The LiveWhale CMS (content management system) is used to edit the Carthage website. In addition to editing pages, users can create stories, events, faculty and student profiles, image galleries, and other components of the site.

There’s a library of support documents at docs.livewhale.com, and some of the most helpful documentation links are included here. First, let’s cover some basic operating instructions.

Logging in

To log in, visit carthage.edu/livewhale using your username and password.

Once logged in, you can start editing pages and creating content.

Editing pages

If you log in using the link above (or in the Carthage footer), you’ll be returned to the last site page you visited. The only difference will be the CMS toolbar at the top of the page.

STATIC CONTENT

To edit the static text and static images on one of your pages, just go to that page. If you’re authorized to edit the page, you’ll see an Edit Page link at top left; click that to begin page editing. When done, click “Save and publish” or “Save draft” (top right).

When editing pages you can take advantage of many easy-to-use features:

  • Formatting buttons allow you to format your page content, with bold/italic, links, table features, indenting, lists, and more.
  • “Formats” and “Paragraph” menus give you more personalized styling options.
  • Use the “Insert” dropdown menu to add images, photo galleries, content layouts (including accordions), and embedded YouTube or Vimeo videos.
DYNAMIC CONTENT

“Dynamic” content includes events, stories, images, galleries, forms, and more. In LiveWhale this content is managed via the “back end,” starting with the Dashboard.

All dynamic content is created and managed in the Dashboard (a blue button at top right when logged in). This will be where you create, edit and manage events, news stories, navigations, forms, profiles, blurbs, images and galleries. (Note that not all these content types are available to all users.)

  • Pages: Manage your site’s navigation, and link quickly to any page of your site for editing.
  • Stories: Manage and edit your stories (whether they’re big news stories or just updates for an internal audience)
  • Events: Manage your calendar events
  • Galleries: Create and manage galleries and slideshows.
  • Forms: Create web forms to collect data from site visitors, which can be emailed to you or stored in a database for exporting.
  • Blurbs: An all-purpose content type that can be used for “Did you know?”-type content, frequently reused text, or just about anything else.
  • Profiles: A customizable content type most commonly used for faculty, student, and staff profiles.
  • Blogs: Create blogs for different topics, individual faculty members or students.

Accessibility

Web content editors must ensure they are following WCAG 2.0 Accessibility standards when creating content. These guidelines seek to improve the experience for those with visual, auditory, memory, context, or physical mobility impairments.

Following these guidelines will ensure information presented on the website is accessible to all users, whether they’re using screen-readers to listen to content, or simply reading the page.