Webmaster's Blog

Approval Workflow

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The Approval Workflow in Modern Campus CMS is an optional function that a department can use when creating or editing content that needs approval from someone else before being published. This process allows the item to remain checked out to a user throughout the process until it has been completed—either published or reverted back to the previous version. Keeping content checked out is important so that the item is not published unintentionally before it should be.

  • The item goes from being checked out to the editor to being checked out by the approver and possibly back to the editor depending on what the approver selects.
  • The approver can deny the changes or publish/approve them.
    • The approver must have CMS access, but could have view-only access or edit access. An approver with edit access could publish the changes if approved, with view-only access the approver can only approve the content and return the item to the first person for publishing if approved.
  • Modern Campus CMS will send an email notification to the approver letting them know you have sent them something. This email can include a custom message from you.
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Proper Content and Page Structure

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The following tips are meant to help CMS users with day-to-day maintenance of basic content on their websites.

Paste as Text

If you paste content from a document or email into Modern Campus CMS, you will likely get a bunch of bad code added behind the scenes that will effect how your webpage will look at function. To avoid issues, try clicking the “Paste as Text” button before pasting your content or use the Ctrl + Shift + V key combination.

Paste as Text icon in the toolbar.

The negative to pasting as text is that you will have to do some formatting manually (adding bold, adding links, etc). However, this will help to ensure that your website meets brand and accessibility standards and works correctly on all devices.

Headings

Headings play a key role in accessibility requirements and general page usability. It is important to use proper HTML headings instead of bold paragraphs or single lines of text and to not use the heading styling when the content is not a heading. To apply a heading style to a line of text, put your cursor inside of the line of text and then select a heading level from the paragraph dropdown menu in the Modern Campus CMS editor. The same method working in other online applications, such as Google Docs. For text that you want to highlight that is not actually heading content, use the font styles in the Styles dropdown menu of the Modern Campus CMS editor instead.

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Department Publications

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Departments that produce regular newsletters or magazines can use the Michigan Tech Magazine template to digitally display their publications on their departmental website. You can refer to the College of Business Impact Magazine as an example. Interested departments should contact webmaster@mtu.edu to get set up. Additional training beyond the regular editor training is required for all new users needing to create department publications. The department’s web liaison should reach out to webmaster@mtu.edu to request access and training for new users.

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Google My Business

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A free service called Google My Business lets small businesses update their search engine listing. This is particularly useful for Michigan Tech departments who focus on sales, who run promotions, who have distinct hours of operations, and/or which attract and serve tourists.

Customizable Content

Google My Business lets you customize various aspects of your business information in Google search results, including:

  • Address
  • Hours of Operation, including special hours for holidays
  • Phone number(s)
  • Photos of your business (inside and outside)
  • Promotions/Sales
  • Website
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