As with all our CMS based websites there is a full web based control panel or controlling you content. This area is only accessible by logging in with your user name and password provided to you once the website is installed and setup. Then click on the link named Administration Menu located in the Block named User Menu.
Our CMS websites are all developed using the platform.
The content management system comes with an integrated membership registration section. Once registered, users can login by entering their username and password in forms displayed in a login block on the
page. New registration is accomplished by pressing the [Register now!] link. This opens a page where an anonymous user may register by inputting basic details, like a user name and contact email. Registration allows access to restricted content of the site as defined by the site administrator. Site administrators can elect not to display the login form if they wish, or simply disallow registration. However the form is displayed on the home page by default on initial installation.
Login is required to access any restricted content of the site. Successful login is accomplished by inputting a correct
username and password as confirmed during the registration process. If an unregistered user submits a URL that deliberately or accidentally calls a file or page that is designated as restricted content, then the login page is automatically returned by default. This defeats the URL call until authorized access is confirmed by successful login.
Site administrators need to login to access the admin part of a site.Registered users may login to access other parts of the site that have been designated as registered members content.Registered users may also be given extra rights, such as posting in forums, commenting and submitting news items etc.
Administrators of a site can also define extra-restricted areas (not accessible to registered members) that display unique content. They can then assign any registered member access rights to that area. All these access features are defined and controlled in the groups section in admin and are discussed in detail
later in the manual.
For now let's describe the login procedure as follows:
As site administrator
As registered user
Failed login procedure
Logging out
During the installation of we created a username and password that we will give to you privately. The Admin name and Admin password Both these strings are case sensitive and should be used to login to your site as site administrator. A site administrator has unrestricted access to the site and allows entry to the website administration section, as well as the normal registered user section.
Both usernames and passwords may be changed in the administration and user section. Make certain your login strings are unique and secure, as they will grant access to any user who inputs them! Once logged in as administrator a new menu section appears in your home page sidebar with a link to [Site administration] . This link appears because of your login status as administrator and is the link to the main control center for your site. It is possible to promote any registered user to site administration level, though for security reasons this is usually assigned to select trusted personnel only.
As Registered User
Any visitor may register with your site (if you allow site registration) granting access to restricted content, interactivity and privileges, depending on how your site is configured. They will not have access to the site administrator's link to the admin section, nor will they be able to gain access by inputting the admin URL in the address bar. (Access is combined with a cookie function) Users can only register using unique usernames and password combinations. As administrator you may also assign certain usernames (in Site admin user info settings) that you want to prevent new registrants using. Once any combination of username/password strings has been used the system will not allow duplication for security reasons.
Registered users can change their passwords at any time by updating their account information. Once a registered member logs in successfully, they are returned to the site page they were viewing.
Incorrect Login Procedure
If for any reason an unrecognized combination of username and password is used during login, the system will return an Incorrect login page. A subsequent page displaying the login form quickly follows this. There is also an extra input form for requesting a new password by email should it be lost or become insecure. Users should re-enter their login details and try again, or request a password replacement by email. The login box also displays a [Lost Password?] link that goes directly to this page.
If a new password is required, fill in your email address in the appropriate form. A registration confirmation email is sent to the address entered if it is recognized in the database. Click on the link in the email to activate another email post containing the new password. Use the new password along with your original username to login on the next visit. You will probably want to change the password back to something more memorable in your account details.
Logging Out
When logged in it is always advisable to end your session by logging out before leaving a site or leaving your computer unattended for periods of time. This is simply good security practice to prevent any unauthorized access.
Control panel home
Having logged in successfully as a site administrator you are now shown a new menu called user menu in the home page. Click on the link [Administration menu] . This link is unique to you the Webmaster, or site administrator, as we shall refer to in these pages. Click this link to open your Control panel home page!
The control panel home page is the nerve center for your whole site. You will certainly be spending many happy hours here creating content and administrating, so take some time to become familiar with the functions and facilities available. That rather empty home page will soon take on the appearance and usefulness of a truly professionally built Website, providing you plan thoughtfully and experiment with care and some background knowledge.
There are 14 standard features installed with all CMS packages. The control panel will allow you to manage 100% of your online content with easy and a few clicks of the mouse.
