3
Maintaining a Content Area

Estimated completion time: 40 minutes

An Oracle Portal content area is a service for publishing, organizing, classifying, and displaying content. Simple controls within the content area allow you to upload or directly enter your content, manage how it is represented and organized, format the way it appears on a Web page, and publish it to the appropriate user community.

For basic information about content areas, see Section 1.1.2, "What are content areas?".

Oracle Portal content areas are created by portal administrators for use by a particular user community or line of business. Once created, the content area can be accessed by portal users to build a folder hierarchy and upload items based on the privileges set by the content area administrator and folder owners. In this way, related content can be organized together according to a top-down information taxonomy, an established corporate organization, or a bottom-up ad-hoc structure. New content can be added to existing folders, to new folders within the existing content area, or, if appropriate, to a new content area created with a separate folder hierarchy that shares important enterprise-wide attributes.

To familiarize you with Oracle Portal's content area building capabilities, this chapter leads you through the steps of updating the corporate content area of a fictitious company named Healthy Living Wholesalers. You should complete the following exercises if you are responsible for maintaining one or more content areas (that is, you are a content area administrator) or folders (that is, you are a folder owner). Exercises that apply to content area administrators only are clearly identified as such.

Note: Only portal administrators can create new content areas. Content area administrators and folder owners can edit only their own existing content areas or folders, they cannot create new content areas.

This chapter includes the following sections:

• Section 3.1, "Before You Begin"

• Section 3.2, "Creating a Folder"

• Section 3.3, "Creating a Category (Content Area Administrators Only)"

• Section 3.4, "Creating a Perspective (Content Area Administrators Only)"

• Section 3.5, "Creating a Style and Applying it to a Folder"

• Section 3.6, "Creating a Navigation Bar and Applying it to a Folder"

• Section 3.7, "Controlling Access to Your Content Area"

• Section 3.8, "Lesson Summary"

Tip: For more in-depth advice on how to design content areas, see the "Planning Your Web Content" chapter of Oracle9i Application Server Portal Building Portals, Release 3.0.9.

3.1 Before You Begin

To complete the exercises in this chapter, you must be a content area administrator of the Healthy Living Tutorial content area. Instructions for assigning content area administrators to the Healthy Living Tutorial content area are provided in Section A.4, "Assigning a User as a Content Area Administrator of the Tutorial Content Area".

You must start and log on to Oracle Portal. For instructions on how to do this, see "Starting and Logging on to Oracle Portal".

3.2 Creating a Folder

A content area is divided into folders. A folder is a collection of related items, including files, URLs of other pages, text, and components. For example, the Healthy Living Tutorial content area includes the folders Our Company, Our Products, and For Our Employees. Dividing a content area into these distinct areas means you can structure your content and organize it logically. This makes it much easier for your users to find the information they need.

Note: A content area administrator can create folders anywhere in a content area. A folder owner can create folders only within the folders he or she owns.

Suppose you have been asked to take over the administration of the Healthy Living content area. This content area is used by employees, suppliers, and customers of Healthy Living Wholesalers to access information about the company.

The Healthy Living Sales department has decided to introduce an associate program, through which members can sell Healthy Living products from their own Web sites. The Sales department have put together several documents that provide useful information about the program, and wants to publish them on the Healthy Living content area where potential associates can view them.

Your first task as the content area administrator is to create a new folder to contain these documents.

1. In the shortcut bar, click .

2. If you are not already on the Content Areas tab of the Navigator, click the Content Areas tab.

3. If you are not already at the root level, click Content Areas in the Path.

4. In the Healthy Living Tutorial row, click Contents.

5. Click Folders.

   As you can see, some folders already exist in the content area. But none of these folders are appropriate to store information about the associate program. So you need to create a new folder.

6. Next to Create New..., click Folder.

   Note: If you cannot see the Folder link, you are probably not a content area administrator of the Healthy Living Tutorial content area. Ask your portal administrator to assign you as a content area administrator. Instructions for doing this are provided in Section A.4, "Assigning a User as a Content Area Administrator of the Tutorial Content Area".

7. In the Folder Type list, make sure Container is chosen.

   
   

8. Click Next.

9. In the Name field, enter <YourName>associate, where YourName is your own user name.

   Note: Throughout this tutorial you add your user name to the beginning of names and display names to make sure that the object you are creating is unique, and is easy to find later.

10. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName>'s Associate Program.

11. In the Category list, make sure General is chosen.

    Note: You'll find out more about categories later on in this chapter.

    
    
12. Click Finish.

    You now have a folder to contain information about the associates program. Later on in this chapter, you'll learn how to grant privileges on the folder so that members of the Sales department can upload their documents into this folder.

3.3 Creating a Category (Content Area Administrators Only)

You must assign all items and folders that you add to a content area to a category. A category is a grouping that answers the content-specific question "What is this?". For example, the Healthy Living content area includes the categories About Us, How To, and The Product Line. Users who want information on the company itself and don't need to know about the product line can search for items belonging to the About Us category. Categories provide you with the ability to further organize content, so that users can quickly and easily find the information they want. You can assign an item or folder to only one category.

The information about the associate program includes a document that provides answers to frequently asked questions (known as an FAQ). Since there are several FAQs covering different aspects of Healthy Living in the content area, it would be useful to create a new category for this type of document to make it easier for users to find this type of information.

1. In the Categories row, click Create.

2. In the Name field, enter <YourName>faq.

3. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName>'s FAQ.

   
   

4. Click Create.

   A link to your new category now displays at the top of the page, which you can click to edit the category.

5. We don't need to edit the category at this point, so click Close.

   Now, when users add an FAQ document to the content area, they can assign it to this new category. Users of the content area can search the FAQ category to quickly retrieve all FAQ documents.

3.4 Creating a Perspective (Content Area Administrators Only)

When you add an item to a content area, you can assign it to one or more perspectives. A perspective is a cross-folder, cross-category grouping that answers the question "Who will be interested in this?". For example, the Healthy Living content area includes the perspectives Supplier, Employee, and HTML. Employees who want to view items that are relevant to them and don't need to know about information relating to suppliers, can search for items belonging to the Employees perspective. Perspectives provide your users with the ability to quickly and easily find the information that interests them, without having to filter out other irrelevant information themselves.

To provide members of the associate program with quick access to all the information that they are likely to be interested in, it would be useful to have a perspective for those users.

1. In the Path, click Healthy Living Tutorial.

2. In the Perspectives row, click Create.

3. In the Name field, enter <YourName>associate.

4. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName>'s Associate.

   
   

5. Click Create.

   A link to your new perspective now displays at the top of the page, which you can click to edit the perspective.

6. We don't need to edit the perspective at this point, so click Close.

   Now, when users add an item that is of interest to associate program members or potential members, they can assign it to this new perspective. Associate program members can search on the Associate perspective to retrieve all of the items they might need.

3.5 Creating a Style and Applying it to a Folder

A style is a template that controls the look and feel of content area folders and navigation bars. This template governs the colors, font properties, size, background images, banners, and other graphical elements that are common across the content area. When you create a content area, Oracle Portal automatically creates two default styles. One is applied to the folders in the content area, the other is applied to the navigation bars in the content area. Typically, you will want to either edit these default styles, or create your own to apply your own corporate look and feel.

3.5.1 Creating a style

The previous content area administrator has already changed the style of the navigation bars to match the Healthy Living corporate look and feel. You now need to do the same for the folders. First, let's create a new style to work with.

1. Click Styles.

   You can see the two default styles that already exist for your content area: Healthy Living Tutorial and Healthy Living Tutorial Navbar Style.

2. Next to Create New..., click Style.

3. In the Name field, enter <YourName>hlwstyle.

4. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName>'s HLW Style.

5. In the Copy From list, choose Main Site Style.

   
   

6. Click Create.

   A link to your new style now displays at the top of the page, which you can click to edit the style.

3.5.2 Editing style properties

Now that you've created the new style, you need to edit it to match the Healthy Living corporate style.

1. At the top of the page, click <YourName>'s HLW Style.

   Tip: If you are no longer on the Create Style page or cannot see the link at the top of the page, locate the style in the Navigator and click Edit.

2. In the Style Element list, choose Main Banner Color.

3. In the Color field, enter #000066.

   Tip: If you do not know the hexadecimal code of the color, you can choose the color from the color palette.

   
   
4. Click the Apply button to the right of the Color field.

5. Change the colors of other style elements as listed in the table below.

   Tip: Remember to click Apply after changing each of the colors to make sure that the color is applied to each element.

