Macromedia Using Contribute User Manual
Using Contribute
Macromedia Contribute
™
Trademarks
Afterburner, AppletAce, Attain, Attain Enterprise Learning System, Attain Essentials, Attain Objects for Dreamweaver, Authorware,
Authorware Attain, Authorware Interactive Studio, Authorware Star, Authorware Synergy, Backstage, Backstage Designer, Backstage
Desktop Studio, Backstage Enterprise Studio, Backstage Internet Studio, Contribute, Design in Motion, Director, Director Multimedia
Studio, Doc Around the Clock, Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver Attain, Drumbeat, Drumbeat 2000, Extreme 3D, Fireworks, Flash,
Fontographer, FreeHand, FreeHand Graphics Studio, Generator, Generator Developer’s Studio, Generator Dynamic Graphics Server,
Knowledge Objects, Knowledge Stream, Knowledge Track, Lingo, Live Effects, Macromedia, Macromedia M Logo & Design,
Macromedia Contribute, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Xres, Macromind, Macromind Action, MAGIC, Mediamaker, Object
Authoring, Power Applets, Priority Access, Roundtrip HTML, Scriptlets, SoundEdit, ShockRave, Shockmachine, Shockwave,
Shockwave Remote, Shockwave Internet Studio, Showcase, Tools to Power Your Ideas, Universal Media, Virtuoso, Web Design 101,
Whirlwind and Xtra are trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including
internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks,
servicemarks, or tradenames of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally.
This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not responsible for
the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party website mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your own risk. Macromedia
provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia endorses or accepts any
responsibility for the content on those third-party sites.
Apple Disclaimer
APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE ENCLOSED
COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE, ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY
NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER
RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.
Copyright © 2002 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or
converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without prior written approval of Macromedia, Inc.
Third Party Software Notices and/or Additional Terms and Conditions can be found at http://www.macromedia.com/go/thirdparty/.
Part Number ZCT10M200
Acknowledgments
Project Management: Kim Diezel
Writing: Chris Bedford, Jed Hartman, Jennifer Rowe
Managing Editor: Rosana Francescato
Editing: Lisa Stanziano, Rebecca Godbois
Production Management: Patrice O’Neill
Multimedia Design and Production: Aaron Begley, Benjamin Salles
Print and Help Design and Production: Christopher Basmajian, John Francis
Special thanks to Luciano Arruda, Don Booth, Darrick Brown, Ian Chase, Kristin Conradi, Mary Ferguson, Deb Galdes,
Noah Hoffman, Joel Huff, Narciso (nj) Jaramillo, Brady Kroupa, Sho Kuwamoto, Erik Larson, Eric Lerner, David Lessard, Bonnie Loo,
Josh Margulis, Charles McBrian, Sheila McGinn, Charles Nadeau, Masayo Noda, Kimberly Oslob, Emilio Passi, Dina Pinza,
Scott Richards, Ken Sundermeyer, Paola Uscher, Kaori Wolff, Mitsuko Yoneyama, and the Contribute engineering and QA teams.
First Edition: November 2002
Macromedia, Inc.
600 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
2
Part I
Using Contribute
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
Welcome to Macromedia Contribute
Website development and maintenance overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Contribute workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Learning Macromedia Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Where to start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Contribute resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Typographical conventions in the Contribute resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CHAPTER 2
Getting Started
Setup requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Installing and launching Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Connecting to a website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Importing a website connection key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Launching Contribute without a network connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Disabling your website at startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
CHAPTER 3
Exploring the Contribute Workspace
The Contribute workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Contribute browser/editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Contribute toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Contribute sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Browsing and editing pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Navigating to web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Viewing drafts and new pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Viewing home pages for your websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Viewing recently published pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Viewing pages and files that you can’t browse to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Setting up access to commonly used pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3
Setting Contribute preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Setting general preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Setting file editor preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Setting firewall preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Setting invisible element preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Setting browser encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using Contribute accessibility features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using screen readers with Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using operating system accessibility features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using the keyboard to navigate Contribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Authoring for accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
CHAPTER 4
Working with Pages
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Editing existing web pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
About editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Opening a page for editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Undoing mistakes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Saving drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Saving a draft while you work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Saving a draft until later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Working with pages based on Dreamweaver templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
About templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Editing a template-based page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Setting template properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Using Contribute to work offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Working offline in the Contribute editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Switching between working online and working offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Editing content in an external application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Canceling a draft or new page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Deleting a web page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Exporting a Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Printing a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
CHAPTER 5
Adding Pages and Documents
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Creating or copying a page on your website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Copying a page on your website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Creating a blank web page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Copying a sample web page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Creating a page based on a template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Creating a new page and a link to the page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Creating a new page without linking to it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Setting page properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Adding keywords and a description for a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Adding Word and Excel documents to a website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Adding Word or Excel content to a page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Inserting a link to a Word or Excel document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Contents4
CHAPTER 6
Working with Text
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Adding text to a web page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Adding the current date to a page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Adding special characters to a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Formatting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Changing text font and size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Changing text style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Changing text color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Applying styles to text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Changing text alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Indenting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Creating lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Creating numbered lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Creating bulleted lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Creating definition lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Creating sublists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Setting List property options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Checking spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Finding and replacing text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
CHAPTER 7
Working with Images and Graphical Elements
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Adding an image to a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
About inserting images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Using the Insert menu or Image button to add images to a page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Dragging images to a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Copying and pasting images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Changing image properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Editing an image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Resizing an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Moving and aligning images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Inserting Flash movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Setting Flash movie properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Adding and deleting a horizontal rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Changing properties for a horizontal rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
CHAPTER 8
Working with Tables
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Inserting a table on a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Inserting a table within a table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Selecting table elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Selecting an entire table, row, or column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Selecting a cell, block of cells, or nonadjacent cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Resizing tables, rows, and columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Aligning tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Cutting, copying, and pasting cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Cutting and copying table cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Pasting table cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Contents 5
Adding, deleting, and merging table rows and columns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Adding rows and columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Deleting rows and columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Merging and splitting cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Modifying table appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
