Introduction
Getting Started with Contribute CS3 version 4.1
Contribute is a content management tool for maintaining and updating Web site content. It works like an editor and a browser, making it easy for authorized users to browse, edit and publish pages to thier Web sites. Contribute users do not have to be Web technicians.
For information beyond the scope of this document, visit Adobe’s Contribute Support Center on the Web, which includes a searchable Knowledge Base and other Contribute resources.
Installing Contribute
In order for you to be able to use Contribute to edit your SIPA site, you must have the latest version of Contribute installed on your computer. If you do not have Contribute installed on your system, contact Webmaster Dirk Kemp, Contribute Administrator.
Connecting to the SIPA Web Site
Contribute can only be used to edit sites to which you have an established connection. You will need a “connection key” to establish a connection with your SIPA site. The connection key is an executable file that will enable you to setup your connection. If you have not received a connection key (via an email), please contact a SIPA Contribute Administrator.
When you’ve received your connection key, double click it to open Contribute. Contribute will launch, opening a login screen. Enter your Contribute login information.
Note: If your login is your UNI, bear in mind, Contribute's security system is separate from CUNIX, and as such, your CUNIX password will not work. Also, note that Contribute places your Window's user name in the Contribute login field, by default, so you will probably have to replace it with your Contribute user name.
If you have any problems logging in to Contribute, contact a SIPA Contribute administrator.
Exploring the Contribute Interface
When Contribute launches, the larger main browser panel (on the right) begins on a Start Page, which shows the sites you are connected to, as well as other resource links (“Quick tour” and “Contribute Tutorial”). This panel is where most of your work will be done in Contribute; both browser functionality and Web page editing take place in this area.
The Contribute toolbar changes, depending on whether you are browsing or editing a page. In Browse mode, there are buttons labeled “Edit Page” and “'New ...'” (never click the New Page button). SIPA Contribute users are not allowed to create new pages. Please contact a SIPA Contribute administrator if you need a new page uploaded. For more information on these functions, see Editing Web Pages and Creating New Pages below.
The “Address bar” functions exactly like an address bar on any Web browser. In the top right-hand corner is a “Choose button” that can be use to browse to Web pages.
The thinner “Pages Panel ” (top left) indicates the page you are currently on, as well as any drafts you are currently editing or reviewing. The page you are currently browsing has a “Globe Icon” next to the page title. A page with a blank page icon beside it, indicates a draft you are editing, and a page icon with a downward and right pointing arrow indicates a page you are reviewing.
At the bottom of the Pages Panel, there is a link to the “Draft Console,” as well as a “Refresh Icon” that you can click to update the statuses of drafts you are reviewing. More about this in the Draft Console section.
Below the Pages Panel, the “How Do I…” panel shows various help topics. Clicking one of these links reveals the the topic information. Here you can find quick step-by-step information on using Contribute. If you do not find what you are looking for, try the Help menu item.
The panels are expandable and collapsible.
Editing Web Pages
On the Start Page, in the browser panel, you should see a link to your SIPA Web site under “Begin Editing” (note: this will only appear after you have used your Connection Key to connect to your SIPA Web site). When you click your site link, the homepage of your SIPA site will load into the Contribute browser. You can navigate by clicking links as you would in any Web browser. You can also type URLs in the address bar to access pages on your site.
And to quickly access recently published pages, select “Recent Pages and Blog Entries” under the File menu.
Remember that Contribute will allow you to browse pages that are not part of your site, but you will not be able to modify them.
There is also a “Choose” button to the right of the address
bar.
NOTE: Avoid the Choose button, as it will complicate the process of finding the pages you want.
When you’ve reached the page you want to edit, click the “Edit Page” button in the top left-side of the browser panel. Contribute creates a draft of your page (A draft is a copy of the Web page you are editing; this draft will replace the original file if you click the Publish button.). The “Edit Page” option will only be available on pages that you have a connection to.
