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Using OmniUpdate (Omni) with County Extension Websites

The Basics

Logging into OmniUpdate: DirectEdit

To log into the OmniUpdate (Omni) system: navigate to the page you want to edit, then scroll to the bottom of the page. Locate and click on the copyright symbol, then enter your OSU email address and password:

For those enrolled in Omni training, your starting page will be: https://migrate-extension.okstate.edu/zz-training/training1/

The Dashboard The Dashboard provides quick access to a number of Omni features.

To find the page you want to edit, select the “Content” tab and “Pages” sub-heading:

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Next, navigate to the folder and page that you want to edit.

Editing a Page

Check In/Check Out When you edit a page it becomes checked out to you, similar to checking out a book from the library. No one else can edit the page until you check it back in. A checked out page has a “lit

lightbulb” icon, whereas a page available for checkout has an “unlit lightbulb” icon as seen in the screenshot above. You can manually check in/out the page by clicking on the icon. To edit the page, click Edit > Page:

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Once you select the page to be edited, you will see the version of the page with icons for the “editable regions” of the page. Scroll to the area you want to edit then click the “Edit” icon to edit that section. For example, to edit the main content area click on the “Main Content” button.

Once you have selected the edit button, the Omni Page Editor will look something like the following:

Most of the functionality for editing is similar to standard features in Microsoft Word: You can align text, font changes including apply Bold, Italics, and Underline, create Headings, make basic lists and tables, spell check, etc.

Removing Formatting: Paste as Plain Text

Since the most important thing for web editing is getting your content to "look right" it is important that you know how to remove any pre-existing formatting from pasted text since this may interfere with the how your content looks in the page. To ensure that this does not create any issues, you can use the "Paste as Plain Text" button. This will remove all formatting.

Note that once you enable this feature, the button will stay "selected" or "sticky" until clicked again, and all pastes going forward will be plain text until you exit the WYSIWYG Editor.

Working with Links

To create a hyperlink:

1. Select the text or image for the link, then click on the Insert/edit link button.

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2. Fill out the information in the link properties box then click the “OK” button. Note: the Class allows you to select the style of link.

Browsing for a link: the difference between internal and external pages

An external page is anything that is not part of the main Extension website. To specify an external hyperlink (link), you must enter the full URL (“uniform resource locator”) in the "Link URL" field. In the field marked "Target", make sure to select "New Window":

An internal page is anything that is part of Extension's main website and managed within the

Omni system. Use the "Browse" button to select a page: When you click this "Browse" button, you can select a page by navigating your site’s folder structure to find the page:

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When finished, click the "Insert" button to insert the hyperlink just created.

Other Linking Options:

Create or modify a “mailto” (email) link

You will only use this button if you want to create a link that specifies an email address to be used when the user intends to send an email message. This is known as an "Insert/edit mailto link.” Use the “mailto” manager to enter the email address and subject of the email to be sent.

Unlink

Select the text that has been set as a hyperlink and click on the "Unlink" button to remove the hyperlink.

Insert/edit anchor

Anchors allow you to create links to sections within a longer, single page. These can be tricky and are only recommended for pages that contain a lot of sections that might need to be quickly referenced. To create an anchor, place the cursor where the anchor is desired or select the text or image for the anchor then click on the "Insert/edit anchor" button. A pop-up window allows you to enter the name of the anchor, which should be something descriptive but will not be seen by the website visitor, then click the "OK" button.

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Uploading Files and Images

When making a file available to others from a link on your site, you must first upload the file. Documents should be placed in the “media\docs” folder and images should be placed in the “media\images” folder. Move to the appropriate folder then click the “Upload” button on the “Content” page:

The resulting dialog box allows you to choose what kind of file, the access type, and whether to overwrite any existing file by the same name or not.

Once you have added the file, click the “Start Upload” button. It is important that you click the ‘Publish’ button that allows you to have access and use the file on other pages.

