151 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(24 replies, posted in Tutorials)

**** Please note: where we mention 'Copy page', this has been changed to 'Add page' for usability reasons - the actual feature is not affected, just the wording used. ****

Your users (and you) are able to create exact copies of pages based on existing pages on their website.

Firstly, you must enable this for the particular user by visiting:
Users > Permissions > User settings

Check the box to enable this user to copy pages.

Enable the copying of pages

A new item will appear in that user's menu:

Copy item appearing in the menu

Click the Copy menu item and you'll be taken to a page which resembles the one below. Drag the page you would like to copy to the desired folder location on the right hand of the screen (the folder in which the file will be copied to will highlight in green)

Choose a new name

Choose a unique name for your newly copied page:

Choose a new name

When you have chosen a name for the page, click 'Save new page' and you will be taken to the new page to begin editing it:

You will be taken to edit the new page

If the original page was not editable, then this new page too will not be editable and you should assign any edit areas required. If, however, there are some areas which were editable on the original page, these characteristics will appear on the new page.

**** Please note: where we mention 'Copy page', this has been changed to 'Add page' for usability reasons - the actual feature is not affected, just the wording used. ****

--

Short URL http://smplc.ms/copypage

Go to forum: Tutorials

152 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(18 replies, posted in Support zone)

Your log-in screen is http://sssfinance.updating.net/ and the logo is showing there

Go to forum: Support zone

153 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(2 replies, posted in Tutorials)

If you would prefer that one of your users cannot edit/view a page from within the system, then you are able to restrict this by visiting:
Users > Permissions > Restrict pages

Click on a page you do not want you client to see or edit and it will higlight in red - to re-allow this page to be viewed/edited, just click it again.

User page restrictions

By default, your users can visit any page within the system that they are able to visit on their actual site.

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/pagerestrictions

Go to forum: Tutorials

154 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(7 replies, posted in General discussion)

We have no plans to add CSS editing functionality to the system - if this proves to be a popular suggestion we may look into it.

All in favour, say 'aye'

Go to forum: General discussion

155 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(2 replies, posted in Feature requests)

I love a user who answers their own questions - why can't life always be this simple? ;)

Go to forum: Feature requests

156 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(25 replies, posted in Feature requests)

We have had quite a lot of requests for a navigation manager. At the moment we're concentrating on our core offering of providing a simple content management system but we do plan on implementing a navigation manager in the near future.

It's a well-requested feature and for good reason.

Go to forum: Feature requests

157 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(5 replies, posted in Feature requests)

Not a fan of PageLime, I like you guys,

You know what, that would look really good as a tweet ;)

Really though, thanks for the kind words - it means that we're not wasting our time every day when we know that you guys are liking what we do.

Go to forum: Feature requests

158 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(25 replies, posted in Feature requests)

Yeh we should really do this - it makes sense. It won't be straight away, but it's on the list and shouldn't take too long.

Go to forum: Feature requests

159 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(5 replies, posted in Support zone)

Thanks for pointing that out - all fixed now too

Go to forum: Support zone

160 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(3 replies, posted in Feature requests)

We've had a think; we like your 'areas' thing and have changed this site-wide. Thanks again Tobias.

The rest are staying! ;)

Go to forum: Feature requests

161 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(1 replies, posted in General discussion)

Thanks - glad you think it's awesome

We host with MT, one of the most reliable and renowned web hosting companies in the world:
http://smplc.ms/mt

We also offer you the option of going through a secure connection - more information on this can be seen at:
http://smplc.ms/switchingtossl

Ps. Your English is great - better than mine, I'm from Yorkshire :)

Go to forum: General discussion

162 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(0 replies, posted in Tutorials)

Even though we're now offering 'click-to-define' as a means of defining edit areas, you are still able to use the traditional 'class names' method as was used in the old version of SimpleCMS and the way our competitors currently do things by default.

It's easy to move over from Cushy CMS or Surreal CMS for instance, as you have already defined the areas which are to be editable - all SimpleCMS needs to know is which class name you have used.

To let the system know, when adding a site, click on the 'Advanced' tab and select the class name you used (as shown in the screen shot below)

Selecting an existing class name

You can choose any of the pre-defined ones shown above, or add a class name of your choice. When you come to editing your content, you will see that the edit tags appear automatically.

