Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Editing in Drupal

This page contains materials to help you edit content in Drupal. Information can be found for logging on, adding content, editing existing content, creating new pages, setting permissions, etc. Further, each set of instructions will be accompanied by a link to a step-by-step flash tutorial incorporating screen shots to help you complete each task. 

Logging On

Before you can begin creating or editing content, you must first log on to the appropriate server.
  1. Navigate to the page you wish to edit.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the left column and click the "Site Editor Log On" link.
    1. You are now at the "Middlebury College Central Authentication Service."
  3. Your NetID and password are the same as for your Middlebury email account. Type them in the appropriate fields.
  4. Click the "LOGIN" button
    1. You are returned to the page you were about to edit.
  5. You may begin editing.

Editing Interface

There is currently the option to choose from one of two editing interfaces, the "old" editing interface, and the "new" editing interface. In order to enable the new editing interface click the link in the old edit console that says "Try the new Edit Console". At the next page check the check box for "Use the new Edit Console" and hit the "Save" button at the bottom. You can switch back to the old console at any time by choosing "Old Edit Console" under the "Help" heading.
The new interface discards the tabbed navigation in favor of displaying the various options under 4 main headings, each of which contain a few sub items as listed below:
  1. Content
    1. View
    2. Add
    3. Reorder
  2. Page
    1. Settings
    2. Copy/Move
    3. Delete
  3. Sub-pages
    1. Add Sub-page
    2. Reorder Menu
  4. Help
    1. Documentation
    2. Old Edit Console
The instructions below reference the old editing interface, but you are encouraged to give the new editing interface a try. It's simply a different layout of the same information and you should be able to follow along with these instructions using either interface. The new interface was designed to be clearer to understand at a glance and provides a clear view of all the available options.

Creating and Managing Pages

Most departments have had their architecture built out for them, but there are still pages that must be created. Where a page should appear within your architecture determines where it needs to be created. 2nd tier pages should be created from your main page, 3rd tier pages should be created from the 2nd tier page they supplement, and so on. If done properly, your new page will appear in the proper section of your navigation bar.

Adding a Page

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the parent of the page you are creating.
  3. Find the "Edit Console" in the top left of your window. Click the "Settings" tab.
    1. A new list of options appears.
  4. Click the "Add sub-page" tab.
  5. Enter a name for your page in the "Page name" field. The name should be descriptive because:
    • The page name is what appears at the top of your window.
    • The page name appears in the navigation bar.
    • The page name is used in compiling search results.
  6. Enter a URL in the "URL" field.
    • The URL determines the web address for the page.
  7. Scroll down and click the "Create sub-page" button.
    1. The screen now shows your blank page and asks you to add content.

Page Settings

Page Settings refers to a page's properties. These include the name, URL, permissions, appearance, and location in the navigation bar.

Page Name and URL

If at any time you wish to improve upon your choices for the page name and URL, you are able to do so.
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page who's name and/or URL you wish to change.
  3. Find the "Edit Console" in the top left of your window. Click the "Settings" tab.
    1. The screen now shows the page's current name and URL.
  4. To change the name and URL, simply modify the text in the appropriate fields.
  5. Scroll down and click the "Save settings" button.
    1. Above the text fields, a message appears to notify you that the settings have been saved.
  6. To return to viewing the page, go to the "Edit Console" and click the "Contents" tab.

Permissions

Permissions determine what access users have to the page. These range from not even being able to access the page, all the way to full editing privileges.

Hierarchy

Information on the page level permissions hierarchy can be found at Monster Menus Permissions.

How to Change

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page whose permissions you wish to edit.
  3. Find the "Edit Console" in the top left of your window. Click the "Settings" tab.
    1. The screen now shows 3 text fields.
  4. Below the text fields, click the "Permissions" link.
    1. The page owner's name and 4 new links appear.
  5. Click the link of the permissions level you wish to edit
  6. There are 2 ways to add users to this permissions set. You can:
    • Add individuals.
      1. Use the text field to search for a user. As you type, matches will appear below.
      2. Click on a person's name to add them to the list.
    • Add groups.
      1. Click the "Add" button.
        1. A new window pops up.
      2. Use the links to navigate to the group you wish to add.
      3. Once you've found the group, click the "Select" link to the right of the group's name to add them to the list.
        1. The extra window disappears.
  7. To change another permissions level, click its link and repeat the previous step.
  8. When you are done, scroll down and click the "Save settings" button.
    1. All the menus close and above the text fields, a message appears to notify you that the settings have been saved.
  9. To return to viewing the page, go to the "Edit Console" and click the "Contents" tab.

