Everything you always
wanted to know about
digital assets
But were afraid to ask… J
CMS Training Session 1
Topics we’ll cover
1. What is a digital asset?
2. How do I add digital assets to my page?
3. Naming digital assets
4. The Alt Tag & Search Engine Optimization
(SEO
5. Adding vs. replacing/updating an asset
6. The Digital Asset Manager
7. How can I delete my assets?
8. How do I organize my assets?
Editor I’m
using…
I’m using the
RadAjax Editor – I’ve tied all of them, this seems the best to me.
You can check to see what you’re using on your “My Page”
What is a digital asset?
O Any type of file that’s inserted (images) or linked to (PDF) from a web page, including:
O PDFs
O Word or Powerpoint files O Images
O These documents reside in the “Digital Assets Manager” area
O Each individual asset is given an ID number (automatic) and a name (chosen by the user) O The ID can be viewed in code view:
O They can be searched by their ID number or their name
What is a digital asset?
O Files shouldn’t be STORED on the website
O every file up there could be accessed by someone by
searching our site
O replace when they are outdated, delete when they are no
longer needed
O files should be stored on your computer/department
server, etc.
O Files shouldn’t be HUGE in size
O Files should never have personal student information or any type of confidential data
O Files should follow the Mohawk College brand (colours, logo usage, general look and feel)
Contact Joe or Katherine if you have a question about branding, asset size, etc.
2. How do I add digital
assets to my page?
How do I add a digital asset?
O Digital assets can be added:
O from a web page (in edit mode)
O to the Digital Asset Manager
O You can:
O insert a NEW asset
O insert an EXISTING asset
Inserting a NEW digital asset on a web
page
O Login to the site, go to the page you want to add the file to and click the edit button
O Select/highlight the text or image you want to link to:
O Using the tool bar:
Inserting a NEW digital asset on a web
page
1. Click on the Add
Inserting a NEW digital asset on a web
page
Inserting a NEW digital asset on a web
page
3. Browse to the file on your computer:
Inserting an EXISTING digital asset on
a web page
O Follow the steps above, but stay in the “Browse” tab O Browse through the folders
to look for a file
O Or, try the “Search” – you will be looking by keyword
(This will depend on the file using those keywords – why it’s important to use them when naming!)
Inserting an EXISTING digital asset on
a web page
In Browse view, you will see a preview if the file is an image, and the Properties of the file on the right side
Inserting an EXISTING digital asset on
a web page
O When you have located the file you want, click
“Insert”
O You have the option to open it in a new
window (may be used on occasion, but typically not)
Naming Digital Assets
Best practices for naming digital assets
O keep characters lowercase
O use keywords (e.g. “course-registration-tips”) that people would use
to search for the document
O use – (hyphen) to separate keywords
O no need to add the file extension (e.g. .PDF), the system will do that
for you
O add a date code somewhere on your document to help you
determine the version
O don’t add dates/terms/years to the file name if this will be a long
term document (e.g. registration-form-fall-2012.pdf)
O keep in mind that this is what the document will be called
Naming Digital Assets
Best practices for naming digital
assets
O asset names can be changed
O Keep in mind that this will break external links to the file. This may or may not be important – check with Katherine or Joe before you do this.
O if the file is a critical one (e.g.. Transcript request) and we don’t want the link to be broken until
Google finds the new file (may take a few days) Joe or Katherine can add a redirect… check with us first. J
4. The Alt Tag and Search
Engine Optimization (SEO)
The Importance of Alt tags
O Alt tags are alternative text, displayed when
the image cannot be rendered
O Also used by "screen reader" software
(accessibility feature)
O Keywords help with Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
O E.g. file name is
Linking Text and Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
O The text on a web page that links to a
digital asset (or any web page or site) should also be keyword rich
O Search Engines (e.g. Google) look at
many factors on the page to determine page ranking, including text links
O Instead of just using “Click here” use:
5. Adding vs. Updating/
Replacing an Asset
Adding VS. Updating
When to add O Completely new file or image When to replaceO The file is already on the
site, you are just updating it
O E.g. “Spring 2012
Registration Guide” is up, you need to replace with
“Summer 2012 Registration Guide”
O File name should not have
the date/year/semester, etc.