About conflicts in table formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Modifying table properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Modifying row or column properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Modifying cell properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using a preset table format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Sorting tabular data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
CHAPTER 9
Working with Links
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Creating text and image links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Linking to a draft or recently published page on your website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Linking to a new page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Linking to a page on your website or on another website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Linking to an e-mail address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Linking to a file on your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Setting the advanced linking options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Editing the URL for a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Setting a target for your page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Linking to a specific place in a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Editing links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Changing link text and destination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Removing a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Changing link properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Testing links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
CHAPTER 10
Working with Pages with Frames
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
About frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Editing frame content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Saving and publishing a page with frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Targeting frame content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
About targeting a frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Specifying a target frame for a link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
CHAPTER 11
Publishing Your Page
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Previewing a page in your default browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Using the e-mail review process for drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Understanding the e-mail review process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Making your draft available for review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Publishing a page to your website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Publishing updates to an existing page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Publishing a new page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Publishing an existing page as a new page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Contents6
Rolling back to a previous version of a page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
About rollbacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Using the page Rollback feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Part II
Administering Contribute
CHAPTER 12
Learning to Administer Contribute
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Intended audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Learning to administer Macromedia Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contribute Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contribute How Do I panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contribute Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Contribute Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Contribute Support Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
CHAPTER 13
Contribute Administration Overview
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
About the Contribute website-editing model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Setting up Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
About the shared settings file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Modifying shared settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Website security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Rollback files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
CHAPTER 14
Creating and Managing Website Connections
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Creating a Contribute website connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Creating a connection with the Connection Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Providing your name and e-mail address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Providing your website’s URL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Selecting a connection method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Providing FTP information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Setting advanced connection settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Becoming a website administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Selecting a permission group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Reviewing the connection summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Becoming an administrator of an existing Contribute website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Configuring sitewide settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Changing the website administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Changing the administrator’s password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Enabling and disabling rollbacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Specifying the number of rollback pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Contents 7
About advanced sitewide settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
About web server index pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Adding index page filenames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Removing index page filenames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
About alternate website addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Specifying alternate web addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Managing website connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Removing website connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Editing website connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Renaming a website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Disabling a website connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Enabling a website connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Managing Contribute sites using Dreamweaver MX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
CHAPTER 15
Managing User Settings and Permissions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Creating Contribute permission groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Understanding group permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Managing settings and permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Accessing the Permission Group dialog box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Setting general website permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Setting folder and file access permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Setting page editing and paragraph permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Setting style and font permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Setting permissions for new web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
New Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
CHAPTER 16
Sharing Website Connections
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Creating a connection key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Choosing the connection key settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Choosing a connection method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Selecting a permission group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Choosing an export method for the connection key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Reviewing the connection summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
CHAPTER 17
Troubleshooting
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Problems installing Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Problems launching Contribute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Startup is slow or the application appears to freeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
The Connection Failure dialog box appears when connected to a network . . . . . . . 190
Contribute doesn’t detect that it is disconnected from the network. . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
The Dial-up dialog box is displayed when connected to the network . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Contribute reports that the user is not in a valid permission group. . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Contents8
Problems creating a connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Unable to view the My Connections dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Can’t move to the next panel in the Connection Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Connection Wizard can’t locate the remote folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Network connection cannot locate the remote folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
FTP dialog box fails to accept your user name and password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Problems editing a page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Edit Page button is not visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
The Edit button is disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Clicking the Edit button displays an error message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Clicking Edit Page displays a different page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Problems canceling pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
The Cancel button isn’t visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Clicking the Cancel button reports an error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Problems sending e-mail reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Problems publishing a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Publish button isn’t visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Clicking the Publish button reports errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Problems creating new documents from templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Page templates don’t appear in Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
A new page has broken images or other missing elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Problems administrating Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
The Administer Websites menu is deactivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
I forgot the administrative password. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Can’t complete the Connection Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Contribute freezes when sending a connection key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Clicking Done in the Administer Website dialog box results in errors. . . . . . . . . . . 198
Replacing a deleted web page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Users don’t see enough rollback copies of pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Improving application performance by disabling websites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Removing a single user from a permission group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Overriding a file checkout in Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Using Contribute with dynamic pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Preventing users from editing dynamic pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Editing static content in dynamic pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
APPENDIX
Keyboard shortcuts
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Contents 9
Contents10
Part I Using Contribute
Learn how to use Contribute to update and publish web
pages within your website.