Appearance

What does it look like?

Theme

General appearance

Menu Appearance

Does it show up in the nav bar?

Menu Order

When creating a page in Drupal, it is automatically placed in the appropriate level of navigation. However, pages are inserted in alphabetical order by default. It is important to be able to organize navigation in the order you want.
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page who's menu you wish to reorder.
  3. Find the "Edit Console" in the top left of your window. Click the "Settings" tab.
    1. A new list of options appears.
  4. Click the "Reorder menu" tab.
    1. The screen now shows the page name of each page appearing in your navigation, each with the standard move icon to its left.
  5. Use the icons to drag the page names into the order you want them to appear in navigation.
  6. When you're done, click the "Save configuration" button.
    1. A message appears to notify you that the menu has been reordered.
  7. To return to viewing the page, go to the "Edit Console" and click the "Contents" tab.

Page Regions

Most of the content you create will be added to the "content" region in the middle of the page. However, you can add other editable regions to your pages, enabling you to use more of the space on this design.

Sidebar

Sidebar content is created using the "Text for Right Column" block. This block will look up in the page tree until it find a page with content in the block. That content will then be displayed at the current level of the tree. To override Text for Right Column content from a higher level in the tree, create a new page at the current level with this menu appearance.
For example, if this is your site hierarchy the content on the rightcolumn page will be displayed in the sidebar of all three departments:
  • Home
    • Academics
      • rightcolumn (Using Text for Right Column menu appearance)
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Economics
To create a custom sidebar for Chemistry, create a new rightcolumn page at that level:
  • Home
    • Academics
      • rightcolumn (Using Text for Right Column menu appearance)
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
        • rightcolumn (Using text for Right Column menu appearance)
      • Economics
To create a page using this menu appearance:
  1. Navigate to the level in the site information architecture where you wish to create sidebar content.
  2. Click Settings
  3. Click Add sub-page
  4. Enter a page name. We recommend "Sidebar Content", but you may use whatever name you like.
    **NOTE: If the page name already has a name, go back and click on the ADD SUB-PAGE TAB.
  5. Enter a URL name. We recommend "sidebar", but you may use whatever name you like.
    **NOTE: If it already has a url, go back and click on the ADD SUB-PAGE TAB.
  6. Expand Appearance.
  7. Expand Menu appearance.
  8. Under "Location on screen" choose "Text for right column".
  9. Make other page settings, such as Permissions as you normally would for a new page.
  10. Click Create sub-page.
You can now add content to the sidebar using content types as you normally would for page content. The content you add here will be displayed in the Sidebar. You should also now see an Edit link in the Sidebar. This will allow you to return to content editing for Sidebar content at this level and any other where this Text for Right Column page will be displayed.

Carousel

Created using the "Carousel" block, this region displays content in a scrolling bar at the bottom of the page. This block will look up in the page tree until it find a page with content in the block. That content will then be displayed at the current level of the tree. To override Carousel content from a higher level in the tree, create a new page at the current level with this menu appearance.
For example, if this is your site hierarchy the content on the rightcolumn page will be displayed in the sidebar of all three departments:
  • Home
    • Academics
      • carousel (Using Carousel menu appearance)
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Economics
To create a custom sidebar for Chemistry, create a new carousel page at that level:
  • Home
    • Academics
      • carousel (Using Carousel menu appearance)
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
        • carousel (Using Carousel menu appearance)
      • Economics
To create a page using this menu appearance:
  1. Navigate to the level in the site information architecture where you wish to create carousel content.
  2. Click Settings
  3. Click Add sub-page
  4. Enter a page name. We recommend "Carousel", but you may use whatever name you like.
  5. Enter a URL name. We recommend "carousel", but you may use whatever name you like.
  6. Expand Appearance.
  7. Expand Menu appearance.
  8. Under "Location on screen" choose "Carousel".
  9. Make other page settings, such as Permissions as you normally would for a new page.
  10. Click Create sub-page.
You can now add content to the carousel using content types as you normally would for page content. The content you add here will be displayed in the Carousel. Scroll to the left edge of the Carousel to see the Edit link for the Carousel. This will allow you to return to content editing for content at this level and any other where this Carousel page will be displayed.

Adding Static Content

There are 3 types of static content you can add to your page: Basic Content, File upload, Story. While basic content (and occasionally stories) will be the load-bearing portion of your pages, some of its features cannot be taken advantage of without first knowing how to upload files so we will cover this first.