Below is a basic overview of what those features are used for:
Banners: will allow you to add links to banners images and links to websites that users will be taken to when that banner image is clicked on.
Banners are advertisements displayed in the top section of the page. They may be images or flash movies, e.g. the wildly gyrating banner that is part of the default installation. has a built in system for managing banners and creating accounts for advertising clients, which is found in the System Module-Banners. You can have multiple banners on a site - the display area rotates through each of the active banners in turn each time a new page is loaded.
Each time a banner is displayed to a visitor this counts as one impression, which is the common trading currency of banners. Clients typically pay for a certain number of impressions - i.e. to have their advertisement displayed a certain number of times.
Please note: If you are in the business of selling banners based on the number of impressions there is one important thing you should do: Go to System Module-Preferences-General Settings and fill in the [Your IP Address] field (if you have one). This will prevent your visits to the site from being included in the impression count. Failure to do this could be considered somewhat dishonest (noting, however, that many Administrators don't have a permanent IP - e.g. those using dial up modems).
The Banner Administration section of the control panel is divided into several sections, described below:
Current active banners
A summary of the details of banners currently being displayed. Banner ID is simply a unique identifier. Impressions is the number of times the banner has been displayed. Imp. Left is the number of paid impressions remaining. Clicks is the number of times a visitor has clicked on the banner. This is used to calculate % Clicks which is a useful gauge of the effectiveness of a banner - the higher the better. Client Name is the owner of the banner.
Add new banner
You can add new banners to your website through this form. The fields are as follows:
Blocks are discreet sections of content that can be created and configured in the admin interface. Custom blocks
can be created and are typically made up of text, graphics and pictures. The content in these blocks may be
formatted individually or inherit the site formatting. Blocks may also be part of a modules display output. The
blocks administration page is where all blocks are configured and administered.
Overview The Blocks Administration page allows the Site administrator to organize the blocks for every page in the site. This page is divided in two sections. The first section displays the blocks configured in the system, filtered by three drop-down menu options at the top of the table. The second section is for the creation of a new block. As we have said, any installed modules are also displayed in this page; they will be discussed later in the guide. First, to set properties of a block, it has to be displayed in the table of the Blocks Administration page. The following image represents the filters one can use to display the blocks information:
Blocks Administration
The three drop-down combo boxes select options for [Show blocks visible in] and [Group] and [Visible] . These options (together with the options set on each page) control much of the content and functions of the site, so it's really worth getting familiar with this section.
Lets look at fig.1. By default, the table will display the blocks that are defined to appear in the Top Page, for the Registered Users. Lets have a look at some of the terms here.
• Show blocks visible in - This combo box sets the page where blocks are displayed. For example, the Top Page is the home page of the site. When a user types http://www.yoursite.com, the top page is what he sees. (This page can be set in the General Settings of the site). The other choices of this combo box will list the different modules of the site (Downloads, Web Links, Forum, etc;).
• Group - This combo box lists all the groups of the site. If the group Webmaster is selected, the table will display all the blocks for which the Webmaster group has access. Please note that the blocks permissions are defined in the Groups section and discussed later in this guide.
• Visible - The purpose of this combo box is simply to help the site administrator by filtering a specific visible status. This combo box has 3 items: Yes, No and All. The table will display the blocks that have their visible property set to that value. If All is selected, the table will return every block.
Select what blocks to show and where to place them on the website. You can have blocks of features placed on the top, bottom, left or right of the screen as seen below for location placement depending on the theme selected.
The image above shows a standard theme layout and how the blocks are placed.
At the heart of the CMS main functions is a robust user management system. An administrator can build a site that offers nothing to some users, part of the content to other users, and all the content to still other users.
Since was born out of systems designed to build online communities, its user functionalities reflect this
past. allows the site administrator to define as many groups of users as deemed necessary.
By default, is configured with three groups of users: anonymous users, which have direct access to whatever the administrator configures as visible for them; registered users, which usually have access to more content once they log in the site; and webmasters, which have management roles over different parts of the site. The site's administrator can give users of this group differential control over some of the modules. The site manager can search for users by different criteria, as well as send mail messages or private messages to groups or subgroups of users.
