Content Management System Quick Start

The Purdue Content Management System (CMS) is a web-based system that allows users to easily access and update their web sites through a web browser (no need for FrontPage or Dreamweaver).  One or more faculty and/or staff members can be designated as web maintainers for an office, department, program area, etc., and they can make updates as needed.  Once updates are made within the CMS, the updates will propagate to the web server within 12 to 24 hours (or sooner if requested).  The system is easy to use and reduces the amount of work and time required to make simple web site updates.  As a result web sites can be kept "up-to-date" more easily and efficiently. (Note: Currently Internet Explorer version 6 (not 7) is fully supported on the Windows platform.  The Macintosh platform has limited functionality using FireFox and is not recommended.  Macintosh users can use "Parallels" to run a virtual instance of Windows XP for full functionality.  Contact EdIT for details:  edit@purdue.edu)

1. How to log in
2. How to open / edit a document
3. How to add a row to a table
4. How to create a hyperlink
5. How to add a bullet to a bulleted list
6. How to upload a file

1. How to log in
   
   To log into the Content Management System (CMS), go to this web address: https://cms.itap.purdue.edu.  Use your Purdue career account ID and PW in the login screen that appears.
   
   
   
   You may also be prompted to select the "Project".  Most users will need to select "College of Education" and then click "Open".  If you are working on a Center or Research web site, you may need to select a different CMS project:
   
   
   
   After logging in, PLEASE BE PATIENT ... there will be a short delay while Java loads***.  
   
   ***PLEASE NOTE: If this is the first time you have logged into the Content Management System, please click here for help with prompts you may see.
   
   
   
2. How to open / edit a document.
   
   After logging in, you should see a window with two tabs as show below.  You are interested in the Content tab:
   
   
   
   After you click the Content tab, the folders you can edit will appear:
   
   
   
   Click a folder on the left, and then click on the file named index on the right to begin editing.   Please wait for the Editor Window to fully open and load.  Once the TOOLBAR buttons appear in the Editor Window, the page has finished loading.  Please do not click anywhere in the Editor Window until the toolbar buttons appear.
   
   You can now begin editing text just as you do in Microsoft Word (add / edit / delete text, etc.).  If you need to "copy", "paste", or "cut" text within the Editor Window, you'll need to use: Ctrl+C to copy text, Ctrl+V to paste text, and Ctrl+X to cut text (the CMS has no "Edit" menu where those functions are typically found in Word).
   
   If you need to copy and paste text from a Word document, we recommend: (1) pasting the text into Notepad; and then (2) copying/pasting from Notepad into the CMS.  This will remove special hidden formatting characters that are not needed or supported in the Content Management System.
   
   
   
3. Add a row to a table.
   
   Follow these steps to add a row to a table (note that even if the dashed line does not appear around the new cells, you can still enter data into them):
   
   
   
   
   
4. How to create a hyperlink.
   
   Follow the steps 1 through 5 below (in red) to create an external hyperlink.  An external link points to a web page that does not exist within your web site but exists on another web site or web server.
   
   Note: If you are linking to a file that already exists within your web site in CMS (an Internal link) in step 3 you can click the "Internal" tab and locate your file in the folder/file list that appears, selecting the file with a checkbox.
   
   
   
   If you are creating a link to a file that is already in your web site, click the "Internal" tab below in step 3 instead of the "External tab"  and do not continue with steps 4 - 5. When you click the Internal tab, you can navigate to the folder and file you want to link to, and select the file with a checkbox.
   
   
   
   In the "Name:" field, enter any descriptive text, then enter the web address:
   
   
   Click "OK".
   
   
   
5. How to add a bullet to a bulleted list.
   
   Place the cursor at the end of an existing bullet and then press shift+enter twice to make a new bullet:
   
   
   
   
   
6. How to upload a file
   
   You can upload certain types of files (such as .DOC, .PDF, .HTML, etc.) into certain folders in the CMS.  Here's how...
   
   Log into the CMS and navigate to the folder where you want to upload a file.  Then click the "Upload" button on the toolbar:
   
   
   
   The "Upload File" dialog box will appear and you can click the "Browse" button to locate the file on your computer:
   
   
   
   Once you have located the file, click the OK button to transfer the file to the CMS server.  Once it has been uploaded, you can create a hyperlink to the new file as needed (for more on creating hyperlinks see #4 in this list).