File upload

You can upload the following file types to your site: csv, dcr, doc, docx, gif, gz, html, jp2, jpeg, jpg, kml, kmz, pdb, pdf, pmf, png, ppt, pptx, rtf, sit, tar, txt, wpd, xls, xlsx, zip.
When uploading images, they appear on the page with the title and caption you assign them. Other types of files also show the title and caption, but rather than show the file, a link is provided to access it.
Each department has had a special page created for them for file uploads. It is highly encouraged that all uploaded files be placed on this page so everyone knows where to find them. The instructions below assume that this advice has been followed.
Note: Any sub-pages of the "File Uploads" page will also be hidden. You can use this functionality to organize your files on different pages with descriptive titles to further help you know which files are where.

Creating

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the "File Uploads" page.
  3. Locate the "Edit Console" in the top left of the screen. Click the "Add" tab.
    1. The screen now lists all the content types.
  4. Click the "File upload" link.
    1. The screen now shows the "File upload" editing interface.
  5. In the "Title" text field, give your file a title.
    • A title is optional, but recommended.
  6. In the "Caption" text field, type a caption.
    • A caption is optional.
  7. To upload a file, click the "Browse..." button.
    • A window to navigate your hard drive appears.
  8. Find the file you wish to upload and click the "Open" button.
    • The window disappears.
  9. If necessary, alter the appearance, set publish dates, and set permissions lists.
  10. When you are done uploading the file, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Basic Content

The "Basic Content" type will most likely be the content type you use most. It consists of a title and a body section.

Creating

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page you wish to add content to.
  3. Locate the "Edit Console" in the top left of the screen. Click the "Add" tab.
    1. The screen now lists all the content types.
  4. Click the "Basic Content" link.
    1. The screen now shows the "Basic Content" editing interface.
  5. In the "Title" text field, give your content a title. The title should:
    • Accurately convey what information can be found in this content.
    • Front load key words. Users often read only the first few words of a title before deciding if the information they want can be found there.
  6. In the "Body" text field, type your content.
  7. To style an opening paragraph, highlight the text to style and use the "Styles" dropdown menu. The opening paragraph should:
    • Summarize what can be found in this content. Users rarely read more than a couple lines before deciding to move on if it is not clear that the information they want can be found there.
    • Be no more than a few sentences
  8. To format a heading, highlight the text to format and use the "Format" dropdown menu.
  9. Add the necessary links, images, and videos.
  10. If necessary, alter the appearance, set publish dates, and set permissions lists.
  11. When you are done adding the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Story

A "Story" is almost identical to a "Basic Content" in how it is created and how it appears. However, a "Story" is intended to be no more than a few sentences is length. It also has 2 additional features: a location and a link to more information.

Creating

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page you wish to add content to.
  3. Locate the "Edit Console" in the top left of the screen. Click the "Add" tab.
    1. The screen now lists all the content types.
  4. Click the "Story" link.
    1. The screen now shows the "Story" editing interface.
  5. In the "Title" text field, give your content a title.
  6. In the "Body" text field, type your content.
  7. Add the necessary links, images, and videos.
  8. Adding a location is optional. If you wish to add a location, click the "Location" link below the "Body" text field.
    1. A new list of options appears. Filling in this information will cause it to appear with your story, as well as a link to a map of your location.
  9. In the "URL" text field, type in the address of a website with more information on this story.
  10. If necessary, alter the appearance, set publish dates, and set permissions lists.
  11. When you are done adding the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Adding Dynamic Content

RSS Feed

The "RSS feed" type can be used to dynamically pull headlines from other places. You can pull RSS feeds from anywhere on the web, page feeds from within the Middlebury site, or tag feeds from within the Middlebury site.

Creating

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page you wish to add content to.
  3. Locate the "Edit Console" in the top left of the screen. Click the "Add" tab.
    1. The screen now lists all the content types.
  4. Click the "RSS feed" link.
    1. The screen now shows the "RSS feed" editing interface.
  5. In the "Title" text field, give your content a title. The title should:
    • Accurately convey what type of information is being pulled by this feed.
  6. Click the button of the type of feed you wish to add
  7. Choose the source of your feed.
  8. Repeat the previous 2 steps for any other feeds you wish to add to this content block on your page.
    • If you have multiple feeds, you can reorder them with the icons below their titles.
  9. In the "Feed display options" box, you can:
    • Use the dropdown menu to choose how many headlines to display at once.
    • Use the checkboxes to control the appearance of the feed.
    • Use the radio buttons to control how the feeds are sorted.
  10. If necessary, alter the appearance, set publish dates, and set permissions lists.
  11. When you are done adding the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Profile

The "Profile" type can be used to create a profile for a staff or faculty member. With it, you can pull a person's position, contact information, campus location, photo, and office hours from the directory. There is also space to put in biographical information, lists of activities/accomplishments/etc., and related feeds. Also, for faculty, current courses can be pulled from the course catalog.
See our expanded documentation on using Profiles.

