User's Guide for the RealApps Content Management System
Kinetic Theory Inc.
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The RealApps Content Management System (CMS) allows you to update content on your site with a minimum amount of code knowledge. Using the streamlined Web interface, you can access content placed anywhere in your site, preview your changes, and finally update the site by publishing content to production.

Start by loading:

http://<your web site>/realapps/cms

After entering your username and password (which your admin should have set up), you'll see a list of the content that is set up for your site. If there is no content and no categories displayed, talk with your admin to get content placeholders ready for you to edit.

== Edit Content

Start by first clicking on the category of the item you wish to edit. Once you locate the specific item to edit, click "Edit" on the right side of the list next to that item.

On the edit screen, you have the ability to change the category, the location notes, and the content itself. Unless you are also changing the publish tag in the site, which normally only your admin should do, you probably do not need to change the location notes.

Categories are generated on the fly. If you wish to move the content to an existing category, type an existing name from the list provided. If you wish to create a new category, simply type the new category name in  the system will automatically create that new category and move this content into it.

Finally, the actual content that will be inserted into the site is located below. You can enter any combination of HTML and text, which will be inserted into the site at the location for this placement ID. For example, you can embed formatting tags which will be published on your site. For example:

<strong>Bolded content</strong>
<em>Italic content</em>
<p>New paragraph

Finally, click "Update" to commit your changes to the database. Your content is now ready for Previewing.

== Preview Mode

Edited content is moved to the Preview Mode database. Preview Mode allows you to view changes to the Website before publishing them to the public. To view your site in Preview Mode, click "View Preview Site" in the navigation below the content listing.

While in Preview Mode, you will see a bright yellow bar across the top of the screen (if the bar does not appear, there is no CMS content on that page). Review your content to ensure it is how you expect. You can highlight content areas by moving your mouse over the link "Highlight Content Areas" in the Preview Bar. Firefox is the best Web browser to use for Preview Mode, although Internet Explorer will work. When you are finished Previewing, click "Back to CMS".

An important note: Preview Mode *only* affects you. Only those with access to the CMS pages themselves can enter Preview Mode - so don't worry about going back and forth as many times as you need.

== List / Items Sets

If your admin has setup an appropriate template, you can maintain a list of items and add new items to that list. For example, if you have a news list, with news items, you can create news items and add them to the main listing.

To add new content, first find the category that includes your listing and items. You should have something like "news_list" and "news1", "news2", "news3" etc in a category (however, the name can be anything.)

First, create your new item. Click "Create New Content".

For Placement ID, enter a new, unused ID, like "news4".

In category, enter the same category as the other items in your list. Location notes also should be similar to the other items, something like "News item in listing"

Finally, enter the content in the body section, with any HTML formatting you would like, and hit "Create".

Next, you need to edit the "news_list" item to add a link to your new content. Find "news_list" and click "Edit'. Within the, you should see bits of code like this:

<a href="/news/news1">Title of News1</a>

Note that the "href" portion refers to your template, and the particular bit of content you want to link to. In appropriate place, enter a new link for your new bit of content, like so:

<a href="/news/news4">Title of New Item</a>

Remember to be sure that the URL is correct for your particular site, your template and your new item (copying the existing links is a good place to start.) Now, you can switch to Preview mode, and with luck you will see your new item in your list, and be able to click through to view it.

== Deleting Content

To delete content, simply click "Destroy" next to that content item in the list, and it will be deleted. *There is no undo!* If you delete content, the place it is published will be blank online next time you Publish. Be sure to update your lists if you delete referenced list items, and update your Website's code to remove the items you no longer need.

== Publishing Content

Now that you've made all your edits, added new items to your list, and ensured everything was correct, you are ready to Publish everything to your live production site. This is an important step  *nothing will appear on your Website until you do this!*

Simply click "Publish All to Production Now" to send your new content online. Browse to your Website and you will see it live. If the preview bar appears, just click "Turn Preview Mode Off".
