Page Manager

Contents

1. Introduction
    1.1 Features
    1.2 Assumptions

2. Page Manager overview

3. Pages
    3.1 Add a page
    3.2 Basic properties: Edit basic properties of page nn
    3.3 Advanced: Edit advanced properties of page nn
    3.4 Content
    3.5 Delete a page

4. Sections
    4.1 Add a section
    4.2 Basic properties: Edit basic properties of section nn
    4.3 Advanced: Edit advanced properteis of section nn
    4.4 Delete a section

5. Moving areas, sections and pages

6. Locked pages

7. To conclude

1. Introduction

The Page Manager is the heart of Website@School. Here you create pages and sections and add modules to pages. Modules can be text editors with wich you create texts with images, or modules like a guestbook, a sitemap or a calendar. To explain its features, please read this little introduction.

With the Page Manager you manage the website of a school. The website contains Areas. An area is a separate part of the website that, for the website visitor, appears as a site on its own. Examples: the Area of the Board, an Area for the team, several Areas for teachers and their subjects, Areas for grade 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, for the parents committee, for all other workgroups, et cetera.
Areas that are not publicly accessible are Private Areas (also called Intranets). These Areas are only accessible with a username and password. Everyone can have an Intranet, if necessary. In this way a the website of the school can contain dozens of public- and private Areas.

Areas
An Area contains nodes. A node, in computers, representats a basic unit used to build data structures such as linked lists and trees. In website@School nodes can be sections and pages in Areas.
If one compares a site with a harddisk, the Areas resemble the partitions on the disk.

Sections
Sections are distinct parts of an Area. A section can be, for example, School info, Parents, Health Care, Poems, et cetera. Sections can contain sub sections, sub sub-sectons and even much deeper.
To stay in the disk comparison, sections resemble directories or folders on a hard disk.

Pages
Nodes can also be pages. A page needs a module so you can do something with the page.A module is a self-contained component of a system, which has a well-defined interface to the other components. In Website@School a module can be virtually everything. A module can be a text editor to create pages with texts and images, like the 'School Guide' or a poem. A module can also be a Guestbook to fill out by your website visitors, or an e-mail page, a Sitemap, a Forum, et cetera.
For an overview of the available modules, see the Table of contents, paragraph Modules.

1.1 Features

The general idea of the Page Manager was described above. Below its main features are described in no particular order.

1.2 Assumptions

This chapter elaborates on other chapters. We assume you have read and done the General part of the Table of Contents.

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2. Page Manager overview

To open the Page Manager, please click on the Page Manager [ pagemanager icon ] icon to enter the Exemplum Primary School dialogue:

[ pagemanager: overview ]
pagemanager_overview.png

The Page Manager opens on the Exemplum Primary School Area, i.e. the Home Area. The Home Area is the starting area of the site. For further details, please see the chapter Configuration Maanger, paragraph 3. Areas.

Explanation:

  1. Menu pane: Depending on the task you are performing the Menu can have two modes:
  2. Work place pane: The right pane of the screen now shows the title of the Area and it's pages and sections in the form of a 'bottom up' tree. All sections and subsections are displayed minimal.
    When pages or sections are created or managed, the workplace is used for that purpose.
  3. Add a page: By clicking the link you enter the Add a page dialogue. This option is discussed in paragraph 3. Pages and its subsections.
  4. Add a section: By clicking the link you enter the Add a section dialogue. This option is discussed in paragraph 4. Sections.
  5. Set tree view: Three clickable links are available to perform the following actions:

    Clickable links

    In the list of pages and sections, pages are associated with 6 clickable links: 5 icons and the title of the page. All 6 clickable links can be used to manipulate page properties one way or another. Some of the icons also provide a visual indication of a particular aspect of the page, e.g. is this page the default page or not, or is this page visible, invisible or hidden.

  6. Home icon visible: /greyed out: : A visible home icon indicates the default (opening) page within a section or area, i.e what the visitors will see first.
    Greyed out icons on all other pages/sections indicate that these are not the default.
  7. Trashcan icon : By clicking the Trashcan icon you can delete the associated page or section. This is discussed in paragraph 3.5 Deleting pages or paragraph 4.4 Delete sections.
  8. Pencil icon : By clicking the Pencil icon you can navigate directly to the Basic properties of a page or section. These options are discussed in paragraphs 3. Pages and 4. Sections.
  9. Paper sheet icons: The Paper sheet icons indicate the visibility of a page:

    - Visible : The filled out page indicates that the page is visible for visitors.
    - Invisible : The empty page indicates that the page is not visible for visitors, i.e. hidden.

    NOTICE:
    Hidden does not mean inactive. A hidden page is retrievable, if the URL is known. Selecting embargo and expiry results in inactive pages; i.e. not visible and not retrievable even when the URL is known.

    By clicking the paper sheet icon, you can navigate directly to the Advanced Properties of the page. These options are discussed in paragraphs 3.3 Edit page: advanced properties and 4.3 Edit secton: advanced properties

  10. Looking glass/Folder icons:
    - Looking glass : By clicking the Looking glass you can preview a page. The page opens in new small window. To pen the page full screen, right clik on the icon and select "Open Link in New Window" ( in Firefox).

    - Folder icon closed : By clicking the icon, the folder is opened, showing its underlaying content.
    - Folder icon open : By clicking the opened folder you close it.

  11. Page/Section name:
    - Clicking the name of the page opens the Content of the chosen module. For example, when a text editor was chosen as module, you enter the text editor. Or, when the guestbook module was chosen, you enter the maagement of the guestbook.
    - Cllicking on the name of the section opens the Basic properties of the section (same as the Pencil icon).
NOTICE:
The icons 8 (Pencil), 9 (Visible/Invisible) and 10 (Page/Section) directly lead to 3 options of editing:
- Pencil: Basic
- Visible/invisible: advanced
- Page/section: content
Thiese direct links can serve as shortcuts, saving you a mouse click.