In order to preserve the layout and design of the SIPA site, it was developed using Dreamweaver Templates that employ locked and editable regions. These regions give Contribute users access to their content regions. When you hover over a locked region with your mouse (after clicking the “Edit Page” button) your cursor becomes a “circle-slash” icon, which indicates a restricted area.
Editable regions have a green colored border and a tab label that describe the type of content intended for that section of the page.
If you wish to insert content that does not fit within the editable regions, on any given page, please consult a Contribute administrator.
To edit a page click the “Edit Page” button, which will turn into a “Publish” button. You are now in edit mode and can make changes to your page. Editing Web pages with Contribute is very similar to working with a word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word. You can type directly into an editable region or paste text from an external file into an editable region.
Contribute should preserve basic formatting of text copied from Microsoft Word or other rich-text documents, but some additional formatting may be required.
To format text, highlight it and then select from the “Formatting menu.” You can quickly make text bold, italic or change its alignment. Special SIPA styles can be found in the Dropdown Styles menu. In addition there is an expanded list of formatting styles under the Format menu item, in the main menu.
You can create bulleted, numbered and definition lists. To remove a list style formatting, you can use the Outdent option.
TIP: Hitting “Enter” after an item in a list will create a new list item. If you do not want the next line included in the previous list, just enter an additional return. To remove list formatting from a list item or an entire list, select the desired text and click the “Outdent” icon in the tool bar.
NOTE: Several of the word-processor-style editing features of Contribute have been disabled, in order to limit the text styles available, including strikethrough and fixed-width styles. Instead, use the styles available in the drop-down “Styles” menu, mentioned above. If you feel the available styles are too limited, please discuss with a site administrator.
Contribute offers several ways to insert hyperlinks into a page you are editing. You can see the various options when you click the “Link Icon” in the tool bar. You can use one of these three options: “Drafts and Recent Pages,” “Browse to Web Page” and “E-mail Address.”
NOTE: Since users will not have permission to create new pages, do not click the “New Page” button or the “File on My Computer” button.
First, select the text or image you would like to make a link. Next, you can use one of the three options mentioned below to get to the “Browse to Web Page:”
- Using the main menu at the top of the interface, select “Insert > Link > Browse to a Web Page.”
- Choose “Browse to a Web Page” from the drop-down menu that appears when you click the “Link Icon” in the top bar of the Edit window.
- Right-click the selected text/image/etc., and choose “Insert Link…” from the menu that appears, then select the “Browse to a Web Page” icon tab at the top of the “Insert Link” dialog box that appears.
Once in the “Insert Link” screen and the “Browse to Web Page” button is highlighted, there are 3 ways to select the destination for the link you wish to add:
- Enter the URL of the Web page or file that you want to link to in the “Web Address (URL)” field. This method is best if you know the exact URL of the page or file.
- You can also use the “Browse” button to open a mini-browser that will allow you to navigate to the page you want to link to. In this browser, you can use the Address bar, or the links on the page to navigate to your target page. When you’ve reached the page you want, click “OK.” This method is helpful if you don’t know the exact URL of the page or file, or its placement in the directory structure.
- The “Choose” button allows you to browse through the directory structure and select a file, much like you would browse through files in the Windows operating system. There will be a visual preview of the page selected at the right of this window. When you’ve reached the page to which you wish to link, click “OK.” This method is helpful if you know in which directory the page or file is located, but aren’t sure of the exact URL or how to browse to it on the Web site.
You must click the “Advanced” button to “target frames” and to add section anchors to a page. For the SIPA site, PDF files, other media files and non SIPA Web site pages must be set to “New Window.” For all other SIPA Web pages, the “Target Frame” option should remain “Default.”
When you’ve typed, browsed to, or chosen a destination for your new link, a small visual preview of that page will appear in the “Preview” window at the right of the dialog box. You can click the “Refresh” button if the new page does not appear automatically. Once you are satisfied that you’ve chosen the correct page, click “OK.”
