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Live Demo (Apply)
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Using the cm3 Live Demonstration WebsiteDRAFT document. Last updated Tuesday, 11th April 2006.- Assumptions
Assumptions
Accessing the Demonstration WebsiteThere are two main parts to the demonstration site:
It is best if you open two separate browser windows, one to access each of the two parts of the demonstration. You can find the two parts at the following URLs: * Note that the number in this URL will depend on which demo site you have been given access to. Please check the email sent to you by cm3 staff to make sure you are accessing the right website.
Demonstration Website Walkthrough/TutorialWe have created a walkthrough for the Sample Company website. It includes beginner tutorials that can help you get used to the standard cm3 administrative system.
This online document provides more detailed information about the Sample Company website, including information about technical issues not covered by the walkthrough.
Other Important Notes About the Demo SitePlease take note of the following things when using the demonstration website. Some of these concepts are fairly advanced, so don't hesitate to ask us questions. Administrator level accessYou have been given administrator level access to the demonstration site. You can access every function, but this also adds complexity to the interface. Feel free to ask us questions if you need to. Also note that lower level roles such as authors and editors also exist. Default admin system onlyThe demonstration system only shows you the standard administrative interface. When you build your website, you may use this interface, you may customise the system to suit your particular needs, or you may construct customised administrative forms using the powerful cm3 development platform. It is common for standalone CMS-based tools to have their own editing forms (e.g. help desks, forums, intranets, and so on). No access to development platformOne of the sources of cm3's true power is the development platform and all the features that come with it. You can't see this in the demo site. Please don't hesitate to ask us about advanced websites, scheduling, baking, mirroring, XML web services, integration with other products, content migration, backups, and just about any flavour of web application (shops, catalogues, extranets, intranets) that can be built with cm3. Static page baking and remote server mirroringYou can see these functions in the content publisher screen, but they are not enabled in the demo site. Cleaning content pasted from Microsoft WordWhen you edit a page in the visual editor inside cm3, feel free to play around with all the management functions. In particular take note of the Clean HTML... button. This button will help clean content that is pasted from external programs to re-establish the style sheet of your website.
Metadata-based CMS software versus basic web page publishingAs you use the cm3 demo site, take careful note of the fact that you are managing collections of metadata fields in the CMS that are formed into web pages by the template system. This provides you with a much more powerful content management scenario than some entry level and mid tier products that focus only on the publishing of web pages. The collections of metadata fields in cm3 can take on any form that you want, so you are not restricted to basic web pages with a heading and a section of content. Please don't hesitate to ask more about this aspect of cm3.
The Most Frequently Asked QuestionsThe following short list of questions are the most common ones asked by people after seeing the cm3 demonstration site. Can I update navigation in the demo site?Yes, but you should get familiar with the system before attempting to change navigation. Check out this tutorial. How do I edit templates in cm3? Can I edit templates in the demo?The template system consists of two layers:
You can access the template elements in the online demo to get a feel for the basics of the cm3 macro language. However we do not provide access to the page templates in the online demo. Can I have the WYSIWYG editor embedded in the page so that my authors do not see HTML?Yes, in fact this is the default setting in the demo site. You can also configure the WYSIWYG editor to popup in a separate window if you prefer. Can I have "friendly URLs" on my website - e.g. mywebsite.com/about.html instead of mywebsite.com/browse.asp?ContainerID=about?Yes. The friendly URL system is not switched on in the demo site. Will my website be fast?Yes. There are many ways to optimise performance for high traffic websites. The system has been used in websites generating over 1 million page views in an hour. This is a powerful product, and I'm afraid that my authors will have troubles with it. Do you provide manuals and training?Yes. Installation, administrator, author, and developer manuals are provided with your purchase. We can optionally provide standard or personalised training workshops depending on what you need. Can I change the style sheets in the website?The CSS style sheets used to specify fonts, headings, and other text elements for the website are embedded into the design templates. These can easily be changed and your site can have whatever design you want. However access to the style sheet is not available via the demo site. Can I transfer my own site design to cm3?Yes, absolutely. This will be handled by you or by your designer/developer when your cm3 website is deployed. Can I upload images and use them in the visual editor without leaving the visual editor?Yes. When you click on the image button (pictured below) the cm3 file manager will open. You can select pre-existing images from the file repository here, or you can upload images right through that interface before you go back to the visual editor.
Are links automatically managed in cm3?Yes. There are three kinds of links:
Are there any design restrictions?No, none at all. You can have whatever design you like with as many templates as you like. Of course, if you want to get the best benefit of using a template driven CMS in your website it is a smart idea to design your site with a CMS in mind. This design process may mean you should make some different design decisions than you would otherwise make if you were not using a CMS. Does the cm3 administration system work on a Mac or in Netscape?Yes, with one small restriction. The core cm3 administration system can be used on any modern standards compliant web browser. The What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) editing tool currently has different versions for Internet Explorer and Mozilla. Support for WYSIWYG editing on Mozilla based web browsers was added to cm3 in version 3.7.1. The editor is almost as fully featured as the Internet Explorer based tool, but it is currently in a beta (test) stage. We will continue to improve this function and support it in future releases.
Navigation and Templates in the Demo SitePlease note that this information is for users who wish to try more advanced work with the demo site. You should follow the beginner tutorials outlined in the Sample Company website walkthrough document (linked above) before attempting to change navigation in the website. Logical rules for changing navigationThe main menu and left hand column sub menus in the demo site are automatically generated from the container structure within the admin system. However not all containers will appear in navigation. The demo site makes use of the following publishing rules.
The article (standalone page) template - article.aspThe article template simply shows an individual article of content as a web page, along with any associated file attachments or links. It does not show other articles or containers. Date: 2004-06-30 |
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The HTML cleaning button looks like this.
The image button looks like this.
