Virginia Tech® home

Basic Training

Purpose of the Content Management System (CMS)

  • primary means of informing and engaging with our audiences
  • provide consistency of brand and user experience across all VT web properties
  • provide an inclusive experience for those using assistive technology

Accessibility Requirements

Ensemble Support Resources

How To Request Access To a Site

How To Log In

  • https://author.ensemble.vt.edu
  • VT CAS login via VT Username and password, with two-factor authentication
  • access to site within the system is required before you can log in

How To Navigate the Author Interface

  • user interface documentation
  • Main navigation
    • eyebrow
    • tiles
  • My Sites
    • display options
    • pages are also folders
    • click title to navigate through structure
    • click icons or check boxes to select
    • actions menu
  • My Assets
    • display options
    • folders and how they relate to page structure
    • click thumbnail or check box to select
    • actions menu
  • My Tags
  • All Sites
  • All Assets

How To Upload Assets

  • assets documentation
  • image sizes
  • video loops
    • short ( a few seconds ) with no audio
  • avoid using for large files ( > 200 MB )
  • create folders
  • drag-and-drop from local machine to browser window
    • drag no more than 10 to 15 items at a time
    • if you have a large number of assets to upload and publish, plan to do that in stages or after 5:00 PM weekdays
  • add titles and alternative text for images
    • alternative text should be descriptive unless there is sufficient context supplied by text content on the page

Where and How To Upload Video

  • video upload documentation for inclusion on VTx site
  • video not destined for VTx should be in YouTube or Kaltura (video.vt.edu)
  • use Media - External component
    • avoid using iFrame option unless from somewhere other than YT or video.vt.edu
    • if iFrame, use HTML component not Media - External

How To Create a Content Page

Hands on

  • have a plan or idea of what you want the page to look like
    • become familiar with components with a "kitchen sink" page
  • navigate to where you want to create a new page
  • Click the blue create button, top-right of My Sites interface
  • choose a page template
  • fill out page properties
    • add name and title
      • Names should be lowercase letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores only
        • names are the file name, URL portion of a page or folder
      • Titles can be anything you want
        • titles are the first heading of a page ( H1 ) and what appears in search results, social media and browser window page title
    • add tags if needed
    • right column on or off
      • don't use right column layout if no right column info
    • hide in navigation if you don't want it to show in navigation or in lists*
    • set On time if needed
  • click Create
  • click Open page
  • side bar and page information menu
  • drag components onto page first
  • fill in component with content
    • make sure images have alternative text; manual process
  • view as published vs. preview
  • publish page when ready

How To Create a Home or Landing Page

Hands on

How To Link To Assets

  • Asset linking documentation
  • link structure difference from pages
    • /content/dam/sitename_vt_edu/  vs. /content/sitename_vt_edu/en/
  • easy way to get the asset link
    • click on the asset in the My Assets view and copy from address bar

How To Publish

  • Publishing documentation
  • Workflow considerations
    • Publisher or Web Admin approval
  • On Time
    • page property to set automatic time for content to go live
    • can still make changes after submit but can no longer view as published
  • Time to publish
    • typically no more than 15 minutes for new content
  • Site cache info
    • publish something at the index (home page) level to update all changes

Additional Information