Navigating the Admin Panel

Navigating your site during the site-building process

 

Default administration panel
The default Admin panel offerings located under the Manage button in the left corner.
Administration panel shortcut offerings
The Shortcuts section provides direct access to the more commonly used sections of SiteFarm.


When you first log into your site in SiteFarm, the system will open the screen on your home page. This page may be blank depending on whether or not content has been added yet. What you are able to see on your Admin panel will be determined by the role you are assigned as role denotes the extent of your access to site components and features.

The first step to getting you acclimated to working in SiteFarm is understanding where everything is located and, roughly, what it does. The image above is the Admin panel which is always located at the top of your screen when you're logged into SiteFarm.

Top Black Panel

  • Manage
    • Toggles your lower panel to show the administrative tabs. Click the Manage tab can also hide the lower white bar.
  • Shortcuts
    • Toggles the lower panel to display any custom shortcuts a Site Manager may have created for your site.
  • Your Profile Name in SiteFarm
    • View profile
    • Edit profile
    • Log out

Manage - Lower White Panel

  • Content
    • This is your content interface where you will create new content and edit/manage existing content
    • Any files you upload, such as documents and images, will be viewable in this area
  • Structure
    • Contains elements that will extend and enhance your site:
      • Block layouts - blocks in SiteFarm are portable, isolated pieces of content that can be added to defined regions of your site
      • Contact forms - web form creation
      • Content types - if the default content types (Articles, Basic Pages, Person, Event, Image Gallery, etc) don't fit your exact need and you want to try your hand at creating a custom content type
      • Display modes - exist to provide different presentations of Content Entities for either editing or viewing. The two types of display modes are "view modes" and "form modes."
      • Menus - all your site's menu systems--including primary navigation, drop-downs, secondary menus, and custom menus--are found and maintained here
      • Taxonomy - the system of organizing, classifying and tagging your content so it can be connected, related, and shared in different ways through custom terms you define
      • Views - SiteFarm will display the content you create using robust Views. If you create a news section and incorporate an in-depth Taxonomy, your site will be able to display your News by date, by author, by categories, branding and tags. If the default sets of Views included in SiteFarm doesn't completely meet your needs, you can try creating your own Views
  • Configuration
    • Access to this section will be restricted to Site Builders
    • Global site settings, such as logos, are found here
  • People
    • Access to this section will be restricted to Site Managers
    • Can create, modify, and delete accounts
    • Assign roles and permissions (evolving)
  • Reports
  • Help

Shortcuts - Lower White Panel

  • Add content
    • Quick access to the list of page types you can create
  • All content
    • A direct link to the main content dashboard, which includes these tabs:
      • Content overview
      • Content Audits
      • My Content Audit Reviews
      • Stale Content
      • Persons (person profile content type, NOT user accounts)
      • Media
  • Media
    • Direct link to all things media, including images, documents, audio files, svg files, and video links
  • Main Menu
    • Links you to the page where your main navigation bar links are defined
  • Blocks
    • ​​​​​​​Shortcut to the Block Layout page where an overview of all your system and custom blocks is provided
  • Taxonomy (Categoies)
    • ​​​​​​​Shortcut to all your vocabularies, categories, and tags used in your site
  • People
    • Link to your site's user accounts
  • SiteFarm Config
    • Quick access to the Clear Cache option

If your content isn't stored in folders or in any particular order when you create it, it begs the question: how do you even find and work on your existing material?

Every piece of content you create will be available to you through the Content section from the Admin panel. The Content page will provide you with a table displaying nodes (pages) you have created, files and images you have uploaded, and blocks custom-created by someone in your site-building team.