Ohio University

This page provides links to all of our classic CommonSpot user guides, organized according to the seminars that we used to teach.  The linked topics include a mixture of discussion and step-by-step.  If you want to focus on how to do specific tasks, we suggest that you explore the FAQ, which has already been updated for CommonSpot V6.1.

New Pagemasters

The material in this section is intended for people who have not previously been responsible for a Web site. It includes basic guidance on organization and planning for a new site, and issues to consider when first becoming responsible for an existing site.

Another useful resource for follow-up study is Keeping Your Web Pages Robust, which includes discussions of a number of issues that CommonSpot and other pagemasters will need to understand.

1. Planning

   • Planning a Good Web Site

   • Planning a Good Web Page

   • Teamwork

   • The Big Cheeses

   • Criticizing Your Design

2. Web Page and Site Design

   • Getting Started

   • Goals

   • Designing Pages and Sites

   • Flow

   • Deciding to Publish

   • Boilerplate

   • Web pages: Fragile vs. Robust

   • Multi-platform Support

3. Image Issues

   • How to copy an image - and when not to do it

     • With Netscape

     • With Internet Explorer

     • With any browser

   • Places to appropriate images

   • Text in Graphics

Intermediate Pagemasters and Content Contributors

The material in this section is intended for people who have been previously been responsible for a Web site, or have studied the New Pagemasters material. It includes step-by-step instructions for a number of basic CommonSpot authoring activities.

1. Introduction

   • Overview

     • Advantages of CommonSpot

     • Limitations of CommonSpot

     • The Front Door Servers

   • Terminology

   • Page Security

   • The Approval Process

   • Jumping In

     • Explore your CommonSpot Demo Site

     • Investigate the CommonSpot Dashboard
       

     • Modify Your Demo Homepage

   • Planning a New Site or Migration of an Existing Site

     • Site Migration Issues

       • Finding the New Site

       • Default Home Page Name

       • CommonSpot Infrastructure

     • Subsite Creation and Migration Check-List

     • Create Sub-Subsites

2. Creating New Pages

   • Introduction

   • Create New Page (from template)

     • Templates

     • Template-based Page Creation: Step-by-step

     • Change the Render Option Settings

     • Using Custom Footer Text

     • Set the Page Background Color

   • Create Derived Templates

     • Step-by-step

     • Design Issues for Authoring and Browsing Performance

     • Preserving Element Inheritance

     • Steps to Preserving Element Inheritance

       • Locking Down the Elements

       • Locking Down the Layouts

       • Locking Down Pop-up Menus

     • Revising a Derived Template

     • Blank Pages Built on a Template

       • Steps for Creating a Blank Page

       • Steps for Using a Blank Page

   • Create New Page (copy existing page)

   • Document Information

   • Locate a Page

     • Locate One of Your Own Pages

     • Locate Any Page in Your Subsite

3. Building Pages by Adding and Editing Elements

   • Insert Different Kinds of Page Elements

     • Simple Text Blocks

     • Using the Rich Text Editor to Import or Edit Existing Content

     • Links

     • Marking and Using Jump Destinations

     • "Printer-Friendly Version" Links

     • Image Gallery

     • Images

     • Binary Files as Clickable Resources

     • Tabular Layout Elements

     • Copying and Pasting Whole Elements

     • Deleting Elements

   • Microsoft Word document as an HTML element

   • Pop-Up Menus

   • Image Grids

   • Changes that Take Effect Immediately

   • Validate Links

   • Referring Pages

   • Create Page Sets

   • Use Page Sets

   • Manage Page Sets

   • Style Sheets

4. Conclusion

   • Practice and Experimentation

   • Getting to Work

Advanced Pagemasters

The material in this section is intended for people who have already migrated a Web site into CommonSpot; who have built a new site in CommonSpot; or who have inherited a site in CommonSpot.  It presumes familiarity with the material linked above for New Pagemasters and for Intermediate Pagemasters.  It provides guidance for the process of sharing the site maintenance work with other people, and includes more information on some of the advanced features of CommonSpot.

Aside from the fragments linked below, the materials for these topics are not yet available on-line.