Adding Images to a Page

To insert an image into the body of the page, use the Insert/edit image tool:

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Clicking on the Image Insert Tool brings up the Insert/edit dialog box that you can use to select the image. Within the Insert/edit dialog box click the Browse icon to browse to the image you would like to insert.

Clicking Browse brings up the OmniBrowser dialog box. Select the image you would like to insert from the list on the left hand side. You will see your selected image appear in the Image Preview window on the right hand side. Once you have found the image you want click the Insert button.

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Once you click the Select File Button you will be taken back to the Insert/edit dialog box where you will need to type in a description for your image.

If you forget to insert a description then click the “OK” button, you will see this pop up warning message. The Image description is important for accessibility reasons and cannot be blank.

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After you have entered the image description click Insert and your image will be inserted into the WYSIWYG editor.

Other Omni Resources

Creating a New Page

To create a new web page: 1. Navigate to the Pages list view by selecting Content > Pages from the global navigation

bar:

2. Click New:

3. From the New Content form, select an available template by clicking on the corresponding thumbnail icon. Depending on your location inside the file structure, different templates may be available than the ones shown below:

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In general:

o “DASNR Topic Page” - useful for creating topics pages. o “Dasnr Fact Sheet” – this template is used to create a new fact sheet and would only be

useful for Agricultural Communications Services. o “Full Width Page” – this template consists of a full hero image and is typically used for

main index pages. o “Interior with Sidebar Page” – used for most web pages. Consists of a nice design with

components already on the page and ready for new content. o “Profile Design Page” – used to create a new employee profile page. o “New File” - blank page, probably not really helpful for starting quickly.

4. In the New File form, complete or modify all fields displayed and click “Create”. This will create an entirely new page on the staging server in Omni, which can then be edited and published to your live site.

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After you add a new page, the page will automatically be placed on hold until it is reviewed by Laura Wray. Once reviewed you will receive an email stating your page has been approved and published or providing details about issues, such as branding problems, misspellings, and accessibility issues, that must be corrected before it can be published.

Assets

In OmniUpdate an Asset is a piece of reusable content that is edited and saved separate from the pages in which it is then embedded. Assets are available from the main edit dashboard using the Assets icon:

Types of Assets

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Web Content (Generic) - Generic Assets are used for entering formatted text or media items. They are created and edited with a mini-WYSIWYG Editor. Any changes made to the Asset will be reflected on the pages on which the Asset has been placed.

Plain Text - Text Assets are used for entering plain text. They are created and edited with the plain text editor.

Source Code - Code Assets are used for entering source code such as Javascript or PHP. They

are created and edited with the Source Editor.

Forms - Forms Assets allows users to easily create and manage forms, surveys, and polls in Omni. Users will create Assets, which can then be inserted into the appropriate page(s). Within the Asset creation, a user will be able to utilize six available fields, including single line text, multi-line text, radio buttons, checkboxes, drop-downs, and multi-select. Users can also elect to have the results of form submissions emailed to one or multiple recipients.

Snippets

Snippets are a type of reusable content that can be inserted into a page during the edit process. Snippets are often used for pieces of content with specific formatting such as tables, buttons, and displaying quotes or images. The snippets form is available with the button while editing the page:

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Note: some snippets are created for use within other snippets. The “Gallery Image” snippet is an example. If you attempt to use these snippets in your content, you will see the following message displayed on your page:

This element will not be included on the published page.

The following shows how to add the Gallery snippet to your page:

1. Scroll to the area you want to insert the snippet:

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2. Click the Snippet icon then find the “Gallery” snippet in the list. Select “Gallery” thenclick the Insert button:

3. Edit regions of the snippet to meet your needs, including the text and images:

4. Click the “Save & Exit” icon. You will return to the page and your Gallery snippet will beinserted with any changes you made.

