Set Up and Basics
Once you've completed registration you will receive an email with you administrative user name and password. This will allow you to log in to your new site and start adding content. In the email you'll also be given the URL of your websites as well as an alternate URL so that you may access your new site even before your domain name (yoursite.com) points to this new location. To get started go to your website and Log In!To do this simply click the Log In button and enter in the administrative user name and password. If you've forgotten this you can have it sent to you by clicking the log in link and entering your email into the Forgotten Password box.
Now that you've logged in you'll notice the Site Tools tool bar.
This menu will change depending on what type of page you're viewing. The types of pages are:
Category Page
This is the backbone of your website. A Category page contains basic content as well as linking to sub categories (or children), products, and articles. Category pages will show up in your menu. Your home page is also a Category Page and can be edited by clicking Edit Category in the Site Tools menu.
Product Page
This displays your products and gives the customer the option to add the item to their shopping cart.
Article Page
Displays content in an article format. Any category page linking to an article will include an RSS feed. This can be helpful to obtain better search engine placement.
Forum
The forum is primarily controlled by the administrative control panel (Admin CP). From there you can add and arrange the basic forum categories. To add the forum to your menu use the Add Category option of the Site Tools menu.
Calendar
The calendar displays the approved events in your calendar database. You can allow for others to submit events to your calendar, but they only show once you've approved them.
Now that you have logged in and have access to the Site Tools menu you can start setting up your website. Start by clicking on the Admin CP link to get to the Admin Home page.
You'll notice that you know have a new menu by which you can navigate to different administrative tools. The first tool you'll want to use is the Settings link located near the bottom of the menu.
Settings
This section of the Admin CP will allow you set a lot of the defaults of your website including default verbiage for both category and product pages. It also allows you to set up your shoping cart options which include Google Chekout and FedEx Rate Quotes.
It is recommended that you change the settings before adding content to your website.
Images
Its a good idea to go ahead and add images to the system before you start creating pages on your website. Adding images before hand will allow you to quickly integrate them into your website later.
From the Admin CP click on the images link to get started. To add a new image click on Browse and Upload Image.
This will take you to the Image Editing page. Here you can set an image name and description. This will later allow you to search for the image based on name or description when you want to add it to content.
You can also set an image thumbnail. This is used when associating the image with products or categories. To create a thumbnail, click and drag over the area of the image you would like to use. A preview of the thumbnail will automatically show. Click Save Thumbnail to set this new section as the thumbnail.
To add a new image click again on the Images link of the main Admin CP menu.
Editing Your Site
Now that you've uploaded some images, lets get started adding new content to the website. Lets start with the home page. You can get there one of two ways. If you're already in the Admin CP you can click on the Admin Home link and then click on the Edit link for your home page in the Categories tab.You can also edit the home page by clicking on Return to Site and then Edit Category from the Site Tools menu.
You'll now be at the Edit Category page. At the top of the page you have tabs allowing you to control different aspects of the Category.
Content
Allows you to control the content of your page and set the basic settings. If you're setting up a new category or editing the content of your page, this page will probably be all you need.
Image
Allows you to associate an image with the category. This image only appears on the parent category page if show Categories is selected.
Subcategories
Allows you to order the placement of the children categories. Simply click on a category and drag it to the new location you would like. The order will then be saved upon release of the category. This table also allows you to remove items from the list.
Products
Allows you to order the placement of the products. Like categories you may drag and drop the products to reorder them. This table also allows you to remove items from the list.
Articles
Allows you to order the placement of the products. Like categories you may drag and drop the products to reorder them. This table also allows you to remove items from the list.
Extras
Contains the option to delete the category and all subcategories. If you wish to have the category not show up, please uncheck the live button in the Content tab instead of deleting the category. Only delete the category if you wish to permanently delete it. Deleting a category will not delete its products or articles.
Controlling Your Content | The Content Tab
CategoryControls the link name in your sites navigation. It is recommended that you keep this short.
URL
This is the location of the page. This should only contain numbers, letters, dashes and underscores. It should also start with a predetermined folder name such as /cms/ and it is important not to change that folder name if you want the URL to display the category information.
Advanced users: you can change the URL to be anything even link to a new site or a custom page on the server.
Headline
This controls the title of the page and the main introductory head line for the page. By default this will be the category name.
SEO Link
This field helps you with search placement. Type in the keyword you wish to associate with this page. By default this will be the category name.
Parent
This displays the location of the category. You may change this to make it a child/subcategory of another category.
Live
This button will determine if the page and menu option is visible to the public.
Phrases and Checkboxes
If a category contains subcategories, products, or articles you can decided if you want those shown on the category (though the checkboxes) and what you would like the introductory phrases to be. If you leave the phrase section blank, it will default to your chosen phrase in you Settings configuration. Click on the Settings menu choice to change these.
Adding Images
You and images easily to your system by scrolling down below the content section of the edit category page to the image finder. You can specify search options or to get the most recent images just click Find Image. That will provide thumbnails of the images you've searched for. To get the full image insert options click on an image.This will give you a new floating image bar. If you scroll up or down to page this bar will stay with you. You will have three image options.
The left option: Floats to the left of the text allow the text to wrap around.
The middle option: will not float or allow text to wrap around it.
The right option: Floats to the right of the text allow the text to wrap around.
To insert one of these images into you content scroll back up the content and drag the image to the location you want.
To resize you image click on the image once. It will show points on each side and in each corner. Simply click a point and drag to resize the image. Clicking on a corner will make the image maintain its proper proportions.