Adding VS. Updating/Replacing
O Why is this important?
O Adding new files every time a document has a
change results in many OLD and OUTDATED files up on the site
O This old files can come up in searches, people visiting the site may not realize they are looking at outdated information
O Makes maintenance easier and maintains the URL O Notes can be made
in the description area to help communicate details/last updated
Updating/replacing a Digital Asset from
a web page
O Login to the site, go to the page you want to add the file to and click the edit button
O Select/highlight the text or image you want to link to:
O Using the tool bar:
Updating/replacing a Digital Asset from
a web page
The Insert
Asset window will come up.
Browse to the updated file.
Digital Asset Manager
O (If you don’t have access to this area, let Katherine or Joe know)
O You can add, search and organize your
assets
O Depending on what folder(s) you have
access to, you may only see one folder here
Digital Asset Manager
O Login to the site, hover over the “System”
icon in the top CMS menu
Digital Asset Manager
O Add Asset – add a new asset
O Add Multiple Assets – adding several at the same time (not
covered in this presentation – contact Joe or Katherine for a demo)
O Search for an asset – using Keyword Search
(keyword would have to be IN the file name or description – another reason to use effective keywords)
O Can search via the Asset’s ID (must know the number)
Digital Asset Manager
O Adding a new assets from this view is the
same as when you add it from a web page:
Save and add – handy if you’re adding a few at a time
Digital Asset Manager – viewing search
results
O When you search via the keyword search, or by viewing the contents of a folder, you will see:
Digital Asset Manager – viewing search
results
O You can view a thumbnail – helpful if
Digital Asset Manager – viewing search
results
O Will also show you the number of pages the asset is used on (or 0 if it’s not used), the folder and if it’s active
O Can also click “Unused Assets Only” to just
view those not currently being used
O Helpful when you want to delete old assets!
Detailed Asset View
O All information
about the asset can be viewed here O Updating the asset is as simple as Re-Uploading it O Can change the
folder
O View the History
Asset History
O Every time an asset is updated a version
of the asset is saved
Is the asset being used?
O Visible in the Asset Detail View by clicking on the Usage
Deleting Unused/Old Assets
Two ways to delete:
1. When viewing the
asset in Detail view
Deleting Unused/Old Assets
Two ways to delete: 2 – When viewing search results. The select column allows you to choose one or many at a time.
Use the delete
button at the bottom to delete what you’ve selected.
Deleting Unused/Old Assets
NOTE – the system will not allow you to delete assets that are currently being used.
O If you know an asset is old/needs to be
deleted but the system is telling you it’s
being used, you must first find the page it’s on, remove the link, then delete it.
Organizing Your Assets
O In the Digital Asset Manager you can
create folders to organize your files
O Can be used or organize:
O different types of files (e.g. PDFs, Images)
O files for sub sections of your site (e.g..
co-op program description PDFs vs. interview and resume resources)
O date-specific files – e.g. Athletics team
Folders
O The Digital Assets Manager organizes assets
into folders
O Each area of the site (e.g. International,
Admissions, Co-op) should have it’s own folder O Within your area’s folder you can create
sub-folders to help organize files
O NOTE – folders should also use the same
naming structure (lowercase, hyphens, keywords) –
Many folders don’t follow this yet – we’re working on this over the
Organizing Your Assets
O To view, edit remove or add a folder, click
on “Manage Folders”
O Choose the Parent
folder you want to examine:
Organizing Your Assets
O You can then
add a folder O Delete unused folders Click the delete checkbox, then click “Save”
Organizing Your Assets
O Adding a Folder: give it a name, select
Organizing Your Assets
O Renaming a Folder: change the name
Organizing Your Assets
O Moving a Folder: change the Parent folder and
click “Save” (you need permission to edit the new
Adding Images
O When adding images, be sure that you
don’t STRETCH or SHRINK the image
O may distort it
O can result in a HUGE image being shrunk
down – causes the page to load slower
O Images need to be saved to the correct
size BEFORE being added to the site
O Contact Joe or Katherine for help with
this
O Images can be set to LINK to other assets,