Webform

The "Webform" has the most complicated of all the editing interfaces. Its interface has two sections, signified by 2 tabs in the "Edit Console." The tabs are "Configuration" and "Form components."

Edit

This section of the interface controls properties of the form. In addition to the settings available for all content types, there are 5 sets of properties you can control. As always, instructions on appearance, scheduling and permissions can be found below.
  1. In the "Title" text field, give your form a title.
  2. In the "Body" text field, add a brief description of your form. The description:
    • Is optional, but can be helpful to users in filling out the form.
    • Appears just below the title, above any form components.

Who Can Read Data Submitted to This Webform

This section gives you control over who can see submitted copies of the form. The process of controlling who has access is the same as assigning permissions.

Form Components

Note: When you first create your form and save the configuration, you are immediately brought to the page to add components. Any time you come back to edit components in your form, you must click the "Form components" tab in the "Edit Console."

To add a component:
  1. Give the component a unique name. The name:
    • Appears in bold above the interactive part of the component, followed by a colon.
  2. Use the dropdown menu to choose the component type.
    • Information on the 12 component types can be found below.
  3. If you want the component to be mandatory for people submitting the form, make sure the "Mandatory" checkbox is marked.
  4. If you want the submitted value of this component to be contained in email notifications, make sure the "E-mail" checkbox is marked.
  5. Click the "Add" button.
    1. You are now in the editing interface for the form component type you have chosen.
  6. When you are finished setting up the component, click the "Submit" button.
    1. You are returned to the "Form components" page.
To edit an existing component, go to the "Form components" tab in the editing interface for you form and click the "Edit" link next to the component you wish to change. This will bring you to the appropriate form component editing interface.
To reorder existing components, use the icons left of the component names to drag them into the correct order, then click the "Submit" button.
All component types have 3 common fields in their editing interfaces. The "Label" field inherits the name you assigned in the steps above, and is displayed above the interactive piece of your component. The "Default value" field allows you to have parts of your form already filled in. The "Description" field allows you to provide more information for users and is displayed below the interactive portion of the component. The unique portions of each component editing interface are discussed below.

Date

This component type provides a place for users to submit a date: month, day, and year. You have control over what time zone is used and how you want users to provide a year, either a dropdown list or a text field.

Email

This component will give users a text field to provide a valid email address, and only properly formatted addresses will be accepted. You also have the option of sending a copy of the submission email to this address.

Fieldset

This component allows you to group other components into boxes. You can choose to make each box collapsible. To put other components into a fieldset, when viewing the list of components, drag the component below the fieldset in the list and then to the right to indent it below the fieldset.

File

This component allows users to upload files with their submissions. You can control what file types are allowed, how large files can be, and where they are stored. Note: A "File" component must appear after the last "Pagebreak" component.

Grid

This component provides a common set of "Options" for a list of "Questions." Options appear across the top, questions down the left. Each spot in the grid has a radio button, and only one option may be chosen for each question. You are able to randomize the order of the options, questions, or both.

Hidden

This component can be used to store information not shown to users submitting the form.

Markup

This component can be used to insert HTML or PHP code into your form.

Pagebreak

This component is used to break your form into pages. The submit button will not be visible until a user completes the final page of the form. Note: If your form has a "File" component, it must appear after the last "Pagebreak" component.
The Pagebreak also lets you set a Conditional rule, which determines how people filling out the form will get to the page. This lets you have an answer to one question on your form lead to a set of other questions. This behavior is sometimes called branching logic. To use this, the Pagebreak must come after at least one other form component. To use this:
  1. Expand the Conditional rules field on the Pagebreak form component configuration screen.
  2. Select the Component whose value will determine whether to show the page.
  3. Select either Is one of or Is not one of to determine whether to show the page.
  4. Enter the Values that will determine whether to show this page.
  5. Click Submit.

