Access to the system requires you to complete Web CMS training. The training package for the Web CMS is self-paced and can be completed at your convenience. It is a mandatory requirement that the training package is completed prior to gaining access to maintain or create websites and content within the Web CMS.

Learn how to access Web CMS training

1. Visit the CMS login page.
   • You may be automatically logged in if you have previously logged into the CMS or another QUB service. If this is the case, you do not need to follow steps 2-3.
2. If prompted, enter your QUB credentials.
3. If prompted, complete the Multi-factor authentication (MFA) steps.
4. Upon successful completion of steps 1-3, you will be logged in and redirected to the CMS welcome screen.

Note: Please ensure a CMS profile has been set up for you, otherwise you will not be logged in to the CMS. You can learn more on accessing the system on our guidance page.

The current CMS login address is:

https://cmst4.qub.ac.uk/terminalfour/ 

You log on to the CMS using your QUB email address and password. 

If you are having any issues with this, please log a support request through our Sitehelpdesk service and we will get back to you.

Note: Please ensure a CMS profile has been set up for you, otherwise you will not be able to login to the CMS.  Find out how to access the CMS.

The training and onboarding process for the Web CMS is very simple:

Step 1 - Submit the Training Request Form

Your first step is to complete and submit the form Web CMS - Training Request. The details provided as part of this submission are important for our training records and it is essential that you complete it.

Please note: This form must only be completed by the staff member that will undertake the training.

You will then receive an email with further details on how to proceed with your training.

Learn more about the 3 Web CMS training and onboarding steps

Our online training materials are a series of instructional pages which have been organised into two main categories:

• Common Tasks
• Content Types

To learn how to use the system begin with the common tasks videos, as these are the things you'll need to know to be able to maintain your site, for example, modifying existing content and adding different types of links.

The content types resource are a list of all the layouts you can choose from - each web page being populated using different blocks of content with each block using a specific content type of your choice.

The Change Request Process needs to be completed before you can begin developing a new site.

Once you submit the New Website/Change Request Form, this goes to the Digital Operations Group (DOG). This group will review the change request and you will be informed accordingly of the outcomes.

Complete the New Website/Change Request Form

You can create a blog using the Queen's WordPress blog facility. 

Once you have a published blog, the CMS offers you the facility to embed the blog feed on any page within your site. Ask us to help you embed your blog.

The web browser shows the correct orientation of the image when the photo was taken. This could be upside-down if the camera was held upside down when the image was taken. You will have to resave the image in the correct orientation.

To do this, you can open your image in an image editor and save the image in your preferred orientation. At this point, you can then upload your image to CMS.

Note: The CMS currently ignores the default orientation setting, so the image may look correct in the CMS thumbnail preview but look incorrect when published live.

• Learn more about image editing on our guidance page
• Find out how to upload files to the Media Library
  
  

Sometimes HTML tables are copied from an external product such as Microsoft Word. This can often lead to problems with the display of the table.

To remedy this, you should rebuild the table properly in the CMS using the 'Table' option in the content editor.

The CMS team may need to provide support if you continue to experience the issue. Please log a support ticket and we will get back to you.

What is the Correct Naming Convention for Files and Images?

All documents (e.g., PDFs, Word documents, Excel documents, etc.) and image files uploaded to the Media Library and File Stores, need to use the following naming convention: 

• Use only lowercase letters (a to z), numerals (0-9) and hyphens (-).
• Do not use spaces. Instead, use hyphens to separate words.
• Do not use special characters (e.g., £, %, &, á) or underscores.

Correct

• annual-report-and-accounts-2023-24.pdf
• undergraduate-prospectus.pdf
• application-form.docx
• lanyon-building-at-night.jpg
• queens-business-school-student-hub.jpg

Incorrect

• Annual Report & Accounts 2023-24.pdf
• UG_prospectus.pdf
• Application Form.docx
• Lanyon Building.jpg
• Queen's_Business_School & student Hub.jpg

The Web Support Team reserves the right to change (or request changes to) filenames if they do not meet digital best practice. 

You also need to ensure that all files and images that are uploaded to the CMS are accessible and have been optimised for use on the web.

The following resources will help you:

• Description of the File Upload Content Type
• How to upload a file to the Filestore
• Using the Media Library
• Optimising images using PIXLR
• Making your documents accessible

You can find out about the latest Accessibility Regulations and guidance in the Accessibility area of our site.

You can learn about the key things you can do to help ensure your website is accessible.  You can also learn about Siteimprove, our digital governance platform and how you can register to receive fortnightly accessibility reports for your site.

For SEO purposes, it is important to give your sections relevant names and then assign key sections in your site Output URIs which follow the correct convention. The correct convention when entering a value into the Output URI field is to use a lowercase and hyphenated version of the section title. For example, the following site is located in the Schools Channel:

Section Name: Queen's Business School
Output URI: queens-business-school

This means that the published web address in the above example will be:

https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/queens-business-school/ 

• From the Actions menu, choose Create Section
• In the Name field, enter a relevant section name.  This will become the published page title.
• In the Output URI field, enter a lowercase, hyphenated version of the section name. This will become the final part of the published web address.

