The Overland Agency is platform independent. We have designed, developed, tested and debugged and deployed on multiple website framework infrastructures. We have developed great websites using open source solutions such as PHP based Word Press and off-the-shelf software such as Movable Type and Ektron.

In addition, we have developed our own content management system and website framework with social networking features and ecommerce in .NET/C# that we will describe in some more detail on this page. We developed this Framework and CMS to be able to deploy highly functional websites at a reasonable time frame and budget. There are no ongoing licensing fees for our customers using our software.

The Overland Agency website framework and content management system has been developed over a period of four years. Over 60 websites has currently been deployed on the system. Farther down the page is our list of basic functionalities you get with our standard ASP.NET 2.0/C# website framework. We are constantly adding features and functionalities to our CMS, and beyond this basic framework you can add more advanced features, such as:

• Site tree management
• E-commerce and customer management
• Intranet/Extranet management
• Sales lead management
• Blogs
• Forums
• Localization/multi-language management
  

There are no licensing fees associated with our CMS. Please contact us for a demo of our CMS.
























The Content Management System (CMS) allows updates to your website. Through our easy-to-use, password-protected interface, you, and those you allow access, can add, edit, and delete content such as text and images. The Blueprint CMS is accessed by logging in as an administrator. This opens your website in Administration Mode. In this setting, you can browse your site through the standard navigation and open the specific areas you want to modify through “edit” links now available in the changeable areas.

Administrators
Administrators may log in to Administration Mode using a designated login and password. Each administrator has the ability to modify their password. The SuperAdmin can add administrators and set the level of access for each administrator using the Manage Site Users function. When adding a new administrator, the SuperAdmin must choose a username and password, and designate the administrator’s level of access. To set the level of access, the SuperAdmin must select a page. The administrator will have access to that page and all pages under it. For example, if given access to a first-level page the administrator will be able to edit that page and all second- and third-level pages under it. If given access to a second-level page, the administrator will have access to that page and all (if any) third-level pages under it. If given access to a third-level page, that will be the only page the administrator may edit. Only the SuperAdmin has access to the entire site. Administrators may be given permission to push pages live, or may be restricted to editing only. If an administrator does not have the ability to push pages live, the SuperAdmin will be the only one who can push the pages live. For more on the push-to-live function, see the next section.

Push-Live Function
Once edited or added, a page is only viewable (and hence available for review) when logged into Admin mode. Internet users will not see the updated or added page until it is pushed live. When logged in as the SuperAdmin, there is a button labeled “View pages to approve.” The button opens a page where all new or recently edited pages are listed and linked. Upon viewing each page, the SuperAdmin has the ability to make edits to the page (in addition to the changes made by other administrators), push the page live, or to revert to the original content.














































Adding New Pages
While in Admin mode, it is possible to create new second- and third-level pages. It is not possible to add first-level pages, though, because it would threaten the integrity of the top navigation bar. To add a new page, the administrator must navigate to the page under which they wish to add a new page and click the “Add __ Level Item” that appears under the left-side navigation bar. The administrator will then be taken to an edit screen where all editable fields available on the page will be displayed.

Each new page will appear last on the list of pages under that section. For example, a new second-level page would appear as the last item in the left navigation bar. (For how to rearrange pages, see the next section.) It is possible to leave a first-level page empty and have the page default to the second level. This functionality is useful for sections where introductions or overviews are unnecessary, or sections where a summary page is required. For example, “News” may be listed in the top navigation bar (making it a first-level page) but default to a second-level summary page displaying summaries of each news item.

Rearranging Pages
Second- and third-level pages may be rearranged. To rearrange pages, the administrator must navigate to the page above the level of pages that are to be rearranged. For example, to rearrange second-level pages, the administrator would need to navigate to the first-level page under which the second-level pages were listed and click the “Manage 2nd Level” link under the side navigation bar. The administrator would then be taken to a page listing all second-level items in order of appearance in the side navigation bar. From there, the administrator may move items up or down on the list using the “up” and “down” buttons.

Each click moves the item up one or down one on the list. For example, moving an item from first to fourth on the list would require clicking the Down button three times.

Editing Pages
Where designated, content and images are editable using the CMS. The CMS features in-place editing. Once logged into Admin mode, the page navigation and layout will appear as normal with admin links added to each page. To edit a page, an administrator must navigate to it just as a user would, and click Edit. The Edit link will take the administrator to the Edit Screen where it is possible to edit the navigation and body titles, customize the right-side promotional items, create summary pages (second-level pages only), and edit body content.

Navigation Titles
Within the body, administrators may create hyperlinks, upload images, upload documents, and create tables. Navigation titles for second- and third-level pages may be edited from the Edit Screen. The navigation title appears in the side navigation bar. Navigation titles also appear as the summary title when summary pages are created.

Body Titles
The navigation title may also appear as the title on the page if no body title is entered. Body titles can be edited from the Edit Screen. They appear above the body text of each page. If a body title is not entered, the body title will default to the navigation title.

Side Promo Items
Side promotional items with text and images may be added on the right side of the site. There will be one field for adding content with a fixed set of font styles.