Select options

This component allows users to respond to prompts. You can create single response questions (radio buttons, dropdown lists) as well as multiple response questions (checkboxes, multi-select lists).
The Select options component features a GUI interface for adding options. If you want to revert to the manual method for editing options, click the Manual entry link below the option boxes. The value of each item can be entered in the text field contained in each row. If you want to be sent a different value for an option than appears for the user (ex. "One" appears on the form and you are sent "1"), click the Customized keys (Advanced) checkbox and enter the value you wish to be sent in the text field to the left of the value displayed to the user.
The default option for this element can be set by clicking the radio button to the left of the appropriate value. Values can be rearranged by dragging the cross glyph to the left of these radio buttons. You can add a new row below any existing row by clicking the green cross glyph on the right and you can remove any row by clicking the red X glyph on the right. You can also choose to Randomize options by clicking that checkbox to display the options in a random order for each person visiting the form.
If you want to allow people submitting the form to supply their own option if an appropriate one does not appear in the list, check the Allow "Other..." option and enter the appropriate text in the Text for "Other..." option text field.

Textarea

This component provides a box for users to type in. You can make this box resizable.

Textfield

This component provides a single-line text field for users to type in.

Time

This component type provides a place for users to submit a time. You can control what time zone is used, as well as whether to use 12-hour (am/pm) or 24-hour format.

Form Settings

This tab contains some of the advanced settings that were previously on the edit form.

Confirmation Message

You can, optionally, add a message to appear after a user submits the form. Leaving this blank gives a default message of completion after a user submits the form.

Redirection Location

A custom redirect URL will bring a user to that page after submitting the form. If you leave this blank or choose the confirmation message, the user will see that message instead. You can also choose not to redirect the user, which will reload the current form page when they submit the form.

Submission Limit

This area allows you to limit user submissions. By default, a user can submit an unlimited number of responses, but you can restrict them to a specified number of submissions over a specified amount of time.

Advanced Settings

You can ignore the Available as block and Show complete form in teaser checkboxes as the way we have set up the Middlebury website make these options unnecessary. The option of interest here is Allow users to save a draft. This option is only useful if your form requires users to sign in before filling it out. If you use this option on a form that allows anonymous users to submit it, it may behave erratically. However, if you require people to sign in to fill out your form and this option is selected, they will be allowed to save a draft of their form submission. This will not send emails from the form, but they will be able to come back to the form at a later time and complete their form submission. This is a good option if you have a very long form, especially one that requires people to gather written materials or files before they submit it.
This section also allows you to change the text of the submit button, which is Submit by default.

E-mails

This section controls who (if anyone) is given email notification of submitted forms, and how the email appears. You can control the name the email is sent from, the address the email is sent from, and the subject of the email. You can also create a custom template for the email that is sent.
You can Add a new email to your form by entering either a distinct email address that the email will be sent to, or selecting a component in the form that will supply the value of this email address and clicking the Add button.
After you Add a new email, or if you decide to Edit an existing email, you are asked to enter the E-mail subject, E-mail from address, and E-mail from name. These can either be custom text you enter or the values of components of your form. It is suggested that you do not use the default values.
You can choose to create an E-mail template for your e-mail. If you edit the Default template that template will be used for all e-mails from your form that use the Default template. You can also choose to edit a Custom template that will only be used for this particular e-mail. This is good for creating a different e-mail that is sent to the person submitting the form. The E-mail template uses replacement tokens. For example, if you have a form component First Name with a key "first_name", you can use the %value[first_name] token to send the value of that field in an email. The Token values are described in a fieldset that you can expand below the editing window for the E-mail template.
You can use the %email_values token to receive a list of field names and values. This is used in the default template for your form. If you wish to get only a few component values using this method, you can expand the Included e-mail values fieldset and select the fields you wish to receive.

Form validation

Form validation allows you to create rules that will check the integrity of the data people have submitted. For example, if you have a field that collects a ZIP code, you may want to check that the value entered is between five and ten characters in length. If the person submitting the form enters a two digit ZIP code, they would receive a message letting them know of the issue and asking them to correct it and re-submit the form.
To Add a validation rule, click the Form validation tab in the Edit Console. Click on the type of rule to add to the form. There are explanations of each type of rule to their right. Enter a Rule name, which is just seen by you and helps you remember why you added this rule to the form. Then select the Components to which this rule applies and fill in any other values that help create the rule.
You can Edit or Delete existing validation rules by revisiting this tab at any time.

Results

In the Download tab for form Results there are two options that can help you when exporting form information to Microsoft Excel or another analysis program. Select list options allows you to choose whether to use human-readable or shorter column headers. You can also choose to export multi-values fields as separate columns or as a compact, comma-delimited list. In the Included export components fieldset, you can decide which of the components to include, which is helpful if you are only interested in analyzing a sub-set of the form information.

