MiOffices.com --- CMS Manual
You can add pages, delete pages, edit content of all you pages, and change the layout of your website using CMS, the Content Management System. It is easy to use the CMS. Access is provided after you login from www.MiOffices.com after clicking on "Login for Returning Customers" using your User ID and Password.
Login
After you login, in addition to your website, you see a column on the right hand side titled "CMS". This is your access to the website editing function of the CMS. Clicking on one of the links in the right hand column opens the corresponding function of the CMS. There is also a link to logout: Please ensure to click there when you are done. This provides security to the content of your website and updates it immediately for other internet users.
Templates
Choose templates for the design layout of your website. There are templates with a selection of color themes and pictures. Click on the one you like and click on "Save Templates". After saving, when you click on "Return" you will return to your website. Sometimes you need to refresh your browser to actually see the changes. In most cases, a short waiting time before hitting "Return" ensures that the correct files actually have been saved on the server and the changes are actualized immediately.
Note, to accelerate loading and reloading pages, browsers save pictures in a temporary internet folder. Do not be surprised if you change text colors or delete images that the change seems not to take effect. Make sure you leave the editor after clicking on the "Save" button ("Save Page Content", or "Save Appearance", etc.). If still no effect takes place, click on the "Refresh" button in your browser, e.g. "View", then "Refresh" on Internet Explorer Versions 5 to 7.
Appearance
There are eleven items to choose for determining the appearance of your website. Appearance allows to use different colors for the four different areas on each of the web pages. Note that if a picture is chosen for the area, the background color will not show where the picture is located. The eleven areas in Appearance are
- Header: The area at the top of the page.
- Top-Nav: The area of the top horizontal navigation bar right below the header area.
- Left: The area to the left of the content area with the side bar navigation links.
- Content: The central area where the main content of the page is located.
- Footer: The area at the bottom of the page.
- Header-Text: Choose the color for the text in the header area at the top of the page.
- Top-Nav-Text: Choose the text color in the top horizontal navigation bar.
- Left-Text: Choose the text color in left-side navigation bar.
- Content-Text: Choose the text color in the central area where the main content of the page is located.
- Footer-Text: Choose the color of the text in the footer area.
- Window: Choose the background color of the whole window area where the webpage is located.
Settings
Clicking on "Settings" in the CMS navigation bar in the right-hand side column brings you to the page, where you can add, delete and edit the settings valid for your whole website. Those settings are
- Site Name: This is the text which appears on every page in the header area.
- Footer Text: This is the text which appears in the footer area of every page.
- Key Words: A collection of key words to improve exposure of your website to search engines.
- Description: A description of the website for search engines.
- Robots: These are control commands for search engines.
Page Content Editor
The Page Content Editor has an additional menu bar right above the content which you can edit. You can simply type text in the content area. Common editing commands are available for efficient text design:
- Delete button deletes the character to the right of the cursor.
- Backspace button deletes the character to the left of the cursor.
- Select text with shift-arrow keys (right, left, up, down).
- Select the text from the current cursor position to the beginning of the line: shift-Home.
- Select the text from the current cursor position to the end of the line: shift-End.
- Control-C after selecting text copies the selection to the clip board.
- Control-V pastes the selection from the clip board.
- Control-X cuts the selected text.
- Control-Z undoes the previous action.
Several text formatting options are available from the text formatting menu bar above the content. Hovering the mouse pointer over an item in the menu bar displays tip text explaining the item:
- B: formats text bold.
- I: formats text italic.
- U: underscores text.
- Left align >
- Center align
- Right align
- Text justify
- Font size presents a pull down menu of the six available font sizes.
- Font family presents a pull down menu of the nine available font types.
- Font format presents a pull down menu of the eight available font groups.
- Insert Ordered List does not work at all.
- Insert Unordered List does not work at all.
- Indent Text does not work at all.
- Remove Indent does not work at all.
- Add link adds a link to another page of your website or to another URL
- Remove link removes the link
- Add image: Enter a valid image, such as "../images/ManThinking.jpg" into the URL field in the dialog box, click on "Submit Query". This will insert the picture into the content area of the page. You can add "Alt Text", the alternate text, which is displayed if a browser cannot display the image. You can enter a fixed image width, which lets you adjust the size of the picture while keeping the aspect ratio. You can enter a border width, which adds a black border frame to the picture. You can choose from "default", "left", and "right" where in the text the image will appear.
- Subscript sets the selected text as subscript
- Superscript sets the selected text as superscript
- Strike through
- Horizontal rule
- Change text color
- Change background color
New Page
Adds a new empty page to your website using the same layout of the other pages. The menu lets you name the page and gives you choices for the placement of the link(s) to this new page. You can change the placement of the link(s) any time by using the "Page Up / Down" command.
Upload
Here you can upload pictures and files from your computer for use with your website. You can click on the name of an image in the left hand column to view the image. The image location in the right hand column is what you can copy into the URL of the dialog box when using the page content editor to insert an image.
Page Up / Down
In the Page Up / Down menu you can manage all your pages on the server. You can change the order of the links to the pages. You can delete pages edit them. All CMS commands are available in the top navigation bar.
Delete
Clicking on Delete deletes the current page instantly. Please note that a deleted page cannot be retrieved after deletion.
Renaming a Page
You can rename a page after you have created its content by using the "Page Content" link and typing in the Page Name field of the editor. You can get there alternatively by going to the "Page Up / Down" link and clicking there on "Edit" by the page you want to rename. When you return to your site, you will get the message "This Page has been Removed or Renamed." To get the renamed page back into the website, use FTP to lookup the /cms/data/pages directory and rename the page's php file the same way you did in the CMS. This is recommended only for advanced users.
Logout
Here you can logout from the Content Management System. It is highly recommended that you logout before closing your browser when you are done. This provides security to the content of your website and updates it immediately for other internet users.