Website BakerUsers Manual

Note: This manual and its accompanying materials are not official documentation for any application herein listed. The manual has been developed solely as a convenience our clients. We shall not be held responsible for any problems whatsoever arising from use or misuse of this manual.

This material is copyright 2006 by Tim Gallant of Pactum Web Services and has been ammended by TNG Consulting Inc to better serve our clients. Permission to quote is hereby granted, as long as you reference these sources.

Note: This manual is in the process of development. More information will be available as time goes by, but this should be enough to get you started.

Introduction

Congratulations on chosing Website Baker for your new website. We have tested numerous applications first-hand and have not found a Content Management System (CMS) that is equally intuitive and user-friendly. The back end (where you create and edit your pages, as well as engage in numerous other site-control actions) is organized in a straightforward way. Furthermore, Website Baker is an easy CMS to modify to match to an existing web design. And finally, as an open source application, it is an affordable option for churches, non-profit organizations, startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Basic Functions

Signing In

If your login section is visible from the front end of your website, simply enter your user name and password in the appropriate fields. After you login, you will still be at the site's front end. This is okay if all you want to do is view pages hidden from the public, but if you have editing to do, you will need to go to the "back end." Your sign-in box will now show that you are logged in, and "Preferences" and "Administrations" links will be visible. Click "Preferences" if you need to reset your password, change your email address, or alter your display name. Click "Administration" if you need to access the back end of the site (e.g. to create or edit pages etc).

If you signed in using the direct admin link that we provided to you, you are now viewing the administration area, or "back end."

Back End Orientation

In the Administration (back end) of Website Baker 2.x.x, there are six major sections: Pages, Media, Preferences, Settings, Add-Ons, and Access. (Note: If you are not signed in as an administrator, you may not see all of these sections)

Here's a quick overview of these sections:

Pages

As the name suggests, this is where you control your site's pages. From here, you can create new pages, edit existing ones, adjust the placement of your pages in the menu (navigation bar), delete your pages, rename your pages, and alter settings (such as visibility, keywords/page description, etc).

Media

This section allows you to upload images, audio and video files, PDF's and other media files.

Preferences

This controls the same information as the "Preferences" page mentioned above: user display name, email address, password etc.

Settings

This is the most "dangerous" section of your back end. This controls everything from the template to be used (affecting the look of your site globally) to server settings and more. If you don't know what you're doing, avoid this section!

Access

Here is where you set up and modify user accounts. There are two major subsections: user and group. Thus, you can alter permissions for whole sets of people by modifying group settings. This is useful if there are other people who need to be able to make changes to parts of your website or if you have a website that is completely or partially only accessible to people who have a user name and password. For the sake of security, NEVER give out your administrator username and password to others.

Add-Ons

As with "Settings," this is a global section that you will rarely need to access. One of the primary uses of this section is that here is where you add new modules. The Website Baker user community and developers are constantly creating, and as time goes by, a wide variety of "modules" are developed that can be incorporated into the application. These modules expand the CMS's capability; they include such things as calendars, image galleries, and so on. You will find many of them listed on the official Website Baker Add-ons pages.

In addition to these major sections, you will see Home, Log-out, and View links.

Clicking Home will take you to the main control panel of the Back End.

By clicking View, you will be taken to your site's front end to see how things look (both links open in a new page).

Log-out, of course, is self-explanatory. You should always log out if you are on a public computer; you may also wish to log out if you want to access the admin area with a different account (e.g. go from using an administrator account to a basic user account, or vice-versa).

Depending on the back end theme you are using, you may also see a Help link that will take you directly to the Website Baker support pages.

