Editing Pages

Editing the actual content takes place on the left. If you are on a PC, the window will contain something similar looking to Microsoft Word. The following buttons may not be familiar to a user of Word:

Action	Description
	Switch the editor in fullscreen mode (if there are no other editors in the fullscreen mode yet) If the mode is on, the corresponding button is drawing pressed Note: the mode is available in MSIE 5.5+ only
	Show preview of the content being edited in the separate window Use it to see, how the content will look in your brouser
	Cut selected portion of the document to clipboard
	Copy selected portion of the document to clipboard
	Paste content of the clipboard to the current cursor position
	Undo the previous change to the document
	Redo the last undone change to the document
	Set/unset bold style to selected text or to text of the current cursor position (unset if the text is bold and set otherwise)
	Set/unset italic style to selected text or to text of the current cursor position (unset if the text is italic and set otherwise)
	Set/unset underlined style to selected text or to text of the current cursor position (unset if the text is underlined and set otherwise)
	Make selected text or to text of the current cursor position striked/unstriked through (unstrike if the text has been striked before and strike otherwise)
	Set/unset superscript (upper index) style to selected text or to text of the current cursor position
	Set/unset subscript (lower index) style to selected text or to text of the current cursor position
	Align selected portion of the document or text of the current cursor position to the left
	Align selected portion of the document or text of the current cursor position to the center
	Align selected portion of the document or text of the current cursor position to the right
	Justify selected portion of the document or text of the current cursor position
	Convert selected text or text of the current cursor position to ordered list
	Convert selected text or text of the current cursor position to unordered list
	Outdent text of the current cursor position
	Indent text of the current cursor position
	Insert a horizontal line in the current cursor position
	Remove formatting of selected text or text of the current cursor position
	Calls a table dialog window to create a table in the current cursor position or to change properties of the selected table Table properties to set/modify: Rows -- number of rows in table; columns -- number of columns in table; width -- width of table; height -- height of table; backgroung color -- background color of table; backgroung image -- background image of table; padding -- padding around table cells; spacing -- spacing between table cells; border width -- width of border around table cells; border colorlight -- color of bottom and right borders of table cells; border colorlight -- color of left and top borders of table cells Cell properties to modify: Width -- width of the cell; height -- height of the cell; vAlign -- vertical alignment of the cell; color -- background color of the cell To edit properties of a table do right click on its border or select it and then click on the corresponding button in toolbar To edit table cell properties -- right click inside the cell To set colors, click on the corresponding checkbox or on the colored square left to the checkbox control To set background image, click on the corresponding checkbox or inside the space between the checkbox and text 'Image:' To unset color/image switch the corresponding checkbox off Note: fields 'rows' and 'columns' could not be modified -- use insert/delete row/column buttons instead
	Insert a row after the row where cursor currently is
	Delete the row where cursor currently is
	Insert a column after the column where cursor currently is
	Delete the column where cursor currently is
	Insert a cell after the cell where cursor currently is
	Delete the cell where cursor currently is
	Merge the current cell with the next cell if exists
	Split the current cell in two if the cells where merged earlier (ie colspan of the current cell is greater than 1)
Paragraph	Set a paragraph format for selected text or text of the current cursor position
Font	Change font of selected text or text of the current cursor position
Class	Set a stylesheet style for selected portion of the document
Size	Set font size for selected text or text of the current cursor position
	Change color of selected text or text of the current cursor position
	Change background color for selected text or text of the current cursor position
	Calls an image dialog window to create an image in the current cursor position or to change properties of the selected image Image dialog window consists of four parts: file manager (in the left part of the window), preview area (in top right corner), properties area (below preview area) and file uploading form (in the very bottom of the window) File manager shows tree of folders from the top folder for uploaded files. To see subfolders and files stored in a folder, click on the corresponding '+' image. To close contents of a folder, click on the corresponding '-' image. Name of the current folder for file uploading is highlighted in red color. To change folder for file uploading, click on name of the folder required. To create a new folder, click on 'create folder' link, input a name and press 'ok' button to confirm or 'cancel' to decline the action. Click on 'r'/'x' links to rename/delete file/folder. Note: folder could be deleted only if there are no folders/files in it When an image is selected in file manager or in file uploading form (in field for path to selected client-side file) its preview is shown in preview area Click on the button in uploading form to select a client-side file to upload Image properties to set/modify: Align -- horizontal alignment of image; width -- width of image; height -- height of image; border -- width of image border; vspace -- vertical space between image and text; hspace -- horisontal space between image and text; alt -- alternative text for image (is shown when mouse cursor is over the image) To edit properties of an image do right click on it or select it and then click on the corresponding button in toolbar.
	Calls a flash dialog window to create a flash in the current cursor position or to change properties of the selected flash object Flash properties to set/modify: Align -- horizontal alignment of flash; width -- width of flash; height -- height of flash; play -- if set flash starts playing on loading; loop -- if set flash is playing repeatedly; menu -- if set full flash menu is shown on right mouse click; bgcolor -- background color of flash; quality -- defines quality of flash playing Work with server/client side flash is the same as in image dialog window To edit properties of a flash do right click on it or select it and then click on the corresponding button in toolbar. Note: you can do right click on flash objects to edit them in MSIE 6.0+ only
	Calls a link dialog window to create a hyperlink on the selected text or control or to change properties of the selected existing hyperlink Link properties to set/modify: target -- defines a target for the link to be open in; link -- defines an URL for the link Note: to remove a link, open link dialog window and remove string of property 'link' To edit properties of a link select the whole link text or its part and then click on the corresponding button in toolbar. Work with server/client side files is the same as in image dialog window
	Paste MS Word formatted content from the clipboard in the current cursor position. This removes all empty tags and style formatting before pasting
	Show all invisible table borders. All tables and cells have broken gray borders This action do not change the document itself If the mode is on, the corresponding button is drawing pressed
	Calls a dialog window to insert a special character in the current cursor position Click on the desired symbol to insert it
	Calls a dialog window to insert a snippet (custom html code). The snippet selected is shown in preview window
	Shows this help window (if it is not open yet)
Source	Switch the editor between WYWIWYG and source code modes

