16_business edge - banners module ic admin manual

8/8/2019 16_Business Edge - Banners Module IC Admin Manual

1/21

WSI Business Edge Banner SystemAdministration User Manual

(IC Edition)

103-102-0015 Revision 1.0 June 22, 2006


2/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 2 of 21

Table of ContentsTable of Contents .....................................................................................................................................2 Welcome...................................................................................................................................................3 1.0 Banners Module Page Setup................................................................................................3

1.1 Placing the Banner Module ........................................................................................................................4 2.0 Settings ..................................................................................................................................4

2.1 Module Settings..........................................................................................................................................5 2.1.1 Module Settings, Basic Settings...................................................................................................... 5 2.1.2 Module Settings, Advanced Settings............................................................................................... 6

2.2 Page Settings .............................................................................................................................................7 2.2.1 Page Settings, Basic Settings ......................................................................................................... 7 2.2.2 Page Settings, Advanced Settings .................................................................................................. 8

3.0 Module Menu Commands.....................................................................................................9 3.1 Banner Options ..........................................................................................................................................9

3.1.1 Create a Graphic Banner (Opens in Same Windows)................................................................... 10 3.1.2 Alternate Create Graphic Banner to Open in New Window ....................................................... 13 3.1.3 Text Banners ................................................................................................................................. 17

3.2 Other Module Menu Commands ..............................................................................................................21 Help ....................................................................................................................................................................21 Online Help ........................................................................................................................................................21 Print ....................................................................................................................................................................21 Delete.................................................................................................................................................................21 Move...................................................................................................................................................................21


3/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 3 of 21

Welcome

The Banners module manages banner advertising for Vendors on your site. Banners can be a static or animatedimage, HTML, text, or a script. The Banners module displays banners in a rotating fashion; ensuring visitors seedifferent banners each visit. Vendor banners have revenue control features such as expiry dates, and cost perimpression. Vendor banners are managed on the Admin > Vendors page in the Administrator Role.

The [BANNER] Skin Object can be enabled or disabled under Admin > Site Settings - Advanced Settings OtherSettings.

Please Note: For the purposes of this manual, it is assumed that you have already created at leastone Vendor Account (see the Administration Tab Manual>Vendors).

1.0 Banners Module Page Setup

1. We shall assume that your IC has already created a page on which this module shall be placed. (For thepurposes of this manual, we chose to add the module to an existing page (Home). If you decide to placethis module on its own page, name the page; set the Skin and Container as desired; give view accessto all users; and then click the Update link at the bottom of the screen. At this point, you have created a

page, added the look & feel and made it visible to all surfers. Now you need to add the module.

2. Prior to placement, ensure that the module does not inherit the page settings by making sure that AllUsers can view this module by clicking the appropriate checkbox. Do not give edit permissions. Bydefault, admin users shall always have edit permissions.

Figure 1: Banners Module Placed in Right Pane of Page


4/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 4 of 21

1.1 Placing the Banner Module

1. Log in as an Administrator using your administrator user name and password and go to the page thatshall contain the Banner Module.

2. Make sure that the Radio Button (top center of window) is set to Add New Module.

3. Select the Announcements Module from the Modules Drop-Down Menu.

4. Set the Pane into which this module shall be placed. Default is to the bottom of the center pane. Forthe purposes of this example, we chose the right pane, top of pane.

5. Ignore the Visibility field, as this is changed in the Settings environment of the module after the item isplaced.

6. Set the alignment. By default the alignment is set to Left. We chose to use the default setting forthis example.

7. Click the Add Link or the green and white Down Arrow Icon. Please be patient, as this can take a few

moments, depending upon the speed and power of your computer system.

2.0 Settings

1. Once the module is added, click the Down-Arrow to the left of the module title to access the modulemenu.

2. Click the Settings link (see figure, below) or click the settings Icon in the bottom right corner.

Figure 2: Banner Module Menu Accessed, Settings Highlighted

After clicking the Settings link, the page shall refresh and display the Module Settings, Basic Settings area (seefigure, below).


5/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 5 of 21

2.1 Module Settings

Figure 3: Module Settings, Basic Settings Displayed

2.1.1 Module Settings, Basic Settings

1. By default, the Inherit View Permissions from Page is checked. Remove this checkmark byclicking its checkbox. After unchecking this item, the permissions boxes (above this one)become active.

