e-Commerce Admin Interface Overview

Description

Provides an overview of the Articles available on a site. The screen is used to find, add, edit and delete Articles. Also you can mark featured Articles.

How to Access

• Select Content → Articles from the dropdown menu of the Administrator Panel.

Column Headers

In the table containing Articles, these are the different columns as shown below. Click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

• Ordering. Up-Down Arrows. User specified ordering, default is order of articles creation. When active, drag and drop ordering by 'click and hold' on the bars icon then 'release' in desired position.
• Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more articles. To select all articles, check the box in the column heading.
• Status. Status of Published/Unpublished articles.
  • Published article: 
  • Unpublished article: 

Note: Featured Article is integrated in the Status column. Click on either side of icon to change published/unpublished or featured state. Whether or not the Article will show on the Featured Articles Page.

• Title. The name of the article. You can open the article for editing by clicking on the Title.
• Access. The viewing Access Level for this article.
• Author. Name of the User who created this article.
• Language. Article's language. If you are not using the multi-language feature, default is 'All'.
• Date Created. The date this article was created. This date is added automatically.
• Hits. The number of times an article has been viewed.
• ID. This is a unique identification number for this article assigned automatically. It is used to identify the article internally, and you cannot change this number.

Column Filters

Above the column headers on the right, there are 2 dropdown input fields, Sort Table By: (preset to 'ID descending') and a number (preset to '20') to display.

These column sorting input fields shows the current method of sorting applied to the table. Use the dropdown field choices and click the column heading name. Alternatively, click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value.

This will also change the value in the drop field to correspond with the column header name. The list will then be sorted in order by that column and a sort icon (up or down arrow) will show next to the column name. Click a second time to reverse the sort, which will change the corresponding drop field.

• ID descending (default). Shows ordering of selected column, ascending or descending.
• Number of articles to display. Shows the number of articles to display on one page, default is 20 articles. If there are more articles than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons to navigate between pages.

List Filters

The List Filters are a series of controls that let you limit what articles show in the screen. More than one filter may be entered. In this case, only articles that meet all of the filter conditions will show on the list.

Filter by Partial Title or ID

In the upper left is a search field and 2 buttons.

• To filter by partial title, enter part of the title and click 'Search' 
• To filter by ID number, enter "id:xx", where "xx" is the ID number (for example, "id:29").
• Click 'Clear' to clear the Filter field and restore the list to its unfiltered state.

Search Tools

Above the column headings, there are 7 dropdown list / combo boxes.

Filter by Status

Lets you show only articles with the selected published status.

• - Select Status -: Show only articles that are Published and Unpublished.
• Trashed: Show only articles that are Trashed. Quick Tip: Permanently delete articles
• Unpublished: Show only articles that are Unpublished.
• Published: Show only articles that are Published.
• Archived: Show only articles that are Archived.
• All: Show all articles regardless of published status.

Filter by Category

Lets you show only articles assigned to a specific category. The combo box will show the categories defined for your site.

• - Select Category -: Show articles assigned to any category.
• Uncategorised: Show only articles assigned to this category.

Filter by Access

Lets you show only articles that have a specified viewing access level. The combo box will show the access levels defined for your site.

• - Select Access -: Show articles with any viewing access level.
• Public: Show only articles with this viewing access level.
• Guest: Show only articles with this viewing access level.
• Registered: Show only articles with this viewing access level.
• Special: Show only articles with this viewing access level.

Filter by Author

Lets you show only articles that have the specified author. The list box will show the authors for your site.

• - Select Author -: Show all articles regardless of their author.
• sudo: Only show articles with the specified author.

Filter by Language

Lets you show only articles that have a specific language assigned. The list box will show the languages defined for your site.

• - Select Language -: Show articles for any language.
• All: Show articles set for 'All' languages.
• English (en-GB): Show articles only for this language.

Filter by Max Levels (Articles Level)

Lets you show only articles at or above the specified level in the hierarchy.

• - Select Max Levels -: Show all articles.
• 1: Show only articles at the top level in the hierarchy (in other words, whose parent is '- No Parent -').
• 2: Show only articles in the top and 2nd levels in the hierarchy.
• 3: Show only articles in the top, 2nd and 3rd levels in the hierarchy.
• 4 … 8
• 9: Show only articles in the top, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 levels in the hierarchy.
• 10: Show only articles in 10 levels in the hierarchy.

Automatic Pagination

Page Controls. When the number of articles is more than one page, you will see a page control bar as shown below. The current page number being viewed is shaded.

• Start: Click to go to the first page.
• Prev: Click to go to the previous page.
• Page numbers: Click to go to the desired page.
• Next: Click to go to the next page.
• End: Click to go to the last page.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar.

