Authors Pocket Reference

Modes and Views change the way your administrative workspace is presented and what can be performed within. These may be changed regularly depending upon the tasks you need to perform.

A.  Modes

In the upper-left corner, Modes changes the functionality of the left-hand column. These may vary depending on the administrative space you're within, and include the following: 

• Content Tree: A navigation aide to navigate hierarchies.
• Timeline: An audit trail of all activities related to a selected item.  Also enables the use of comments, versions and workflows.
• References: A form of reverse lookup that shows where a selected item is being used.
• Filter: An advanced search tool enabling the creation of custom queries that can be saved for later use.
• Navigation: Unique to the DAM, revealing an additional subset of features (not all available) including Collections, Shared Links, Templates, Catalogs, and Jobs.
  
  

B.  Views

In the upper-right corner, Views change the display of content iwithin the main window. This also effects how and what's possible to perform with the content. Views include:

• Card View: The default for the DAM, content is displayed in larger thumbnails.
• Column View: The default for the Site Admin, content is displayed in columns of content.
• List View: Content is displayed in a rows with sortable columns of item properties.

Search functionality appears throughout AEM, and in a few different guises to help locate content. Note that results only show content to which you have access. Outlined below are their iterations

• A.  Global: Searches all content within the current content window (i.e. Assets or Sites). 
• B.  Filter: A type of Mode. Creates specific queries that can be saved and used for a later time. 
• C.  Page Authoring: Content specific searches appear within components, the Asset Panel, and link dialogues. 

Tags are used to help organize and surface content – an excellent method of categorizing content without folder hierarchies.  They can appear in search fields, or with components to dynamically display content. 

In the process of tagging you'll go through this process:

1. Create (manage) 
2. Attach (tag) 
3. Connect (components)
   
   

1.  Tag Management

• Tags are managed in the Tagging administration area and every site has a tag folder.  
  
• Create a new tag 
  Click to select your site folder in the left pane (1), then click  Create Tag (2) from the toolbar. Note the other toolbar commands and alternate Modes (properties shown) available.
  
  • In the form, enter a Title, Name, and a Description. The path is the selected location and should not be changed.
    The Title is the working title of the tag while the Name is what the system uses.
    The Name should be short, preferably a single word, but no more than two words separated by a dash (-). 

2.  Attaching Tags to Items

• Tagging Pages and Assets
  Access a pages properties. In the 'Tags/Keywords' field, either click the checkmark (1) and search for your tags, or begin typing in the field until tags show (Tip: start styping simple and slow). Finally, select the appropriate tag from your site's tag list and it will appear below (2). Add as many tags as necessary – more will broaden to page to more queries. Tagging assets is a very similar process: access properties and locate the 'Tags' section.

Attach to Multiple Items
Multiple pages/assets can be selected at once, then open properties. A truncated properties dialogue appears where tags can be applied.

3.  Connect Tags w/Components

Certain components allow you to surface tagged content – such as in creating a News List of articles – selecting tags dynamically renders those pages/images with matching tags. From that point, all  pages or assets in the DAM with matching tags automatically show wherever the component is used.  

PHI and PII information is to never be posted on Stanford Medicine front end AEM website. 

The ability for authors to SUNetID protect AEM pages and documents has been removed and is now only allowable on a per request basis.  We encourage authors to utilize one of our other available applications that already incorporates SUNetID protection - Stanford Medicine BOX or MedWiki.  

Content Alternatives

Both BOX & MedWiki enable permissions to be set so that content is viewable by all users with a SUNet ID, or, limited to individual viewers or groups (currently users must have a SUNetID but access will be expanded to SHC and LPCH IDs later in 2021). MedWiki has a robust search function and is well suited for groups.  All types of Moderate and Low risk data are acceptable for protection on your site. For guidance about data classification storage requirements please see the data classification guide.

Process & Request

If a protected page has child pages, those pages are automatically protected.  Pages protected by SUNet ID are not visible in your website's navigation.  Please let us know if you want the page to appear in the regular navigation.  You can manually create links to these pages in your sites regular content.

See our SUNetID deprecation page for more details on typs of content SUNetID protecting pages.

• To request SUNet ID protection please complete this online form  
  To request that we remove SUNetID protection for a page please complete this online form
  

Pages are simple to create, but care should be taken as to where in the hierarchy they're placed, as well as the template they use, as this cannot be changed after creation.

• Create New Page
  From the Site Amin, navigate to the desired location for the page, then click Create > Page. You can also select a page thumbnail and repeat these steps, noting the page will be created as a child.

• Select a Page Template
  In most cases for either Everest or McKinley themes, the respective Main template is the one to use. Templates for News and/or Events have additional features unique to their respective list components: (Events, News). Alternatively, there are column specific templates, just note that these are preconfigured layouts and may be adjusted after use.  
  • Templates can NOT be switched after page creation.
  • Only use the Home page template for the home page. Not for any child pages.

