How to Do Everything with Macromedia Contribute

by Doug Sahlin (Conducted by)

Overview

A step-by-step guide to using Contribute, which will provide readers with the knowledge they need to update websites, regardless of their prior experience with HTML.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780072228922
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
Publication date:	02/24/2003
Series:	How to Do Everything Series
Pages:	404
Product dimensions:	7.37(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.95(d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xvii
	Introduction	xix
Part I	Introducing Contribute
Chapter 1	Getting to Know Contribute	3
	About Contribute	5
	How Are Web Pages Created?	7
	About the Site Administrator	10
	Connecting to a Site	10
	Using Contribute to Browse Web Pages	11
	Using Contribute to Modify Web Pages	12
	Editing Text	14
	Editing Images	15
	Inserting Tables	17
	Editing Tables	17
	Inserting Flash Movies	19
	Adding and Editing Links	20
	Editing Pages with Frames	21
	Creating New Web Pages	21
	Publishing an Edited Page	22
	Summary	23
Chapter 2	Exploring the Contribute Workspace	25
	Launching the Application	26
	Navigating the Workspace	28
	Using the Contribute Sidebar	30
	Using the Pages Panel	31
	Using the How Do I... Panel	32
	Working in Browse Mode	33
	Working in Edit Mode	35
	Setting Contribute Preferences	38
	Summary	45
Chapter 3	Creating a Connection	47
	Connecting to a Web Site	48
	Using the Connection Wizard	49
	Using a Connection Key	56
	Using a Network Setup File	58
	Managing Connections	59
	Removing a Web Site Connection	60
	Editing a Web Site Connection	60
	Renaming a Connection	61
	Disabling a Connection	62
	Enabling a Connection	63
	Summary	64
Part II	Editing Web Page Elements
Chapter 4	Working with HTML Documents	67
	Navigating to Internet Sites	68
	Navigating to Other Web Sites	69
	Navigating to Your Home Pages	70
	Working with Bookmarks	71
	Adding a Bookmark	71
	Creating a Bookmarks Folder	71
	Deleting a Bookmark	74
	Working in Edit Mode	75
	Choosing a Page to Edit	75
	Editing a Page	78
	Using the Editor Toolbar	79
	Adding Word or Excel Documents to Web Pages	81
	Inserting a Word or Excel Document into a Web Page	82
	Linking to a Word or Excel Document	83
	Editing Word or Excel Documents	84
	Modifying Page Properties	85
	Undoing and Redoing Actions	87
	Deleting a Web Page	88
	Saving a Page Draft	88
	Canceling Edits	89
	Working Offline	89
	Editing Pages Offline	90
	Switching Between Online and Offline	91
	Using the Pages Panel	91
	Exporting a Web Page	92
	Printing a Web Page	92
	Previewing an Edited Page in a Browser	93
	Summary	93
Chapter 5	Creating New Web Pages	95
	Creating New Web Pages	96
	Creating a Copy of a Web Page	97
	Creating a Blank Web Page	98
	Creating a Web Page While Creating a Link	99
	Creating a Web Page Without a Link	101
	Creating a Web Page from a Contribute Template	102
	Creating a Web Page from a Web Designer or Administrator's Template	104
	Setting Page Properties	105
	Adding Keywords to a Web Page	107
	Tutorial: Creating a Calendar of Events	109
	Testing New Web Pages	111
	Summary	112
Chapter 6	Working with Text	113
	Adding Text to a Web Page	114
	Adding the Date to a Page	116
	Adding Special Text Characters	117
	Formatting Text	118
	Applying a Style to Text	118
	Changing or Removing a Style	120
	Changing Font Size and Type	121
	Modifying the Fonts List	122
	Modifying Font Color and Highlight Color	125
	Aligning Text	126
	Creating Lists	127
	Creating a Numbered List	127
	Creating a Bulleted List	128
	Creating a Definition List	129
	Creating a Sublist	130
	Changing List Properties	132
	Spell Checking the Document	134
	Finding and Replacing Text	136
	Summary	138
Part III	Working with Hyperlinks, Tables, and Frames
Chapter 7	Creating and Editing Hyperlinks	141
	Creating Text and Image Links	142
	Creating a Link to a Draft or Recently Published Page	143
	Creating a Link to an Existing Page	145
	Creating a Link to a Computer File	147
	Creating a Link to an E-mail Address	150
	Using Advanced Link Options	151
	Editing URL Links	151
	Specifying Where Linked Pages Open	153
	Creating an Anchor	154
	Deleting and Modifying Section Anchors	154
	Linking to a Section Anchor	155
	Editing Links	156
	Changing the Link Text and Link Destination	156
	Removing a Link	157
	Editing Link Properties	158
	Testing Links	158
	Summary	159
Chapter 8	Creating and Editing Tables	161
	Creating a Table	162
	Adding Content to a Table	165
	Nesting Tables	165
