• Name: This name will become part of the document's web address. It should be short, descriptive and contain no underscores or mixed case. For example, "audit-report-2003". If you do not provide a name, one will be created for you.

• Title: a short title that will be shown at the top of the page, in breadcrumbs links, in the search interface, in the title of the browser and so on. This field is required.

• Description: a short lead in to the document, usually no more than 20 words to introduce the document and provide a teaser for the remainder of the document.

• Body Text:  is the area you enter the text of the document.

If you selected the Epoz editor (see picture below )in your preferences, type your text in the editing space provided. Roll your mouse over the tool bar items to identify the  tools you wish to use.


^{Epoz text editor}

If you selected None for no editor in your preferences then you will be given a choice of three formats to enter the content.   Choose the format for this document using the radio buttons below the body text. The formats are:

• Structured Text: the default setting. Structured text is a format for taking plain text and producing HTML without having to learn or type HTML. For more information on Structured Text please see the following links: An Introduction to Structured Text and Structured Text Help

• HTML:  HTML can be entered.

• Plain text: is plain ordinary text with no mark up.

Uploading a Document:  If you already have your document as a document file on your computer you can upload this instead of the body text. Use the upload button at the bottom of the page.

Once you have completed the editing of your document, click on the save button. If you correctly edited the document you will be returned to the document view and you can see how the document will be seen. You can edit it again by selecting the edit tab. If  however there is a problem you will be shown the edit page with your errors highlighted, at this point your changes have not been applied.

^{Information on the status of your document will appear once the save button has been pressed}

Adding and editing other forms of content:

To add content you must be logged into the portal:

File: To add a file,  click on  My Folder  located at the top of the site  in the navigation area. Click on file from the drop down add new item list. .A file is any file that can be uploaded from your file system. This could be a plain text file or any sort of document such as Microsoft Word, Excel Spreadsheet, Power Point Presentation, Acrobat PDF and so on.

Link:  Links are the primary way for users to share information in other areas of the internet. These links or URL's can be internet resources or local resources. Please note that if you are going to link to a internet resource you should preface your link with the full address (e.g. http://www.example.com.au) otherwise your link will possibly be incorrect.

Folder:  To add a folder, click on  My Folder  located at the top of the site  in the navigation area. Folders are the simplest and most powerful mechanism for organizing content. A Folder is a container that can house any sort of content, such as files, or documents. By default all types of content can be added to a Folder.

News Item:  To add a News Item,  click on  My Folder  located at the top of the site  in the navigation area. Click on news (not document) from the drop down add new item list. For a News Item to show up in the News section it must be in the published state. Published News Items show up in reverse chronological order in the News tab. You can submit a news item to the general site or to a community you are a member of.

Events:To add an event,  click on  My Folder  located at the top of the site  in the navigation area. Click on event not document from the drop down add new item list when you add an event. You can submit events to the general site or to a community you are a member of.

Publishing  your document  

One of the most powerful features of the portal is the ability to control the visibility of the content.  This is often referred to as workflow.  Whenever content is created it has a publishing status.  By default all new items to the site are private.  The other states are visible, pending and published.

When first added to the site all  documents,  files  and images are private.  This allows you to be able to edit your content over as long a period as you want without having to worry about your document showing up to others.

When you are satisfied with your document, you will need to either make your document visible or  publish your document. To do this, go to the Publishing heading on the left hand side navigation bar (see picture below) and click on the words make visible. This means that people can see your content but won't be able to search for it.  The visible state  means people can access the item but it will not show up in the site navigation tree. Visible documents are available through the search feature and by linking directly to their URL's.

^{The left hand side navigation bar with the heading publishing}

Submitting for Publication:
When you want to make your content accessible to people using the portal navigation, your content needs to be published.  Before it can be published it must be submitted to the portal reviewers.  This stops abusive, offensive and defamatory content from being available through the portal.

In this site you can submit an item for publication to the general area or to a community you are a member of.

To submit your content for review. Click on publish in the left hand navigation bar for submission to the general site or to publish to community depending on which community you wish to publish to.

Your content will now be in the pending state and a reviewer will be able to review the content. The content reviewer/coordinator will review your content and decide whether or not to publish your content.

Beginners Tips/Traps

If you wish to add content quickly without bothering with html use the Epoz Editor to add content.

If people complain they can't see something you have added to the site. Go back and look at the content in your folder  and make sure you made it visible.

By default all content is private. Images must be made visible.

If you wish to add a News Item. Click on News from the drop down add new item  list, do not add a document.

If you wish to add an Event. Click on Events from the drop down add new item  list, do not add a document.

Community Coordinators Help

Structuring Content in a Community

Best practice when setting up your community is to set up some folders to place your content into.  For Example:


  ^{Content for this Community is placed in neat folders}

By having your content neat and tidy it will be faster for you as your content grows and much easier for others coordinating your area.


^{Descriptions for each folder helps people file content in the correct area}

For instance the Events folder is the place for the coordinator/s to add events to. Coordinators could also add an event in their My Folder as well.   Whilst it is possible to add an event from any editable area, placing the content here keeps the top folder of this community neat and functional. Important you must click on events from the drop down add new item list when you add an event.  Failure to do this means your event will not be viewable in the events link for your community and the event will not be added to The Source's calendar.

It is a similar process the News folder. You can in fact add news from anywhere you have access to the site. But in order to keep your content manageable it makes sense to make new news items in a specific folder. Remember, however when you wish to add a news item you click on News from the drop down add list. Failure to do this will result in the news not being viewable to your community

Adding Members to a Private Community

Click on configure portal in the blue navigation bar at the top of the screen.
Click on Users and Groups
Type in the name of the member you wish to edit
Click on edit user
You will be taken to a screen where you can see the members details including their email address.
Click on the Group Membership tab
You will see a listing of all the groups on The Source. Select the checkbox of the group you wish to add your member to.
Click on use selected
The next screen will confirm that your member is now added to this group.

Version: 1.0 19th August, 2004
This on-line help has been compiled from parts of the  Plone.org and Community Enabler documentation. The Source has some new and different elements to those documents so parts of this document are completely new.
 
If you would like to see a particular aspect of The Source explained in more detail please contact me:  Jan Smith

The Source was customised using  Plone an  open source product of Zope.  For more technical  documentation on Plone and it's usage see  here