Default KB Template with Instructions
Help Documentation
Check out the Editor Tool Overview. That article and the broader KB User's Guide is a great resource for any information that is not listed below.
Fields Above
Title: Please delete the default template title and use the following format - Name of Application/System - Brief Title (capitalize like a book title)
Keywords: Please delete the default template keywords and add your own. Keywords are searchable within the KB. No need to enter words that appear in the title and commas are not needed. Just put a space between each keyword. Please add as many meaningful keywords as you can to make searching easier.
Summary: Please delete the default template summary. Enter a brief summary for your article and if there is an intended audience, please specify that. If a summary is superfluous, click the space bar on your keyboard to register "text" as this field is required.
Body
Please scroll down and add all of your article content underneath these instructions so that you have guidance at your fingertips. Prior to submitting your article for review, delete everything above your content.
The editor interface frequently auto-saves your draft to ensure you don't lose content as you are working on your article. In the upper right, you will see a timestamp indicating when the last save occurred. You can always feel free to select the blue Save Draft button as well.
To keep the style of the articles consistent, if you are directing the user to click on or navigate to something specific, bold that text instead of putting it within parenthesis. [Example: Please select Settings and then click Calendar.]
Importing content from other sources:
There are "Import from Word" and "Import from URL" options available within the Insert tab in the editor ribbon. Please be aware that pasting in or importing content from other sources may create formatting issues. Should that occur, select the problematic content and then click Format > Clear formatting from the ribbon above.
Headings:
Use Heading 3 when introducing new sections in your article as shown below. Use the drop-down in the ribbon to change it from Paragraph to Heading 3. You may opt to insert a horizontal line in between sections. To do so, select Insert > Horizontal line.
Images:
- Select the Insert/edit image button from the ribbon. For accessibility reasons, you will be prompted to provide a specific and succinct alternative description for the image.
- For more information on image requirements, please click here
- The Snipping Tool (Windows), Grab Tool (Apple), and the Snagit app are helpful for capturing images. Please do not include extraneous visual content in your images. Pictures should highlight the content that you are describing. Borders and arrows can be added to emphasize important parts of the image.
- Screenshots should not contain your name or personal user information. Please be sure to remove/erase those details in your image editor prior to inserting it into your article.
Insert links to a URL or an email address:
If you enter the full URL including https://, the editor will automatically hyperlink it, however, it will not open in a new window by default. Select the text and click the hyperlink (insert/edit link) button in the toolbar. Select Open link in new window and click Save.
If you are linking to an email address, highlight the address in the body, select the the hyperlink (insert/edit link) button, and in the URL field, enter the address in the format of mailto:my-mail@my-domain.com
Link to another KB article within your article:
Position the cursor where you would like to insert the link and select KB link doc. Enter the document ID number, choose Open link in new window, and click Insert.
Anchors:
If your article is long, consider using links at the top of the article that are tied to anchors in the body. This will allow users to more easily navigate through the content. Position the cursor where you would like to insert the anchor, select the Insert tab (above), and select Anchor. It will prompt for an ID. Give it a name (it should start with a letter, followed by only letters, numbers, dashes,dots, colons, or underscores) and select Save. Next, enter the text at the top of the article that will become the link to your anchor. Highlight the text and select the hyperlink button in the toolbar. In the Anchors field, select the anchor ID/Name that you just created, leave it set to the default of opening in the current window, and select Save.
Accessibility Checker:
Please select the person icon in the toolbar to make sure your document meets the accessibility standards.
Selections to the Right
Preview:
Press the white Preview button to see how your article will look live. Make sure any hyperlinks are working as expected. "Internal view" is what logged in users will see via https://kb.parkland.edu/internal. Internal article access (behind login) should be reserved for articles that are of a sensitive nature. Most will be open and available via https://kb.parkland.edu which is the "External view".
Access:
Site Access: Leave both options checked.
Campus Access: It defaults to being searchable and viewable without authentication. Most articles are configured this way. If your article is of a more secure nature, you may opt to select Ext/Internal with campus login. If external SiteAccess is also selected, the document is searchable externally, and the document title is exposed to external site users, but document content access will require users to log in. External search results will indicate that campus login is required for these documents.
Read Access: It defaults to No user groups selected. This is the appropriate choice if you want anyone outside of your User Access Group (if applicable) to be able to read the article.
Edit Access: "Owner group" is the default and it is the appropriate choice for Parkland authors (even if you are not part of a User Access Group). It allows all members of the access group (if one exists) to make edits, however, you will need to specifically select your group, if applicable. To do so, select Show other edit access and check the appropriate group as pictured below. If you would like to have a User Access Group created for you, please reach out to Sara Stone.
Searchability
Search priority: It is set to "Normal" by default. If the article will be referenced often, please select Top or High and it will populate at the top of the KB search results.
Topics: There are a limited number of topics you can choose from. If you don't see an appropriate topic for your article, leave it blank.
Audiences: This selection will not restrict students from seeing Faculty/Staff articles and vice versa, however, users can opt to search articles that are only intended for the audience they are a part of. Please select your intended audience/s.
Activation and Expiration
Activation: Most authors will leave this as the default, however, adjustments can be useful for preparing documentation in advance of a product or service roll-out.
Expiration: Documents are automatically set to expire four years after the creation date. The document owner will receive "review" email prompts every year so that authors can go in and edit and/or update information. Owners will also receive a review notification a week or two prior to the expiration date. Please review the document/s and make updates as appropriate. If no updates are needed, simply use the Mark as reviewed option. Expired documents are unavailable to users so it is extremely important that you stay on top of your content!
Related Documents
See Also: If you want related article links to appear at the bottom of your article, insert those document ID numbers. This is important in making sure that our KnowledgeBase is as thorough and helpful as possible.
Header and Footer
Page header: Leave it as the default which is "None".
Page footer: Please select the appropriate one from the drop-down menu. Authors within Campus Technologies should select Tech Service Desk. It will automatically insert their contact information at the bottom of the published article.
Notification Settings
Please leave these options as the default selections. If you need to change ownership of your article to another KB author, that can be modified within the "Owner" drop-down menu.
Advanced
Most authors should not have need to use these fields.
Submit for Review
When creating or editing a document, the status defaults to Draft. If you are not done with your document but need to close your session, make sure your latest draft is saved. It will be stored within the Draft link under the Documents tab in https://kb.parkland.edu/kbAdmin and will NOT be viewable from the public KB site - https://kb.parkland.edu. Once you have completed your article, click the blue Save Draft button. Select the drop-down arrow next to it and click Submit for Review. The status will change to In Review. Once it has been approved by the Parkland KB admins, they will publish it. The status will change to Published, and it will be searchable and viewable by users.