2. Put a checkmark in the View Module Checkbox for All Users.

3. Click the Plus Sign to the left of the Advanced Settings to expose this menu (see figure,below).


6/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 6 of 21

2.1.2 Module Settings, Advanced Settings

Figure 4: Module Settings, Advanced Settings Shown

By default, there are no entries in this area.

i. If you want this module to display on every page, click the checkbox for this function.

ii. If you want to add additional information to this module you may make text entries in theHeader and Footer sections. If you have HTML skills, these fields accept basic HTML tagsfor adding additional format to the text. Most notably, these areas are here for you to provideany additional verbiage desired. Such information shall be seen in the modules header andfooter sections.

iii. If you wish to limit the time frame for which this module shall be visible to the public, set astart and end date by accessing the Date Chooser from the Calendar link for each date.

iv. If you do not wish to do any of the above mentioned options, do nothing in this area andmove on to the Page Settings by clicking the Plus Sign to the left of the title, Page Settings.Once clicked, the Page Settings, Basic shall be presented (see figure, below).


7/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 7 of 21

2.2 Page Settings

Figure 5: Page Settings, Basic Settings Shown

2.2.1 Page Settings, Basic Settings

The Basic Page Settings for this module are the same as the basic page settings for all modules.

1. If you have an image Icon such as a Logo that you want to use, upload and select it here.

2. Set the alignment of the module. Default is left justified. We used the default settings for thisexample.

3. Change the color of the module by entering either a proper color name or hex number here.By default it is empty. We chose to leave it empty.

4. Visibility, by default, is set to maximum. We used the default setting. If set to Minimized,then the module would be collapsed upon initial view by anyone surfing your site.

5. Display Container is on by default. Leave this setting as it is.


8/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 8 of 21

6. Choose to allow print or disallow print. By default, Allow Print is checked. We chose to usethe default setting.

7. Syndication is off by default. Choose to allow syndication or not. We chose to allowsyndication.

8. By default the Host Radio Button is checked for the Module Container. We chose to use thissetting.

9. Choose a Container from the Module Container Drop-Down Menu. For this module, wechose the Blue Fixed Width Container.

10. By default the Cache Refresh is set at 0, meaning that the cache does not refresh. Wechose to use the default setting. If you change this value (in seconds), then the value youenter shall be the quantity of time in seconds between refresh intervals. For this module, thisis not necessary.

2.2.2 Page Settings, Advanced Settings

Figure 6: Page Settings, Advanced Settings Accessed

1. Click the Plus Sign to the left of the title for the Advanced Settings area. The page shallrefresh and display the Advanced Page Settings (see figure, above):

2. By default, the Set As Default Settings? option is unchecked. If checked, then thesesettings would apply to all modules on this page. We chose not to set this as the default.

3. By default the Apply to All Modules? option is unchecked. If checked, these settings wouldbe applied to all modules on all pages. We chose to not set this option.

4. By default, the Move To Page Drop-Down Menu shall display the page on which you have

initially placed this module. If you have placed this module on the wrong page, select thecorrect page from this menu; otherwise, leave this setting alone.


9/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 9 of 21

3.0 Module Menu Commands

3.1 Banner Options

Figure 7: Banner Module Menu, Banner Options Command Highlighted

1. Access the Banner Options command from the Module Drop-Down Menu or click the text link in thelower left corner. Once clicked the screen shall refresh and display the Edit Banner Page (see figure,below).

Figure 8: Edit Banner Page

Five graphic banner types are provided in this module; however you must create the banner and upload it tothe server in order to use this module. These are:

Banner;

Industry Standard is 468 x 60 pixels.

Micro Button;



10/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 10 of 21

Button;


Block; and

Industry Standard is 125 x 125 pixels

Skyscraper.

120 x 600 pixels

The Banner Type Banner can be displayed either using a Banners module, or by adding the [BANNER] skinobject to the skin applied to the site or to a page of the site. The [BANNER] skin object can be enabled ordisabled on the Admin > Site Settings page and is a site wide setting. This can be set to either Site or Host,however, Site Administrators shall only be granted Site Admin privileges, whereas Production Centers (PCs)shall have Host Administration rights. In other words, WSI ICs shall act as Site Administrators and maymake modifications and administer only the site, while Production Centers shall act as Host Administratorsand may make modifications and administer the Portal where the sites are stored.