The functions are:

• New. Opens the editing screen to create a new article.
• Edit. Opens the editing screen for the selected article. If more than one article is selected (where applicable), only the first article will be opened. The editing screen can also be opened by clicking on the Name of the article.
• Publish. Makes the selected article available to visitors to your website.
• Unpublish. Makes the selected article unavailable to visitors to your website.
• Feature. Marks selected article as featured. Works with one or multiple article selected.
• Unfeature. Changes the status of featured article to unfeatured. Works with one or multiple article selected.
• Archive. Changes the status of the selected article to indicate that they are archived. Archived article can be moved back to the published or unpublished state by selecting "Archived" in the Select Status filter and changing the status of the article to Published or Unpublished as preferred.

• Check-in. Checks-in the selected article. Works with one or multiple article selected.
• Batch. Batch processes the selected article. Works with one or multiple items selected.
• Trash. Changes the status of the selected article to indicate that they are trashed. Trashed article can still be recovered by selecting 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter and changing the status of the article to Published or Unpublished as preferred. To permanently delete trashed article, select 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter, select the article to be permanently deleted, then click the 'Empty Trash' toolbar icon.

Quick Tips

• To permanently delete articles:
  1. Change the status of the articles to Trashed.
  2. Change the Status filter to Trashed. At this point the trashed articles will show and the Empty trash button  will show in the toolbar.
  3. Select the desired trashed articles and click on Empty trash in the toolbar. The articles will be permanently deleted.
• To see trashed and archived articles, set the Status filter to All.
• To change the ordering of articles within a category, click on the Ordering column heading to sort by this column. Also, it is easier to see the ordering if you filter on the desired category.

Description

This is where you can

• Add a new Article.
• Edit an existing Article.

You can also select the Category for an Article and indicate whether or not it is Published and if it is selected to appear on the Frontpage.

How to Access

Add a new Article

• Click the New button in the toolbar.

Edit an existing Article

• Click on an Article's Title.
• Check the Article's Checkbox
• Click the Edit button in the toolbar.

Form Fields

• Title. The Title for the article.
• Alias. The internal name of the article. Normally, you can leave this blank and auto will fill in a default value. The default value is the Title in lower case and with dashes instead of spaces. You may enter the Alias manually. 

Content

• Article Text. This is where you enter the contents of the article. The editor you use depends on the settings for your site and your user.

• Status. (Published/Unpublished/Archived/Trashed) The published status of the article.
• Category. The Category this article belongs to. You may create new categories by entering them here.
• Featured. (Yes/No) Select Yes if the article will be shown in the Featured menu item.
• Access. Who has access to this article.
• Language. Select the language for this article. If you are not using the multi-language feature, keep the default of All.
• Tags. Enter one or more optional tags for this article. You can select existing tags by entering in the first few letters. You may also create new tags by entering them here. Tags allow you to see lists of related items across content types (for example, articles, contacts, and categories).
• Note. Article note. This is normally for the site administrator's use (for example, to document information about this article) and does not show in the Frontend of the site.

Images and Links

Note:  This section lets you display images and links in your articles using standardized layouts.

• Intro Image. Click the Select button to select an image to be displayed in a fixed location in the Intro Text of an article. This will open a window that allows you to select an image from your images folder. After you have selected an image, you can hover the mouse on the "Preview" text to see a preview of the image.
• Image Float. (Use Global/Right/Left/None) Controls placement of the image.
• Alt Text. Alternative text to use for visitors who don't have access to images.
• Caption. Enter an optional caption for the image.

• Full Article Image. Click the Select button to select an image to be displayed in a fixed location in the Full Text of an article. This will open a window that allows you to select an image from your images folder. After you have selected an image, you can hover the mouse on the "Preview" text to see a preview of the image.
• Image Float. (Use Global/Right/Left/None) Controls placement of the image.
• Alt Text. Alternative text to use for visitors who don't have access to images.
• Caption. Enter an optional caption for the image.

• Link A. The URL for the first link to be displayed in a fixed location in the article text. This must be a full URL, not relative. For example, it normally would start with https://.
• Link A Text. The text used for Link A. If blank, the URL will be displayed.
• URL Target Window. Sets the default value for the target for the first Link in the article. Choices are:
  • Use Global: Use the value set in Articles
  • Open in parent window: Opens the link in the main browser window, replacing the current article.
  • Open in new window: Opens the link in a new browser window.
  • Open in pop up: Opens the link in a pop-up browser window (without full navigation controls).
  • Modal: Opens the link in a modal pop-up window.

  Note: Same options for 'Link B' and 'Link C'.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar.

The functions are:

• Save. Saves the article and stays in the current screen.
• Save & Close. Saves the article and closes the current screen.
• Save & New. Saves the article and keeps the editing screen open and ready to create another article.
• Save as Copy. Saves your changes to a copy of the current article. Does not affect the current article.
  Note: This toolbar icon is only shown if you edit an existing article.
• Close. Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen without saving any modifications you may have made.

From the Control Panel (back-end administrative interface) navigate to Content → Media

On the left is a directory tree, with the root directory "Media". This corresponds to the default "images" directory. Pick a subdirectory where you want the image located, or else do nothing to upload the image to the default images directory. At the top left of the page click on "Upload". Then, you'll see Upload box. Click "Browse" to locate the image on your computer, then "Start Upload" to upload the file to the server.