This part contains the following chapters:
• Chapter 1, “Welcome to Macromedia Contribute”
• Chapter 2, “Getting Started”
• Chapter 3, “Exploring the Contribute Workspace”
• Chapter 4, “Working with Pages”
• Chapter 5, “Adding Pages and Documents”
• Chapter 6, “Working with Text”
• Chapter 7, “Working with Images and Graphical
Elements”
• Chapter 8, “Working with Tables”
• Chapter 9, “Working with Links”
• Chapter 10, “Working with Pages with Frames”
• Chapter 11, “Publishing Your Page”
• Appendix, “Keyboard shortcuts”
Part I
CHAPTER 1
Welcome to Macromedia Contribute
Macromedia Contribute enables users to easily create and edit web pages on existing websites.
Whether you’re the one using Contribute to edit web pages or the one managing the website, you’ll
find Contribute a very useful tool for browsing, editing, and publishing content to a website.
The chapter contains the following sections:
• “Website development and maintenance overview” on page 13
• “The Contribute workflow” on page 14
• “Learning Macromedia Contribute” on page 14
Website development and maintenance overview
Contribute works with your existing website, whether it’s an intranet or a public website. It often
takes a team of people to get a website up and running and to keep the content current.
These are the people you’ll interact with when you use Contribute:
Web developers create the website. This person (or design team) uses a website creation
application, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver, to build the website. The designer is responsible
for website planning, design, development, testing, and publishing. For some websites, the
designer might use templates to maintain a consistent look and feel across the website.
Dreamweaver web developers should see Dreamweaver Help for more information.
Contribute users maintain the website. These are the marketers and managers, educators and
students, small business owners, administrative assistants and project managers, and so on, who
use Macromedia Contribute to keep their websites up-to-date. The user needs no experience in
HTML or web design. Contribute works like a word processor, so it should be familiar to users.
Users can add or update text, images, tables, links, and Microsoft Word and Excel documents.
This guide is designed for Contribute users.
Contribute website administrator sets up Contribute users and assists them in using Contribute to
maintain the website. The administrator is also responsible for determining which users can edit what
content on the website, by setting folder and user permissions. There can be only one website
administrator named for each website in Contribute. However, more than one person can administer
the website if the website administrator shares the administration password for the website.
Contribute website administrators should see “Administering Contribute” for more information.
13
The Contribute workflow
Contribute uses a browse-edit-publish workflow to help you easily find the page you want to edit,
make changes to the page, and then update the page on your website.
Note: You must connect to a website before you can edit and publish pages on that website. For more information,
see “Connecting to a website” on page 18.
Here’s an overview of the Contribute workflow:
1. Browse to a page. Use the Contribute browser to find the web page you want to edit. The
browser functions as other web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, and has a familiar look and
feel. The browser toolbar has the normal navigation buttons, plus a Choose button to help you
navigate to files that aren’t linked on your website. You can create bookmarks in Contribute and
view your Microsoft Internet Explorer bookmarks. You can also use shortcuts in the Pages panel
in the sidebar to quickly access any current drafts.
2. Edit your content. When you find the page you want to edit, you click the Edit Page button to
open the page in the Contribute editor. Contribute copies the file from your web server and locks
it on the server so that no one else can edit the page while you’re working on it.
You use the Contribute editor as you use a word processor to edit text, images, tables, and links in
the page. You can even add a Word or Excel document to your website. The toolbar contains
familiar editing buttons, plus buttons for you to save your edits until later, cancel your edits, or
publish your edits to the website.
