Metadot Wiki

Getting Started With Your Metadot Site

Here are some things a new Metadot user might want to know. The same information is located on the wiki site accessible from the help button and at http://wiki.metadot.net.

This page takes up a menu spot above. If you want to replace it with another page, you can cut this page and paste it as a subpage under another page.

Page Management Bar FAQ

The turn edit on selection next to your name at the bottom of the page turns on page editing. A yellow bar comes down from the top with the page editing tools.

1. The leftmost button allows for changes to the page name. In addition, you can cut or copy the page into the clipboard or delete the page, change permissions for this page, and reorder all of the wiki pages.

2. The next button "create page" creates subpages of the current page. The creator/owner of the new page can set permissions per group or user.

3. The next button creates the most popular "gizmo," the blurb. This is an editor for creating text, tables, and placing graphic images and flash files. You can add a link, internal or external, to any text or image.

4. The next is a pop-up window containing the gizmos that can be added to the page. A new gizmo is added in its own panel to the bottom of the page. You can move a panel/gizmo by placing the cursor on top of the leftmost button on the top of the panel. Drag and drop the panel onto another location. You must move the panel so that the top of the panel is inside the bottom dotted-line of the panel to be replaced. The replaced panel moves down.

5. The next pop-up window contains pages or panel/gizmos that have been cut or copied. You can cut or copy a panel/gizmo from a page, then create a new page, then paste the panel/gizmo into the new page. You can have the same gizmo on two pages, however the blurb text will not synchronize. Each blurb can be edited individually. If you want a news list to appear on another page, you can create an rss link to it from another page!

6. The owner of the wiki has a manage button for administering the wiki.

7. There is the "turn editing off" button. Blurbs cannot be edited in this mode.

All of the other gizmos have functions that operate in non-editing mode.

Permissions FAQ

The answer is that you have control over access to every page and to every gizmo on every page. Access control includes show, edit, destroy and change permissions. The default setting is "inherit permissions." This means that the page or gizmo you are editing takes on the same permissions as the page above or the page that the gizmo is in. If you choose to set unique permissions you uncheck the "inherit permissions" check box.

There are three sections to the permission screen. The first is a general section pertaining to all visitors and all logged-in users. The default is to let these groups view the page or gizmo. If you prefer to be more granular, you can turn off viewing for these groups and assign rights to individuals and/or named groups.

The second section is to assign rights to individual users. Good practice is to try to avoid this. When you give one user special permission, you are making an exception and exceptions are easy to forget. Hopefully you can manage permissions using groups.

The third section is for assigning rights to groups. (Group naming and member managment is in the Manage screen.)

As an example, you might have a finance page under the home page. You could create a "finance" group and assign the finance people to it. Then you would uncheck "show" in the top section and give the "finance" group rights to view(show) and edit the finance page. if you create new subpages, the default permission setting for the new subpage is "inherit permissions." So all subpages of the finance page would have the same restrictions as the finance page. You could have an "administrator" group that is allowed to change permissions. So you would uncheck change permissions for the "finance" group and give the "administrator" group change permission rights.

Basic Operations FAQ

How can I change the site look and feel? Does it use CSS?
You can access the 'theme' manager from the Manage screen. In the theme manager, you may select another included theme or you can customize the layout of the current theme. There is no limit on the customization, you can use images, css, javascripts, flash, etc... A completely new theme can be added.
How do I add users, groups, change site title and tag line?
Site admins can do this by logging in and clicking on 'manage' to access the site management menus.
Can I force users to login before they can see the site?
Yes. This is a site setting in the site management section.
Where can I get help?
Once logged in, click the 'help' link which appears close to your name.