CMS Tutorial

You can use any of the Cascade Server buttons on this website or type in https://cascade02.tarleton.edu:8443.

Related Video Modules

• Logging into Cascade (Video) | Logging into Cascade (Handout)

Absolutely! We try to update them as quickly as possible when Cascade Server is upgraded. Old problems are solved and things you might be used to are moved, so check these out periodically for changes.

• Mini Cheat Sheet
• 4-Page Comprehensive Cheat Sheet

Actually, even seasoned web designers need refreshers due to the advancement of web technologies, so the following presentation is for everyone!

Don't worry, though. This will only cover the basics: headings, paragraphs, links, images, lists, and tables. And it will do this while teaching you the proper and accessible way to create content on a website.

HTML code is offered in the presentation, but you can ignore it and just focus on the concepts your first time through it.

• Web Accessibility: The Basics

Homepages for any folder within your website must have the System Name of "index". index is the default page when you type in a web address like http://www.tarleton.edu.  Behind the scenes, it really means http://www.tarleton.edu/index.html.

Do not include ".html" or ".htm" in the System Name of a page in the CMS.  The CMS takes care of file extensions during the publishing process.

Note: You may notice file names in your file explorer that go by "1 column page" or "1x1".  These need to be renamed to abide by the System Name naming conventions. Check out the topic Edit Content below for further information.

Related Video Modules

• Publishing a Page (Video) | Publishing a Page (Handout)
• Publishing a Folder (Video) | Publishing a Folder (Handout)
• Renaming a File (Video) | Renaming a File (Handout)

Make sure you publish first before you check to see your changes on the live site.

Related Video Modules

• Publishing a Page (Video) | Publishing a Page (Handout)
• Publishing a Folder (Video) | Publishing a Folder (Handout)

Give the CMS some time to go through the Publishing Queue.  If you are concerned where your items are on the queue, go to the "whirlpool" icon  and select Publisher then Active Jobs.

Related Video Modules

• Publishing a Page (Video) | Publishing a Page (Handout)
• Publishing a Folder (Video) | Publishing a Folder (Handout)

This is an option in your settings, under My Settings. The menu below is on the top right of the screen in Cascade.

Make sure "Go to publish status page" is checked:

Links located in the Tarleton State University logo area are part of the common layout for all web pages on the site.  As these are global, this area is not editable.

The CMS helps you dynamically created links on the Left Navigation. 

Each page has an option to be included in the Left Navigation. 

External link objects within the main folder of your site are automatically a part of your navigation. 

A folder with pages or external link objects can also be included in the navigation. 

This in turn creates a sub level of links on the Left Navigation. You can also order the links on the Left Navigation by viewing its folder.

The Display Name is what appears in the Left Navigation. If you do not see this option while editing, click the Metadata tab (second row under Edit) to find Display Name.

You can edit the Display Name of the following objects:

• Pages
• Folders
• External Links

If Web Services gave you dynamic left navigation, where you can create new pages and see them automatically appear in your left navigation, then you can reorder the "links" on the folder containing those "links".

Related Video Modules

• Reordering Left Navigation (Video) | Reordering Left Navigation (Handout)

The difference depends on where the page or file is located. If this is something you have added inside Cascade, then you will be linking to something Internal. If this is something outside of Cascade, like a website or email address, then you will be linking to something External.

Related Video Modules

• Linking to an Internal Page or File (Video) | Linking to an Internal Page or File (Handout)
• Linking to an External Page or File (Video) | Linking to an External Page or File (Handout)

Typically, you should be copying and pasting a page you see on a browser into this field in Cascade, however, at times you'll need to type things out:

• Email, in particular, requires you to start off with a specific URI scheme: mailto:
• Content that Web Services has made secure for you should not be linked to directly from Cascade but should use the URI scheme: https://

Link Types (URI Schemes)