To create an e-mail address, select the email address or text and then use one of the linking methods above, but choose “E-mail Address” instead of “Browse to a Web Page.”
Then enter an e-mail address in the “E-mail Address Field,” and click “OK.”
Whether linking to Web pages or e-mail addresses, the text that will be hyperlinked appears (grayed out) in the “Link Text” window above the “URL” or “E-mail Address” field.
NOTE: SIPA Contribute users have not been given permission to insert images. If you would like to add an image to a page you are editing, please arrange to transfer the image to your administrator, who will upload your image file and insert it into a Web page according to your specifications.
NOTE: Your image may need to be re-formatted, in order to preserve the visual consistency of the SIPA Web site.
If you prefer to place your images on the page, send them to a SIPA administrator, who will upload them to Contribute for “Shared Access.” Once there, you may insert images when in Edit mode.
First, click the desired location in an editable (non-locked) region of the page to create an insertion point. You can then add the image by one of the following steps:
Click the “Image” icon in the
top bar of the Edit workspace. A drop-down menu will appear; select “From Shared Assets
…”
From the menu at the top of the Contribute interface, choose “Insert > Image >From Shared Assets…”
If you are unable to locate your image, contact a Contribute administrator. If you select an image file, a visual preview loads in the right side of the “Insert Image” window.
Once you’ve located the correct image, click “OK,” and the image will appear at the insertion point you selected earlier.
There are multiple ways to access the Insert Table screen. You can use the main menu to select “Insert > Table…” or “Table > Insert…” You can also click the Table icon on the tool bar.
Once in the Insert Table screen, you must indicate how many columns and how many rows you need for your table. The other default settings are fine.
If you are familiar with Word, you can create your table in Word and then copy it into Contribute. If you have copied a table from a Word document, you will need to access the Tables properties screen to make one modification. Select the table and then either right click it or click the Table icon on the on the toolbar to access it. Once there type the number "1" into the Border Thickness Field.
You can access options to modify existing tables by making a right-mouse click in that area.
You can also change your table by merging adjacent cells, by splitting a cell into any number of rows or columns, or by deleting rows and columns. These options are available on the pop-up menu that appears when you right mouse click your table in the area you want to change. The options include: Merge Cells, Split Cell..., Insert Row Above, Insert Row Below, Insert Column to the Left, Insert Column to the Right, Insert Multiple Rows or Columns..., Delete Row and Delete Column. The Insert Row Below and Insert Column to the Right options are also on the toolbar.
Text, Styling and List formatting options are also available when you right mouse click into a table.
NOTE: Tables are recommended only for strictly tabular data. Do not use them to structure a layout. You may want to check with your site administrator before inserting a table to make sure it’s is appropriate for your page.
Publishing Pages
To publish updates to the page that you have been editing, click the “Publish” button in the toolbar. You must be in edit mode to publish a page. When you publish a page, Contribute replaces the old version--online--with your updates.
Rollbacks
If you accidentally publish a page that has errors in it, and you wish to revert to a previous version of the page, contact your site administrator to use the “rollback” function of Contribute. This will cancel the new draft and erase all of the edits you made before publishing the page. The default number of rollbacks available for a page is 3.
NOTE: In most cases, it will be faster to just to edit the page again to fix any of problems on the page. Rollbacks should be reserved for major problems, such as accidental deletion of all of the content or something similarly catastrophic.
Sending Drafts for Review
If another Contribute user needs to review your edits before they are published, you can send your draft for review.
When you click the “Send for Review” button in the toolbar at the top of the Contribute interface (in Edit mode), a dialog box appears asking you to select, which user you would like to send the draft to. Check the “Send to another Contribute user” button, select the user, and check the “Notify recipient through e-mail” box. It may be helpful to enter a brief description of the changes you’ve made, so the reviewer can easily track the changes.
