Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
How do I log into my CMS?
Which version of AccuCMS do I have?
Support
Where do I go for the AccuCMS training?
What is a bug?
Why aren't my changes appearing on the web when I make them?
CMS Users
How do I change my password?
How do I create a user template?
Forms
How do I get a notification in my email whenever a form on the site is filled out?
What information can I collect on my form?
Pages/Content
How do I prepare my text for the CMS?
How do I prepare graphics for the CMS?
Navigation
How do I edit the name of an item in my navigation?
How do I remove an item from navigation?
How do I create sub navigation?
How do I make a drop-down menu?
What is a placeholder link?
How To's
Getting Started
How do I log into my CMS?
To enter your CMS refer to the site manager link provided by your project manager. You will either have a production or development URL. A production URL will be after your website goes live, and it will be the domain name you purchased from your DNS provider. A development URL will always contain “bluearcher”. Once you receive this information you will type “/manager” at the end of the URL to access the log-in screen.
For example: www.YOUR-URL.com/manager
Once there, enter your user name and password to begin using the CMS.
Which version of AccuCMS do I have?
You may be running one of two versions of our CMS. Our standard CMS is only compatible on Internet Explorer. If you have this version you will see an error message saying “Your browser is either too old or too modern” when you access the CMS from any other browser other than Internet Explorer.
Our newest version is AccuCMS Chrome 4.0 which has updated features. This version is compatible to use in all browsers.
Support
Where do I go for the AccuCMS training?
Our training is setup as a webinar. Our instructor will invite you to an online Cisco Webex meeting and provide you instructions for dialing in on the conference line. From there, (s)he will share his or her screen with you and go over the basics of CMS step-by-step. You can attend the training whether you are at home, in the office, at the park, or anywhere you have access to the internet and a phone.
You can get more information or register on our training page. Our training sessions are free and you may register for as many as you would like.
What is a bug?
You may have heard our CMS trainers refer to technical glitches in the code as “bugs”. Most complex code will face the problem, especially in a rapidly growing industry that is constantly updating and advancing. Bugs are never billable to fix, but here are a few things to keep in mind when reporting a bug to support.
- Take a screenshot, this is especially helpful if we cannot recreate the issue you are having
- Tell us what browser you are using
- Tell us what you were doing and when
- Make sure you let us know if it is on the front-end of the website or in the CMS
Why aren't my changes appearing on the web when I make them
There are a number of reasons this might happen. Below are a few of the most common solutions:
- Make sure you are publishing the CMS page you have edited by clicking the “Publish Page” button at the top of the page editor. Then make sure you are refreshing the browser window in which you are viewing your site. If you don’t refresh, you are still viewing the old version of your page.
- Make sure your are Publishing and not just Saving your work in the CMS. Saving it will save your changes but will not make it live to the web. Publishing is what puts the changes onto your live website.
- Sometimes browsers (such as Internet Explorer) save versions of commonly viewed websites and will not reflect your current changes. The easiest way to fix this problem is by holding down the control button while you refresh your website. This will force the browser to completely reload the page. If that does not work you can delete these saved versions of the website by going to TOOLS>>DELETE BORWSING HISTORY>>DELETE ALL in your browser. We also suggest opening a new browser window.
If none of these are working for you, please call the Blue Archer Support Line at 412.353.1050. Or send an email detailing the situation to support@bluearcher.com. The line is open during normal business hours of Mon-Fri 8am to 5 pm.
CMS Users
How do I change my password?
To change your password you must contact someone within your company that is an “Admin” or email support@bluearcher.com to have it changed. You may also call our support like (412) 353-1050.
How do I create a user template?
Creating a user template may be beneficial if more than a few employees have the same permissions on the CMS. Instead of granting access each time individually, you may click “yes” for the question “Is this a template” when creating a new user.
Please note: You must create a user in order to create a template.
To use the template, create a new user and select the template from the drop-down at the top of the page, then click “populate”. This will automatically fill in all of the permission.
Forms
How do I get a notification in my email whenever a form on the site is filled out?
When you create a new form, you will see a field that says “Submit Email Address”. Enter the email address(es) that you would like to receive the notification. To enter multiple addresses, hit enter between each email address. You can enter as many as you like. You do not need semi-colons or commas to separate the addresses, simply hit enter.
What information can I collect on my form?
You may collect any standard information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, messages, etc. However, we do forbid sensitive information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, bank account information, or anything that will be a security risk. We take all security and safety measures to protect your information.
If you would like to collect any sensitive information on your website,you may do so with our eCommerce or custom functionality options.
Pages/Content
How do I prepare my text for the CMS?
It is very important that any text entered into the CMS be formatting free. Formatting is the code that overlays your text. It dictates size, font, and color. Your website already has a style sheet that will format any text on your site to match your design. It ensures that all of the text on your site is consistent.
DO NOT COPY/PASTE DIRECTLY FROM MICROSOFT WORD! Word automatically formats text. If you copy/paste directly from Word into the CMS, the Word formatting will override your style sheet and the text will not match the rest of your site. More importantly, all of that foreign code will break your CMS over time.
There is an easy solution here. Every PC comes equipped with a very simple word processing application called NOTEPAD. To enter notepad, click on your start menu and go to all programs/accessories/ then click the icon that says Notepad. You can copy your text from word and paste it into Notepad. Then copy the “cleaned” text from Notepad and paste it into the CMS. Note: any bolding or differences in size that you had in the Word document will disappear. You can use the Rich Text Editor’s toolbar in the CMS to redo all of your format changes.
How do I prepare graphics for the CMS?
You will need to resize any image that you insert into the CMS to meet the design parameters.
If you don't have Photoshop, SnagIt or something similar, we recommend the following services:
- Gimp.org - Photo editing & retouching, free software
- Paint.net - Photo editing & retouching, free software
- Bonus: This software even provides a plugin that allows you to open PSDs
- Autotracer - Free online vectorizing
To find out what size an image needs to be, you can look at any static (not flash) image on your site. To do this simply right click on one of your site’s images, select "Properties" and look at the "Dimensions". This will give you the exact pixel size of the image for you to match. This is covered in further detail in the mini- Picnik manual.
We also recommend storing all graphics used on your site in the Files Module.
Navigation
How do I edit the name of an item in my navigation?
Your navigation consists of your page names. To rename something in the navigation you must rename your page.
WARNING: Do not rename the file!
Make sure you are renaming the page and not the file or else you may break the link.
How do I remove an item from navigation?
Click on the page you wish to remove from navigation. You may select “no” to the question that says “display in navigation”. This will remove the page from navigation without deleting it.
How do I create sub navigation?
To create a sub navigation
- Go to “Content”
- Click “Pages”
- The click “Navigation” in the tool bar at the top
- Click “Create a Sub Navigation” once you are on the main navigation page
- Name your sub navigation and click "Save"
When you create or edit pages, you may now select a sub navigation to display your page in or to display on your page. You may display your page in multiple navigations.
How do I make a drop-down menu?
On the navigation section of the CMS you will see top level and sub level categories for the pages. To create a drop-down menu, you may move pages into the sub level category (move to the right) underneath the a head that you would like to drop-down.
What is a placeholder link?
A placeholder link works similar to a category. It does not contain a link, but it may be used to label a drop down menu. To create a placeholder link, click “Add Link/Place holder” in the navigation section of the CMS.