Step 1: Select Section that will contain item(s).

• On the site adminstration page, click on the section name in the left hand navigation bar where you'd like to create new item(s).
  • Need directions to get to the site administration page? See the Step by Step Instructions to Access the Content Management System. 

Step 2: Create first item

• Go to the Site Administration page and click on the "Add Item" button on the right, beneath the "Items in this section" box.

Step 3: Open the editing template for the item 

• After you click the "add item" button, the News Item Template (see picture below) should appear:

Step 4: Add text information to the item

• Enter the title in the top box.
• Enter the publication date and time, using the pulldown menus.
  • If you want the item to be immediately visible on the web, click the tag "now" to the right of the date and time windows
  • If you want the date to appear on the website in the future, enter that date and time. The item will not appear on the website until then.
• Enter summary text in the Summary text box.
  • Title, publication date, time, and summary information will appear on the website on the same page as the introductory material created in Step 1.
• Enter the information for the body in the Body text box
  • The body information (along with the title) will appear on the website on a separate page.
  • Your audience will get to this separate page by linking on the title of the item appearing on the page with the summary information.
  • Use the text editing tools to format the text.
    • For step by step instructions on how to use the use them, see Using the Text Editing Tools. 
  • Prefer to use HTML to format text?
    • Click on "Switch to HTML Mode" at lower right of the text box
• Save text entered.
  • Click the "Save" button on the upper right.
  • This will send you back to the previous screen. Click on the "edit" button again to get back to the Section.

Step 5: (Optional) Add attachments to the item

• You can add images, audio, video, or create a sidebar, snap poll, etc., by using the attachment tools.
• Access them by clicking on the relevant link under "Attachments" on the navigation bar to the left of the text editing template.
• See Adding Attachments for step by step instructions.

Step 6: Preview the item body. 

• Click on the "preview" button on the upper right to see how it will look on the website. This will show you the page containing the information in the body of the item.
• Return to the editing page by clicking the "Return to Edit Mode" link at the very top of the page (above the banner). Do NOT use your back button on your browser to return or you will lose your work.

Step 7: Save your work.

• Click on the "save" button on the upper right. This will send you back to the window in step 2 above.

Step 8: Turn on the new item.

• Click on the red button to the left of the new item's name (located in the "Items in this section" box) so it turns green or gray.
• If you set the publication date and time for this item to the present (see step 5 above) the green light indicates that the section is now visible to the public.
• If you set the publication date and time for the future, the gray light indicates that it will automatically become visible at that point. The word "embargoed" and the publication data and time appear (see picture below) after the new item name. This shows that it is waiting until then to be made visible on the website.
• The item can be turned off again by simply clicking on it again to toggle it off. It should turn red again, to indicate that it is no longer visible to the public, and will remain off (even at the publication date) unless the item is turned on again.

Step 9: View the new item on the web (for current date items only) 

• Click the "View Site" link on the upper right of the banner.
• The new item summary will appear below the introductory material.
• Click on the new item title to view the body of the item.
• Return to the Site Administration page by clicking on the back arrow on your browser.

Step 10: Add additional items

• Repeat steps 2 through 11 for additional new items.
• Note: the new items will automatically order themselves by date and time from most recent (on top) to oldest (on bottom).

Step 11: Reorder items if necessary

• Click on the "sort" tag on the top right of the "Items in this section" box.
• The right side of the box will change to show sort triangles. Use them to rearrange the sections by clicking on the up or down triangles for each item.

Step 12: View the page on the web.

• Click the "View Site" link on the upper right of the banner.