NOTE: Even though Contribute will allow you to send drafts for review to more than one recipient, do not send to multiple recipients. If you send drafts for multiple users to review, publishing and deleting rights for this draft are on a first-come, first-served basis. That is, once one of the draft recipients publishes or deletes the draft, none of the other recipients may edit, publish, or delete this draft. After this draft is published or deleted, however, any user may then choose to create a new draft of the newly published page and then send it for review.
NOTE: If you send yourself a draft to review (or send it to all the members of your role, Contribute will continue to show you the draft in Review mode. This is important, because it may seem as though nothing happened, when in fact, you have switched from Edit mode to Review mode. See “Reviewing Drafts” below.
Once you’ve selected the recipients and typed a message, click “Send.” A new message window from your default e-mail application will pop up. You can add any additional information to this, and then click the Send button.
After you’ve sent your draft for review, Contribute will leave Edit mode, and return to Browse mode. The buttons in the toolbar will change to “Draft Console” and “Undo Send.” Clicking “Draft Console” will allow you to see all drafts you’re editing, as well as those you’ve sent, and those you’re reviewing. See “The Draft Console” for more info.
If you choose to “Undo Send,” Contribute will attempt to take your draft back. If the draft recipient has not published or deleted your draft yet, that draft will no longer be available for publishing or review by that recipient. Instead, Contribute treats the draft as if you are reviewing it, and leaves you in Review mode. See “Reviewing Drafts” below.
If the recipient you specified has already published the draft you sent, you will not be able to Undo Send, and Contribute will notify you that this option is not available.
You can access your Draft Console from any mode in Contribute. A link to “Draft Console” is located in the left sidebar under the Pages panel at all times. The circular arrow icon is used for refreshing your draft console.
The Draft Console shows you all drafts that you currently have open for editing, all drafts that have been sent to you for review, and all drafts that you have sent, as well as the status of each of these drafts. Clicking on the title of a draft in the “Drafts I’m Editing” or “Drafts to Review” section will take you to that draft, in Edit or Review mode, respectively. If a draft is hyperlinked in the “Sent Drafts” section, clicking it will take you to that page in Browse mode.
Click on the “Refresh” icon to update your Draft Console. This is useful, as someone may have sent you a new draft to review during your current Contribute session, or even since you first opened the Draft Console.
NOTE: Keep in mind that whenever a draft appears in the “Drafts I’m Editing” or “Drafts to Review” section, the corresponding page is not editable by anyone else through Contribute. Be sure to check your Draft Console often, to insure that you don’t have too many outstanding drafts.
Clicking on a draft in the “Drafts to Review” section of the Draft Console, or sending yourself a draft to review will show you that draft in Review mode. Review mode allows you to publish, edit, delete this draft, or send it on for review by another Contribute user (perhaps back to the original sender).
NOTE: At first glance, “Review mode” appears similar to Edit mode. Even though the buttons at the top of the toolbar in Review mode appear very similar to those in Edit mode, there are some important differences. The main difference is that the draft is not editable, unless the “Edit Draft” button is clicked.
The “Publish” button works the same way as in Edit mode; click this button to publish the draft to the live site.
The “Send for Review” button also works the same way as in Edit mode. Keep in mind that if the original sender of the draft sent it to multiple recipients, one of the other recipients may publish or delete the draft before the user to whom you are sending this draft has a chance to review it. As mentioned previously, do not send drafts to multiple users.
Clicking “Edit Draft” while in Review mode moves the draft from the “Draft to Review” to the “Draft I’m Editing” section. Once you begin editing a draft, any other recipients of this draft will no longer be able to review this draft (or edit, publish, or delete it, for that matter), and it will disappear from the “Drafts to Review” section of their Draft console. Likewise, if another recipient edits a draft you have been sent to review, it will be removed from your Draft console, and you will no longer be able to review it.
When you choose to edit a page, a copy of that page is created on your local hard drive. This copy is called a draft. As you work, all edits and changes are made to your local draft--not the live page.