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/classnames

Go to forum: Tutorials

163 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(0 replies, posted in Tutorials)

The system is able to edit the meta information on pages that use PHP include files.

If you're not using PHP include files and you wish to use this feature, please place the information in to the <head> section of the document.

To enable editing of the SEO features for your users, please check:
Users > Update/Remove > User settings > Change meta information (SEO)

To enable editing of the SEO features for you (Admin), please check:
Account > My account > Change meta information (SEO)

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/seoincludes

Go to forum: Tutorials

164 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(5 replies, posted in Errors in the system)

... and your email address was shown as this is the dialogue box for the User. Before the proposed fix comes in to play, we'll update the box to explain why to you, the Admin.

Go to forum: Errors in the system

165 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(3 replies, posted in Feature requests)

You make some valid points here, Tobias.

Zone versus Region:

We chose zone for two reasons; firstly because it's shorter and we wanted to build for 1024x768 as much as we could - every letter counts. Secondly it was for users where their first language was not English, such as yourself. We (possibly naively) assumed that 'zone' was a word more recognisable than 'region' or our other option, 'area'.

If you think that we're wrong, and that 'region' or indeed 'area' would be easier to understand for our international users, we're all ears.

Update versus Edit:

Another one we mulled over; the conclusion being that as we operate a content management system, using the words 'Edit site' for anything other than editing a site could be very confusing. We're going to stick with 'update', but what you said is very true and in any other system 'edit' would probably be how we would phrase it. As you know, we also use the domain name editsite.com which could further confuse things.

Next versus Done:

Yep, you're right; this has been changed now. The reason this was initially labeled 'Next' is because there was another page to go to - we since removed that next page to make the system easier to use but forgot about changing the wording on the button. So thanks for spotting that!

Great feedback, Tobias.

Go to forum: Feature requests

166 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(5 replies, posted in Feature requests)

Matthew, we would love to offer something like that and it may well happen down the line. I hate the clunkiness of WP too.

Right now, though, we need to focus on our core offering of providing a simple content management system - and without wanting to sound too anal, blogging is more of a content creation system.

I think Pagelime (pagelime.com) offer something like this, but for now it's not something we have planned for any time in the near future.

Go to forum: Feature requests

167 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(5 replies, posted in Support zone)

Thanks for your feedback Tobias (and I like the analogy!) - it's been something that we've been back and forth with. We decided that most developers will be using more complex systems than ours and that to cater for our core audience (designers) we needed to make it as simple as possible. We would love to have our cake and also eat our cake. We'll discuss this in the future if it becomes a recurring theme.

Go to forum: Support zone

168 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(1 replies, posted in Feature requests)

That is the holy grail of on-page CMS right there and it's something we're working towards. It's not easy but it's what we want the final solution to be. The disparity between a website and its CMS is coming together and our eventual goal is them being one and the same thing. We'll keep you posted as long as you're a member of the project.

Go to forum: Feature requests

169 Reply by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(5 replies, posted in Support zone)

Some users found the <!-- comments --> feature a little difficult to comprehend, let alone assigning class names.

We decided to make things even easier and have the 'click-to-define' feature. We're the first to provide this and it just means that literally anyone can set up a CMS on their sites. Even the most 'right brain' of designers.

You'll be pleased to know though, that if you really want to continue using comment tags, you can do so and the system automatically converts them for you. The new way is certainly easier though, so have a play with it and let us know how you get on.

Go to forum: Support zone

170 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(25 replies, posted in Feature requests)

We wanted to keep it simple and allow just the hue to be changed on the branding page. This was to put a stop to all the users who changed their header to white (or black), or some other garish colour and then complained to us that they couldn't read the text in the menus.

This works well for most brand identities, but if being able to alter the brightness and/or contrast in addition to the hue is important for you, then please let us know.

Greyscale and Hex codes could also be an option.

Go to forum: Feature requests

171 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(2 replies, posted in General discussion)

I was working as a freelance graphic designer, with no knowledge of anything much more technical than standard HTML (read HTML as 'Dreamweaver') and I was asked to build a website for my client... and they wanted to be able to edit their content easily and whenever they felt like it.

