CMS Content Management System
This page looks to cover the range of webtools available to you in the Community version of CareAbout.
Namely:-
Structure, Style or Look and Feel, Home Page, New Pages, Headers and Footers, Basic Forms, Surveys and Email broadcasts.
Choose a Structure
Play the Video Tutorial "Choose a Structure". This will take you through the various decisions you will need to make.
In Summary they are:-
Menu
Do I want a Top or a Left Hand Side menu?
The more complex your site the more likely you are to want sub pages. If you want lots of sub pages choose a Top Menu site, as the drop downs look better. Otherwise it is a matter of personal choice.
Containers
Containers are the boxes you see on all sites, they define how you choose to split up your page, and ultimately what functionality you want to put where.
You can choose to have containers in the following places, Top, Right, Content (Middle) or Left.
Your containers will hold your Widgets, and hence define the functionality of your site.
Widgets
CareAbout Widgets are, HTML Content, Menu, Link Listing, Embedded Surveys and Event Listings.
Widgets can comprise of a range of Webtools. For Example:-
HTML Content
HTML Content comprises a whole spectrum of functionality including:-
- Words
- Pictures
- Tables
- Video
- Positioning within the container
These are collectively know as Content.
Have a look at the sample sites in the Help section, choose one you like the look of, and start developing your site.
With some limitations, you can always change the structure at a later date.
If you do choose to change a structure, remember to use the Back Up function, so you can retrieve your work at a later date.
Choose a Style
Initially Choosing a Style is about deciding upon a colour scheme that you like.
Our objective here is to get you up and running quickly with a colour scheme that works out of the box.
Follow the Choosing a Style tutorial, and practice with the options.
Remember to take a Back Up, if you choose to Change a Style.
Advanced
CareAbout uses Style Sheets to define a style. These are very powerful and flexible, and in the "Edit Colours section, you will be able to change a range of selected options. See the Advanced Tutorials Page.
Adding the Homepage
OK lets just consolidate where we are and firm up on some terminology.
So far we have chosen a structure and a style. This has in fact taken quite a lot of decisions for you to get you up and running quickly, so let us recap on those decisions:-
Structure
You have decided the placement of your menu, top or LHS, and which "Containers" you want to place where, Top, Right, Left or Content. Content is always the big one, where the pictures go.
We now need to decide which functionality to put in each "Container".
To simplify matters we have grouped the "Webtools" into 4 main "Widgets" these are:-
- HTML Content - Words and pictures
- Menu - Site Navigation
- Link Listing - Links to other websites or web pages
- Embedded Survey - Forms or Surveys
- List of Events - Events
A bit of thought at this stage will save you time later, as when you add subsequent pages they can copy the widgets of the home page if you want. You can add or delete widgets, it is not a problem, but it can take time. Our advice is to keep it simple, add HTML content and the Menu to every page, you will soon learn where you want the other widgets.
Adding New Pages
This is a simple process, you just name and add a page, however here are a few tips:-
- Start by adding a couple of pages and make sure you are copying the widgets you want. It is time consuming to add or delete unwanted widgets from many pages.
- Ensure that you are only adding each widget once. If you tick the "Add widget on Subsequent Pages" button each time you add a particular widget it will add multiple widgets to each new page.
- Number your Page Order boxes 10, 20, 30 leaving room to add new pages, or you may have to renumber pages each time you insert a new page.
- Initially keep the HTML Content on the homepage short, as it will copy to new pages
- Each time you add a new page, edit the HTML content to give the page a title. That way you will know which page you are on as you are developing the site.
Play the Video and see how you get on.
Adding a Header
Headers are the banner at the top of your site. They carry the branding of your site and if added as a header will be the same on every page. If you want to put something different on every page you can add an HTML Content Widget above the Menu Widget in the top container.
Web Forms
Web Forms are where you collect Customer details on a web site.
At the most basic level you are sending out an email that drives Customers onto the page of your website where the web form exists.
Normally you would then receive an email notifying you that a Customer had expressed an interest along with their contact details.
However as you know which page they were on when they submitted the form, you can also tell which areas they are interested in and collect that data in a marketing database.
Customer Surveys
Customer Surveys may be used for many purposes. They are effectively a method for capturing data on the Web. So they can be used for:-
- Web Forms
- Identifying Customer needs
- Staff Training
- Change Management
- Quality Control
- Etc.
Really any process where you want to ask a question and capture a response.
SEE the main Customer Survey page under Webtools for more detail
Email Broadcasts
Email Broadcasts may be HTML or Plain Text. Plain Text emails are straight forward, you just type the message and send it.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) requires a knowledge of HTML and can be a bit more tricky.
For this reason the CareAbout Community Version deals with Plain Text only. If you want to upgrade to HTML, as ever, this is not a problem you can.
The eVolve SME version assumes that you are sending out emails to prospective customers, at this point you need to be concerned about Spam, not being blacklisted, and monitoring the effectiveness of your campaigns, soft bounces, hard bounces and data protection issues.
Case Studies
Guardian Government Computing Magazine
Try IT Out
Send Plain Text and HTML emails to your self, load a list for broadcast etc
Video Tutorials
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Try IT Out
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Case Studies
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