Contribute
Tips & Instructions
Tip: The Contribute Help Menu is a wonderful resource for understanding how Contribute works.
Contribute is the City standard website publishing tool. Dreamweaver templates are also in use on the City's website. Template/design suggestions are welcome. This information is NOT intended to replace the Contribute Help menu. This is simply a list of tips that applies to frequently asked questions about Contribute including special enhancements ISD has put in place to make web publishing easier for departments.
Go directly to...
- External Link Icon
- PDF Icon
- Create Emphasis, Bold or Italics
- Table Styles
- Third Level Navigation Box
- Change a Page Title
- Picture Style with Caption
- Image Editing with Contribute
- Deleting Pages and Files
- Changing Filenames
- Getting Back a Previous Version of a Page
- More Help
External Link Icon
(required per the External Link Standard)
Place your cursor after the external hyperlink. Go to Insert > Shared Assetts > External Link
Example: State of New Mexico Government
PDF Icon
(required per the PDF Standard)
Place your cursor after the PDF hyperlink. Go to Insert > Shared Assetts > About PDF
Example: Neighborhood News April 2005 (311K)
Create Emphasis, Bold or Italics
Emphasize: Highlight desired text > choose "red" from pull down menu
Example: This project was very expensive.
Bold: Highlight desired text > choose "bold" from pull down menu
Example: This project was very expensive.
Italicize: Highlight desired text > choose "italic" from pull down menu
Example: This project was very expensive.
Table Styles
These table styles should be used whenever you need to use a table in your pages.
Table Color
From the styles pull down menu (below the "publish" button) > choose tablecolor (this example utilizes the business template theme)
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Table Simple
From the styles pull down menu > tablesimple (this example utilizes the business template theme)
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Table with Alternate Colored Table Rows
Create a table on your page > select the table row to color > From the styles pull down menu choose tablerowcolored > (skip a row to leave white) > select alternate row and from the styles pull down menu choose tablerowcolored > (continue these steps to create a zebra looking table.)
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Third Level Navigation Box
Do these steps to create a third level navigation box for use with third-level navigation pages. Insert > Shared Assets > navigationbox > (populate navigation box)
Change a Page Title
According to the Web Document Structure Standard, all pages on the City's website should follow this standard: Subject - Topic - City of Albuquerque
Examples:
Child Safety - Police - City of Albuquerque
Restoration - KiMo Theatre - City of Albuquerque
Rental Assistance - Housing - City of Albuquerque
How to change a page title:
(Make sure the page is in edit mode) > Format > Page Properties > (Change the Title)
Or, there is a Page Properties icon that can be seen (when the page is in edit mode) on the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Picture Style With Caption
your caption
This asset should be used with all photos where a caption is desired. There are two assets to choose from: one that right-aligns the image, another that left-aligns the image. The color of the border is dependent upon which template your pages use (living, visiting or business).
- Insert > Shared Assetts > Image with Caption (right-aligned)
- Double-click to change sample image > Browse to the find the image on your computer you wish to use
- Use Contribute image editing as needed (Note: never squish images)
- Don't forget to change the alternate text!
- Replace the sample text with your caption. Use the enter key as needed so that the width of your caption does not exceed the width of the image.
Image Editing With Contribute
So now you've got your perfect new photo taken with your digital camera. What do you do with your new 10 inch by 8 inch photo? Squish it down to 2 inches so it fits on your website? Nope.
- Squishing makes the page size unnecessarily big. The image file size remains big, you've simply squished the same file into a smaller space on the page.
- Squishing deteriorates the quality of the image - images look pixilated.
- Squishing images can cause the design on the page to jump around.
How to edit an image in Contribute:
Right Click > Edit Image > Choose option (resize, crop, sharpen, adjust brightness, etc.)
Deleting Pages and Files
Contribute will only allow you to delete pages which you have permission to edit.
If the page or file you want to delete has already been published:
- Browse to the page you want to delete.
OR
Click the Choose button in the toolbar; then select the file you want to delete. - Make sure you are not editing the page. If you are, either publish or cancel your draft.
- Select File > Actions > Delete Page
If the page you want to delete has not yet been published, just click the Cancel button in the toolbar.
Changing Filenames
According to the City's File Organization Standard, filenames "must consist only of the lowercase letters a-z and the numbers 0-9 in any combination". You may sometimes need to rename a file to conform to this standard.
Contribute does not allow you to directly rename a file that has already been published. However, you can do the same thing by publishing it as a new page using a new filename, and then deleting the original page.
- Browse to the page you want to rename.
OR
Click the Choose button in the toolbar; then select the file you want to rename. - Click the Edit button.
- Select File > Actions > Publish as New Page.
- You can now change the filename and publish the new page.
- Delete the original page.
Getting Back a Previous Version of a Page
Contribute allows you to go back to the last 2 published versions of each page:
- Browse to the page you want to roll back.
- Make sure you are not editing the page. If you are, either publish or cancel your draft.
- Select File > Actions > Roll Back to Previous Version.
- Select the version of the page that you want to go back to.
More Help
You can get a lot more help on using Contribute by reading though their integrated help system. Select Help > Macromedia Contribute Help and you can browse or search though information about every aspect of Contribute.