Page Information.

Options in pane are basic details about the page such as the page title, what headline text should appear on the page, and if the page is live.

• The Page Name should be as short as possible. It will be listed in navigational menus and long names may be confusing to site visitors or look messy in menus.
• The Headline is the text that will appear at the top of the page, if Display Headline is turned on. Again, the shorter the headline, the easier it will be for readers to comprehend and the better it will look on the page.

• Page Status controls whether or not a page is "visible" to site visitors. If a page is live, it will be included in site navigation menus and users will be able to click through to the page. If a page is hidden it will not be shown in menus but users with a direct link to the page can still view the page.
  • Note: If a page is marked as inactive all of its child pages will also be hidden.

Think of a layout as a mini-page embedded in a larger page: it's a way to add structured content to a page without having to use any HTML code. For example, a particular page on the site needs to list press releases. Each press release has a press contact, release date, headline, subhead, copy, and a picture. The online release needs to look identical to the print version. Rather than spending time cutting and pasting HTML out from a web editor or MS-Word into Merlin, a layout can be used. The layout will ask for each specific piece of information and automatically format the output.

• Layouts must be created by SASS Web Services, but can then be added to any page by site editors.

• To add a layout to a page, simply select the kind of layout from the layout drop-down menu. Multiple layouts can be added to a page and reordered using the Move up/Move down options.

• Parent Page tells Merlin where this page should appear in your site. For example, if this page explains how to register an alcohol-related event, its parent page might be "Event Registration" which falls under CADE.

• Load Order determines in which order pages are displayed as menu options underneath a parent page.

• The Template option tells Merlin which style of page to use when displaying the page to site visitors. While it is possible to use any of the templates that appear in the drop-down menu, you most likely will want to pick the one most closely associated with the page you are creating/editing.

• Keywords help search engines provide better results when users search for your page. Enter words or phrases into the keyword box that describes the content of this page.
  • For example, if this page contains information about obtaining housing at GW, you may want to enter the keywords "Residential Life, Housing, Residence Halls, Dorms, Dormitories, Campus Housing, Apply, College, George Washington, University, Community Living, Learning Center, Wait List"

• Show Headline determines if a headline should be displayed on the page. If headlines are turned on, the text specified in the Page Information pane will be used.
  • It is usually a good idea to keep headlines on. One exception might be if you want to display a large graphical element on the top of the page that would serve the purpose of a headline.

• Show 2nd Naviagtion determines if a list of child pages should be displayed in the content area of the page. While showing a 2nd level of navigation may add clutter to the page content, it may be the only way to
  • Note: If you disable 2nd level navigation, you may make it impossible for a user to access the page's child pages. Conversely, enabling 2nd level navigation may allow visitors to access pages that should not be accessed directly. Make this decision carefully, if in doubt ask your Site Administrator for advice.

• Line Breaks determines if returns entered in the content window should be converted to HTML line breaks when visitors access the page.

  • Note: If this page contains structured text content like HTML tables, CSS, or JavaScript, make sure that line breaks are disabled. Otherwise the page may not behave or display as intended.

  • Note: if a page looks like it has one continuous line of text instead of paragraphs, enabling line breaks will probably fix the problem.

• Show Related determines if files, pictures, and other kinds of content from the page's category should be summarized on the page.

  • This feature can be useful if there are a large number of forms or other items in the page's category that should be attached to this page, however enabling this option may cause files not explicitly related to this page to be shown. When using this option, it is a good idea to preview the page before making it live.

• Show in Main Navigationdetermines whether the page will be shown in the top level navigation that is most likely displayed on every page.

• Delete Page cannot be done and will completely remove any information you have entered for that page. If you are deleting a parent page, all pages underneath it will be deleted as well. Make sure this is what you want to do!

• Save will save all your changes. Note that this does not automatically make the page active, and you will have to manually select that option.

Next: 4. Dynamic Content