tags) Insert Picture Insert Link on Selected Text Insert Field Insert Snippet (columnar list, block quote, callout, horizontal rule) Insert Table Insert Special Character (Symbol) Insert Anchor Style Link (Bookmark) Format and Cascading Style Sheets Submitting Changes for Publication Click a yellow Work In Progress icon, and from the list select Submit to publish just that one element, or select Submit Page to publish all changed elements on the page. Inserting a Numbered or Bulleted List into a Formatted Text Block Click the Numbered List or Bulleted List button and begin typing the list, pressing Enter after each entry. End the list by clicking the applicable button again. 4

Inserting a Horizontal Rule into a Formatted Text Block Position the insertion cursor where the rule is to appear and click the Insert Snippet button. Select horizontal-rule in the dropdown list and click Finish. Inserting a Table into a Formatted Text Block Click on the dropdown arrow next to Insert Table button and release when the desired number of rows and columns is selected. After the table is rendered, type text directly in the cells, and use the Table Properties links below the table to adjust its appearance. Merging Table Cells within a Formatted Text Block Position the insertion cursor in the leftmost cell to be merged. Right-click and point to Table Operations in the pop-up menu. In the resulting submenu select Increase Colspan. Repeat this until the desired number of cells are merged. Inserting Table Columns and Rows within a Formatted Text Block Position the insertion cursor in a cell adjacent to the desired location for the new column or row. Right-click and point to Table Operations in the pop-up menu. In the resulting submenu select Add Row Below to place a blank row below the present cursor location (pick other options for different insert operations). Repeat this until the desired number of cells are merged. A new row can be added to the end of the table by pressing Tab while in the bottom-right cell. The tiny Table Edit buttons that appear adjacent to active cells can also be used to insert and delete columns and rows. Establishing a Link to an Existing Page within a Formatted Text Block Select the text that will become linked and click the Link button. In the Insert Link window, click the radio button next to Link to an Existing Page, Uploaded Document or URL and click Next. In the Insert Link to Existing Page window click the radio button next to External URL or Relative Internal URL, type or paste the full URL in the box below, and click Finish. Establishing an E Mail Link within a Formatted Text Block Select the text that will become linked and click the Link button. In the Insert Link window, click the radio button next to E-Mail Link and click Next. In the Insert E-Mail Link window type the E-Mail address in the box, and click Finish. Uploading Images for Use on a Page From any Image Properties window (reached a variety of ways), click the New button. Click the Browse button and navigate to the image file and click Open. Specify the description and other settings and click Next. Back at the Image Properties window, specify the alternate image text and other attributes and click Finish. 5

Inserting an Image Grid on a Page Click the ghost text Click to insert new element, expand the Image Elements category in the Element Gallery window by clicking the appearance triangle, and click the Image Grid text. Defining an Image Grid Click the ghost text Click here to define the image grid, and in the Specify Image Grid Entries window click the text Click here to add a new entry. Click the Gallery or New button to locate or upload the image, specify the alternate image text and other attributes, then click Finish. Click the text Click here to add a new entry and repeat the process for this new entry. Moving an Element Up or Down on the Page Click the Work In Progress icon or the Element Tools icon to the left of the element, then click on the more dropdown. Select the appropriate Move action from the list Increasing the Space Around a Image In the Image Properties window click the Edit button adjacent to Image Size. In the resulting window under Spacing Around Image specify values for the vertical and horizontal spacing in pixels. Click OK and Finish to set the spacing. Submit the element for publication to observe the spacing in a web browser. Saving a Page as a Template With the page open in the form to be saved with all changes published, click the Properties & Actions tab and select Save as Template from the menu. In the Save As Template window, click the radio button next to the option Copy the current page as a template and change its inheritance to derive from the new template and then click Next. This option maintains the same web address for the existing page. In the Copy Current Page as a Template window, give the template a short name, and a short description. Click Finish. Enabling Pasting Inside a Formatted Text Block with the Firefox Browser Open location https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/852 and in the AllowClipboard Helper window click the Install Now button. In the Software Installation window click Install Now, then click the Restart Firefox button. Back in Firefox click on the Tools menu and select AllowClipboard Helper from the list. In the Server address field of the Helper window enter http://csauthprod and click the Allow button. Click OK to make copying/pasting available while on the CommonSpot server. Close and re-open Firefox one more time to enable the newly added server. Creating a New Page Click the Properties & Actions tab and select Create New Page from the menu. On the Create Page window, use the dropdown menu to select the correct destination subsite and select a template in the Template Gallery window. Enter the name and title for the page. Complete the Description and Keyword fields and click the Next button. Adjust the metadata and layout as required and click the Finish button. When the blank index page is rendered, click the Activate Page Now button at the top of the page to make it active. 6

Getting Help and Additional Information on CommonSpot Click the Tools & Information menu and select Help from the menu. Use either the Contents or Search tabs to peruse the help system. Copy the CommonSpot Content Contributor Guide to your local hard drive. The document is located on Share1 at I:\OHSU\PUBLIC\IT-TRAINING\Training Exercise Files\CommonSpot. This 500+ page PDF file may be searched using the Acrobat Reader application. Visit Web Strategies at http://www.ohsu.edu/webstrategies/ for the latest information on CommonSpot at OHSU. 7