CMS: Know What to Publish - University of Houston
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Knowing What to Publish

Synchronization Publishing | Page Resources and Calls vs Publishing


Synchronization Publishing:
Dynamic-propagation vs. Submit/Insert/Confirm vs. Publishing

When you save your changes inside the CMS (via Submit, Insert, Confirm, Okay, etc.), you are telling the CMS to update its internal database to store those changes for you. 

Some of the changes you initiate - such as updating the Left-hand Navigation Menu, or changing an Internal Link - are Dynamically managed by the CMS - meaning the CMS will propagate the change throughout your site for you, without you having to manually visit and edit every affected page.

This is one of the great features of the CMS!

However, you will still have to remember that all affected materials may still need to be Published, so that your site visitors can see those changes too. This is all part of keeping the static Published pages "synchronized" with the current state of the dynamic assets inside the CMS.

The CMS offers some prompting and assistance, but the editing User is ultimately responsible for recognizing the need for Publishing, Un-Publishing, Re-Publishing, etc. 

What happens Dynamically and What to Publish to Synchronize the Live Site with the CMS
What you might do What tells the CMS you really mean it What happens Dynamically What needs to be Published
Change a page-bearing Folder in one of the following ways:

  • The Title information for a Folder is changed.
  • A Folder's Order Number for a Menu item is changed.
  • A new Folder-with-Index-page is added to a section.
  • A Folder previously included in a menu is removed.
According to the System settings for the Folder in question, it is (or was) set to be Included in the Menu and Indexed. Menus and Breadcrumbs update automatically, for all participating pages which exist under the Parent Folder of the Folder which was edited. The Parent Folder of the Folder which actually had the change (quickest);
or more precisely: each and every one of that Parent Folder's descendent pages which display a Left Nav menu.
       
A linked-to item is Moved or its System Name is changed (i.e. Renamed).

e.g. You Submit a Move or Rename for an asset to which other items have an Internal Link; or Confirm a changed linking association for the Internal Link in question.
You used the CMS's linking tools to make the link "Internal". Internal links are updated. Any page which displays a link to the Moved or Renamed material.

Be sure to check the "Relationships" (under the 'More' button) for any item you Move or Rename, in order to review which materials may also need to be Published along with the changed items themselves.

From the Relationships list panel, you may also be able to publish all "Relationships" at once time. Caution: Only do this iif all associated assets are ready to be published.
       
Display Name for a Page or File is changed. You Submit an Edit to an asset (page-type or file-type) which includes changing its Display Name; and the items in question are included in an internal Related Link set and/or in a Custom Header Menu. Internal Related Links Text and/or Custom Menu Items Text is updated. Any Page-type Asset which calls/displays the changed item's Display Name.

For the Custom Header Menu: the header is an "include", so you would only have to republish the Header Local page-type-asset for the site/area.

For Related Links: republish any page displaying that Related Link item.

Be sure to check the "Relationships" tab for any item for which you change the Display Name, to review which materials may also need to be Published along with the changed items themselves.
       
New pictures have been added to a Page-asset;
and/or
New Links have been added to a Page-asset, to materials you wish your site visitors to Download;
and/or
A specialized sub-page type asset has been linked into Full-page type asset.

You have "called" (added or linked in) any resource into a Page-asset which lives outside the Page-asset itself – e.g. image files, PDFs, or other documents, or Files (such as CSS files, Scripts); specialized types of Sub-page-assets (such as slide show feature, SPIFFs, custom header-local, XHTML Blocks [such as a Contact Block], Reusable Link assets, etc.);
You used one of the CMS's internal linking tools to create the linked relationship. The CMS recognizes a linked relationship between a Page-asset and a resource which resides outside the Page-asset itself (albeit usually still inside the CMS), and the CMS "tracks"/updates that linked relationship even if one or the other piece (or both pieces) moves somewhere else within the asset tree. Both the Page-asset itself and whatever resource that Page-asset is now "calling"; especially if the called resource is new or you have changed it since either it or the Page-asset was last Published.

Be sure to check the "called" resources Relationship tab, for a list of assets which should be Re-Published when the resource itself changes. You may also use the resource's "Publish All Relationships" command if appropriate.

 


Page Resources and Calls vs Publishing

What all needs to be published separately from a Page? The answer may not always be obvious.

Anything included in the Page via a Chooser or Insert editor, with the exception of most Block assets, will generally need to be published separately from the Page, albeit they should be published in concert or in synchrony.

Generally, these items should be published before the page itself is 1st published, so that the resulting web page can call those items immediately upon loading in the site visitor's browser window.

These items might include:

  • Graphics files such as Photos, illustrations
  • Text files such as CSS, JS, SSI, etc.
  • Include-type content such as the Header Local page asset, or a Home-page SPIFF List asset.

Once any of these items have been published, they need only be re-published if significantly altered. Following is a chart using the deployment of a graphics file as an example of how edits may need to be followed up.

Edit/Action Followup scenario
image is visually altered only and file retains same native size/resolution/aspect ratio and system name; re-publish image; refresh browser window to view the change
image is Deleted from CMS; un-publish image; update and republish page
image is removed from page but retained in CMS; update and republish page
image is Moved to a new location in the CMS; un-publish image from old location, republish to new location; republish page
page instruction/setup changes only
(e.g. Insert/Edit Image dialog reset of image display size; move same image call to another location within the page's WYSIWYG-HTML code; etc.);
re-publish the page; no action for image itself
file's System Name is changed; it is used by only one page; un-publish as original name, republish as new name; republish page
file's System Name is changed; it is used by multiple pages in exactly the same way (e.g. a column image); un-publish as original name, republish as new name; republish all affected pages by going to the Relationships dialog under the More button and electing to Publish All Relationships