Frequently Asked Question

FAQ's can be a great resource for helping new users find information. In Drupal, you will enter each question as a separate piece of content. Each question added will appear, and when clicked on, its answer will be revealed.

Creating

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page you wish to add content to.
  3. Locate the "Edit Console" in the top left of the screen. Click the "Add" tab.
    1. The screen now lists all the content types.
  4. Click the "Frequently Asked Question" link.
    1. The screen now shows the "Frequently Asked Question" editing interface.
  5. In the "Question" text field, enter the question you wish to display.
  6. In the "Answer" text field, enter the answer to your question..
  7. If necessary, alter the appearance, set publish dates, and set permissions lists.
  8. When you are done adding the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Gallery

This content type can be used to display images in a slideshow.

Creating

Redirector

Creating

Events Calendar

You can now add dynamic events calendars to your sites. To do this, use the new Promotional Calendar content type in Drupal. Calendars can be added to the center, left or right sidebars.
Before you add a calendar, you will need to contact the Department of Event Management, x. 5362. Each department will receive a webName after the content and format of the calendar are determined. See below for instructions on how to add the calendar to your site AFTER you have received confirmation that a calendar has been created. (You will receive a calendar webName at that time).
  1. Go to the page or sidebar where you'd like to add the Calendar
  2. Click Add in the Edit Console
  3. Select Promotional Calendar from the list of content types
  4. Enter your department's webName in the webName field
  5. Enter the type of Calendar in the spudType field (see below)
  6. Press the save button

Calendar Types

spudType: main A large list of events like you see on the [Campus Events] page. Should only be used in the center of a page.
spudType: upcoming A list of events like you see on the [LIS home page]. Can be used in the center or a sidebar.
spudType: datefinder A monthly grid calendar. Can be used in the sidebar with a main calendar in the center.
spudType: chooser Put this in the sidebar to let people change the way they see a "main" calendar in the center of the page.

MiddLab Widget

Departments and Offices can add a MiddLab promotional item to their sidebar to show projects that relate to their area. An example of this in action can be seen on the Undergraduate Research site. To add this:
  1. Click [Edit] above your site's sidebar.
  2. Click Add in the Edit Console.
  3. Select MiddLab Widget from the list in the center column.
  4. Enter a Title.
  5. Check the theme(s), department(s), and office(s) that are of interest.
  6. Click Save.

Managing Content

Once a content piece is created and saved, you can always go back and change it. You can edit the content, change the content permissions, adjust the scheduling, set what pages the content appears on, and reorder content on the page. Note: These tasks can also be done while initially creating the content.

Edit Content

When a content piece is created, you can change anything that could also have been initially done during the creation of the content. To do this:
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page containing the content you wish to edit.
  3. Scroll below the content piece you wish to edit and click the "Edit" link.
    1. You are now in the editing interface for this content piece.
  4. Make the desired changes to your content.
  5. When you are done editing the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Links

Drupal Editing Links.png

Creating a New Link

  1. Highlight the text you wish to be the link.
  2. Click the "Insert/edit link" button. It looks like a chain link. It is the button on the left in the image above.
    1. The "Insert/edit link" console appears on your screen.
  3. In the "Link URL" text field, put in the URL for the page you wish to link to.
  4. Click the "Insert" button.
    1. The "Insert/edit link" console disappears.
  5. When you are done editing the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Creating a Link Anchor

  1. Highlight the text you wish to be the anchor target.
  2. Click the "Insert/Edit Anchor" button. It looks like a boat anchor. It is the button on the right in the image above.
  3. In the "Anchor Name" field type a single word to describe your anchor. Do not include the pound (#) symbol in the Anchor Name.
  4. Click the Insert button.
  5. Now highlight the text that you wish to be the link to the anchor.
  6. Click the "Insert/edit link" button. It looks like a chain link. It is the button on the left in the image above.
  7. In the "Link URL" field type the pound (#) symbol and then the word that you entered in step 3.
  8. Click the Insert button.

Removing a Link

  1. Highlight all of the text in the link you wish to remove.
  2. Click the "Unlink" button. It looks like a broken chain link. It is the button in the middle in the image above.

Changing a Link

Follow the directions in the "Creating a New Link" section above. The text you highlight initially will be the full text of the existing link.

Having a Link Open in a New Window or Tab

We strongly advise against setting a link to open in a new window or tab. This interrupts the user's experience. If they wish to get back to your site, most people prefer to use the Back button, which opening a link in a new window breaks. By default, links to sites outside of "www.middlebury.edu" will open in a new browser window or tab when someone clicks on them. If you would like to change this behavior for one of your links:
  1. Highlight the text you wish to be the link.
  2. Click the "Insert/edit link" button. It looks like a chain link.
  3. Click the "Target" menu and select "Open in this window / frame".
  4. Click Update.

