Previewing, Saving, and Publishing Your Page
When you create a new page, or open a previously published page for editing, Contribute creates a Draft. The page remains in draft form, accessible only through Contribute (and only from your desktop), until you've published it.
Previewing
You can preview a page in your workstation's default browser at any time by pressing the F12 key. (TIP: If you get an "Access denied" message, place your cursor elsewhere on the page and try again)
Saving
You can save your draft work periodically (and this is always a good idea) as you would any other document: press Ctrl-s on your keyboard, or select File > Save from the top menu bar. Note: "Save" only saves into the Contribute software. To save a file externally, use the Export function.
Save for Later
If you want to exit Contribute and save your draft to work on later, without
publishing it, click the Save for Later button (circled
below). If you save your page for later, its title will appear in the Pages
menu on the left side of the Contribute window when you open Contribute
again.
Cancel
You can discard a new page, or any changes made to a previously published
page, by clicking the Cancel button (circled below).
Publishing Your Page
Publishing your page uploads it to the web server.
- Click the Publish button (circled below).
Contribute will warn you that your page will not be found until it has
been linked from another page. Click Yes. The "Publish New Page" dialog will open.
- Type the file name of your new page. Here are a few rules:
- .html (not .htm) is the standard file extension used for all web pages on the Oviatt Library web site.
- The file name of your top personal page should be index.html.
- File names must not contain any spaces.
- Use all lower-case letters for file names (this makes them easier
to remember).
- Click the Choose Folder button to select the folder
you'd like to publish the page in. (By default, Choose Folder
should open to your personal web folder.
- Click the Select button to save the new page to your personal web folder.
- OR open a sub-folder by clicking on it.
- OR create a new sub-folder by clicking the new folder icon.
- Click the Select button to save the new page in
the desired folder once you've opened it.
- Back in the "Publish New Page" dialog, click the Publish button.
Export
To save a copy of a page on your local hard drive (or elsewhere, outside the Contribute software), select File > Export while in edit mode. !!IMPORTANT !! Do not upload an exported page via using an FTP client outside the Contribute software. Export saves the HTML code only (no images, no style sheets), so there's a good chance uploading this way will break your page.