Having never done anything like that before I decided to Google for something that could do the job easily and quickly. Two weeks later, after installing and subsequently uninstalling very comprehensive (but complicated) content management systems like Joomla and Drupal, I was at a loss of what to do.

Should I create a blog with Wordpress and call it a site? Not possible - even 'posts' were too complicated for this particular client, and it didn't look exactly as I (a little perfectionist) wanted it to.

This client also wanted to edit their content by simply going to their website and using "Word-like" icons to make things change. Nothing like this existed. I just wanted to give up.

So that's what I did. I quit my job as a designer, found myself an amazing developer (Simon) and together spent the next 2 years creating the holy grail of simple content management systems... and we called it SimpleCMS, just to keep it simple.

We created a CMS that enables any designer to easily click-to-define the areas where they want their clients to be able to edit ... and the editors (your clients)...? Well they can view and make changes to their site exactly whilst looking at something which looks just like their page. Strangely enough, if you ask your clients, it's something they feel they should have been able to do with their own website anyway.

And because you can brand our system with your company's logo and colour scheme, and allow your clients log in from your website, they will never know that you didn't spend hours and hours of your valuable time trying to make their life easier.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention - It certainly changed my life when I quit my career to create SimpleCMS. It would be great to hear your career-changing stories!

Go to forum: General discussion

172 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(0 replies, posted in Tutorials)

As SimpleCMS is the only simple CMS in the world to enable 'click-to-define areas' (as opposed to editing the code manually) we have taken the decision to keep in with the 'simple' theme with regards to editing the code.

The edit code tab is a feature that requires switching on:

Account > My account > Check 'Edit HTML code'

The 'Code' tab will appear after clicking 'Save'. Editing code is a feature only available to Admins and not Users (just imagine the mess!)

If you prefer to define your edit areas manually, you should add class="edit" to the relevant HTML element, for example...

To make a DIV tag editable:

<div id="txt-content" class="edit">
    Some text about my dog
</div>

To make an IMG tag editable:

<img src="my-dog.png" id="img-dog" class="edit" />

To make an A tag editable:

<a href="dog.php" id="link-dog" class="edit">My dog</a>

Whilst in 'Code' mode, you are able to navigate the site using the sitemap.

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/editcode

Go to forum: Tutorials

173 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(0 replies, posted in Tutorials)

Some users have pointed out that whilst using IE, the images in the CKEditor sometimes appear blurry as shown in the screenshot below:

Blurry icons

This does not appear to happen in Chrome, Firefox or Safari and is due to the magnification of the page. This is an issue with Internet Explorer; a simple fix to make the icons appear sharp is achieved by going to:

Page > Zoom > 100%

Let us know if you have any similar issues with IE

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/ieblurryicons

Go to forum: Tutorials

174 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(2 replies, posted in Tutorials)

We offer both secure (SSL) and non-secure connections when using SimpleCMS. You are able to switch back and forth between these two connection types as and when you like.

We do recommend that you use the SSL connection as little as possible as this will slow your connection down when defining edit zones and/or editing content. The SSL connection is really only recommended whilst inputting your FTP details, but again, this is completely optional.

To switch between a secure and non-secure connection, click on the padlock icon to the right of the system's address bar, as shown in the picture below.

SSL is only available on cms.simplecms.com and not on any sub-domain of editsite.com

SSL icon

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/switch2ssl

Go to forum: Tutorials

175 Topic by SimpleCMS-Gavin

(0 replies, posted in Tutorials)

Your clients are able to log in at http://www.updating.net/ or if you are a Professional or Business user you can choose a sub-domain of Updating.net which will display your brand when your user visits your log-in page (customise this on the 'Branding' page from within your account)

If you would prefer to use a custom domain name, for example yourcompanycms.com or a custom sub-domain, eg. cms.yourcompany.com, please follow the instructions below:

• Visit your web hosting provider and log in to your account

• Go to the DNS (sometimes known as name server) management section

• If necessary, create the sub-domain cms.your-domain.com (or a sub-domain of your choice) for your clients to access to your CMS

• Create a CNAME record that points to cms.simplecms.com (http:// and www. is not required)

• Remember to add your CNAME to the input box on the branding page

For detailed instructions on how to create a CNAME, please contact your hosting provider directly, as this information varies from host-to-host.

--
Short URL http://smplc.ms/cname

Go to forum: Tutorials