University of Michigan - Flint

Any web page submitted to Staging (see the CMS Version Control article for details) is automatically available via the internet.  There are two main ways to "hide" pages so that they can't be accessed by visitors to your web site.  These methods are (click on the method to go to a detailed description of how to employ that method):

1. Leave the "Navigation" area of the form empty - This method is best employed for pages that need to be live for other department members to view and approve, without actually being accessible on the site.  Leaving the Navigation are of the form empty can only be applied to pages that will be entirely NEW to your web site (this method can't be used for updates to old pages).
2. Submit the template date, but not the actual page to Staging - While this method will ensure that pages do not go live before they're supposed to, it also slightly impairs the versions capability of the CMS.  Therefore, this method should only be used for updating pages that already exist on the website. 

The best way to keep a new page in your site from going live is to leave the "Navigation" area empty when you work on the form.  This omission will prevent the page from showing up in the left hand navigation file, making it impossible to find unless you know the exact address to the page (for example: www.umflint.edu/department/mynewpage.htm).  Just make sure you don't put any links to the new page on other pages in your TeamSite!

1. Create the new form (if you're editing an old page on your TeamSite, please check out the other option for "hiding" pages).  Fill in all of the information except for the "Navigation" area (see below).
   
   
   
2. Save your changes to the form, generate the page, and submit to Staging.

After submitting the page to Staging you can send the full web address of the page to anyone that needs to see it (to give opinions, approve, etc.).  If you have followed the above instructions that direct address will be the ONLY way that anyone can know the page exists.  General visitors to your site will not be able to navigate to it using the site navigation.

Once you are ready to make a page available to everyone, edit the page and enter the appropriate information in the Navigation area as well as adding any links to the page on other pages.

If you want to edit an existing web page on your TeamSite, leaving it off of the navigation may not be an option.  You will want visitors to have access to the old page while you are redesigning or making updates.  To avoid the changes from going live in this case, you will have to submit only the template data for the page to Staging, not the actual web page.  With this method you will not have the option of sending peers or co-workers a live address to view the changes before they are made available to the public.  They will only be able to see the changes by a) looking over your shoulder while you are logged into the CMS or b) when the page goes live and the public can see it.  Follow these steps to keep your updates from going live before you're ready:

1. Open/Edit the form. 
2. When you are finished with your changes click "Finish".  Say "Yes" to regenerate the page and see a sample of what it will look like. 
3. Navigate to the "content" area for your TeamSite by clicking on "content" from the file list on the left.
   
   
   
4. Check the box next to the "templatedata" folder in the center folder view.
   
   
   
5. Click  . 

By clicking  you will send the entire templatedata folder to Staging, creating a backup of all the files in case you delete something in your work area, while still keeping the updates to the page hidden from the live site.  If you are making edits to more than one page, make sure you do not submit all web pages (the entire folder with your department name).  Submit each page individually as you edit it and are ready to make it live to avoid making something available too early.