Updated April 1, 2008.
This is the Big Medium book, a comprehensive guide for writers, editors, designers and administrators. About 230 pages.
Tips for printing
The PDF is designed for double-sided printing. If your printer doesn't do that, or it just seems like too much work, please consider saving paper by printing two pages per sheet after printing the cover page. On Mac OSX, for example, you can do it like so:
In the "from" field of the print dialog, select pages 2 through 300.
From the print dialog, select "Layout."
In the Layout dialog, select "2" from the "Pages per Sheet" field.
Select "Single Hairline" from the "Border" field, and print.
How to use this book
The skills and know-how that you'll need to use Big Medium vary according to your role in managing your site. Here's a rundown of common categories of responsibility, along with the chapters of the guide that can help you to find your way.
Writing and editing
Adding and editing pages and other content to your site requires only basic word-processing and web-browsing skills. For details about how to add and edit pages, review these chapters:
- Chapter 2: "Ready... Set... Go!"
- Chapter 3: "Editing Webpages"
- Chapter 4: "The Page Types"
- Chapter 5: "Micro-Content: Announcements & Tips"
- Chapter 6: "The Libraries"
Site design
You'll need basic to intermediate knowledge of HTML and CSS to create your own custom design. However, Big Medium does provide a modest library of built-in design themes, and using one of these themes requires no technical knowledge.
For information about setting up your site's sections and using the theme library, review Chapter 7, "Sections and Content Categories," and Chapter 8, "Themes and Site Designs."
For information about using your own design or editing an existing theme design, review these chapters:
- Chapter 7, "Sections and Content Categories"
- Chapter 8, "Themes and Site Designs"
- Chapter 9, "Templates"
- Chapter 10, "Widgets"
- Chapter 11, "Styles"
- Chapter 12, "Image Management"
System administration
Administrators are responsible for installing the Big Medium software and adding new sites, creating new accounts and adjusting systemwide settings where necessary. You'll need basic knowledge about loading files to your server and setting file permissions (never fear, the installation section offers some pointers for these basics).
For more on these topics, review these chapters:
- Appendix A, "Installing Big Medium"
- Appendix B, "Preventing Spam with Akismet"
- Chapter 13, "Account Management"
- Chapter 14, "Site and System Properties"
- Chapter 15, "Managing Multiple Sites"
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