3. Publish the changes. When you finish editing your page, you are ready to publish the page to
your website. All you have to do is click the Publish button and Contribute replaces the existing
page on your web server with your edited version so that it is live on your website. Contribute also
unlocks the file on the server so that other users can edit the page if necessary.
Learning Macromedia Contribute
Contribute includes a variety of media resources to help you learn the program quickly. These
resources include an online help system, a tutorial, a printed Quick Start guide, and the How Do
I reference panel.
For information about all of these resources, see “Contribute resources” on page 15. If you’re
wondering which resource to start with, see “Where to start” on page 14.
Where to start
The Contribute resources you start with and use regularly depend on what your role is in
using Contribute.
Contribute website administrators should start with the Quick Start guide to install Contribute
and help users get connected. As you use Contribute, refer to the How Do I panel for quick steps
to complete common administration tasks, and refer to the online help to get more detailed
information about Contribute administration tasks and features.
Contribute users should start with the Quick Start guide to understand how to use Contribute to
complete basic tasks. Then, complete the tutorial to update some sample web pages and learn
more about Contribute. As you use Contribute, refer to the How Do I panel for quick steps to
complete common tasks, and refer to the online help to get more detailed and complete
information about Contribute tasks and features.
For more information about all the resources, see “Contribute resources” on page 15.
Chapter 114
Contribute resources
The Contribute resources will help you learn to use Contribute. These resources include a printed
Quick Start guide, a How Do I reference panel, a tutorial, and an online help system.
In addition to these resources you can find regularly updated tips, TechNotes, examples, and
information at the Contribute Support Center on the Macromedia website.
For information about where to start with the resources, see “Where to start” on page 14. For
information about typographical conventions in the resources, see “Typographical conventions in
the Contribute resources” on page 16.
Contribute Quick Start
The Contribute Quick Start guide helps you quickly get started with Contribute. The guide
provides information about installing Contribute and connecting to your website, as well as
instructions on how to complete common Contribute tasks. Use this guide to learn the basics.
The Quick Start is a printed guide included with Contribute. You can also select Help > Quick
Start Guide to access the guide.
Contribute How Do I panel
The Contribute How Do I panel in the sidebar provides quick step-by-step instructions to help
you complete some common Contribute tasks. If the task you’re looking for is not in the How
Do I panel, or is there but you need more information, use Contribute Help to get more detailed
information.
Contribute Tutorial
The Contribute tutorial provides step-by-step instructions to complete particular Contribute
tasks. As you complete the tutorial, you’ll update the web pages of a sample website and quickly
become familiar with Contribute features.
A link to information about the tutorial appears on the Welcome page when you first launch
Contribute. The tutorial is available in the How Do I panel in the sidebar; click the Contribute
Tutorial link to start the tutorial.
When you install Contribute, the sample website for the tutorial is copied to your computer at:
c:\\documents and settings\yourname\Application
Data\Macromedia\Contribute\Configuration\Content\Tutorial.
Contribute Support Center
The Contribute Support Center website is updated regularly with the latest information on
Contribute, plus examples, tips, TechNotes, and other updates. Check the website often for the
latest news on Contribute and how to get the most out of the program.
Check the website often for the latest news on Contribute and how to get the most out of the
program at www.macromedia.com/support/contribute/.
Welcome to Macromedia Contribute 15
Contribute Help
The Contribute online help system includes information for Contribute users in Using Contribute
and for Contribute website administrators in Administering Contribute.
Contribute Help provides comprehensive information about all of the Contribute features,
optimized for online reading. Contribute Help appears in the help viewer provided by your
operating system (Microsoft HTML Help).
To use Contribute Help:
1 Select Help > Macromedia Contribute Help or click the Help button in any dialog box for
information about the dialog box.
Note: A PDF version of the Contribute Help is included on your Contribute CD.
2 Use any of these features to find information in the help system:
• The table of contents enables you to see all of the information organized by subject, and then
click top-level entries to view subtopics.
• The index, like a traditional printed index, enables you to look up specific terms or concepts.
• Search enables you to type any character string in the Search text box to find that text
anywhere in the help system.
• The Previous and Next arrows enable you to move through the topics within a section.
Typographical conventions in the Contribute resources
The following typographical conventions are used in this guide:
• Menu items are shown in this format: Menu name > Menu item name. Items in submenus are
shown in this format: Menu name > Submenu name > Menu item name.
• Code font indicates HTML tag and attribute names as well as literal text used in examples.
• Italic code font indicates replaceable items (sometimes called metasymbols)incode.
• Bold roman text indicates menu selections, option names, button and icon names, and text for
you to enter verbatim.
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CHAPTER 2
Getting Started
You need to install Macromedia Contribute, if it is not already installed. Before you install, be
sure that your computer meets the minimum setup requirements.