• When your site is created, the homepage is automatically generated. Find your site name (or namespace), nested under "Stanford Medicine" (/sm).
• To edit your homepage, select its thumbnail, and from the toolbar click Edit.  
• Do not create a new homepage. This affects the navigation and function of your site. You should only create sub-pages for the site beneath your site name using alternative page templates.

A redirect is an alternate URL applied to page properties that quite literally, automatically redirects users to another page. This is important for relocated pages that users may have bookmarked and are now getting 404s – if they land on your 'old' page URL they can be routed to your 'new' page.

Note that pages with a redirect must still be published, and do not redirect while authoring. To setup a redirect, access the Redirect field under Page Properties > Advanced. It's recommended to eventually remove redirect 'placeholder' pages.

Pages have one of two states: published, or unpublished. You can observe these from the Published column in Site Admin using the List View. A page is not live and public until it is has been published at least once. Subsequent edits can be published on an ad-hoc basis. 

The same rules apply for assets as well, though attempting to publish pages with unpublished assets will prompt you to publish them as well.

• A.  Determine pages that have unpublished edits 
  Use the Site Admin List View. Within the Modified column, look for yellow exclamation points indicating unpublished changes.
• B.  Publish a page
  From Site Admin, select a page(s) and click Quick Publish.
  • Publishing can also be done directly from the page.  From the Page Information menu, click Publish Page.
• C.  Manage Publications: Unpublish | Schedule multiple pages 
  From Site Admin, select the desired page(s) and click Manage Publications. Follow the guide – from here you can publish, unpublish or schedule multiple pages at once.  If you want to publish child pages these can be included in the Scope section.

There is no reason to delete a page from the system. If you decide not to use a page, deactivate it.  Deactivated pages do not show to the public,  but still remain in the authoring environment.

• Activated pages (pages live on your website) should never be deleted. An active page that's deleted is removed from the authoring environment, but if it's not deactivated first it remains online to visitors. File a Help Desk ticket if you accidentally delete a page.
• If you absolutely must delete a page, always deactivate a page prior to deleting.
  • To deactivate a page, from the page authoring Information Menu, click Unpublish Page
    

When a site is created (i.e. namespace – https://med.stanford.edu/web.html), it's not activated in AEM and invisible to the public. As an author, you can freely create and edit the site until it is deemed viable for activation. When ready to publish, follow the steps below.

1. Review your site using the Pre-launch Checklist and the Site Launch schedule. It's also advisable to review with your team. 
2. Activate the pages you wish to be made public. This ensures that when the Help Desk processes your go live request, only those pages will actually go live. 
3. Contact the Help Desk and put in a request for the site review and activation. A team of specialists will review your site following the Pre-Launch Checklist. Until the Help Desk configures the site and server, the pages may have Publised statuses, however they will not be seen by the public. 
4. After the Help Desk configures and launches your site, review it to ensure that the pages you identified for activation are in fact public. At this point you can make edits to your site and activate without the aide of Help Desk. 

Your Site Hierarchy is the functional arrangement of pages as displayed in the Site Admin — structured much like a folder/file setup in your OS.  Your Site Navigation is the visual  arrangement of these pages displayed of your site, as seen by visitors. Site Hierarchy and Navigation are not necessarily the same — initially they mirror each other, but Navigation can be made unique (see "Adjust Pages in Site Navigation" below).

Site Maps are an effective visual tool for organizing content, and the first level of structure that should be established before building sites. They can be as basic or as detailed as you want, and can even be drafted in tools like PowerPoint.

In a perfect world, you'd never need to modify your site hierarchy, but when the inevitable adjustments must be made you'll need to know how to move your pages.

Relocating Pages (change URL/Name)

• Relocate pages using the 'Move' feature. Select a page, and from the toolbar click Move
  
  • The Move Page dialogue is the only way to rename (URL) pages – it also allows you to retitle pages as well, though this is also possible via Page Properties.
    
  • Remember to use all lower case, dashes or underscore to separate words, and definitely don't leave any spaces in the name.
  • All rearrangements or property edits need to be activated.

Adjust Pages in Site Navigation

First switch to the List View, then drag pages up or down to place it in the desired order.  Note this adjustment can only be done within the current directory. Use the Move function to relocate pages to different hierarchy locations.

Change a page's navigation title to be unique
Within Page Properties, adjust the Navigation Title field. Otherwise, the navigation title mirrors the Page Title.

Use the Masthead (header) and footers to build your site brand and context. These page elements are edited like components, but do not need to be inserted onto pages and are avalable at the top and bottom of all page templates.

See the Masthead component tutorial for more details on how to configure.

A page can be invisible from Site Navigation whether or not it's activated. Hiding a page from navigation means it's still publicly accessible, it just won't shown in Site Navigation (i.e. you could still share the link to others). Contrast that to deactivation, where the page won't show up publicly in any scenario, while still remaining visible in authoring. Be aware of this potential misalignment between author and public views.

To hide a page from navigation, from Page Properties simply select the Hide in Navigation toggle. This and other property changes do need to be activated to take public effect.

