How do I use the Admin Control Panel?

When you first log in to your Control Panel you'll notice that we've provided a very simple interface for you. Your options are presented in big, easily recognizable icons. If you want to Blog, click the big button that says "Blog". If you want to change your links, click the big "Menu" button. It's that simple.

There are a lot of features available on your site, so it may seem overwhelming at first. But once you learn how to use one, you quickly realize that everything else works the same way.

There are basically three types of common interfaces in the Control Panel:

1. List: These are pages that list all the records for a particular kind of Specialized Content, e.g. a list of all your Blog articles. On these pages, you can get an overview of all the content you have created. You can search and reorder the list to find what you need. You can toggle the status on/off, or delete, by checking the box next to each record and then doing a group action on the list. And finally, you can click the "edit" button to edit the details of that record.
2. Edit: An edit page is just a simple form with a lot of fields that request data relevant to the particular type of feature you are editing. Each field is labeled so you know what to enter. And usually, there are Help popups next to the fields with immediate suggestions ore explanations. The Edit page also has tabs across the top, where we hide more advanced options. After you enter your information, you hit the "Create" or "Save" button.
3. Settings: Setting pages are just like Edit pages, but they are generally standalone pages (you go to them directly instead of from a List). Most of your settings are found in the "Admin" tab/section of your Control Panel.  So from the Control Panel home page (or the expandable "Tool Dock"), you can click on the big icon of the feature that you are interested in, like "Blog" for example. That will take you to the List page where you'll see a searchable list of your Blog articles (or whatever content feature you are working on). You can add a new Blog article record or edit an existing record by clicking the big "Add" button or "edit" next to each existing record. On the editing page, you will see clearly marked fields, such as "Title", "Content", "Keywords", etc., and you just type your information and save. Your content is then automatically available on your live website.

Look through our How-To topics and follow some of the tutorials for specific features. You'll soon see how easy it is. Once you've learned how to use one feature, the same knowledge will empower you to use any of the other features.