Before you can use Macromedia Contribute to edit and update your website’s content, you must
create a connection to the website—actually, to the web server that stores your website. By
creating a connection, you enable Contribute to access the web pages on your website, and you
can then edit pages and publish any changes you make.
In most cases, your Contribute website administrator will set up Contribute for you, or provide
the information for you to connect to your website. Your website administrator is the first person
you should contact if you have questions about connecting to your website.
This chapter contains the following sections:
• “Setup requirements” on page 17
• “Installing and launching Contribute” on page 18
• “Connecting to a website” on page 18
• “Launching Contribute without a network connection” on page 19
Setup requirements
Before you install Contribute, make sure your computer meets the minimum hardware and
software requirements.
Your computer must be connected to the Internet. If you are connecting to the Internet from a
business location, you may be connecting through a local area network (LAN). Many home or
small business computers connect to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP),
such as Earthlink or America Online. If you can read e-mail or browse the web, you probably
have an Internet connection.
In addition to having an Internet connection, you need to meet the following system
requirements:
• A computer running Microsoft Windows 98, ME, NT (Service Pack 3 or later), 2000, or XP
• A Pentium II Processor or equivalent, 300 MHz or faster
• Microsoft Internet Explorer, Version 5.0 or later
• 64 MB of Random Access Memory (RAM), plus 40 MB of available disk space
• A 256-color monitor capable of 800 x 600 resolution or better
17
Installing and launching Contribute
Before you install Contribute, make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements
(see “Setup requirements” on page 17). Then you are ready to install and launch Contribute.
To install and launch Contribute:
1 Insert the Contribute CD into your computer’s CD drive.
The Contribute installer launches.
2 Follow the onscreen instructions to install the application.
3 When the installation is complete, double-click the Contribute icon on your desktop, or
choose Start > Programs > Macromedia > Macromedia Contribute to launch Contribute.
4 The first time you launch Contribute you’ll see the registration screen. Click Register Now to
register Contribute.
Now you’re ready to start using Contribute.
Connecting to a website
Contribute enables you to connect to your website quickly and easily. Your Contribute website
administrator will likely do one of the following to help set up a connection for you:
• Send you an e-mail with a website connection key, or a link or network location for you to
download the connection key (see “Importing a website connection key” on page 18)
The connection key contains all of the network information Contribute needs to connect to
your website.
• Provide you with the necessary connection information and have you enter the information in
the Connection Wizard (see “Creating a Contribute website connection” on page 143)
Importing a website connection key
Your website administrator might provide a connection key, which you import to establish a
connection to your website. The connection key contains all of the network information
Contribute needs to connect to your website.
The website administrator will send an e-mail with the key attached, or give you the network
location for you to download the key.
Note: Your website administrator should communicate the connection key password to you. If you do not know the
password, contact your website administrator.
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To import a website connection key:
1 Open the e-mail containing the connection key.
If the connection key is not attached to an e-mail, navigate to the network location of the key,
then copy it to your computer. You can also select Edit > My Connections, then click the
Import button to navigate to the connection key.
2 Double-click the connection key. (The connection key has an .stc extension, as in
myConnection.stc.)
Contribute launches (if it is not already running) and the Import Connection Key dialog
box appears.
3 Enter your name, e-mail address, and the password for the connection key.
Note: If you don’t have a password, contact the website administrator who sent you the connection key.
The website’s home page appears in the Contribute browser.
Launching Contribute without a network connection
When you launch Contribute, it checks your network connection so that it can connect to your
website. Contribute alerts you if it does not detect a connection.
If you launch Contribute without a network connection and receive the Connection Failure alert,
you have two choices:
• Select Work Offline if you know that you’re not connected to the network and you want to
use the Contribute work offline feature. For more information, see “Using Contribute to work
offline” on page 40.
• Select Try to Connect Anyway if you aren’t sure what the problem is and you want Contribute
to try to connect again. If Contribute still cannot connect, you can choose to disable the
website and continue checking your other website connections, if any. For more information,
see “Disabling your website at startup” on page 20 .
For more information about solving connection problems, see Chapter 17,
“Troubleshooting,” on page 189.
Getting Started 19
Disabling your website at startup
Contribute alerts you if it detects a problem with any of your website connections when it
launches. Contribute displays the alert after the first website connection problem it encounters.
You can have Contribute try to connect again. If Contribute still can’t connect, you can choose to
disable the website connection and try to connect to your other websites, if any. If you disable a
website, you can enable it when you resolve your network connection problem.
Note: You can choose to disable a website at any time, not just at startup when there’s a problem. If you have
multiple websites, you might choose to disable websites that you aren’t currently working on so that Contribute does
not maintain the connection for an extended period of time. For more information, see “Disabling a website
connection” on page 163.