Depending on which theme you selected for your site, the navigation is built as pages are added. However, there are instances where links to other sites or external pages makes sense to have as part of your Site Navigation.  

Everest

To add external links to your Site Navigation, it's recommended to use the Related Links component. Simply add the component beneath the left navigation within the Inherited Paragraph System of your homepage, and it will appear on all pages within your site. This can be a good replacement for an 'Additional Resources' page.

McKinley

The McKinley Site Navigation expands as you hover over root level pages, but requires clicking to expand subpages. Because of this behavior, the Related Links component is not available as an option. To add external site links, use the Text Editor component within the root page's dropdowns. Add headings, lists, and format links as "External Link with Arrow". 

Just like pages, assets must be published in order to be visible on the web.  They are also managed in the same way. See the entry on publishing pages. Look for the globe icon indicating publication status – when the globe is crossed out that indicates an unpublished asset.

If you attempt to publish a page with unpublished (or modified/outdated) assets, AEM will prompt you to (re)publish them. Unless you're uncertain of their status you should publish these assets as well, otherwise there may be broken links/images.

While adequate for hosting, AEM is not the tool of choice for securing files. You should still use the AEM DAM for images and other media hosted on your website, but turn to Box, MedWiki, or Google Drive for any files you need enhanced security or to collaborate on.

You can link to files hosted on these services directly from your AEM page. When a user tries to access the file, they will be prompted for additional credentials based on that systems configuration. Be aware you'll have to maintain these links more carefully since updates to URLs are not automatically replicated as they would be if the files were in AEM (permalinks have greatly reduced this age-old problem).

See this article on how to include Box files on AEM pages. A similar concept applies to Google Drive.

Upload Files

• Before uploading, be sure files do not have any spaces or special characters in the name. 

• From the DAM, find your site and select the folder (images or documents) you want to upload to,  then click Create > Files. You can also drag files into the interface directly from your desktop.
  • Upload and maintain files for your site through the DAM – the page authoring Asset Panel only allows for locating and inserting files. 
  • Do not add files directly from the desktop into components – this can easily lead to broken links. Always upload to the DAM first.

• Remember that files must also be activated before they can be publicly seen. AEM prompts for activating assets when trying to activate a page that uses them.

Update Files

A Collection is a set of assets (i.e. library) within the DAM available for use between authors.  Unlike folders, collections can include assets from different locations and may be shared with all, or specific authors using different permissions levels including viewing, editing, and so on.  

Available collections have been approved for public use and may be added to your site. You cannot directly edit images from these public collections, though you can crop them once added to a component. Collections can be accessed from both the DAM and page authoring. 

Want more imagery? Vote!

A. From the DAM
To access collections, goto the DAM and from the Mode menu, select Navigation (1), then Collections (2). The currently available selections appear. 

B. From Page Authoring
Public collections have been tagged for easy search and insertion. From the side-panel menu, open the Assets tab, and locate the Tags field. Type "collection" and a list of categorized tags appear. Select one to filter by. To find other collections, be sure to first remove any other tags (i.e. one tag at a time).

• While AEM has some basic image-editing tools (crop, rotate etc.), it's recommended to make all image edits in software prior to uploading.
• Edits to images directly in the DAM affect all occurences of that image (every page), whereas edits made within a component (i.e. Banner), are localized to only that occurence.

  

• To crop an image for a single component, first add the image, then use the Quick Edit mode (Pencil icon). For crop presets, enter fullscreen mode.

  

• AEM creates several smaller renditions of an image upon upload used for different screen sizes. This is why it's critical to upload a single, quality image.
  

• Only use images or illustrations you have the rights to, or use images that are freely available under a Creative Commons license. You have access to image Collections and may also find Stanford images at SALLIE (Stanford ALL-Image Exchange).
• If you must use an image or illustration from a non-Stanford source, always secure permission from the original photographer or creator before posting, and agree on an appropriate credit.
• Before you add an image to your website, ask yourself how the image complements the content and the meaning it conveys. If images are not relevant to the content, they are at best a mere distraction for your audience.
• For more information on image copyrights, please see Policies & Standards.

• Dimensions: Avoid uploading images smaller than 640px wide.
• Name: Similar to files, do not have any spaces or special characters.
• Size: Ideally, keep the size below 200K (especially if there are several images used in the Banner Builder as it affects load time). 300K is acceptable but should be the exception and not the rule.
  • We recommend using Photoshop or Fireworks for the best image optimization, but there are many free or low-cost tools and options.

Images in Banners

• A Hero image used in the Banner Builder for the Homepage template should be at least 1024px wide.
• 2048px wide is ideal for retina displays with double resolution.
  
• 1920px wide is images are best for responsive full bleed pages.
• For the Full Width template 960px images are best.
• For an Internal page that uses a Hero image on the Banner Builder and for most mobile widths 640px images are best.

Image in other Components

• For best results, upload an image with a width of 1024px.
• The minimum image dimension you should upload into the DAM is a width of 640px.