When a draft is created, the corresponding page on the live site becomes “locked,” so that other Contribute users cannot edit the page you are working on. This prevents users from overwriting each other’s work. A lock file is also created that stores information about the user editing the file.
When your page is published to the live server, the live page is overwritten with your local draft, and then your local draft and the corresponding lock file are both deleted, rendering the page editable for other Contribute users. If you choose to Discard Draft, you are working on, that draft and the lock file are deleted and any changes you made are removed and the page is restored to the state it was before you started editing it.
If you send your draft for review, the draft file is then written to the live server (in addition to the original page), so that the recipient(s) of your draft may review it. The recipient(s) can then publish, edit, or cancel the draft. If one of the draft recipients chooses to edit the draft, ownership of the draft and the lock file is then transferred to that user. He or she then has all the options available in Edit mode, and no other Contribute user may edit the page until the draft is published or cancelled.
If you are not finished editing your draft, but need to stop working on it before it is ready to be published, the “Save for Later” function is accessible through a button on the top bar of the edit window.
This allows you to browse to, edit, or review other pages while keeping
your draft in a virtual edit mode. You can also quit Contribute, and
it will save any drafts you are editing; you’ll be able to resume
editing them when you open Contribute again.
Any drafts you have chosen to “Save for Later”
will appear in the Pages panel at the left of the Contribute interface,
and also in the “Drafts I’m Editing” section of the Draft
Console.
NOTE: As long as you have open drafts, the corresponding
Web pages will still be locked, preventing other Contribute users
from editing those pages until you’ve published or cancelled
your drafts. Please check the Pages panel and/or your Draft Console
regularly to insure you haven’t accidentally left any drafts unpublished
(or un-cancelled), and try not to keep drafts open for long periods
of time, as other Contribute users may need to edit those pages.
NOTE: Any time you leave the Edit window before publishing
or canceling a draft, the draft is automatically saved for later,
and will appear in the Pages panel and your Draft Console. Other means
of leaving the Edit window without publishing or canceling include:
quitting Contribute while in edit mode, viewing your Draft Console,
and clicking on a different draft or browser page in the Pages panel.
It is, however, recommended that you use the “Save for later” button
whenever you want to quit Contribute or leave Edit mode without publishing
or canceling.
If you decide you do not want to publish a draft after you’ve begun to edit, click the “Discard Draft” button at the top bar of the “Edit” window. This will remove the draft from the Pages panel and the “Drafts I’m Editing” section of the Draft Console, and allow other Contribute users to edit the corresponding (unchanged) Web page.
When you click “Discard Draft,” a pop-up appears warning you that if you cancel the draft, all changes will be lost. Click “Yes” to continue canceling your draft, or “No” if you’d like to publish or continue to edit your draft.
NOTE: The “Discard Draft” function deletes the draft. If you have previously saved a draft for later, clicking “Discard Draft” will not revert the draft to the previously “saved” version, it will delete the draft and all changes you have made since you initially chose to edit the Web page.
Restricted Actions
In order to preserve the design and functionality of the SIPA Web site, several of the more powerful user features mentioned in the official Contribute documentation have been disabled for this site.
NOTE: SIPA Contribute users do not have permission to create new pages. If you think that a page needs to be created, please contact a SIPA Contribute administrator.
To have files uploaded to your site, contact the site administrator.
To have images added to your page, contact the site administrator.
Contribute’s image editing has been disabled, in order to preserve the integrity of the HTML code. Approved images should be edited outside of Contribute, then uploaded by a site administrator. Contact your administrator to have images formatted and uploaded to the site.
Troubleshooting
If you are experiencing difficulty connecting to your SIPA site, please contact the Contribute Administrator.
To use Contribute Help:
Choose Help > Adobe Contribute Help or click
the Help button in any dialog box for information about the dialog
box.
To learn more about Contribute, contact the site administrator or visit Adobe’s Contribute Support Center on the Web.