Scheme	Purpose	Example
file	Typically used to access files on an internal server; would require user to have VPN access	file://[host]/path file://storageserver/public/filename.doc
ftp	File Transfer Protocol used for uploading files to a website account	ftp://[username]@[host] ftp://jtarleton@www.tarleton.edu
http	Hypertext Transfer Protocol used for normal website viewing (public sites)	http://[host] http://www.tarleton.edu
https	Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure used for private website viewing requiring authentication	https://[host] https://www.tarleton.edu
mailto	Email addresses; opens programs such as Outlook	mailto:[username]@[host] mailto:jtarleton@tarleton.edu
tel	Telephone numbers, opens phone applications on smart phones	tel:[phonenumber] tel:+1-254-968-9000

Cascade Server is kind of like a draft site. You can make edits, add content, and preview most of it within Cascade, and then you can publish it all to the live website. So there's basically three steps: 1) upload the file, 2) link to the file, and 3) publish the file.

Related Video Modules

• Uploading a File (Video) | Uploading a File (Handout)
• Linking to an Internal File (Video) | Linking to an Internal File (Handout)
• Publishing a File (Video) | Publishing a File (Handout)

Thankfully, if you already had the old file linked on a number of pages, you won't lose that link when you use this method for updating your files. It really is two steps: 1) update the file and 2) publish the file.

Related Video Modules

• Updating a File (Video) | Updating a File (Handout)
• Publishing a File (Video) | Publishing a File (Handout)

Thankfully, if you already had the page or file linked on some pages, you won't lose that link when you use this method for moving your files. You will need to publish your entire website to make sure everything is still linked, though.

Note: You can move pages, files, folders - pretty much anything you see in Cascade to better organize your website using the tutorial below.

Related Video Modules

• Moving a Page or File (Video) | Moving a Page or File (Handout)
• Publishing a Folder (Video) | Publishing a Folder (Handout)

That all depends on where the page or file is located. If this is something you have added inside Cascade, then you will be linking to something Internal. If this is something outside of Cascade, like a website or email address, then you will be linking to something External.

Related Video Modules

• Linking to an Internal Page or File (Video) | Linking to an Internal Page or File (Handout)
• Linking to an External Page or File (Video) | Linking to an External Page or File (Handout)

Name	Use	Example	Location
Display Name	Name seen on the Left Navigation of a web page	Registrar Home	Under Content as Inline Metadata OR Under Metadata
System Name	Name seen in the web address (see the what is allowed in the System Name in the question below)	http://www.tarleton.edu/registrar/index.html	Under System
Title	Name seen in the Title Bar of the Internet Browser	Registrar – Tarleton State University	Under Content as Inline Metadata OR Under Metadata

File Type (s)	Use	Good Example	Bad Example
Pages, Folders, &  Files	Do not include spaces or special characters (i.e., !@#$%^&*()[]+=,<>?/\|~{})	page_name name-of-page page1 index dept mission	page name name%20of%20page page[1] page(1) Department's_Pages Mission_Updated-January 29, 2009
Files	Must include file extension (i.e., doc, pdf)	mydog.jpg	mydog
Pages	Do not include file extension (this is done for you)	index	index.html
External Links	Can use spaces, but keep “phrases” short	College for all Texans	College for all Texans: Updated on January 29, 2009

Related Video Modules

• Renaming a File (Video) | Renaming a File (Handout)
• Uploading a File (Video) | Uploading a File (Handout)

When you make a change to an asset and submit it, the Cascade Server automatically saves the previous version, so you can check out about 20 versions of pages and files within Cascade.

1. Select the page or file that needs to be fixed.
2. Then click on More, and then Versions.
3. Once there, you will see a list of versions for that particular file, including who made the changes and any comments. The check icon denotes the current active version. If you click on a version below the active version, you will see a list of options allowing you to navigate through the history. You can also compare the version you selected with the current active one to see what changes were made.
4. Once you determine which version you want to replace, click on Activate.

Note: You have not deleted the previous active version. That version is now a part of the same history of the asset. However, if you wish to remove it, select that version and delete it.