   Style Element	Color
   Sub Banner	#000066
   Sub Banner Color	#6699CC
   Sub Banner Link	#000066
   Region Banner	#000066
   Region Banner Color	#6699CC
   Group By Banner	#000066
   Group By Banner Color	#6699CC
   Group By Banner Link	#000066
   Item Display Name Link/Navigation Bar Link	#000066
   Item Display Name Text/Navigation Bar Label	#000066

   Note: Each time you click Apply, the preview area updates to reflect your changes.

6. Click OK.

   Note: As well as banner and font colors, you can also change font size, face, style, and alignment, the height of the banners, and the placement of the folder path.

3.5.3 Applying a style to a folder

Now you need to associate the new style with a folder in your content area.

1. In the Path, click Healthy Living Tutorial.

2. Click Folders.

3. Next to the folder you created earlier (<YourName>'s Associate Program), click Edit.

4. Click the Style tab.

5. In the Select Style list, choose <YourName>'s HLW Style.

   The page refreshes to preview the chosen style. Here, you can also edit the style.

   
   
6. Click Apply.

7. Click OK.

8. Click <YourName>'s Associate Program.

   Note: The style has been applied to the folder, but NOT to the navigation bar. You need to apply a style to the navigation bar separately. Oracle Portal separates the two because you may want to use a different style for navigation bars. For example, in the Healthy Living content area, we want a white background for the folder area, but a light blue background for the navigation bar.

9. Click your browser's Back button.

3.6 Creating a Navigation Bar and Applying it to a Folder

Navigation bars enable users to quickly locate the Web content that they need. A typical navigation bar might contain a list of commonly accessed URLs, a basic content area search function, and a list of all of the available categories of information on a particular content area. Not every item on the navigation bar, however, needs to be an interface element. You can also include links to anything (for example, external Web sites), static images (for example, a logo), and static text.

When you create a content area, Oracle Portal automatically creates a default navigation bar and applies it to the content area. Typically, you will want to either edit this default navigation bar, or create your own.

3.6.1 Creating a navigation bar

There are various elements that we could include on the Healthy Living content area's navigation bar to improve usability for its users. First, let's create a new navigation bar.

1. In the Path, click Healthy Living Tutorial.

2. Click Navigation Bars.

   You can see the default navigation bar that already exists for your content area.

3. Next to Create New..., click Navigation Bar.

4. In the Name field, enter <YourName>hlwnavbar.

5. In the Display Name field, enter <YourName>'s HLW Navigation Bar.

6. In the Style list, choose Healthy Living Tutorial Navbar Style.

   
   

7. Click Create.

   A link to your new navigation bar now displays at the top of the page, which you can click to edit the navigation bar.

3.6.2 Adding elements to a navigation bar

The navigation bar that you just created is currently blank. You need to edit it to add the elements that you want to include.

1. At the top of the page, click <YourName>'s HLW Navigation Bar.

   Tip: If you are no longer on the Create Navigation Bar page or cannot see the link at the top of the page, locate the navigation bar in the Navigator and click Edit.

2. Click the Elements tab.

3. In the navigation bar preview, click .

   
   

4. In the Element Type list, make sure Basic Elements is chosen.

   
   

5. Click Next.

6. In the Available list, select:
   • Log On/Log Off Link

   • Administration Link

   • Basic Search

   • Content Area Map

   • Portal Home

7. Click .

8. Click and until the basic elements in the Selected list are in the same order as in the graphic below.

   
   

9. Click Finish.

   The preview refreshes to reflect the elements you have added to the navigation bar.

10. Click Close.

3.6.3 Applying a navigation bar to a folder

Now you need to associate the new navigation bar with a folder in your content area.

1. In the Path click Healthy Living Tutorial.

2. Click Folders.

3. Next to the folder you created earlier (<YourName>'s Associate Program), click Edit.

4. Click the Nav Bar tab.

5. Select the Select A Navigation Bar radio button.

6. In the list of navigation bars, chose <YourName>'s HLW Navigation Bar.

   
   

7. Click Apply.

   The page refreshes. Here, you can edit the navigation bar.

8. Click OK.

9. Click <YourName>'s Associate Program.

   Your navigation bar has been applied to this folder.

10. Click your browser's Back button.

3.7 Controlling Access to Your Content Area

Each folder in your content area is either public or non-public. If it is public, all users may view its contents without logging on. If it is non-public, only users who are logged on and have explicit View Content privileges on the folder may view its contents.