3.1.1 Create a Graphic Banner (Opens in Same Windows)

1. To create a Banner using a graphic, click the vendor for which the banner is being createdand the click the Add Banner link. The screen shall refresh and display the Edit Banner Page(see figure, below).

Please Note: When using a graphic for the banner, the hidden properties of the followingfields are changed. They do not act the same as they do when creating a text orscript banner.


11/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 11 of 21

Figure 9: Edit Banner Page, Banner Type Banner Selected

2. Enter a Title for the Banner in the Banner Name field. Do Not add any HTML tags here.

3. Set the Banner Type: Drop-Down Menu to any of the graphic types. (Use Banner).

3. Enter a group for this banner. If text is entered into the Banner Group field when creating abanner, then this module shall only display banners belonging to this group. If no text isentered into this field, then this module shall display all banners that are not associated withany Banner Group.

4a. If using an uploaded image set the Image Link Type Radio Button to File (a File On YourSite).

Set the File Location Drop-Down Menu to the directory that contains the image file that shallbe used for this banner. Upload the image if necessary.


12/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 12 of 21

4b. If using an image from another source such as on another website, set the Radio Button toURL (A Link To An External Resource). The screen shall refresh, the File Location field andthe File Name field shall be replaced with a singular field: Location: (Enter the Address of theLink).

Enter the address of the file into this field.

5. optionally, set the width and height (in pixels) for the banner. By default these fields areblank. When blank, the application decides upon the correct dimensions. We chose to usethe default setting and left these fields blank.

6. Enter the text that shall be seen when a surfer mouses-over the graphic. Do not use anyHTML tags in this field. The hidden properties of this field do not allow the use of HTMLwhen any type of graphic is used for the banner. Applying HTML here shall cause errors thatmay or may not be catastrophic as the results of such coding errors are completely irregularand inconsistent.

7. Enter the URL of the site into the URL text field. Do not use any HTML tags in this field. Thehidden properties of this field do not allow the use of HTML when any type of graphic is usedfor the banner. If HTML is applied (for example, to open the URL in a new browser) themodule shall not operate. Instead, it shall try to open the graphic file from within the serverfile manager. You shall receive an HTTP 404 error (file not found).

Please Note: When a surfer clicks onto a graphic banner, the system opens the link in thesame window. This cannot be changed using any graphic type selection fromthe drop-down list.

8. In the CPM/Cost field, enter the cost per 1000 Impressions or the once-off cost. E.g. Forevery 1000 impressions of the banner the Vendor will charge the listed amount. Alternatively,the Vendor may charge a flat fee for banner advertising. Additionally, this field may displaythe price per click-through. When this option is used, do not enter a value in the Impressionsfield.

9. In the Impressions field, enter the number of impressions for which the banner shall display.An impression is made every time the banner is clicked. When charging per impression andyou start without a value in this field, the system counts every click through and records thisfigure incrementally in this field. Use this information to calculate the amount to be chargedto the advertiser.

10. At Start Date (optional), click Calendar and select the first date the banner shall be displayed.

11. At End Date (optional), click Calendar and select the last date the banner shall be displayed.

12. At Criteria, select on of the following options:

And

The Banner only expires if both the Impressions and the End Date are met. I.E. The banner hasreached its number of clicks AND the banner has expired.

Or

The Banner expires if either the Impressions or the End Date has been met. I.E. The banner hasreached its number of clicks OR the banner has expired (see figure, below).


13/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 13 of 21

These fields are to be completed based upon the agreement that you make with your potentialadvertisers. For example, you may agree to display a banner ad for a fixed period of time (e.g. threemonths) and/or a fixed number of click-throughs (e.g. 1000) for a flat rate. The "And/Or" optionscount the time and clicks and compare them to the values entered here. When the agreed-uponvalue (time and/or clicks) is reached, the system automatically ceases to display that particularbanner.

Figure 10: Edit Banner Page, Costs for Advertising and Terms for Ads Set

13. Click the Update link. The Banner Section shall close. Then click the Update link for theVendor page.

14. Upon completion of setup, it is advisable to notify your vendor. Simply click the Email Statusto Vendor link and the system shall automatically send an email to the email address listedfor the vendor in the Vendor Profile.