	Selecting Tables and Table Elements	166
	Selecting a Table	166
	Selecting Table Rows or Columns	166
	Selecting Table Cells	167
	Resizing Tables and Table Elements	168
	Resizing a Table	168
	Resizing Columns and Rows	169
	Working with Cell Content	171
	Copying Cells	172
	Cutting Cells	172
	Deleting Content from Cells	172
	Pasting Cells	173
	Working with Table Elements	174
	Working with Cells	174
	Working with Rows and Columns	175
	Modifying a Table's Appearance	178
	Editing Table Properties	178
	Editing Row or Column Properties	181
	Editing Cell Properties	183
	Applying a Preset Format	184
	Sorting Table Data	187
	Summary	189
Chapter 9	Working with Frames	191
	Understanding Frames	192
	Editing Frames	194
	Specifying Content Targets	195
	Saving and Publishing Web Pages with Frames	198
	Summary	199
Part IV	Working with Images and Publishing Web Pages
Chapter 10	Modifying Document Images	203
	Working with Images for Web Pages	204
	Inserting Images into Web Pages	205
	Deleting Images	209
	Adding a Horizontal Rule to a Web Page	209
	Modifying Image Properties	212
	Resizing Images	213
	Aligning Images	217
	Repositioning Images	218
	Adding Flash Movies to a Web Page	218
	Inserting a Flash Movie into a Page Draft	219
	Setting Flash Movie Properties	219
	Summary	221
Chapter 11	Editing Images in an External Image-Editing Program	223
	Choosing an Image-Editing Program	225
	Specifying an External Image Editor	226
	Launching an External Image Editor	228
	Editing Images Displayed in Web Pages	228
	Editing Images Stored in Web Site Folders	229
	Editing Image Files Stored on Your Computer	231
	Introduction to Image Editing	232
	Resizing an Image	232
	Cropping an Image	233
	Color Correcting an Image	235
	Sharpening an Image	239
	Changing the Resolution of an Image	240
	Exporting an Image	241
	Summary	243
Chapter 12	Advanced Image Editing with Macromedia Fireworks MX	245
	Understanding Image Formats	246
	Working with the GIF Format	247
	Working with the JPEG Format	248
	Working with the PNG Format	248
	Round-trip Editing from Contribute	249
	Optimizing for the Web	251
	Optimizing a GIF Image	251
	Optimizing a JPEG Image	253
	Working with Text	253
	Resizing an Image	256
	Applying Live Effects	257
	Color Correcting an Image	258
	Sharpening an Image	261
	Creating a Beveled Border	261
	Applying a Drop Shadow to Text	263
	Editing a Live Effect	264
	Deleting a Live Effect	264
	Working with Digital Cameras	265
	Scanning Images for Use on a Web Page	266
	Creating an Image Gallery	268
	Preparing your Assets	269
	Creating the Image Gallery	271
	Creating the Links	272
	Summary	273
Chapter 13	Publishing Web Pages	275
	Previewing the Edited Page	276
	Using Contribute's E-mail Review Feature	278
	About the Reviewing Process	278
	Sending the Page for Review	279
	Publishing Web Pages	281
	Publishing Edited Versions of Existing Pages	281
	Publishing a New Web Page	283
	Publishing an Existing Page from Your Web Site as a New Page	286
	Reverting to a Prior Version of a Page	288
	Summary	290
Part V	Administering Web Sites
Chapter 14	Working As Site Administrator	293
	Setting Up the Site	294
	Become Your Site's Administrator	295
	Becoming Administrator for a New Contribute Site	295
	Becoming Administrator for an Existing Contribute Site	296
	Defining Sitewide Settings	298
	Changing Site Administrator Information	299
	Changing the Site Administrator E-Mail Address	299
	Changing the Site Administrator Password	300
	Defining the Number of Rollback Pages	301
	Setting Advanced Sitewide Settings	302
	Adding Index Page Filenames	303
	Defining Alternate URLs	305
	Removing Site Administration	306
	Summary	307
Chapter 15	Defining Site Permissions	309
	Settings and Permissions Administrators Can Control	310
	Working with User Groups	311
	Creating a User Group	312
	Duplicating a User Group	313
	Removing a User Group	314
	Administering Site Permissions	314
	Editing a User Group	315
	Summary	330
Chapter 16	Defining Site Connections and Customizing Contribute	331
	Sending Site Connections to Other Team Members	332
	Customizing a Connection Setting	337
	Modifying Site Connections	339
	Setting Up a Secure Site	339
	Troubleshooting Connection Difficulties	340
	Dealing with Server Issues	341
	About Shared Settings Folders	342
	Setting Up Contribute for Screen Readers	343
	Customizing Contribute	343
	Summary	348
Part VI	Appendixes
Appendix A	Installing Contribute	351
Appendix B	Contribute Keyboard Shortcuts	353
Appendix C	Contribute Resources	357
	Index	361

