From Tuesday 16th December you will notice slight changes to your generic templates. When you edit a generic page you will see that we have included a section for related links and documents. This means that you can present your visitors with additional pages and documents you feel are relevant to the page.
There is nothing you need to do. If you have already used the existing user templates to create links to other Canterbury Christ Church University pages and documents, we will transfer these for you into the new format.
The Web Team has created a training manual to explain how to use this new facility, and this is available on the CMSAuthors share.
The reason why we have implemented this change is that we want to improve the way content is managed and connected on the web. By using this new feature it will be easier for you to manage links across your sites. Just by adding a link onto PAGE 1, pointing at PAGE 2 it will automatically create a return link on PAGE 2. It will also automatically remove links to pages and documents that have been deleted from the CMS.
We hope that you will find this new addition helpful and easy to use.
If you have any questions, or comments, please do not hesitate to contact the Web Team or leave a comment.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
RSS what?
You may or may not have heard the abbreviation RSS. I am going to try and explain to you in a non technical way what RSS is and how you can use it.
What does RSS stand for?
It stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' or 'Rich Site Summary' as some people/sites call it. I think the first is more meaningfull in the way that we use it on the University website.
What is it?
RSS is a format, which allows sites which have content that updates regularly to almost instantly notify RSS subscribers that new content has been added to the site. Most of the time the content will be something like news, vacancies, events, blog entries, flickr photos.
How do I know if a site has an RSS feed?
Most blogs will have a link, which says something like ‘Subscribe to ….’ or you will see an orange button like the one on this blog
. Internet Explorer 7 (see image below) and Firefox (and other browsers) will display a very similar orange button in one of their toolbars at the top the window.
How do I use RSS? (How do I subscribe to a RSS feed?)
Firstly, you will need a RSS reader. There are many different types of readers. Some are desktop applications and other web based applications.
Modern internet browsers like Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Firefox will both have their own readers built in.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 has a built-in RSS reader, which is very easy to use. Here is a simple tutorial on how to use Outlook 2007 as a RSS reader.
The two best web based RSS readers in my opinion and I use both is Google Reader and Netvibes. You will need to signup to those two sites to be able to use them, but that is a very simple process.
Next you will need to get a RSS feed from a site and tell your reader that you would like to subscribe to that specific feed. You can just copy the RSS url (e.g. http://cccuwebteam.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default or http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/technology/rss.xml) and paste it into your reader.
There are many different ways for subscribing to feeds and I am not going to explain them all in detail, but if you need some assistance please leave a comment below and I will get back to you.
Current and future use of RSS feeds on the University’s website
Currently the only University site that allows users to subscribe to content is the News site. We’ve got plans to make feeds available for events, staff vacancies and sales & wants in the near future. I will publish a message here on the blog when they become available and if you subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed you will be notified as soon as they are available.
Please leave a comment if you can think of any other possible uses.
Additional information
BBC’s explanation on what RSS news feeds is - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm
Introduction to RSS - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA012304631033.aspx
What Is RSS? RSS Explained - http://www.whatisrss.com/
What does RSS stand for?
It stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' or 'Rich Site Summary' as some people/sites call it. I think the first is more meaningfull in the way that we use it on the University website.
What is it?
RSS is a format, which allows sites which have content that updates regularly to almost instantly notify RSS subscribers that new content has been added to the site. Most of the time the content will be something like news, vacancies, events, blog entries, flickr photos.
How do I know if a site has an RSS feed?
Most blogs will have a link, which says something like ‘Subscribe to ….’ or you will see an orange button like the one on this blog
. Internet Explorer 7 (see image below) and Firefox (and other browsers) will display a very similar orange button in one of their toolbars at the top the window.
How do I use RSS? (How do I subscribe to a RSS feed?)
Firstly, you will need a RSS reader. There are many different types of readers. Some are desktop applications and other web based applications.
Modern internet browsers like Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Firefox will both have their own readers built in.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 has a built-in RSS reader, which is very easy to use. Here is a simple tutorial on how to use Outlook 2007 as a RSS reader.
The two best web based RSS readers in my opinion and I use both is Google Reader and Netvibes. You will need to signup to those two sites to be able to use them, but that is a very simple process.
Next you will need to get a RSS feed from a site and tell your reader that you would like to subscribe to that specific feed. You can just copy the RSS url (e.g. http://cccuwebteam.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default or http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/technology/rss.xml) and paste it into your reader.
There are many different ways for subscribing to feeds and I am not going to explain them all in detail, but if you need some assistance please leave a comment below and I will get back to you.
Current and future use of RSS feeds on the University’s website
Currently the only University site that allows users to subscribe to content is the News site. We’ve got plans to make feeds available for events, staff vacancies and sales & wants in the near future. I will publish a message here on the blog when they become available and if you subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed you will be notified as soon as they are available.
Please leave a comment if you can think of any other possible uses.
Additional information
BBC’s explanation on what RSS news feeds is - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm
Introduction to RSS - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA012304631033.aspx
What Is RSS? RSS Explained - http://www.whatisrss.com/
Monday, December 08, 2008
Now we're talking.
The Web Team blog is now available in audio. Just click on listen now or subscribe to our podcast!
If you want to find out how it's done, or have any questions, please leave a comment.
If you want to find out how it's done, or have any questions, please leave a comment.
Brilliant new image galleries for your webpages!
CIS and the Web Team have now completed the development and testing of a new, exciting Contensis CMS web control. The Image Gallery.
Although the control was out-of-the-box, meaning already built by Contensis for all its users, the Web Team have done substantial work on turning it into a CCCU branded image gallery that fits into the current look and feel of the web site.
The way it works, is that the web author creates the image gallery control on his/her chosen page and "points" it at a specific image folder. The control then looks at that folder and automatically creates thumbnails, which are smaller versions of the images. When you then click on the thumbnail, it displays a bigger version of the image.
Not only have the Web Team implemented this control, but they also provide you with a choice of two gallery types. The Advanced Gallery and the Simple Gallery. And you will be able to simply switch in between them with a few easy clicks in the CMS. This new template will be released to you before the Christmas break.
There is a user manual available upon request from the Web Team. Just leave a comment or email us at cis[dot]support[at]canterbury[dot]ac[dot]uk.
Although the control was out-of-the-box, meaning already built by Contensis for all its users, the Web Team have done substantial work on turning it into a CCCU branded image gallery that fits into the current look and feel of the web site.
The way it works, is that the web author creates the image gallery control on his/her chosen page and "points" it at a specific image folder. The control then looks at that folder and automatically creates thumbnails, which are smaller versions of the images. When you then click on the thumbnail, it displays a bigger version of the image.
Not only have the Web Team implemented this control, but they also provide you with a choice of two gallery types. The Advanced Gallery and the Simple Gallery. And you will be able to simply switch in between them with a few easy clicks in the CMS. This new template will be released to you before the Christmas break.
There is a user manual available upon request from the Web Team. Just leave a comment or email us at cis[dot]support[at]canterbury[dot]ac[dot]uk.
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