3.1.2 Alternate Create Graphic Banner to Open in New Window

The design of this system is such that it only allows for a graphic-type banner to open its link withinthe same window when any of the graphic-type Banner Types are selected from the drop-downmenu. This type of setup causes the surfer to navigate away from your site, which for the vastmajority of businesses, is not desirable. To avoid this situation, we have developed an alternatemethod of creating a graphic banner that opens the link in a new window; however, the process ismore involved.

1. Create the Graphic to be used for this banner. When naming it, keep the name short, nomore than three (3) characters plus the suffix (jpg, gif, etc.)

2. Upload the graphic to the ROOT directory of your File Manager. Do not put it into any otherdirectory because the file path needs to be very short due to the limited amount ofcharacters that can be entered into the Banner Name field.

3. Go to the Vendor page, click the vendor for which the banner is being created and then clickthe Add Banner link. The screen shall refresh and display the Edit Banner Page.

4. Create the banner in the exact same manner as described in Section 2.1.1; however:

a) do not enter a group name into the group name field;

b) follow directives for instruction 4a, not 4b; and

c) disregard instructions 8 to 12.


14/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 14 of 21

This is only a temporary creation that shall allow you to find the correct path to the image that youhave uploaded. After capturing the uploaded images path, this banner structure shall be changedfurther.

5. Open a second browser to the front end of your site. Right-Click the graphic and selectProperties. The Properties dialog shall be presented (see figure, below).

Figure 11: Properties Dialog for the Image

6. Highlight and copy the address of the image (http:// ..... ) to the clipboard. It is a good ideato paste this into a notepad file so that you can refer back to it when creating your links in thefollowing steps.


15/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 15 of 21

Figure 12: Edit Banner Page Showing Work-Around to Open Graphic Banner in New Window

7. Return to the Edit Banner page. At Banner Name: enter the following HTML tag structure:

Replace vendorsite.com with the true address of the vendors site.

The address that you copied to the clipboard is the information that goes into the img srcarea (as shown in the example above).

Please Note: If the address of the graphic is too long to fit the amount of space provided, youcan truncate the address by removing the http prefix and the IP address (thenumbers) and replace them with two periods followed by two forward slashes(.e.g.: )

8. Change Banner Type to Text.


16/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 16 of 21

9. Ignore the entire Image area as it is not considered when Text Banner Type is selected.

10. Ignore Width and Height fields. Allow the system to set these automatically.

11. Enter a text message to go along with the graphic. (Remember, as a text selection, theproperties of this field allow for the use of HTML). You can make the text into a clickable link,too, by using the following structure:

Your text Message here

Additionally, you can format your text message too, by using additional HTML tags thatsurround the message, but are inside of the a href tag as follows:

Your text Message here

In the above example, we added a tag to make the message bold and a tag to use a largerheading sized font (approximately 16 pt).

11. At URL enter the following HTML structure:

Replace vendorsite.com with the true address of the vendors site.


13. In the Impressions field, enter the number of impressions for which the banner shall display.An impression is made every time the banner is clicked. When charging per impression andyou start without a value in this field, the system counts every click through and records thisfigure incrementally in this field. Use this information to calculate the amount to be chargedto the advertiser.





17/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 17 of 21

And

Banner only expires if both the Impressions and the End Date has been met. I.e. The banner hasreached its number of clicks AND a banner has expired.

Or

Banner expires if either the Impressions or the End Date has been met. I.e. The banner has reachedits number of clicks OR a banner has expired (see figure, below).

These fields are to be completed based upon the agreement that you make with your potentialadvertisers. For example, you may agree to display a banner ad for a fixed period of time and/or afixed number of click-throughs for a flat rate. The "And/Or" options count the time and clicks andcompare them to the values entered here. When the agreed-upon value (time or clicks) is reached,the system automatically ceases to display that particular banner.

Figure 13: Edit Banner Page, Costs for Advertising and Terms for Ads Set


18. Upon completion of setup, it is advisable to notify your vendor. Simply click the Email Statusto Vendor link and the system shall automatically send an email to the email address listedfor the vendor in the Vendor Profile.