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Macromedia Contribute addresses today’s No. 1 web site management challenge: the problem of updating a site once you’ve published it.

You know the deal. Content owners constantly need to make updates. As they should. After all, the site’s visitors crave new and up-to-date information. But the site’s designers and developers don’t have time for an endless stream of updates. You can’t let the content owners touch your live pages: They’ll mess ’em up. So the changes go unmade, the site gets stale, and everyone gets frustrated.

With Contribute, the site’s designers maintain full control over look, feel, behavior, and security. But the subject matter experts get to change content, and add new content, to their heart’s content. It’s ye olde “best of both worlds.”

Lots of different folks need to learn about Contribute. Sure, there are the traditional web designers and administrators who already know Dreamweaver. But most Contribute users will be business professionals who don’t know HTML, don’t know web design, and don’t much care.

For one book to help all these people learn Contribute, it’ll need to be especially lucid. It should skip the lingo, speak to people in their own language, draw on their experiences as professionals and Web users. And it wouldn’t hurt to “show, not tell” -- relying on visuals wherever possible.

Doug Sahlin’s How to Do Everything with Macromedia Contribute meets all those criteria. Sahlin’s written extensively about Macromedia Web design software for both beginners and experienced professionals. He knows exactly what both groups are looking for.

Sahlin begins by outlining Contribute’s four-step approach to managing web content: setting up a connection; navigating to the page you want to edit; editing or creating pages; and publishing your revised content. You’ll learn how Contribute works with the designs you already have; and where your site administrator fits into the process.

Once you’ve tasted Contribute’s power, Sahlin zeroes in on its interface and tools. You’ll learn how to use Contribute’s streamlined Panels (thankfully, far less cluttered than Dreamweaver). You’ll work in Browse mode to use Contribute like a browser; and work on your pages in Edit mode. Sahlin also shows you some useful program tweaks -- for example, changing how Contribute handles Microsoft Office documents when you import them.

Next, you’ll walk through spell-checking text, creating and editing tables and hyperlinks, and working with framed pages. There’s a full chapter on creating new web pages -- from blanks, from preset Contribute or Dreamweaver templates, from the page you’re already viewing, or from a specific page your web administrator designates. These options make it easy to generate new content consistent with your existing site design.

Section IV is set aside for coverage of images: using images you’ve got; adjusting those images inside Contribute or an external editor; and using Contribute with Macromedia’s sophisticated Fireworks MX tool.

Last but definitely not least, there’s comprehensive coverage for site administrators: what you’re responsible for doing, how to define site permissions for each of your users; and how to establish site connections that connect them to the pages they need, while keeping everything else off limits. Contribute’s a winner. So’s this book. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.