The Basics

LiveWhale is the content management system (CMS) used to keep the Ursinus College website current, informative, engaging, and interesting. 

The Content Management System (CMS) is used to edit text on pages, add stories, events, profiles, images and other dynamic content, and manage the components that make up your web 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

Trained web editors in every department can click here to log in using your username and password. You can also find the link to Editor’s Login on the bottom of every Ursinus webpage.

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

Editor Training

Want to become and editor or do you need to have a new employee trained and given editor rights? Schedule an appointment with Erin Hovey at ehovey@ursinus.edu to be trained for your office or department.  It is very important that all editors have proper in-person or virtual training to review style standards, accessibility topics and proper steps to laying out a page and creating dynamic content.

Static vs. Dynamic Content

If you log in using the Editor Login footer link, you’ll be returned to the last site page you visited. The only difference will be the black 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 Save and Publish (top right). Note: While you are editing a page, you may see blue bars on these pages which are called Widgets. Widgets are added on the page through the Insert button on the tool bar and they pull in and display dynamic content from the dashboard such as events, news, galleries and profiles.

Dynamic Content

All dynamic content is created and managed in the Dashboard (blue button on top right). This will be where you create, edit and manage events, news stories, pages, forms, profiles, blurbs, images and galleries. More on Dynamic Content

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.