Getting started with Servee
Edit content, edit structure, and add new pages.
If you want to get started with Servee as quickly as possible, check out the two three-minute videos above. If you'd rather read, a combined transcription of these videos, complete with images, is below.
If you know how to work basic text editors like Microsoft Word, you are well on your way to updating your website with Servee. Before you begin, make sure you are using the Firefox web browser. If you need it, download it here for free. Once you are in Firefox, type the address of your website in the address bar followed by /admin (for example, http://www.servee.com/admin). This will give you access to edit your website.
In the following instructions you will learn how to edit the content on your home page and subpages, how to rearrange the architecture of your site map, and how to add new pages to your site.
Familiarize yourself with the Servee landscape:
figure 1
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A. Options |
I. Superscript / Subscript |
Edit content on an existing page
First, browse to the page you wish to edit using the normal navigation for the site. If the navigation is hidden under the Servee toolbar, click on the blue "Click for tools" bar at the top to collapse it.
figure 2
On each page, there is a field for a headline and a subhead. If you don't need either of these, you can leave them blank without affecting your site. However, having elements in those fields helps internal and external search engines locate the key elements of your page.
Make edits to your page with the text tools above the content window. Most of the buttons on the text toolbar are similar to those used in other programs. The only exception to that rule may be the Add styles button (fig. 1, N., and fig. 2). This tool is where the designer of your site has given you site-specific color, size, and font specifications for your type, and also specifications for your images. The designer has been given control of these elements so that the look and feel of your site remains exactly as the designer intended.
Add an image, document, audio, or video file to your page
figure 3
This is one of the most innovative features in Servee. For the sake of this tutorial, we'll assume you are placing an image, but the process is the same for most types of media documents. The only limitation is that Servee only accepts files that are 15 MB or smaller.
First, place the cursor where you want the image to go in the content window. Click the media button (Fig. 1, M.).
Click the browse button (fig. 3, A.) to select the image or file from your computer. Once selected, click OK and then Upload (B.). Servee will automatically resize the image to the appropriate width for your content window, so there is no need to shrink the photo in an image editing program before you place it on the web.
You'll see the new image in the preview window (C.). Click on the image, and then type in the title, description, and tags for the image in the resource fields (D.). The tags are very important. Once you have several images on your site, the tags allow you to sort through your images quickly. If you upload ten images from a family vacation, you could tag all of them with the same descriptive name, such as "vacation 2008." After you update the resource fields, the tag will appear in the tag field (E). To narrow the preview window to display only the "vacation 2008" photos, simply click on that tag, and the other files will become hidden. To display all of the files, click "Show all files" in the tag field.
To add the image to your page, click on the image in the preview window and select place item (F.). Once you are back in the editor mode, you can resize the photo by dragging the corners, or select different floating options (right, left, or full) from the Add styles menu.
Add a link
figure 4
To add a link to your content, highlight the text or image that you wish to become a link and click the link button (fig. 1, L.).
To create a link that directs to another page within your site, choose the page from the drop-down menu. (fig. 4, A.)
To create a link to another web page, type in the full URL to the page in the second field. (B.)
Once you have specified where the link will point, add a title tag in the third field (C.) describing the link for search engine optimization.
Now that you have a grasp on the content editing features of Servee, it's time to move on to the navigation editing functions.
Add a new standard content page to your site
figure 5
Click the new entry button ( fig. 1, C.). The new entry dialog will appear. In the first field, type the name of your new page as you would like it to appear in the navigation. Click "New standard content page" (fig. 5, A.).
This dialog directs you to move the new page to the location of your choice within the architecture of the site. Each location bar (B.) represents a spot in the navigation. As you hover over a location bar, the message field (C.) will describe the location. Click on a bar to select a location.
You will then be taken to the architecture dialog, where you can check that your new page has been placed properly. If it looks correct, you can close the window. To edit the new page, simply browse to the page with your site's navigation.
Hide pages from the navigation or delete a page
figure 6
Click the architecture button (fig. 1, B.).
To hide a page from the navigation, toggle the green visibility button (fig. 6, A.) to gray. That page will now be invisible from the navigation on the site, but not in the Servee admin section. You can still browse to the page with Servee to make edits. This is useful if you only want a page to be linked from a text link within the body of your site, or if you have a page that you want to hide from the public (for example, myprofessionalsite.com/my_family_photos. You can still give that link to your family, but your business clients won't know the page is there.).
To delete a page permanently, click the red delete button (B.).
Other page options
Note: This section is currently under review. With the current version of the program, "Revert Page" has been disabled, and "Change Modules" has been moved to a different dialog in the program. A full post on the module options is coming soon. In the mean time, learn how to use the headlines module here, about half-way down the post.
figure 7
You're well on your way to becoming a Servee expert. There is one button that we haven't yet discussed, and that is the page options (fig. 1, A.). This is where you'll go to make edits to existing pages beyond standard content. This dialog always refers to the page that you are currently on.
To change the location of an existing page:
Click "Move page to a new location" (fig. 7, A.). This will take you to the move dialog, described above.
To change the name of an existing page in the navigation:
Type the new name in the first field and click "Change page title" (B.). This will automatically be changed in the navigation. If this is all you need to do, close the window.
To change to a previous version of a page:
The first drop-down menu contains all previous versions of the page you are on. Each version is dated. You can select an older version of the page, and click "Revert page to this version" (C.).
To change page modules:
This function is only useful if you have variable page modules in your site. Things like blog headline fields, "upcoming events" fields fed from your calendar, or image rotators would all be selectable in those fields. These will vary greatly from site to site, so if you have any questions in that area, feel free to contact us.
Congratulations! You now have all the skills you need to make edits to your website. If you still have questions, or you want to learn how to dig in and customize your site from the backend, check out the other blog posts, or send us a note.
Welcome to Servee.