As to users, they have access to their profile, have some control over most of the information that will be visible to other users, and have also an inbox to receive private messages from the site administrator or from other users. They have besides control over what changes in the site will trigger personal notifications. And depending on the permissions set by the site manager, they can see content and participate in the site's life by uploading content, writing stories or comments, rating content and in general giving their feedback to what they see on the site.
Avatars are small graphics or pictures that can be used in various content settings around the site. They are often used next to a user name to add a bit of visual identification. Typical applications are the forum. The Avatar Manager allows the Site administrator to add, edit or delete System Avatars as well as Custom Avatars. System Avatars are images uploaded by the Site administrator in the Avatar Manager section. Custom Avatars are images directly uploaded by a user. For a user to be able to upload an avatar, the correct option must be configured in the User Info Settings of the Site Preferences.
Adding avatars
The Site administrator can add an avatar by filing these fields in the Avatar Manager:
Field Description
Name: This is the name that the user will see when selecting an avatar.
Image File: The path of the file to be uploaded. The image file can be selected by clicking the 'Browse button' This opens a selection box on your local machine.
Display order in image manager: This is the value used by the image manager to sort avatars. Display this image: If the item No is checked, the avatar will not be display to the user in the list of selectable avatars a user can choose.
Find Users provides a wide range of options that you can use to search for specific users or to filter your membership. You can also obtain a complete list of members by pressing the submit button without using any of the filters.
Edit users will allow you to change information and add new users manually.
Mail Users
has a built in messaging system that enables you to send a message to your entire registered user base or subgroups thereof. This can be in the form of a private message (i.e. through the built-in messaging system) or through an email. A range of options is available for filtering out subgroups of users from your membership.
User ranks will allow you to add images that represent the level of the user. This is can be set to change automatically with certain rules of participation.
The image manager is a tool that enables people to upload, organize and retrieve images for use throughout the site. You must configure the image manager before you can use it (via system->images). This involves creating some categories to store your images and setting preferences on issues such as maximum image dimensions, file size and user group access rights. Each category is configured separately.
Smiles are little graphic symbols that people can use to express themselves. They can be inserted anywhere in the text of an article, comment or post from both the user and admin sides of the system. ships with a collection of 17 smilies built in. Some of these are displayed on the submission forms in various modules (including forums, news, downloads, links and others). Clicking on a smilie will insert it into the post. Smilies can also be inserted by typing in their unique codes (keyboard shortcuts), for example typing in a post will insert this smilie:
The full list of smilies available on your system and their codes is accessible through the Smilies section of the System Module. Here you can add, edit and delete smilies, and control which are displayed on submission forms (only nine of the 17 are displayed by default) If you don't want smilies on your system, you can either uncheck the display in form? box (in which case they won't appear on submission forms, but will still be available via their codes), or use the [delete] link to remove them entirely.
Adding and editing smilies
You can add more smilies to your system using the form at the bottom of the page (there are many websites where you can obtain new ones). Simply enter a shortcut code for your new smile (this should be unique), a name for it, select the file you want to upload using the browse button, and decide whether or not you want it to be one of those displayed on submission forms. Select [submit] to upload it. Clicking on the [edit] link for an existing smarty will open up a form with the same options. You can even replace the image file if you want.
Site administrators have the option of providing a comments section for users. Comments can be added to many modules and displayed in a variety of ways. Comments can be screened, filtered, and made available to selected groups. This provides quick easy interaction from site users, while maintaining good moderation and security.
The Comment Manager allows the Site administrator to edit and delete any comment that has been posted to the site, originating in any module that supports the comments feature. Like the Blocks Administration page, some filters options are available to help the site administrator manage the comments. Lets have a look at these filters operated from three combo box menus:
Module - By selecting a particular module, the List Comments will display the comments that were posted in the selected module.
Status - By selecting a particular status, the Comments will display the comments that have the selected status. Here are definitions of the possible status options:
The preference panels are where you configure your site-wide preferences. It is worth taking the time to work
through them as some settings can have a significant impact on the performance, security and ease of use of your
site.
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Banners: will allow you to add links to banners images and links to websites that users will be taken to when that banner image is clicked on.
in a post will insert this smilie: 
The preference panels are where you configure your site-wide preferences. It is worth taking the time to work