To disable a website when your network connection fails:
1 Start Contribute.
The Connection Failure dialog box appears.
2 Select Try to Connect Anyway to force Contribute to continue checking for a
network connection.
3 If Contribute still fails to connect, Contribute displays an error message with two options:
• Click Yes to continue trying to connect to other websites.
• Click No to disable the rest of your websites.
4 Click OK.
To enable a disabled website:
1 Select Edit > My Connections.
The My Connections dialog box appears.
2 Select a disabled website from the list, then click the Enable button.
3 Click Close.
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CHAPTER 3
Exploring the Contribute Workspace
You can use Macromedia Contribute as both a web browser and a web page editor. You can easily
switch between browsing web pages and editing web pages. The Contribute workspace makes it
easy for you to access pages, whether you’re browsing or editing.
You can navigate the Contribute dialog boxes and workspace without using your mouse. You can
also set preferences to customize Contribute.
This chapter includes the following sections:
• “The Contribute workspace” on page 22
• “Browsing and editing pages” on page 24
• “Navigating to web pages” on page 25
• “Setting Contribute preferences” on page 28
• “Setting browser encoding” on page 31
• “Using Contribute accessibility features” on page 31
21
The Contribute workspace
The Contribute workspace is made up of the following main areas: the Contribute browser/
editor, toolbar, and sidebar.
Toolbar
Welcome page in the
browser/editor
Sidebar
This section covers the following topics:
• “The Contribute browser/editor” on page 22
• “The Contribute toolbars” on page 23
• “The Contribute sidebar” on page 23
The Contribute browser/editor
In the Contribute browser, you can browse to any web page—not just pages on your website. The
Contribute browser functions as a true web browser; simply click links in web pages to browse to
the page you want to edit. You can also create bookmarks to pages that you visit frequently.
In the Contribute editor, you can edit pages in websites you’ve connected to. You can edit text,
images, tables, links, and even pages with frames. Then, you can publish your changes to make
the updated web page live on your website.
It’s easy to browse and edit in Contribute, and to switch between browsing and editing. For more
information, see “Browsing and editing pages” on page 24.
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The Contribute toolbars
The Contribute toolbar changes, depending on whether you are browsing or editing a page.
The browser toolbar contains buttons for navigating your website or creating a new page.
The editor toolbar contains buttons for editing and common operations from the File, Insert,
Format, and Table menus.
Page properties
Text styling
Spell check
Text alignment
Insert content
Lists
Indentation
Add row/column
Color
The Contribute sidebar
The Contribute sidebar makes it easy to switch between editing and browsing, and makes it easy
to access your drafts and newly created pages. You can also use the sidebar to get quick
instructions for performing tasks in Contribute.
The sidebar has two parts:
• The Pages panel includes access to the web browser and all drafts and new pages you’re
currently editing.
• The How Do I panel provides quick step-by-step instructions to help you complete some
common Contribute tasks. The list of tasks changes, depending on whether you’re browsing or
editing.
Click any link in the How Do I panel in the sidebar to get more information on that task. If
the task you’re looking for is not in the list, see Contribute Help (Help > Macromedia
Contribute Help to get detailed information.
Note: For more information about using Contribute resources to get help, see “Contribute resources” on
page 15.
You can expand or collapse the panels and the sidebar.
To expand or collapse the sidebar:
• Select View > Sidebar or click the arrow on the splitter bar between the sidebar and the
Contribute browser/editor.
To resize the sidebar:
• Drag the splitter bar between the sidebar and the Contribute browser/editor.
Exploring the Contribute Workspace 23
To expand or collapse the panels in the sidebar:
• Click the arrow in the panel title bar.
To resize panels vertically in the sidebar:
• Drag the title bar in the How Do I panel.
Browsing and editing pages
You can use Contribute to browse or edit web pages.
When you are browsing, you’ll see the browser toolbar, with the Edit Page button. Use the
Contribute browser like any web browser—enter web addresses, click links to navigate pages, use
the Back and Forward buttons, or select recently viewed pages.
Note: If you use Internet Explorer as your primary web browser, the Contribute web browser inherits preferences
from Internet Explorer. To change basic settings, such as fonts, cookies, or plug-ins, change your preferences in
Internet Explorer, then launch Contribute again.
You can browse to any website with Contribute—not just pages in your websites—but you can
only edit pages in your websites; that is, websites that you’ve created connections to (see
“Connecting to a website” on page 18). When you browse to a page that is in your website and
that you have permission to edit, the Edit Page button is enabled in the toolbar.
Note: If there is a Create Connection button in the toolbar, then you cannot edit that page (unless you connect to
the website).
When you edit a page, the editor toolbar appears and the page becomes a draft you can edit. The
draft’s title appears in the Pages panel. You can switch between browsing and editing at any time.