Summary Pages
Second-level pages may be tagged as summary pages. This means that instead of body text, the page will display an automatically generated list of summaries for all subpages. Summary pages are especially useful for press releases.

On the page tagged as the summary page, there will be a series of small paragraphs corresponding to the third-level items directly under the summary page. Each paragraph will have a title (identical to the navigation title of the corresponding third level page) and a “learn more” link.

Although the amount of text in the paragraph is unlimited, we recommend that it be no more than five lines.

Body Text & Images
The CMS has full WYSIWYG rich text editing with many of the same functions as Microsoft Word (with the corresponding buttons).

A basic fuctionality package includes:

• Pre-determined text styles (font, size, color)
• Font image creation
• Formatting (bold, italic, underline, subscript, superscript, indenting)
• A set of symbols that may be inserted
• Hyperlinked text and images
• Uploading documents (for download by user)
• Inserting bullets and numbering (outline numbering is not available)
• Undo/redo, cut, copy, and paste
• Find
• Spell check
• Uploading/managing images
• Mapping images
• Creating tables
• Stripping format (word formatting, html tags, cascade style sheets, font tags, and span tags)

The functions above have controls similar to those used in modern word processors:



Adding Text
Body text may be added by typing text directly into the body field in the Edit Screen, or by pasting text from elsewhere using the “Paste Plain Text” function. If the latter is not used, the text will need to be stripped of all formatting before using the formatting tools included in the CMS.

The “Paste Plain Text” function will remove or destroy the formatting for bullets and numbers, and remove spacing between paragraphs, hyperlinks, and all font formatting.

Formatting Text
Text styles are pre-determined to maintain consistency throughout the site and avoid breaking the appearance of the site over time. To apply a text style, select it from the drop-down menu in the body field.

Font Image Creation Fonts are not limited to web fonts; the CMS automatically creates images of the text for display in the content. Text images can be used anywhere, but shouldn’t be overused as they will negatively effect search rankings.

Symbols
All standard symbols are available for insertion.

Images
It is possible to upload images to the server and place them within the body text. The CMS has an automatic resizing and cropping functionality that allows pictures to be resized during the uploading process. If an image is too large to fit in the region where it is uploaded, a window will automatically appear allowing the administrator to proportionally crop the image to a specified target size.


After the administrator designates a width and length for the photo, a box with the designated dimensions will appear over the picture. The administrator can proportionally increase the size of the box and place it over the portion of the image. The CMS will then automatically resize and crop the image before inserting it.








Once an image is inserted within the body text, the administrator may set the following image properties:

• Border width
• Border color
• Image alt text
• Image alignment
• Horizontal and vertical spacing

Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks may be created to internal and external pages as well as e-mail addresses. The hyperlink manager allows administrators to modify the link text, alt tag, and target of the link. Anchor links may be created both within and across pages. For anchors on the same page as the link, the anchor may be linked by selecting it from a drop down menu in the hyperlink manager.



For anchors on other pages the administrator must manually enter the URL (the URL of the page containing the anchor, the pound sign, and the name of the anchor link).

Document Links
The CMS may be used to link documents to the site and make them available for viewers to download. Documents are uploaded to the site using the Document Manager functionality. The document manager allows administrators to modify the link text, alt tag, and target of the link.

Image Mapping Buttons can be created within images placed in the body text. The shape of the buttons is limited to rectangles or circles. The administrator may create an image map by selecting an image, creating an area (rectangle or circle) over the portion of image they wish to map, and entering a URL and a target. To create more than one link per image, the process is simply repeated.

Creating Tables
The functionalities of the table tool are more limited than in Microsoft Word. Also, when editing the table (size of cells, number of rows, background, borders, etc.) it is not possible to view the text contained in the table. To create a table within the body of a page, use the Table Wizard to set the parameters for the table (number of rows and columns, width, alignment borders, cell spacing, etc.).

The text of the table must be edited directly within the Body field. After creating a table, the administrator may fine-tune it by right-clicking and choosing table properties or cell properties. The following properties may be managed using the table wizard: table height and width, cell height and width, background color (limited selection), alignment of table within body text, alignment of text within cells, cell spacing, cell padding, and merging cells.

Editing Meta Tags and Description
On the homepage, there is an Edit button where the meta tags and description can be modified by the administrator.

Automatic Features
When pages are added and edited, the following site elements automatically update:

• Sitemap – automatically created and updated
• Breadcrumbs – automatically created and updated, helps with search ranking and page bookmarking
• Page titles – automatically created and updated, helps with search ranking and bookmarking
• Side navigation and navigation title – styles set in stylesheet
• URL rewriting –pseudo page names are created automatically based on the page title as entered into the CMS by the administrator (example: www.company.com/about+us.aspx), helps in search rankings and creates “friendly” URLs

Search Feature
Search window appears in the top right corner of every page. Allows for full text search of the content of the entire site. Results display the section of the content in which the search string was found (much like Google).

Forms
All Overland Agency basic framework websites and CMS's come standard with two forms for lead generation for those of you that offer seminars, whitepapers, software trial downloads, etc.:

• Contact Us form
• Registration form

There are no licensing fees associated with our CMS. Please contact us for a demo of our content management system.