It is important to note that it is best to add an Output URI when you are first creating a new section. You can add an Output URI at any time, but adding an Output URI to alter the URL on a section that has been live for a while will affect any Google links, external links or bookmarks pointing to the old URL.

Add a metadata description to key sections in your site. This description should be a meaningful and concise sentence which summarises what the site is about.  A search engine then presents this description to the user in its search results. It should be between 120-158 characters in length.

• Click on the Actions menu beside the relevant section and choose Edit Section
• Click the More tab and choose Metadata
• In the Description field type a meaningful description of your site.  For example:

'Queen's Management School is one of the top business schools in the UK and Ireland and prides itself on offering a world-class range of undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in Accounting, Economics, Finance and Management.'

Add metadata keywords to key sections in your site.  Keywords should accurately reflect the content of the site or page.

• Click on the Actions menu beside the relevant section and choose Edit Section
• Click the More tab and choose Metadata
• In the Keywords field type a list of meaningful keywords highlighting key aspects of your site.  For example:

'Queen's University, Management School, Business School, UK, Belfast, Top Business School, Business degrees, Accounting degrees, management degrees, finance degrees, QUB Management School'

Don't forget to click Save Changes after making these updates.

The location of the Output URI field under the General Tab, using the correct convention

The location of the Description and Keywords fields under the Metadata Tab

The following table shows the publish and transfer schedule of the main channels.

The publish time is the time you need to have approved your changes by, in order to make that publish cycle.

The transfer time is the time, later in the same publish cycle, when the approved changes will transfer and appear on the live site.  

For each piece of content on your website, the CMS offers you the option to set a specific date and time for that content to be published live.  For example, you can prepare content a few weeks or days in advance, planning its future release to the live site by creating the content, setting the required publish date and time options and then approving the content.

1. Open the piece of content.
2. Click on the Options tab.
3. Click in the Publish date field.  Today's date and time will automatically be displayed and selected.
4. Alter the date and time as required. 
5. Update and Approve the piece of content.

Make sure you set the publish time to be at least two hours before it needs to go live. Do not set the publish time for exactly when you want the content to go live. There is no way to precisely publish a piece of content for a specific time - you have to work within the scheduled publish cycles.

For example, if you want a piece of content in the Schools channel to go live at 1pm, you need to set the publish time to be approx two hours previous to this - 11am. This is because the Schools channel publishes every two hours at 22 minutes past the hour, so you are aiming for the content to catch the 11:22am publish cycle. The content will then publish to the live site at approx noon.

Other channels, such as Research Centres, publish at different times. View the full list of scheduled publish cycles.

1. Output URI field
2. QUB GO Short URL Service
3. URL Redirect

How do I remove content from the live site?

You can remove a piece of content from the live web page in two ways:

• Expire content
• Delete content

Expire Content

Expiring content means you apply a date and time to the individual piece of content using the Options tab.  Once this date and time are reached, the content is removed from the live web page but it is retained within the CMS site structure with an Expired status.  You can choose to publish the piece of content again at a later date if required.

To expire content:

1. Open the piece of content
2. Click the Options tab
3. Click in the Expiry Date field

1. By default, today's date and nearest time are selected (you can change this to set a different date and time, as required).
2. Click Save and Approve

Delete Content

Deleting content means you are permanently removing the piece of content from both the live site and the CMS itself. When you delete a piece of content from your site structure, its status changes to Inactive and it moves to the system recycle bin. In the next publishing cycle, the deleted piece of content will be removed from the live site. The recycle bin is purged every week (usually on a Friday) and the inactive content is permanently deleted from the CMS.

1. In the Site Structure screen, click on the section containing the piece of content you want to delete.
2. Click on the Contents tab.
3. Click the Actions menu beside the piece of content you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.
5. Confirm the deletion.

The status of the piece of content is now set to Inactive.

How do I remove a web page from the live site?

You can remove a web page (section) from the live site in two ways:

• Set the status of the page to Pending
• Set the status of the page to Inactive

Set the Status to Pending

Setting the status of a web page to pending means it will be removed from the live site but it is retained within the CMS site structure. You can choose to publish the page again at a later date if required by changing its status from Pending back to Approved. 

Once the status has been changed to Pending, the page will be removed from the live site in the next publishing cycle.

1. In your Site Structure screen, click on the section name
2. The properties of the section under the general tab are displayed.  In the Status drop-down options, click Pending.
3. Click Save Changes.

Set the Status to Inactive

This means you are deleting and permanently removing the section from both the live site and the CMS itself. When you delete a section from your site structure, its status changes to Inactive and it moves to the system recycle bin. In the next publishing cycle, the deleted section will be removed from the live site. The recycle bin is purged every week (usually on a Friday) and the inactive section is permanently deleted from the CMS.

1. Click the Actions menu beside the section you want to delete.
2. Click Delete Section
3. Confirm the deletion

The status of the section is now set to Inactive.

Section Status Infographic showing that Approved sections go live, Pending and Inactive do not go live.