Creating a New Page

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area (back end).
2. Go to the "Pages" section.
3. Go to the "Add Page" subsection.
4. Type a page name in the top field.
5. Under "Type," select a page type from the dropdown list. "WYSIWYG" is short for "What You See is What You Get." If you select this option, you will have a regular new page which will use a sort of online word processor. This will likely be your most-used option (which is why it is at the top of the list). If you want to create a links page, you can select "Bookmark" (if the Bookmark module is installed). If you want a page that you will update with new entries periodically (as in a blog), select "News." Please see Website Baker's official documentation for a more complete description of the other options.
6. The third field is "Parent." This is for determining the structure of your site (and consequently, of your navigation menu). In a "flat" site structure (where no page is a "subsection" of another), you would leave this alone to its default ("None"). But if your site has various categories, this is a very useful tool. For example, let's say you have numerous articles posted on your site. You may have an "Articles Index" or main page as the "Parent," and then all your articles will be "child pages." In such a case, if you are creating a new article page, you would select your "Articles Index" page from the dropdown menu so that it will be a "parent" page to your new article page. (Note: the dropdown menu here is a listing of existing pages on your site controlled by the CMS. If you want to use a parent page, you need to create it first.)
7. The final field is "Visibility." This controls who is able to see the page. Default is "Public," meaning that anyone who comes to your site can view the page. Other options are "Private," "Registered," and "None." "None" is a good option if you are working on a page, and don't want to show it to the public until it is complete. "Private" and "Registered" will only be readable by people with user accounts. When you select one of these options, you will see choices regarding who gets to read the page, so that you may specify some users and not others. The difference between a registered page and a private page is that the registered page will be listed on the public menu -- but only available to be read by the appropriate registered users. The private page only appears on the menu for those who are signed in.
8. Click "Add."
9. Website Baker will now take you to your new page.
10. Write your content.
11. Click on the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. You're done!

Editing a Page

To edit an existing page, follow these steps:

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area ("back end").
2. Go to "Pages."
3. Click on the page title of the page you wish to edit. Website Baker will take you directly to your page.
4. Make your changes.
5. Click on "Save." Your page is now edited.

Updating a Block Include

It may be that you have some recurring text boxes on your site, which show up on every page. Chances are, we created these in such a way that you can edit them from the CMS. Here's how:

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area (back end).
2. Go to "Pages."
3. Look for a page named "blocks" or "includes." There should be a plus (+) sign next to it. Click the + sign. This will now show editable dependent files. They may be called e.g. block1, block2 etc, or they may have more descriptive names.
4. Click on the desired file, and edit as you would a regular page.
5. The block will now show up throughout the site with your changes.

Creating a News/Blog Entry

If we started a news or blog page for you, here's how to add new posts:

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area (back end).
2. Go to "Pages."

Modifying or Deleting a News/Blog Entry

1. Sign in and go to the Administration Panel (back end).
2. Go to Pages.
3. Under "Modify/Delete Page," in the Page Title column, find the page the entry is on (e.g. "blog"). Important!! Do not delete this page! This is your main news/blog page.
4. Click on the page name (e.g. "blog") to open it.
5. Under "Modify/Delete Post," find the entry you wish to modify or delete.
6. If you wish to modify the post, click on the post name (or the pencil and paper icon next to it), and you will be taken to the editor.
7. If you wish to delete the post, click on the garbage can icon on the far right end of the line.

Adding Images to Your Page from Your Computer

From the FCK editor, you can upload and add photos to your page. It's a bit of a funny process, though, so here's the procedure:

1. Follow the instructions above for creating or modifying a page.
2. In the editor, click on the Insert/Edit Image icon (it's a little yellow postcard-looking icon with mountains and sun, in the second row of the toolbar).
3. From the Image Info tab, click on Browse Server.
4. From Resource Type (upper left), select Image.
5. Next to Upload a New File in This Folder, click on Browse… and find the image on your computer. Select Open, and click on Upload.
6. The image file appears in the document window. Click on it.
7. You are now taken back to the Image Info window. Type in descriptive text in the Alternative Text field.
8. If you wish to make this image a link, click the Link tab and enter the URL you wish to link to.
9. Click OK.
10. Don't forget to save your page. Your image will not be seen by the public until you do so.

Uploading Images to Be Stored in the CMS

You may wish to add photos and graphics (or, for that matter, other files) that can be used in pages later -- perhaps by other users.

1. Sign in and go to the Media section of the admin (back end) area.
2. If you do not yet have an Image folder, go to the Create Folder section of the Media page, and create it inside the media folder.
3. Under Upload Files, select media/Image from the Target Folder dropdown.
4. Use the Browse… button to find the image(s) on your computer, and click on Open. Once you have selected the images you want, click on Upload File(s).
5. Your image(s) should now be uploaded. To doublecheck, go to the top of the Media page (Browse Media), and click on the Image folder. All your images should be there.

