GeoDocs 8 Glossary

Some terms commonly used in documentation for GeoDocs 8:

Admin Side – location of many administrative functions of GeoDocs, such as managing topics, templates, and users, are not yet migrated to the GeoDocs 8 style interface but will gradually be upgraded during 2010-2011. During migration features will be available from both the ‘admin side’ and the ‘front end’. The ‘admin side’ can be accessed from the GeoDocs toolbar button for 'Site Tools' or from the site address with /gd/admin added after the basic address. (i.e. – http://mygeodocswebsite.com/gd/admin)

Browser - an application use to access and display information on the Internet, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari.

Caption- is short and descriptive text that labels a page, menus, links, images, and/or documents.

Content - When using the Page Contents plug-in, content usually refers to “text” or “graphics” although you can also embed a link within the text (a content link). Content can also refer to documents accessed within GeoDocs.

Content Management- is computer software used for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content.

Document Explorer- stores and organizes all external documents and images used or referenced throughout your GeoDocs site.

Document Management - Provides a means for management of documents in folders on the web server so that they can be used in a variety of ways on the website, such as images or document links.

Dynamic Page- any web page that has content or other objects that change automatically upon the creation of new content that meets the filter requirements for that page, as opposed to a static page where content must be manually added or removed.

Edit Mode – this viewing mode adds geodes to the page wherever content, sections, or menus can be changed, along with icons indicating the editing status of the page and all elements. Any changes to pages, sections, menus, or content can only be made in Edit Mode. An ‘Edit’ button in the top toolbar allows logged in editors to view Edit Mode.

Front end – refers to the GeoDocs 8 updated interface approached from the website or intranet. Initially some features will be located here, while others will be accessible from the ‘Admin Side’. Features are being migrated to the ‘Front End’ gradually during 2010-2011.

Geode - GeoDocs green and grey logo. An interaction point, a geode activates available option lists on the web page when in edit mode.

Links – Links are navigation buttons that usually transfer the user to a different area of the web site. With the Link Tools, you can manage these types of links: Internal, External and Documents. Links may be created using text or images.

1. Content Links- text links located in content
2. Document Links- links to documents, images, etc.
3. External Links- links to websites outside the internal website
4. Internal Links- link inside the internal website
5. Menu Links- links located in a menu

Live Mode – this viewing mode allows logged in editors to see what the current published version of the site looks like. This is turned on via a button in the top toolbar. By changing between Preview and Live modes, an editor can compare the current site to the effects of publishing changes.

Menu – Provides a means for site navigation. A menu contains links that identify specific locations within your site. Usually located on the top or left of the site structure, menus can also be placed in a right or bottom of a page. GeoDocs will accommodate horizontal menus, vertical menus and may be customized to provide other styles if desired.

Meta Data – Metadata is definitional data that provides information about, or documentation of, other data managed within an application or environment.

Meta Tags - Meta tags are used by search engines to allow them to more accurately list your site in their indexes. Meta tags are automatically created by Meta Data for pages and content on pages.

Page – A page consists of the entire image that appears on the screen. The page may contain one or more sections, one or more content records, and one or more menus containing multiple links for navigation.

Plug-Ins – Plug-ins are modular components that add functionality to a GeoDocs website. Plug-ins provide the code that handles retrieving data and formatting it to match the template that displays the data on the page. AWH has a library of pre-built plug-ins (Calendar, Contacts, Custom Links, FAQ, and RSS/Syndication) to meet a variety of needs. AWH can also customize a plug-in to meet your unique business requirements.  In many cases this could be thought of as custom content types.

Preview Mode – this viewing mode allows logged in editors to see what the site would look like if all changes were published and a visitor has the correct permissions to view the site. It is equivalent to Edit Mode without the geodes appearing. No changes can be made from Preview Mode. A ‘Preview’ link in the top toolbar turns on this view.

Pop-Up- a form of advertising on the Internet that is used to increase web traffic and/or capture email address.

Pop-Up Blocker- blocks pop-ups from appearing on your screen.

Search Engine- a program designed to help locate information on the Internet. It allows you to ask for content meeting specific criteria- a word or phrase, and retrieves a list of references that match those criteria.

