To begin our series of “How To” posts, we will begin with the most basic of functions in the Site Management Console.  How to:  Add Navigation

A web site in it’s simplest form is made up of pages and links to other pages.  When we refer to “Navigation” in the SMC, we are essentially talking about a “Link” or a “Page”.  A “Link” will simply bring the user the the URL (web site address) that we provide.  A “Page” will automatically create 2 items to ensure everything functions as needed:

1. A Link to the Page - For a user to access a new page, there has to be a link to it (except the home page of course).  A majority of the links are found in the web site’s navigation, and new navigation items will be placed here by default unless you specify otherwise on the page properties.
2. The Page Itself - The obvious member of the group is the page itself.  This is where content is added.  Based on the template you select, different content types are predefined on your new page.

Now that we have the web site philosophy out of the way, let’s get into the details of how to add a new page.  Upon logging into your SMC, you will see the Content Management tree in the top left (see image below).  The first step in the process is to click on the green “Add Navigation” link at the top of the Content Management tree.

Upon clicking on the “Add Navigation” link, you will be brought to a three step wizard.  The image below will give you an idea of what the wizard looks like, and how easy it is to add a new page or link to the navigation.

For the SMC to successfully add your new navigation item, it is going to require three bits of information.  The page or link name, what type of page or link, and where to place the item in the content management tree or navigation heirarchy.

Step 1:  Enter name of page or link you would like to create.  Simply type the name of your new page or link in the textbox and we are done with this step.

Step 2: Choose one.  What you are being asked here sounds pretty generic, but if you take a look at your options you will understand.  We need to tell the SMC what type of page we will be creating, or if the Navigation is a link we need to specify the type of link and where it will link to.  There are three options:

• Create new page using the following template:  Choosing option 1 is where we create an actual page on the site.  We need to choose the type of page by selecting one of the page templates in the selection box.  The template we choose will determine the type of content on the page and how that content is organized.
• Create external link to URL:  Option 2 is used for navigation items that will be links to external URLs, or other web sites.  I would use this option if I wanted to link to http://www.SMCing.com and would type “www.SMCing.com” after the “http://” that is provided by default in the textbox.
• Create internal link to page:  Option 3 allows us to easily link to existing pages within our web site.  You do not need to know the URL as above, but simply need to select the page from the selection box that you would like the navigation item to link to.

Step 3: Place page under.  Now that we know the name and type, we need to tell the SMC where to place the new navigation item in the content management tree.  When you choose an item from the list, the SMC will place your new navigation item directly under that item.  We need to know one more bit of information.  Is the new item to be placed under the selected as a child, or as a sibling.

• As Child:  Assuming the navigation item we selected is the parent, our new item will be placed under the parent as a child.  If we look at the tree above as a reference, “About” is under “Home Page” As a Child.
• As Sibling: Assuming the navigation item we selected is a sibling, our new item will be placed at the same level as the sibling.  If we look at the tree above as a reference, “Solutions” is under “About” As a Sibling.

Step 4: Save.  The SMC now has all the information it needs to create a new navigation item.  Click the save button in the upper left corner of the Add Navigation wizard and we are done.

Congratulations!  You have just successfully added a new navigation item (page or link) to your SMC web site!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 7:41 pm and is filed under SMC General, How To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.