Images

Note: These instructions apply to the "Basic Content" and "Story" content types.
  1. Make sure you are logged on and in the editing interface for the content you wish to edit.
  2. Click in your text in the area you wish to add an image.
  3. Click the "Insert file upload" button. It's the 1st button in the 3rd row.
    1. The "Insert file upload" console appears on your screen.
  4. Use the links the find the files on the "File Uploads" page.
  5. Click the image you wish to use.
    1. A new window appears.
  6. Use this screen to set the properties you want for the image. These cannot be changed later.
  7. When you're done setting the properties, click the "Insert" button.
    1. The window disappears.
  8. To edit the image's settings, make sure it is selected and click the "Insert/edit image" button. It's the 2nd button in the 3rd row.
    1. A new window appears.
  9. Click the appearance tab.
    1. You now see the image's appearance settings.
  10. Edit the image as required.
  11. When you're done editing the image settings, click the "Update" button.
    1. The window disappears.
  12. When you are done editing the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Video

Note: These instructions apply to the "Basic Content" and "Story" content types.
Videos can be pulled from just about anywhere on the web, including YouTube and MiddTube. The syntax for inserting videos is:[video:URL width:value height:value align:value autoplay:value autorewind:value loop:value image:URL]. The video URL is the address of the site you found the video on. Accepted values for width and height are numbers. Accepted values for align are left and right. Accepted values for autoplay, autorewind and loop are 0 (false) and 1 (true). The image URL is used to change the "splash image" or the image show in the player when the video is not playing. Other than the video URL, all attributes are optional. To insert a video:
  1. Make sure you are logged on and in the editing interface for the content you wish to edit.
  2. Click in the text where you want to add a video.
  3. Enter the line of code above, [video:URL width:value height:value align:value], inputting the desired URL and appropriate values.
  4. When you are done adding the video, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

YouTube Playlists

You can add a YouTube playlist by adding the playlist ID in the video URL. For example:
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaCP2kdYA4A&p=17B9CA1B31A33C5E]
or
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaCP2kdYA4A&list=17B9CA1B31A33C5E]
In these examples, the playlist ID follows the "p=" or "list=" parts of the URL.

HTML5 Video

Videos from MiddMedia will appear using the browser's built-in video player in the following browsers:
  1. Safari
  2. Mobile Safari for the iPad and iPhone
Audio from MiddMedia will appear using the browser's built-in video player in the following browsers:
  1. Safari
  2. Mobile Safari for the iPad and iPhone
  3. Chrome
Other browsers will fallback to using the Adobe Flash version of the player. Videos from YouTube will play using a player from that site that detects the correct player type to use based on the browser and YouTube user preferences.

Locations

You can "geo-tag" your content to let people know that it is about a specific place. This is something you might want to do with a news story about student activity in an interesting location, or a program description of a course at a school abroad. This information can then be used to build a dynamic map of the different locations where your content appears. Send us an email if you're interested in creating this type of map. To add a location to your content:
  1. When editing a piece of content, expand the Locations and then Location section at the bottom of the form.
  2. Enter the address information for your locations. For most countries, this will automatically be translated into a Latitude and Longitude when you save the content.
  3. Click Save.

Meta Tags

[Meta Tags] can be used to supply additional information about your content to search engines and other programs accessing your content "behind-the-scenes". They are now shown on your page, but do appear in the HTML source of the page. The Meta Description is used by Facebook when you link to a page from that site. It is also often shown below the page link in search result pages in Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
Because Meta Tags are added to nodes and we often show multiple nodes on each page, they will only work for individual nodes, like individual news stories. If you do not enter a Meta Description, one will be created for your content using the first few sentences from the content body.
To edit the Meta Keywords or Meta Description:
  1. Click the Edit link below the content.
  2. Expand the Meta tags section near the bottom of the edit form.
  3. Enter values for the keywords and/or description fields.
  4. Click Save.

Permissions

Hierarchy

Information on the content level permissions hierarchy can be found at Monster Menus Permissions.

