Table of Contents
Welcome to the UIPublish Web Publishing System. (UIPublish). UIPublish enables you to easily publish and edit content on your website. This User's Guide is designed to get you started quickly and provides information on how to do common tasks such as adding, editing or deleting content.
If you are eager to get started skip to "Getting Started". If you are interested in how UIPublish works, read on.
Note: As UIPublish can be easily customized, your webmaster may
have customized some options of UIPublish. The examples and images
below may not exactly match your website's installation of UIPublish.
Please ask your webmaster for details.
At the core of the system is a database that stores all the content
you will enter into the system. You can use the control panel to add,
modify, schedule, or delete content from the system. The front-end
display component displays "live" content on your website.
Content is stored as an "item." There are two types of "items" -- "article items" and "event items". Article items are for content such as news or press releases. In other words, items with a publication date.
Article items with a publication date that matches today's date or earlier are displayed on the website. Lists of article items are in reverse chronological order which means that the latest item is displayed first.
Event items are for content such as appointments,
meetings, or workshops. In other words, items with an event date. If
the event date of an event matches today's date or is in the
future, it is displayed as an upcoming event. Lists of event items are in chronological order which means that the list begins with the first upcoming item. .Past events can also be displayed. These are listed in reverse chronological order which means that the most recent past event is displayed at the top of the list.
Both types of items can be classified in to separate sections. For
example, with UIPublish you can manage content in a "News" section as
well as "Reports" section. Items can be listed on the main page of a
website as well as a separate list for each section.Items can also be
assigned a "Visibility" setting so that only items with a "High"
visibility setting appear on the main page of the website. Each item
has a title, summary, content, and event/post date. Each item can also
display a "related link" or include a file kept in a directory on the
filesystem. For more information see "Description of Options".
More detailed technical information about UIPublish is available at uipublish.sourceforge.net.
To start using the UIPublish you will need to login to the UIPublish
Control Panel. Depending on how it has been setup, you may need a
username and password to access the control.You can get this information from your Webmaster.
UIPublish has the ability to organize content into different
sections. This is setup by the Webmaster during the installation of
UIPublish. On the main page of the Control Panel you will see one or
more sections listed. Select a section to which you want to add an
item. You should now see the Manage page whichenables you to add, modify, reschedule, or delete items within that section.
To add a new item, simply select the"ADD" button
adjacent to the text, "Add a new Item". You will then see a page titled
"Add New Item...." with a form. Fill out this form.
All items flagged with a red * must
be filled out completely in order for the form to process
correctly. (For more information about the different options see
"Description of Options."). Choose the default options for now. After
you have filled out the form, choose the "Preview"
You should now see the preview page. This page is meant to enable
you to preview the content you have entered. You can check the
information you have entered for typos or other errors. If required
information is missing you will be presented with a reminder to add the
missing information. If all the required information has been filled
out, you will see a button title "Add/Apply." Select "Add/Apply" to add the new item. If successful, you will see "Go back to the Manage Page." The
information you entered is now added to the database but, depending on
the options you have chosen, the item may or may not be displayed on
the website. To check that you need to refer to the Manage Section page.
This page dispayes the items which have been entered into the system. Each item is listed in the table with a "Modify" button to its left and a "Delete"
button to its right. The background color of the table cell for
each item indicates which items are "active" or visibile on the
frontend. Items for which Approval, Post Date, and Expire Date
are green will be actually online or visible on the website. The others
are in the system but are not displayed on the website. If your
webmaster has configured your website to use the Visibility options then items a dark blue square under Visbility will be displayed on the main page of the website.
The item that you just added is not yet online because it's "Approval" is set to "Pending." You can now modify the item to set the article's "Approval" setting to "Approved", (See "Modify an Item") By default all items are added with the approval set to "Pending" unless you specify otherwise.
To modify an item, select the "Modify" button next
to the item you would like to change. This will take you to the Modify
form page with fields that are filled in with the information
corresponding to the item you are modifying. Change whatever
information needs to be changed. If this is a Pending item and you want to make it available online then change it's Approval setting to "Approved."
When you are finished, select the Preview button. If all the
required information has been filled out, you will be presented with a
preview page and the ability to Add/Apply this information.
Select Add/Apply to apply the changes to the item.
Select the "Delete" button that is to the right of the item you wish to delete. On the next page, select the Delete button shown. If you do not wish to delete the item at that time, select No, do not delete.
Warning: Deleted items cannot be restored.
The File Manager enables you to upload files to a particular
directory. You can also delete uploaded files. You can use the File Manager to upload HTML files to be
used as "include" files for items. (For more information about "include" files see "Include File."
To upload a file, choose the "Browse" button. A dialot box should show up. Use it to locate the file you want to upload.
The filename will show up in the box. Choose "Upload" to upload the file. Depending on the file size, this may take a few minutes.
After the file has been uploaded it is listed in the File Manager alongiwith its size and a link to delete the file. Warning: If you click the "Delete" link the file will be deleted without asking for a confirmation.
If you are having trouble uploading a file, check the file size of the file you are trying to upload. The File Manager is configured wiht a Max File Size limit. If the file size is larger than the limit it may not upload. Also, the File Manager has a limit on the total space used for uploaded files. If there is inadequate free space, the file may not upload. Ask your webmaster to increase the limits or delete files that are no longer needed.
Required; allows you to specify when the item, if approved, will be online or appear on the site.
Optional; allows you to specify when the item will go offline. If left blank, item will remain online until deleted.
Required; if set to Pending, item will not go online until it is reviewed and set to Approved.
Required; if set to High, item will appear on main page of website.
Required; the title of the item.
Optional; a short description of the content.
Optional; the content of the item should be typed or pasted here. To
start a new paragraph use the "Return" or "Enter" key on your keyboard.
You can also use selected HTML tags. For allowed HTML tags see the "HTML"
link adjacent to the content file or ask your webmaster. You can
also add URLs in the content field and they will be automatically
hyperlinked. However, a URL that appears at the start of a new line may
not be hyperlinked. If you are having problems getting a URL to
hyperlink, add a space before the URL.
Optional; if there is a related link to the item, the link's title
should be specified here--whatever is typed here will be hyperlinked using the Link URL field.
Optional; if there is a related link to the item, enter the Universal
Resource Locator (URL or web address) here. If this field is blank, the Link
Title text entered in the previous field will not be displayed.
Optional; to include the text from a file as the content of the item or
to have the text from a file follow immediately after the already
specified content of the item.This is for HTML files only. The "include file" is useful if you need to add HTML content that uses HTML tags not allowed in the "Content" field. Use the File Manager to upload the file.
Default; The section is set automatically when you add an item and you should not need to change it. However, if you need to you can move an item from one section to another you can using this menu.
This is a new feature in UIPublish that is under development.
Ask your webmaster if this is being used. Otherwise just leave it
blank.
Required; it sets the date of the event. If the date is in the
future, then the item is active and listed on the website. If it is in
the past , then the item may not be listed on the website or may be
listed under the "Past Events" list if it has been setup by the
webmaster.