Our lab website is powered by the advanced content management system Plone.  This provides us with a great deal of flexibility and power with relatively little administrative overhead.  Every lab member has an account which allows them access to the hidden portions of the site as well as permission to change the content.  This is a relatively straight forward process, with a few slightly non-intuitive aspects.

Adding a News Item or Event

1. Start from the home page (Click 'Home' or the main logo up top.)

2. Select 'Event' or 'News Item' from the 'Add to folder' drop down menu in the upper right corner of the main content panel.  (You must be logged in to access this menu).

3. Fill in the 'Title', 'Body Text' and start/end times if appropriate.  You do not need to enter a 'Short Name' or 'Description'.

4. Click 'Save' to store the item.

5. Finally, select 'Publish' from the 'State:' menu in the upper right corner of the main content panel.  The news item or event will not appear on the public site or for other users until you do this!

If you forgot to publish the item, and have navigated away from the item page, you can access it again by returning to the home page, and selecting 'Contents' in the upper left corner of the main content panel.  This will bring up a listing of all the news and events.  You're recently created item should appear at the bottom of the list, where you can click on it's name to edit the details and publish it.

Adding a new Page/Image/File

Adding any other type of content to the site is very similar to working with a standard desktop operating system.  Everything is organized into folders which are listed on the left panel of the site.  Navigate to the location you want to put the file or page, select the type of file from the 'Add to Folder' menu item in the upper right of the main content panel and fill in the appropriate details.

Note that all images and files must be upload separately before they can be added to a page and displayed.

Editing the contents of a Page

Page editing is accomplished with a simple WYSIWYG editor which eliminates the need to work with actual HTML code.  Similar to working in Word, the style of text can be changed by highlighting and clicking on the style buttons.  Images and links can be added by clicking the relevant buttons.  The easiest way to get to know it is simply to play around.  Create a new page and play!  You really can't hurt anything.