Adding Stored Images to Your Page

Above, you learned how to store images online with the CMS. Now you want to be able to add them to your page.

1. Open the page you wish to add the image to (or create a new page).
2. Click on the Insert/Edit Image icon (see the section above on adding images to your page for further details).
3. From the Image Info tab, click Browse Server.
4. From the Resource Type dropdown (upper left of the interface), click Image.
5. The main document area of the popup interface will now show all the image files in your Image folder. Click on the one you wish to add to your page.
6. You will now be taken back to the Image Properties box. Type descriptive text in the Alternative Text field. If you wish to make this image a link, click on the Link tab and enter the desired URL.
7. Click OK.
8. Don't forget to save your page.

Intermediate Functions

Moving Pages

If you wish to move pages in terms of where the links appear in Website Baker's navigation menu, you can do so.

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area.
2. Go to "Pages."
3. Find the page you want to move in the menu.
4. Among the icons to the right you will see up and down arrows. Click the up arrow will take your page one link higher in the menu; repeat steps as often as necessary until you get the want order you want.

Another aspect of moving pages is altering where they are in the site structure. (See point 6 under "Creating a New Page," above.) If you want to alter whether a page is a child page or not, or if you want to move it from one parent page to another, go to "Pages," as above. Click on the page settings icon (the pencil and paper icon) for the desired page. Website Baker will take you to "Modify Page Settings." From the dropdown menu by "Parent," make the selection you want, and click "Save."

Renaming Pages

In older versions of Website Baker, the page name is exactly what appears in the navigation menu. This may not be what you want -- perhaps, for example, you wish to have a shorter name in the menu (or conversely, perhaps you prefer a short page name but a longer menu identifier). To edit the page name and/or title:

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area.
2. Go to "Pages."
3. Find the page name you want and go to the pencil and paper icon (this is the Settings icon for the page). Click on it.
4. Website Baker will take you to "Modify Page Settings." You will now see two types of page name: "Page Title" and "Menu Title."
5. Edit the titles as desired.
6. Click on "Save."

Advanced Functions

Creating User Accounts

Overview

If more than one person (web site owner/maintainer) is going to have permission to log in to the site, you should create separate user accounts for each person.

Begin by deciding on what levels of access you want to give to different people. For example, in addition to your own top-level administrator account, perhaps you would have two other levels of user, one who can have access to registered-user pages, and one who can write content. We'll call them "Basic User" and "Basic Writer."

Set Up Your Groups

You will begin by setting up your two user groups.

1. Sign in and go to the Administration area (back end).
2. Go to "Access" and select "Groups."
3. Go to "Show Advanced Options."
4. Under "Add Group," type "basic user" in the Name field (without the quotation marks).
5. Under "System Permissions" > Pages, check "View."
6. Look below under "Module Permissions" and "Template Permissions." Uncheck everything else except the active template which governs the look of your site.
7. Click "Add."

Your Basic User group is now created.

To create your "Basic Writer" group, follow steps 1-6 above, but under "System Permissions" > Pages, also check "Add" (this allows the user to create a new page) and, if you desire the writer to be able to edit existing pages, also check "Modify Content." Now click on the "Add" button at the bottom of the page. Your Basic Writer group is now created.

Add Users

Now that you have your groups, you can create users and add them to the groups. Go to the main "Access" section again, and select "Users." Under "Add User," type in all the relevant information for the user. The bottom field is "Group." From the dropdown menu, select the group you want this user to be in (in this case, either "Basic User" or "Basic Writer"). Click the "Add" button at the bottom of the page. The user account is now active, and will be restricted to the access levels of the group of which he or she is a member.

Need more information?

If your question is not answered in this manual, be sure to visit Website Baker's own site and look at the official documentation. (In particular, note the documentation wiki.) In addition, there is a "Guest Area" on Website Baker's forum where you have opportunity to ask questions. (Note: Please be sure to use the search functionality on the forum before posting a question.)