Manage-pages:Manage linked media

From Site Foundry

Contents 1 What is linked media, and why would I want to manage it? 1.1 How to edit linked media 1.2 So what does it all mean? 1.3 Special Considerations 1.3.1 Inline media 1.3.2 Rich media 1.3.2.1 Flash video (FLV)

What is linked media, and why would I want to manage it?

To provide linking to multiple sources of media across an installation of Site Foundry, the media manager works in with each page (and module, provided this is accounted for). You will find that there is a button labelled Link Media and Manage Media at the bottom of the item that is being viewed (see the image to the right).

Using this function, administrators can browse all media assets uploaded to the application, and link these as many times as required across the site, resizing them without loosing the original asset as it was uploaded. The administrator can then manage these assets at their individual linking point, and place them in the page at a specified location, completely independent of any other linking instance.

How to edit linked media

1. To edit linked media, click on Manage pages or module used to edit a particular item of content.
2. Click on the name of the item that you are looking to edit.
3. Click the Manage Media (highlited as 4 in the image below) button located at the bottom of the item view.
4. This will display a list of the currently linked media to this individual item.

So what does it all mean?

The manage media inset will be displayed as in the image below, showing the administrator the different items of media that are currently linked to the item being edited.

The area titled manage media in the image above is described as follows:

1. Designate checkbox: This is the first item in the manage media inset (highlighted above as 1). There is no heading on this column as it inherently has no function within the Site Foundry core. It is included as a way of highlighting an item of media from a list of many. For example, in a news module, there may be many images linked to a story. So that the module can show in index image alongside a short description when vied as a list of news items, it is possible for the developer to write in functionality that allows administrators to check an item of media to be used as this index image.
2. Lightbox checkbox: Site Foundry incorporates as standard the open source image lightbox browser (as of version 2.3.2). This functionality as the documentation suggests is for browsing through large versions of a group of images (only) within the current browser window. To use the lighbox function, the administrator will check the checkbox for the media item in the column marked LB (see above). To create the thumbnail image, the user will enter the size to resize the image to into the resize input field (highlighted above as 5). This will then place the resized media item referenced by its media tag. To view the upload full sized version of this image, the user will click on its thumbnail, which will then display the large version using the lightbox JavaScript function.
3. Flag: For each item of media linked to an item of content within Site Foundry, a media flag is assigned. This is an individual identifier set for an individual item of content independent of any other items of content within Site Foundry. This textual flag can then be included in any textual area of content (for example, highlighted above as 2). The flag will then be replaced with the appropriate media item in the front end of the application, be it flash, WMV or a jpeg. It is also possible to roll over an images media flag to display a thumbnail for quick referencing. Clicking the media flag will also place the media flag into the flow of copy within a WYSIWYG editor.
4. Description: This is description entered when the media item was uploaded.
5. Alt tag: Is a field that is mainly used for entering an alternate attribute for an image. This is useful for accessibility and SEO. It is also used for creating textual linking references for media items such as a PDF or word document. In the example above, the item marked as {media3} (a PDF) will be referenced with a <a> tag containing the words 'Download this PDF' (i.e. <a href="link_to_the_pdf.pdf">Download this PDF</a> ).
6. Aligned: Will set a class attribute within the media item that can then be referenced within CSS. In this way it is possible to set a behaviour of floating an image to the left or right in a block of copy.
7. Size/New window: Highlighted in the image above as 5, this column contains different values for different items of media. For images, flash and video, input fields are displayed for the administrator to enter a fixed size for the item when it appears in the flow of copy. For other items that have no physical representation within HTML (i.e. MP3, word document, PDF etc.), a checkbox that can be ticked to force the browser to open the item in a new window when its reference link is clicked by a user in the front end of the application is provided.
8. Unlink: To remove a linkage from a particular item, click the unlink link at the end of the row of each media item. This will only remove this linkage instance, not any other instances, or the physical media item on the server.

Special Considerations

The following details how to use various types of files linked within the Site Foundry app.

Inline media

When using the following mime types:

1. application/pdf
2. application/msword
3. application/msexcel
4. application/mspowerpoint
5. audio/mp3
6. application/x-zip

You will need to keep in mind that they are in-line items - i.e. the software will produce a link to a physically uploaded file that can be placed into the flow of copy. Add alt tag text (see 5 above) to create the text displayed inside the link. That is, to get the following

<a href="http://www.domain.com/a/link/to/something">download this file</a>

You would add download this file to the all tag when managing linked media.

Rich media

Files of the following mime type are considered rich[sic] media:

1. application/x-shockwave-flash
2. video/quicktime
3. video/x-ms-wmv

When linking files of this type, you will need to include a width and height each linked item.

Flash video (FLV)

.flv (video/x-flv) files are a special case. Because of the way the files are linked, it is difficult to create a single media instance out of multiple items of media. Thus, when you link an flv, you can place this in your content, and it will be replaced by a flash player (JW FLV Media Player 4.3). You will need to indicate a width and height to get it working.

Additionally you can assign a thumbnail (gif, png, jpg) to the player, by linking it, then entering the integer portion of the media flag (i.e. {media23} would be 23) into the the alt tag input field for the linked flv file.