3. Pages

3.1 Add a page

To add a pgae, click in the Page Manager overview the Add a page link to open the Add a page dialogue:

[ add a page ]
pagemanager_page_add.png
Explanation:

Now basic- and advanced properties can be set. Please see 3.2 Basic properties: Edit basic properties of page nn and 3.3 Advanced: Edit advanced properties of page nn

3.2 Basic properties: Edit basic properties of page nn

Clicking on the Pencil icon of a page opens the Edit basic properties of page nn dialogue:

[ page, basic properties ]
pagemanager_page_basic.png
Explanation:

3.3 Advanced: Edit advanced properties of page nn

Clicking on the page Visible/Invisible icon of a page opens the Edit advanced properties of page nn dialogue:

[ page advanced properties  ]
pagemanager_page_advanced.png
Explanation:

3.4 Content

Clicking the Content link gives access to the configuration options of the earlier chosen module. Below are some examples.

[ pagemanager page content FCK editor ]
pagemanager_page_content_FCK-editor.png

The chosen module was the Plain HTML-page (htmlpage). In this case this user has set the FCK editor as her default editor in her Basic properties.

[ pagemanager page content plain HTML-page ]
pagemanager_page_content_plain-HTML-page.png

The chosen module was the Plain HTML-page (htmlpage). In this case this user has set the Plain editor as her default editor in her Basic properties.

[ pagemanager page content sitemap ]
pagemanager_page_content_sitemap.png

When adding the page, the Sitemap module was chosen in the Module dropdown menu.

Management of modules can be found in their chapters, please see the Table of contents, under Modules.

3.5 Delete a page

Clicking on the Trashcan icon opens the Confirm delete of page nn Page Name (Page description) dialogue:

[ page manager page delete ]
pagemanager_page_delete.png

Your last chance to decide. Are you sure? Sometimes it's better to create an inactive Archinve section to store once carefully created content.

Explanation:

NOTICE:
Deleting pages does not delete the associated files. Deleting files is discussed in the File Managerchapter, section 4. Delete files and folders

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4. Sections

Sections are added, edited and deleted in exactly the same way as pages. Since sections can only contain pages, their only differ in that they lack the dropdown menu to add a module and the options to add a target and an URL.
For explanations, please refer to 3. Pages because in this paragraph we keep it short and do it with pictures.

4.1 Add a section

Clicking the Add a section link opens the Add a section dialogue:

[ page manager add section ]
pagemanager_section_add.png

For the explanantion, please see 3.1 Add a page.

4.2 Basic properties: Edit basic properties of section n

Clicking on the name or the pencil icon of the newly created section opens the Edit basic properties of section nn dialogue:

[ page manager edit section basic ]
pagemanager_section_basic.png

For the explanantion, please see 3.2 Basic properties: Edit basic properties of page nn.

4.3 Advanced: Edit advanced properties of section n

Clicking the 'visible/invisible page' icon, opns the Edit advance properties of section nn dialogue:

[ page manager section advanced ]
pagemanager_section_advanced.png

For the explanantion, please see 3.3 Advanced: Edit advanced properties of page nn.

4.4 Delete a section

A section can be immediately deleted when it has pages in it. The pages will also be immediately deleted.
A section cannot be deleted if it contains non-empty subsection(s). These sections first have to be deleted before the parent section can be deleted. This is a security feature.

Clicking on the Trashcan icon opens the Confirm delete of sctton nn Section Name (Description of the section) dialogue:

[ page manager delete section with pages ]
pagemanager_section_delete_with_pages.png
Explanation:
Your last chance to decide. Are you sure? Is this section really useless? Trying to delete a section that contains non-empty section(s):

[ page manager subsection not empty ]
pagemanager_section_delete_non_empty_subsection.png

The directory contents of both 'School Info' and 'News' can be seen. You first have to delete the underlying section(s) before you can delete the 'Nees' section.

NOTICE:
Deleting a section with pages that are processed (i.e. in use and thus locked), will delete the the empty sections and pages in it, but not delete the parent section and the locked page(s). You will get an error message.
You first have to unlock the section or page before you can delete it. For details on locking and unlocking pages, see section 3. Locking and unlocking sections and files.

NOTICE:
Deleting sections and pages does not delete the associated files. Deleting files is discussed in the File Managerchapter, section 4. Delete files and folders

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5. Moving pages, sections, Areas

The content of Areas (Public and Private (Intranets)), i.e. ssections and pages can be moved with the basic and advanced properties of pages and sections.
It is not possible to change a Public Area into a Private one and vice versa. This is a security feature.

NOTICE:
Please bear in mind that (as example) images in pages, are possibly stored in their Area directories or subdirectories. Moving the content of an Area to another area will most probably result in broken links.

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6. Locked pages

When a user tries to access a page that is already processed by another user, a message is displayed:

[ page manager locked page ]
pagemanager_locked_page.png

When you see this message, hop on the bike and start a real life converstion with your colleague on the content of the page.

The page stays locked until the lock is released. This can happen in several ways:

NOTICE:
Do NOT exit your browser by clicking the 'close' icon (the 'X') in the upper right corner of your browser, or by selecting Exit in the broswers Menu. In both ways the file stays locked and the lock will expire after 30 minutes or at night.

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7. To conclude

No conclusions so far.

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Author: Dirk Schouten <schoutdi (at) knoware (dot) nl>
Last updated: 2011-09-05