Until users log on to the content area, they are public users and can only view content. Moreover, as public users, they can view content in public folders only. For greater access to the content area, users must log on. Once users are logged on, Oracle Portal can determine which other tasks they can perform and which other non-public folders they can access.

For example, you may have a folder (say, your content area's root folder) that you want everyone to be able to view, but you want only one particular user to be able to add content to it. To enable this, you need to first make sure the root folder is a public folder, and then explicitly grant the content contributor Manage Items privileges on the folder.

Or, you may have a folder that you want only a restricted number of users to be able to view. In that case, you would make the folder non-public, and grant each restricted user View Content privileges on the folder. If the number of restricted users is fairly large, you might consider creating a group for those users and granting folder privileges to the group rather than to each individual user.

There are various levels of access to a folder:

With these privileges:	Users can:
Own Folder	Perform all folder tasks, including granting folder privileges to other users. Distributing folder ownership means that folder-level tasks are more likely to be completed in a timely fashion, and don't just get tagged on to the end of the content area administrator's to-do list. The content area administrator automatically has Own Folder privileges on every folder in the content area.
View Content	View any item in the folder.
Edit Style	Make changes to the folder's style.
Manage Items	Add, edit, and delete items in the folder. Delegating content ownership means that content is maintained by the users who know it best, and thus is more likely to be kept accurate and up-to-date.
Create With Approval	Add new items to the folder. Items that are added by users with Create With Approval privileges must be approved by the folder owner before they are visible to other users.

Note: You can also provide security at the item level. For more information, visit the Oracle Portal Online Help, In the Search field, enter security, and click Go.

3.7.1 Providing access to everyone

If you have public information within your content area, you can allow any user who displays the content area to view that information, including those users who are not logged on.

Anyone who accesses the Healthy Living content area should be able to view the contents of the Associate Program folder that you created earlier, without having to log on.

1. In the <YourName>'s Associate Program row, click Edit.

2. Click the Access tab.

3. Select the Make Public check box.

   
   

4. Click Apply.

   Now, any user can view the contents of your Associate Program folder.

3.7.2 Providing access for a specific user

If you want to give a user access beyond being able to view public folders, you need to explicitly grant that user privileges on folders.

One of the benefits of Oracle Portal is that you can distribute the responsibility of adding content to those users who actually create the content without compromising security. Let's grant a user privileges to add content to the Associate Program folder.

1. In the Name field, enter HLW_EMPLOYEE.

   
   

2. Click Add To Access List.

   The page refreshes and HLW_EMPLOYEE is added to the access control list in the Change Access section.

3. In the HLW_EMPLOYEE row, select the Manage Items check box.

   
   

   Note: You created the folder, so you are automatically assigned as the folder owner.

4. Click Apply.

   HLW_EMPLOYEE can now add, edit, and delete items in the Associate Program folder.

3.7.3 Providing access for multiple users

You can also grant the same folder access privileges to multiple users. For example, suppose you want to allow all members of a particular department to be able to add content to their department's folder. You could grant privileges to each user individually, but that is time consuming and difficult to maintain, especially if the same users need to be given access to several different folders. Instead, you can create a group containing these users, then grant folder access privileges to the group.

When you grant a privilege to a group, that privilege applies to every member of that group. So, when a new employee joins the department, you can simply add him or her to the group. Doing so gives the new employee the same folder privileges as other members of his or her department.

Suppose you want to allow several users the ability to add items to the Associate Program folder. However, the owner of the folder wants to approve the items added by these users before they become available to other users.

1. In the Name field, enter HLW_HR.

   
   

2. Click Add to Access List.

   The page refreshes and HLW_HR is added to the access control list in the Change Access section.

3. In the HLW_HR row, select the Create With Approval check box.

   
   

4. Click Apply.

   All the members of the HLW_HR group can now add items to the Associate Program folder. These items will not display to other users until the folder owner approves them.

5. Click OK.

3.8 Lesson Summary

Congratulations! You have updated the Healthy Living Tutorial content area. You now know how to:

• Create a folder

• Create a category

• Create a perspective

• Create a style and apply it to a folder

• Create a navigation bar and apply it to a folder

• Provide access to a content area

For more information about building content areas, see the online help system.