Let's consider the scenario of changing a 1 column page called "essentials" into a 2 column page called "essentials".

1. Click on the folder "essentials" is located in.
2. Go to New --> [Your Department] --> 2 column page.
3. If you know any of your content right now, you can add it during this Create Page process, but make sure to go to System Name next.
4. Change the System Name to "essentials_new".
5. If you still need the "essentials" page to copy and paste content into the "essentials_new" page, get that now and then go to Move/Rename on the "essentials" page.
6. In Move/Rename, change the System Name to "essentials_DEL".
7. Click Edit, then System for "essentials_DEL".
8. In System, take the check off both the Publish and Index check boxes. This assures that (a) your old page does not publish and (b) your old page is not included in your Left Navigation.
9. Go back to the "essentials_new" page and click Move/Rename.
10. In Move/Rename, change the System Name to "essentials".

You can now publish your site as normal.

It's more like a WYSIWIGA (What You See Is What You Get... Almost).  It shows you most of what you'll see on the actual website when it is published, however, not everything shows up properly in this component.  You'll need to View and Preview the page before accepting that your webpage looks just the way you want it.

WYSIWIG has many of the properties of your typical word processor and functions just about the same way.  You can spell check, find and replace, and format your content (images, text, tables, and lists).

Often times, we include on our pages a little asterisk (*) and a note at the bottom that this particular file is a such-and-such file and you can view it view a certain free downloadable program.  We've cut down on the verbiage by 

1. Placing the file name in an unordered list.
2. Selecting the list item ("li" in the path).
3. Then selecting the Style representing the file type:

• htmldoc - Webpage
• pdfdoc - Adobe Acrobat PDF file
• exceldoc - Microsoft Excel file
• worddoc - Microsoft Word file
• tamuspage - Texas A&M University System page
• swfdoc - Adobe Flash document (page that is strictly a slideshow or video)
• pptdoc - Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation file

These styles are available for your use, however, use styles with moderation.

red	Tarleton State University
positive	Tarleton State University
cranberry	Tarleton State University
apricot	Tarleton State University
melon	Tarleton State University
bluebonnet	Tarleton State University
required	Tarleton State University
warning	Tarleton State University
caution	Tarleton State University
quote	Tarleton State University
instructions	Tarleton State University
information	Tarleton State University

Other Styles

Style Name	Result
noborder	Takes the grey border off the table.
alluppercase	Takes normal text and uppercases it.
lower	Takes normal text and lower cases it.
list2column	Makes a list appear across two columns.
list3column	Makes a list appear across three columns.
list2column-no-bullets	Makes a list appear across two columns without the bullets showing.
list3column-no-bullets	Makes a list appear across three columns without the bullets showing.

Web Services has created a number of templates for use on your websites.  Keep in mind that content areas can contain anything (i.e. text, images, slideshows).

Sample Pages

General Pages

• 1 Column Example
  (First Row has 1 column)
• 2 Column Example
  (First Row has 2 columns)
• 1x1 Example
  (First Row has 1 column, Second Row has 1 column)
• 1x2 Example
  (First Row has 1 column, Second Row has 2 columns)
• 1x3 Example
  (First Row has 1 column, Second Row has 3 columns)
• 1x4 Example
  (First Row has 1 column, Second Row has 4 columns)
• 2x2 Example
  (First Row has 2 columns, Second Row has 2 columns)

Extra Pages

• FAQs with Categories
  (Frequently Asked Questions that need to be organized in categories)
• FAQs
  (Frequently Asked Questions are specific to a subject)

1. Click on the folder "[Your Department]" or any folder within it where you want the page located.
2. Go to New --> [Your Department] --> [pick a page template (i.e. 2 column page)].
3. If you know any of your content right now, you can add it during this Create Page process, but make sure to go to System Name next.
4. Change the System Name to something meaningful but without spaces or special characters. You can use "-" or "_" in place of spaces.