When you leave a draft you’re editing, Contribute saves your changes so that you can return to
the draft later and continue editing where you left off.
When you finish editing your draft, you can publish it so that it is live on you website (see
“Publishing Your Page” on page 125).
To switch from browsing to editing, do one of the following:
• Click the Edit Page button in the toolbar.
Note: Edit Page is only enabled for pages in a website you’ve connected to and you have permission to edit.
• Click a draft or new page title in the Pages panel in the sidebar.
To switch from editing to browsing, do one of the following:
• Click Browser in the Pages panel in the sidebar.
• Click the Save for Later button in the toolbar.
• Select View > Browser.
Note: These options do not publish your draft. When you finish editing, and publish the draft, the page appears in
the Contribute browser.
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Navigating to web pages
The easiest way to find a web page you want to edit, is to browse to the page in Contribute, just
as you would browse to a page in any web browser. For information about editing pages, see
“Editing existing web pages” on page 36.
To browse to a web page in Contribute, do one of the following:
• Click links in web pages to navigate to other pages.
• Type the web address (URL) of the page in the Address text box, then press Enter or click Go.
• Select View > Go to Web Address, enter the web address (URL), then click OK.
Contribute enables you to quickly access the following pages:
• Current drafts or new pages
• Home pages for the websites you’ve connected to
• Recently published pages
• Pages or files that aren’t linked from another page on your website
• Bookmarks for frequently accessed pages
Drafts and new pages
Bookmarks
Home pages for your websites
Pages that aren’t linked
Exploring the Contribute Workspace 25
Viewing drafts and new pages
Drafts you are currently editing, and new pages you’ve created but haven’t published yet, appear
in the Pages panel. You can also access these pages using the File menu.
To view a draft or new page, do one of the following:
• Click the draft or new page title in the Pages panel in the sidebar.
• Select File > Drafts, then select a page from the pop-up menu.
Viewing home pages for your websites
You can use the toolbar to access home pages for websites you’ve connected to. You can also
access these pages using the View menu.
To view the home page for a website you’ve connected to, do one of the following:
• Click the Home Pages button on the toolbar, then select a home page.
• Select View > Home Pages, then select a home page from the pop-up menu.
Viewing recently published pages
You can use the View menu to quickly access pages you’ve recently published.
To view a recently published page:
• Select View > Recently Published Pages, then select a page from the pop-up menu.
Viewing pages and files that you can’t browse to
Contribute enables you to access pages and files associated with your website that you can’t
browse to. Use the Choose button in the toolbar to access pages and files that are saved in a
website folder, but aren’t linked from any page on your website.
To view a page or file that is not linked from another page:
1 In the Contribute browser or editor, select View > Choose File on Website or click the
Choose button in the browser toolbar.
The Choose File on Website dialog box appears.
2 Select a file by doing one of the following:
• If the file is in a folder on the website you are currently browsing, then select a file.
• If the file is not in a folder on the current website, use the Look In pop-up menu to navigate to
the correct website folder, then select a file.
When you select a file, depending on the file type, a preview might appear so that you can be
sure you’re selecting the correct file.
3 Click OK.
The page or file appears in the Contribute web browser.
Note: If you select a file type that the Contribute browser can’t display, you’ll see the File Placeholder page.
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Setting up access to commonly used pages
Contribute enables you to keep a list of bookmarks for pages that you frequently visit. You can
add a bookmark for any page—not just pages in websites you’ve connected to.
When you add a page as a bookmark in Contribute, it appears in your list of bookmarks (up to
1000 bookmarks). Contribute also includes your Internet Explorer bookmarks (up to 2000
bookmarks) in the Other Bookmarks list under your Contribute bookmarks.
This section covers the following topics:
• “Viewing pages in your bookmarks list” on page 27
• “Adding a page to your bookmarks” on page 27
• “Deleting a page from your bookmarks” on page 28
Viewing pages in your bookmarks list
You can select pages in your list of bookmarks to quickly access those pages.
To add a page to your bookmarks, see “Adding a page to your bookmarks” on page 27. To delete
a page from your bookmarks, see “Deleting a page from your bookmarks” on page 28.
To view a page in your list of bookmarks, do one of the following:
• To view a Contribute bookmark, select Bookmarks, then select a bookmark from the list.
• To view an Internet Explorer bookmark, select Bookmarks > Other Bookmarks, then select a
bookmark from the list.
Adding a page to your bookmarks
You can add any web page—not just pages in websites you’ve connected to—to your
bookmarks list.
To view bookmarks, see “Viewing pages in your bookmarks list” on page 27. To delete a page
from your bookmarks, see “Deleting a page from your bookmarks” on page 28.