Section – A section is an area of content within a page. It drives the actual visual representation (section) inside the page. Sections are the user interface portion of a plug-in.

Site- a collection of pages common to a domain name on the Internet.

Spiders- many search engines use spiders to gather web pages for indexing. Spiders follow links on a webpage in a process called gathering.

Static Page- Contains content or other objects do not change automatically, but must be updated manually.  The opposite of this is a dynamic page, where new content automatically appears if it meets certain criteria.

Subscriptions - Allows a user to define notification relationships to topics. A user has the ability to subscribe to a notification service (email) when content changes are made to topics of interest. Available in Professional and Enterprise Editions.

Taxonomy- a system used for the classification of animate and inanimate objects into a hierarchy of rank and organization.

Template – GeoDocs uses ‘Templates’ in the creation of web pages. Each area in the web page is controlled by a template. The template mandates how information appears in each area (format, font, color, size, etc.). Every web page has a page template, one or more menu templates and one or more section templates

Toolbar- horizontal floating menu that appears at the top of the browser window while a user is logged in. Depending on user role, the toolbar contains access to personal profile and password functions, as well as editing, user administration, and document storage functions of the GeoDocs application.

Topics - the classification system for subjects of interest that a user may want to subscribe to. Topics that a user may want to subscribe to are defined in Topic Lists available in the user profile (My Page Portal) component of GeoDocs. Available in Professional and Enterprise Editions.

Versioning – Tracks activity of content and/or document changes. Multiple copies will be retained in the active archive, allowing for “roll-back” to previous copies. Available in Enterprise Edition.

Workflow – The ability to define steps and routing that must be performed to complete a specific business process. Workflow facilitates electronic notification, review and approval of submitted work by allowing various resources to participate in a specific process flow (e.g. Expense report document must be completed by employee, routed to their immediate supervisor for approval – or rejected and returned to employee with attached comments – and then forwarded to HR and Payroll for processing). Available in Enterprise Edition.

Content Properties

While each content type has custom fields (such as 'location' for Calendar items), all content share certain common properties that are used to categorize and manage your content in GeoDocs.

To view the properties for a piece of content:

1. Log in
2. Click EDIT in the top toolbar to change to Edit Mode
3. Click the content geode and choose 'View Content Properties' in the dropdown

You will see this window (note that there is no 'save' button at the bottom unless you have the content checked out to you):

Content Details Tab in View Content Properties

Security Tab in View Content Properties

Content Details Tab (properties can be changed manually) :

• Topics
• Metadata
• Group Owner
• Active/Inactive
• Public/Non-public
• Display Start Date/Time
• Display End Date/Time
• Priority
• Send Next (yes/no)

Security Tab (properties cannot be manually edited):

• Created Date
• Content ID
• Created By
• Modified Date
• Modified By

*Title is also a common property across all content types, but it is not managed through the 'view content properties' interface.

To edit the properties, you must have the content checked out to you.  You can then edit the properties from the 'View Content Properties' window, or open the piece of content by selecting 'Edit' in the content geode menu.  In both cases you will now have the option to save your changes.  

How these properties are used to manage your content

Security 

• Group Owner - control who can edit the content, or who can view it if it's non-public
• Public/Non-public - if this box is checked, content is public and can be seen by anyone with access to your website.  If the box is unchecked the content will only appear to visitors who are logged in and a member of the group selected in 'Group Owner'.

Dynamic Display

• Display Start and End can be used to automatically make content appear and disappear from the site on a schedule you set.  The start date is often used by dynamic sections for sorting order (newest to oldest).
• Dynamic sections can be programmed (by a developer, not by an author) to sort by many different properties, such as start date, created date, modified date, priority, or one of the custom fields of the content type such as 'event start date' for Calendar items.
• Dynamic sections always use content type, topics, and date range as filters to determine which content will display within them.    

Site Editing and Maintenance

• Active/Inactive - this property allows you to make content show only in edit and preview mode so that you can publish a page you're working on without publishing all of its content, or hide content from the users while it is being worked on.  When the content is ready to be seen, just check the box to set it to 'active' again and then publish the content and it will appear on your site again.