Deleting an image in the Gallery

Once you have added the Gallery snippet and are editing the file, you should see the following:

This is where the snippet begins. To completely remove the picture from the gallery (and not replace it): right-click in the image then choose "Delete Table".

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This removes this gallery image. To replace the image but leave the caption and attribution: right-click and choose "Insert/edit Image".

Then locate the new image and insert it.

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Deleting a Snippet

To remove a snippet from your page: once in Edit mode, scroll down to the snippet. Click once (left click) to select the snippet. You should see lines around the table to indicate the snippet is selected:

Once selected, right-click inside the snippet area then choose “Delete Table”:

The snippet will be removed from your page. Make sure to save your changes before exiting!

Saving, Final-Checking, and Publishing

Saving Your Work

There are a few specific options for saving which have different effects:

+ : Save-in-Place.

If you wish to save your progress but continue working, you must use the Save-in-Place shortcut. Please note that this is a keyboard shortcut only, there is no button for this.

Save

Click on the "Save and Exit" button to save the current file and exit the Editor.

Exit Without Saving

Click the “Exit Without Saving” button to exit the Editor without saving changes.

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Page Parameters

The “Page Parameters” option allows you to provide additional information helpful to search engines that index your page. (This dialog box is available after you have checked-out the page for editing.) This increases the visibility of your page and helps people locate the page when they enter terms into a search engine.

Final Check Before You Publish: Page Check

Page Check When you publish your document, the “Page Check” is automatically ran or you can manually check your page with the “Page Check” button. This feature provides a last check ensuring that spelling and web links are good and that web accessibility standards are met. To complete the checking process, click on the green arrow next to each Page Check component – Check Spelling, Check Links, and W3C Validate - to execute the individual checks. Click “Done” when finished.

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Click the “Publish” button to make your page available to others: Alternatively, click the down arrow and use other options for publishing.

After you publish a page, the Digital Strategies group is automatically notified. They will review the page and provide you with feedback if there are issues that need to be addressed such as misspellings, bad links, accessibility errors, formatting errors and copyright images. You will receive an email stating that either your page was successfully published or errors will be documented with suggestions on how to fix the problem(s).

Schedule a Publish

Omni allows you to schedule a page publishing action, for example, if you want to a page published when you may be out of the office.

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1. Navigate to the Pages list view by selecting Content > Pages from the global navigationbar. Hover over the page content’s row and select “Schedule” from the Publish menu.Additionally, this action is available from the Page Actions toolbar. From here the usercan also click “Schedule,” which is an option in the drop-down menu attached to the“Publish” button. The Schedule form will open.

2. From the Schedule form, select a “Date and Time” on which the content should bepublished. Optionally, you can choose to have a repeat publishing action by inputting anumber in the available text field and selecting a measurement of time from thecorresponding drop down menu.

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For the final piece to your training you must successfully update your Omni test page. On the page you can scroll down to see your assignment in the “Your Assignments” section (also included below). Associated page numbers to training material are listed in parenthesis.

1. Browse to your training page. (page 1)2. Login to your page using your OKEY credentials. (page 1)3. Add a new link to DASNR's home page (dasnr.okstate.edu). (page 3) The description and

link text should say "Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources".4. Add a new picture. (page 6) You can choose a picture from the internal gallery or an

external picture which must be uploaded first.5. Add the Testimonial snippet. (page 12-15) In this snippet, modify the picture then

change the heading, Quote, Attribution, and Location.6. Save your page then run a page check and correct any accessibility issues or other issues

that are reported. (page 17-18). Do NOT publish your page.7. Exit your editor. Check your page back in. (page 2)

If you are attending an in-person training session and have completed the assignment: sign and complete the bottom portion of this page then turn it into a DASNR IT trainer.

If you completed the assignment on your own (not at an in-person session): contact Dwayne Hunter via email at dwayne.hunter@okstate.edu to let him know you finished the training module.

Name:__________________________________

Date:_________________

Location of training:________________________