Adobe InContext
I have just started playing with Adobe InContext editing. This is a new technology that allows websites to be edited through a browser window, without the need to install additional software.
What impact it will have on Contribute, I’m not sure, but as both technologies are from Adobe, I doubt they will make their own commercial software redundant…
Using InContext is a breeze, and initially, it appears more intuitive than Contribute. You need to sign up with Adobe to get an ID to use it, and the site administrator can send out invitations to new users, letting them access the service.
After the site has been set up (ftp details entered etc) you access your site through the browser and press cmd/Ctrl + E to invoke the prompt for your Adobe ID. Once you enter this, you will see editable regions on the page with various options, depending on what level of control you have been given over content.
You can add type, maybe style it up using traditional formatting (bold/italic/font etc) or even pick from some Advanced styling options, if your designer has created ready-made styling for you.
Upload images and media from your computer or use files already on the web server
You can insert images and other media such as Flash swf files or mp3 clips, by either browsing to files that are already on your server or currently on your computer. Navigate to the file and the upload will begin if necessary.
When you are done with your page editing, you click on the Done button:
Save Draft/Done
This gives you the option to Save your page as a Draft for editing again later, or clicking Done to bring up the Publish dialog panel.
This new site editing technology certainly looks like the way forward for most users, combining ease and intuitive workflow.
If you are interested in getting a website built that allows you to edit your own content like this, contact Haiz Design and see how I can help.
“This gives you the option to Save your page as a Draft for editing again later…” Do you have any idea how I access the saved draft again at a later time if I don’t know the web page address? For example, I create a new page (by duplicting one of my standard pages and renaming it), I call it xy.html and I work on it and save a draft. Now when I return, if I forget that I called it xy.html how do I find the page I created. Is there an option to view all pending drafts, or a file manager to see all the pages currently on your site?
This is driving me loopy 🙂 and I can’t find any answers on adobe.
Hi Austin
I got this straight off the Adobe site:
If a draft version of a page already exists with edits, there is no way to go back and edit the original page from the draft. To edit the original page, you need to discard the draft and begin editing the original page again. When you discard a draft, you lose all of the changes that have been made to that page since it was last published by a web developer or publisher.
Here is the link About InContext Editing Draft Pages. I hope it helps.
Also, I know I can check the pages on an ftp viewer, through dreamweaver etc, but if a normal person is attempting to do it with only incontext editing at their disposal how do they find out?
Bottom line is they can’t. The previous link should hopefully give you more information.