An introductory guide to using Macromedia Contribute 3.1 for Web Editors
- Getting Started
- Begin editing
i) to edit an existing page
ii) to save a draft page for editing later
iii) to edit a draft page - To make a new page
i) in an existing section
ii) in a new section - Page Description
- Send a page for review
- Review a page
- Publish a Page
- Undo Send - if you want to add/edit to a page already sent for review/published
- Draft Console - to check progress of pages you're editing, have sent for review and those in draft form
- Workflow - of the publishing process
- Contact Us
Getting Started
The webteam will email you a Connection Key, with instructions, that will automatically configure your Macromedia Contribute 3.1 connection to the Aberdeenshire website. Please contact Paul Brown when you are ready to have your Contribute account activated
In Contribute:
Begin editing
To edit an existing page:
- Click on Aberdeenshire Council connection and browse to the page you want to edit.
- From editing toolbar click Edit Page.
If you do not get this option then someone is already working on the document. You must contact the person and arrange to have the document available at separate times - Once you're finished editing you can either:
- save as a draft for editing later - click Save for Later
- send to staff/Webteam for publishing onto Internet - click Send for Review and select recipients
- publish document - click Publish (Only Publishers can use this because this function is disabled for Writers - see Workflow)
To save a draft page for editing later:
- If you are editing a page and still want to work on it later before publishing it you can click Save for Later. Contribute will add a draft of the page to your left-hand menu (draft console)
To edit a draft page:
- From the left-hand menu your draft page will have a yellow star icon.
Double click this draft page.Then click Edit Page
To make a new page
To make a new page - in an existing section
- Browse to a page with the same left-hand menu structure as your new page
- Select File – New Page
- Choose Copy of Current Page
- In the Title box insert the page description with the prefix
'Aberdeenshire Council - My Page Title' - Edit your page
- Once you have finished editing your page then Send for Review or Publish
- You will be prompted for saving in the correct folder. Give your file a clear, descriptive filename
If your page is only accessed via a hyperlink, for example a news item, then:
- first make the page (same as making a page - in an existing section)
- then you must link to the new page. In the page that links to your new page highlight the linking text, from the editing toolbar select Link - Drafts and Recent Pages
- select your page and click OK
- you can now publish both pages
To make a new page - in a new section
Macromedia Contribute doesn't allow editors to make new web pages in the left-hand navigation structure. If you do require new headings then please Contact the Webteam
Page Description
Give your page a descriptive name in the Title bar (blue bar at very top of screen) to ensure consistency, accuracy and relevance to the page. All titles begin with 'Aberdeenshire Council - '
eg: Aberdeenshire Council - Recycling Results for 2004
- In Edit mode select Page Properties from the top right hand corner and select Title/encoding. (this is the only time you use the Page Properties options)
- Enter the page title with the prefix Aberdeenshire Council - xxx. For example 'Aberdeenshire Council - Web Editors Resources'
- click OK
Send a page for Review
Once you are happy with the document you can send to a person or group for review:
- From the Editing Toolbar click Send for Review
- In the options box (see below) select the person/group to review the page
- use the description of changes box to add any changes you made or comments/feedback you have
- tick the box to notify recipients by email
- click Send
Review a page
The Contribute left-hand menu shows the Drafts that you have made and also ones for review.
A yellow arrow icon denotes a page for review
Publish a Page
When you are ready to publish a page simply click Publish. The document then leaves your Contribute console and is published to the Staging Area/www3 (see workflow). From here the webteam will update the page/s onto the live website every few hours. If you need the document published immediately then contact the webteam
Undo Send
1) If you want to add/edit a page already Sent for Review but not published:
- browse to the page and click Undo Send. You now have your editable draft back.
2) If you want to add/edit a page already Published to the Staging Area/www3 but not on the live website/www (see workflow):
- browse to the page and click Undo Send. You now have your editable draft back.
3) If you want to add/edit a page already Published to the live website (see workflow):
- you can't. it's live. browse to the live page and Edit
4) If you want to roll-back to a previous version of a page although the changes are already live:
- contact the webteam who can roll-back the page upto 3 versions - though this is only a last resort
Draft Console
You can check the progress of each page by clicking the Draft Console hyperlink, where you can check progress of pages you're editing, reviewing and have sent for review. You can also keep track of a document's progress you've submitted for review to other staff/teams
Contact Us
you can either:
- email via Notes - ICTWebPub
- send a page with changes to us:
send the page for review to Administrator, with description of changes