To add a page to your list of bookmarks:
1 Browse to the page you want to add to your bookmarks list.
2 Select Bookmarks > Add Bookmark from the menu.
The Add Bookmark dialog box appears.
3 If you want to change the name of the bookmark, enter a new name in the Name text box.
This is the name that appears in your bookmarks list.
4 If you want to add the page to a folder, click an existing folder name or click New Folder to
add a folder.
5 Click OK.
Contribute adds the page to your bookmarks list in the Bookmarks menu.
Exploring the Contribute Workspace 27
Deleting a page from your bookmarks
You can delete any page from your bookmarks list, or you can delete a bookmarks folder.
To view bookmarks, see “Viewing pages in your bookmarks list” on page 27; to add a page to
your bookmarks, see “Adding a page to your bookmarks” on page 27.
To delete a bookmark:
1 Select Bookmarks > Delete Bookmark.
The Delete Bookmark dialog box appears.
2 Select the name of the bookmark or the folder you want to delete.
3 Click Delete.
Contribute removes the page from your bookmarks list in the Bookmarks menu.
4 If you want to delete another bookmark or folder, select it, then click Delete again.
5 Click Close when you finish deleting bookmarks.
Setting Contribute preferences
Use the Preferences dialog box to set your user preferences for Contribute. You can set
preferences for general editing, file editors, your firewall, and invisible elements.
To edit user preferences:
1 Select Edit > Preferences.
The Preferences dialog box appears.
2 Select a category from the list on the left:
• Select General to set editing options or options for inserting Word and Excel documents (see
“Setting general preferences” on page 29).
• Select File Editors to select primary application editors by file type (see“Setting file editor
preferences” on page 29).
Chapter 328
• Select Firewall to add or change settings for your firewall (see “Setting firewall preferences” on
page 30).
• Select Invisible Elements to hide or show invisible elements (see “Setting invisible element
preferences” on page 30).
Setting general preferences
You can set editing options, and determine how Contribute handles Microsoft Word and Excel
documents when you insert them in a page, in the Preferences dialog box.
To set the General preferences:
1 Select Edit > Preferences, then select General from the category list on the left.
2 In the Editing options section, change either of the following options:
• Select or deselect Faster table editing.
When this option is enabled, Contribute does not always redraw a table as you edit it.
Selecting this option might improve performance when you edit large tables. When you want
Contribute to redraw the table, click outside of the table, switch to another draft or the
browser, or publish the draft.
• Select a dictionary from the Spelling dictionary pop-up menu.
3 In the Microsoft Word or Excel documents section, select an option to indicate what action
Contribute performs when you insert a Word or Excel document in a draft.
4 Click OK.
Setting file editor preferences
When you need to edit web page content, such as an image, in an external application,
Contribute launches the application for you. You can select or change your primary editing
applications for each file type you edit in the Preferences dialog box.
To change the editor for a file type:
1 Select Edit > Preferences, then select File Editors from the category list on the left.
2 Select a file type in the left pane.
Associated editors appear in the right pane. If the application you want to select is in the pane,
then skip to step 5.
3 Click the Plus (+) button above the right pane.
The Select External Editor dialog box appears.
4 Navigate to the application you want to add, then click Open.
The application name appears in the right pane.
5 Select the application you want Contribute to launch for the selected file type, then click the
Make Primary button.
The word Primary appears beside the application name.
6 Click OK.
Exploring the Contribute Workspace 29
To add a file type and associate an editor:
1 Select Edit > Preferences, then select File Editors from the category list on the left.
2 Click the Plus (+) button above the left pane, then type the file type.
3 Click the Plus (+) button above the right pane.
The Select External Editor dialog box appears.
4 Navigate to the application you want to associate with the new file type, then click Open.
The application appears name appears in the right pane.
5 Click OK.
To delete a file type or associated editor:
1 Select Edit > Preferences, then select File Editors from the category list on the left.
2 Select a file type in the left pane or an application in the right pane.
3 Click the Minus (-) button above the pane.
The file type or application name disappears from the pane.
4 Click OK.
Setting firewall preferences
If you use a firewall, use the Preferences dialog box to enter or change your host and port.
To set firewall preferences:
1 Select Edit > Preferences, then select Firewall from the category list on the left.
2 In the Firewall host text box, enter the name of the firewall host.
3 In the Firewall port text box, enter the network port number through which FTP access is
enabled.
4 Click OK.
Setting invisible element preferences
You can turn invisible elements, such as section anchors, on or off in the Preferences dialog box.
For more information about section anchors, see “Linking to a specific place in a page” on
page 112.
To make section anchors visible or invisible:
1 Select Edit > Preferences, then select Invisible Elements from the category list on the left.
2 Select or deselect the Show section anchors when editing a page check box.
3 Click OK.
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