From the front end, this structure shall display exactly as expected. However, in the administrationarea where the banner is selected for editing, the thumbnail of this link shall not display. In ouropinion, this is a small price to pay for keeping surfers from navigating away from your site.

3.1.3 Text Banners

Text Banners are created in the Vendor Administration environment. They can be simple text, orHTML. All formatting is done within the fields provided in Admin > Vendors > Banner Advertisingsection.

1. Click the Add Banner link in this area. The screen shall refresh and display the Edit BannerPage (see figure, below).


18/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 18 of 21

Figure 14: Edit Banner, Text/Script Field Populated

2. Provide a name for the Banner. Hint This also acts as a Clickable Title for the surfer, somake it interesting. To force the system to open this link (Title) in a new browser, use thefollowing structure:

Enter Title Here

Replace www.vendorsite.com with the vendors' proper URL.

Replace Enter Title Here with the title you are going to use for this banner.

You may add additional formatting for the fonts here. Below is an example of the HTML tag structurewhen additional font formatting is applied:

Enter Title Here

In the above example, the title of the banner shall be bold and displayed in red, and the link shallopen in a new window.


19/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 19 of 21

3. Set the Banner Type Drop-Down Menu to Text.

4. Set the Banner into a group by entering a group name here. Alternately, leave this blank.When left blank, and no group name is entered into the Banner Module Settings, this itemalong with any other un-grouped banners can be selected by the system at random fordisplay to surfers. For the purposes of this example, we chose to leave the Banner Groupname field empty.

For a Text Banner the entire Image Section is not considered, therefore ignore the settings at Imagefor Link Type and File Location.

5. Set the Height and Width that the system shall use for displaying the banner. By default, theWidth and Height are empty. If left empty, the system shall decide upon the correctdimensions for displaying the banner(s). We chose to use the default empty settings.

6. Enter the text you desire for this banner into the Text/Script: text field. It is here that youcreate your banner message. This field accepts HTML tags; therefore if you have the skills touse HTML, format the text to give it a pleasing / eye-catching look.

7. Enter the address of this vendors website into the URL field. (for example:www.blackrosegroup.com). This URL shall be displayed in the banner. Please double-checkthe URL after entry to ensure that it is correct. There is nothing more embarrassing than toaccidentally mistype the URL and send potential customers to the wrong location.

7a. To force the system to open the link (the URL) in a new browser, add HTML tags to thevendors website address in this field. Use the following HTML format:

www.vendorsite.com

Replace www.vendorsite.com with the vendors proper URL.


9a. In the Impressions field (if charging per a set quantity of clicks/time), enter the number ofimpressions for which the banner shall display. An impression is made every time the banneris clicked.

9b. If charging per impression, do not enter a value in this field. The system counts every click-through and records this figure incrementally in this field. Use this information to calculatethe amount to be charged to the advertiser.




And

Banner only expires if both the Impressions and the End Date have been met. I.E. The banner hasreached its number of clicks AND the banner has expired.


20/21

103-102-0015 Rev 1.0 Page # 20 of 21

Or

Banner expires if either the Impressions or the End Date has been met. I.E. The banner has reachedits number of clicks OR the banner has expired (see figure, below).

These fields are to be completed based upon the agreement that you make with your potentialadvertisers. For example, you may agree to display a banner ad for a fixed period of time and/or afixed number of click-throughs for a flat rate. The And/Or options count the time and clicks andcompare them to the values entered here. When the agreed-upon value (time or clicks) is reached,the system automatically ceases to display that particular banner.

Figure 15: Edit Banner Page, Costs for Click-Throughs, Quantity and Time Constraints Are Set


14. Upon completion of setup, it is advisable to notify your vendor. Simply click the Email Statusto Vendor link and the system shall automatically send an email to the email address listedfor the vendor in the Vendors Profile.


21/21

3.2 Other Module Menu Commands

The remaining commands under the Module Menu are:

Help

Click this item to access the embedded Help Files.

Online Help

Click this link to access the Online Help in a new browser window.

Print

Click this link to print the contents of the module only.

Delete

Click this link to permanently delete the module. This is non-recoverable. Be completely sure that this is theaction that you wish to take before commencing this action.

Move

Click this link to move the module to a different location on the same page.

16_business edge - banners module ic admin manual

Documents