This comprehensive guide combines all the strategic and technical workflows we've developed for the Content Manager. It is designed to be a "Master Playbook" for anyone responsible for maintaining a professional and user-friendly school website.
Managing your school's digital presence is about providing clear, timely, and organized information to your community. This playbook serves as your roadmap for everything from emergency alerts to advanced page design.
Before you can share news, you need a place for it to live. Use the Page Editor to build your core information hubs.
Most pages are built using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface.
Standard Formatting: Use Bold, Italics, or Underline to highlight key info.
Styles & Hierarchy: Use the Normal dropdown to set Headings (H1, H2, H3). This is crucial for scannability on mobile devices.
The "+ Insert" Menu: This is your "Magic Button" to add Tables, Images, Videos, and Collapsible Boxes.
Scheduling: Use Publish and Expiry dates to ensure your site never looks "stale."
The Images and Documents sections are your digital filing cabinets.
Upload Once: You can upload a file once and apply it to multiple school sites simultaneously.
Organize: Use Folders, Tags, and Keywords during the upload process to keep files easy to find later.
Single Source of Truth: If a district-wide document changes, update it once in the Documents section to reflect changes site-wide.
How you direct parents to information is just as important as the information itself.
A great alert headline should be impossible to misunderstand at a glance:
WHAT is happening? (e.g., "School Closed Today")
WHO does it affect? (e.g., "Bus 12 Only")
WHERE do I go next? (e.g., "See email for details")
The Navigation section allows you to manage the main menu.
Order: The top-to-bottom list in CM matches the left-to-right menu on your site.
Drag and Drop: Move items anywhere in the tree structure to reorder links instantly.
Linking to Docs: Grab a documentβs hyperlink from the ... menu in the Documents section and add it as a Custom Link in your menu.
Keep your community moving and scheduled with accuracy.
All Day vs. Time-Bound: Use "All Day" for holidays/deadlines and specific times for meetings or games.
Categorization: Always assign Tags so parents can filter the calendar for "Athletics" or "PTA."
Main Content: Add descriptions or room numbers in the content box so parents have all the details when they click the event.
Step-by-Step: Define Areas, then link Routes, then update Status (On Time, Delayed, or Cancelled).
Notes: Use the notes section to provide context, like "Bus 5 is delayed due to traffic on Main St."
Once the basics are live, use these tools to create a professional, "polished" look.
Break up "walls of text" by splitting your page into vertical columns.
50/50 Split: Great for a photo next to a welcome message.
66/33 Split: Use the smaller column as a "Sidebar" for Quick Links or Documents.
Mobile Flow: Remember that the left-hand column will always stack on top of the right-hand column on smartphones.
Ideal for FAQs or long policy lists. They hide detailed info behind a clickable header, saving parents from endless scrolling.
These are "content aggregators." Create a list of News, Events, or Fragments once, and link it to a page. When you update the list, every page using it updates automatically.
| Content Type | Best Module |
| Chronological Updates | News |
| Time-Bound Items | Events |
| Permanent/Evergreen Info | Pages |
| Emergency/Urgent Info | Alerts |
| Repeated Content Blocks | Fragments |
[ ] Preview: Click the eye icon to see the mobile and desktop view.
[ ] Privacy: Is this set to Public or Staff?
[ ] Expiry: Did I set a date for this alert or event to disappear?
[ ] Alt-Text: Did I add descriptions to my images for accessibility?