How to Change

  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page containing the content who's permissions set you wish to change.
  3. Scroll below the content piece you wish to alter permissions for and click the "Edit" link.
    1. You are now in the editing interface for this content piece.
  4. Scroll down and click the "Who can edit or delete this content" link above the "Save" button.
    1. The list of users with editing privileges appears.
  5. There are 2 ways to add users to this permissions set. You can:
    • Add individuals.
      1. Use the text field to search for a user. As you type, matches will appear below.
      2. Click on a person's name to add them to the list.
    • Add groups.
      1. Click the "Add" button.
        1. A new window pops up.
      2. Use the links to navigate to the group you wish to add.
      3. Once you've found the group, click the "Select" link to the right of the group's name to add them to the list.
        1. The extra window disappears.
  6. When you are done setting the permissions set, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Appearance

You have control over 2 appearance features for content. You can choose to make it sticky at the top of the page, and you can change its attribution style.

Sticky

Each time you add or edit a piece of content, it is placed at the top of the page, above any other existing content. By default, content is not sticky, but making content sticky at the top of the page forces it to remain above any other content. To control whether or not content is sticky:
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page containing the content who's stickiness you wish to change.
  3. Scroll below the content piece you want to make sticky and click the "Edit" link.
    1. You are now in the editing interface for this content piece.
  4. Scroll down and click the "Appearance" link.
    1. You now see the content's appearance properties.
  5. To make the content sticky, make sure the checkbox to make the content sticky at the top of the page is checked.
  6. When you are done altering the stickiness, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Attribution

Each piece of content created stores information on who created it and when it was created. By default, content displays a message indicating the user that submitted the content. To change the attribution message:
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page containing the content who's attribution message you wish to change.
  3. Scroll below the content piece you want to modify and click the "Edit" link.
    1. You are now in the editing interface for this content piece.
  4. Scroll down and click the "Appearance" link.
    1. You now see the content's appearance properties.
  5. Use the "Attribution style" dropdown menu to change the attribution message.
  6. When you are done altering the attribution message, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Scheduling

Scheduling a piece of content allows you to control when the content is published. This allows you to set a future start date for it to appear on your site, as well as a date for it to be automatically removed from your page. Scheduling is particularly effective for temporary content, or content that gets reused based on a schedule. To set publish dates:
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page containing the content you wish to schedule.
  3. Scroll below the content piece you wish to schedule and click the "Edit" link.
    1. You are now in the editing interface for this content piece.
  4. Scroll down and click the "Scheduling" link above the "Save" button.
    1. New text fields appear for setting publish dates and times.
  5. Type the necessary dates and times into the "Publish on" and "Unpublish on" text fields.
  6. When you are done setting publish dates for the content, scroll down and click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Pages

If you have content you want to appear on multiple pages, you still only have to create it once. Once it is created, use the following instructions to make it appear on all other desired pages.
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page containing the content you wish to duplicate.
  3. Go below the content piece and click the "Edit" link.
    1. The screen now shows the editing interface for your content.
  4. Scroll down if necessary and click the "Pages" link above the "Save" button.
    1. A list of the pages that display this content appears, along with 3 new buttons.
  5. You can:
    • Add a page.
      1. Click the "Add..." button.
        1. A window appears with an index of the entire site.
      2. Navigate to the page you wish to add the content to and click the "Select" link on the right hand side.
        1. The window disappears and the new page is added to the list.
    • Replace a page.
      1. Click the name of the page you wish the content to no longer appear on.
      2. Click the "Replace..." button.
        1. A window appears with an index of the entire site.
      3. Navigate to the page you wish to add the content to and click the "Select" link on the right hand side.
        1. The window disappears and the new page is added to the list while the old one has been removed.
    • Delete a page.
      1. Click the name of the page you wish the content to no longer appear on.
      2. Click the "Delete" button.
        1. The name of the page is removed from the list.
  6. When you are done managing the pages, click the "Save" button.
    1. The screen returns to "View" mode.

Reordering

Each time you add or edit a piece of content, it is placed at the top of the page, above any other existing content. To get content to appear in the order you want, you must reorder it yourself. Note: If any content has been made sticky, it will always appear above all other content. If multiple pieces of content are sticky, you can reorder the sticky and non-sticky sections of your page separately.
  1. Make sure you are logged on.
  2. Navigate to the page who's content you wish to reorder.
  3. Find the "Edit Console" in the top left of your window. Click the "Reorder" tab.
    1. The screen now shows the name and type of all content pieces on the page, each with the standard move icon to its left.
  4. Use the icons to drag the content pieces into the order you want them to appear on the page.
  5. When you're done, click the "Save configuration" button.
    1. A message appears to notify you that the contents have been reordered.
  6. To return to viewing the page, go to the "Edit Console" and click the "View" tab.
To change the order of items in a sidebar or other non-center content region, click on the "Edit" link above that region (or to the left for the Carousel) and follow the steps above.
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