[title sub="Written by Allen Ellis"]Composr Tutorial: Admin Zone overview[/title]

[media width="150" description="The Admin Zone at first glance" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/adminzone_first_glance.png[/media]
{!menus:DOC_ADMIN_ZONE} It can be accessed from anywhere by clicking the Admin Zone icon which appears at the bottom of every default-themed Composr page (when logged in as a staff member). You can also get an 'Admin Zone' link in the user menu (again when logged in as a staff member). You may be prompted to login again to confirm your current session -- this is for added security.

[contents]decimal,lower-alpha[/contents]

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[title="2"]First glance[/title]

The Admin Zone is divided into sections, with links across the top-panel to allow easy access to each -- most of the tabs will take you to a screen with icons that allows you to navigate throughout the system.

[title="2"]Content Management Zone[/title]

{!menus:DOC_CMS}
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[title="2"]Admin Zone[/title]

[title="3"]Search[/title]

[media width="150" description="Search results" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/search_results.png[/media]
[media width="150" description="The search feature is under the Help icon" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/search.png[/media]
If you are ever wondering where something is in the Admin Zone you can try the search. The search is a very powerful tool that searches many different things, and supports alternative words people commonly use for the same things.

Search results are displayed by section, for example:
 - Configuration options
 - Privileges
 - Templates
 - Administrative modules
 - [i]and so on[/i]

You can also restrict the search results to only show the results under a particular section by adding the keyword [tt]@sectionname[/tt] to the end of your search item in the search box. For example, if you want to search for footer-related settings under the configuration section only then you can use the  text [tt]footer @conf[/tt] as the search keyword in the search box. The [tt]sectionname[/tt] given just has to match a section name partially; which is why we were able to abbreviate to [tt]conf[/tt] in this example.

There is a checkbox next to the search box, which opens the results into a new window/tab. This can be useful if you want to open up a search while also doing something else (such as finishing filling in a form).

The search result page also allows you to easily run a separate search for the same search keywords on your website content, Composr documentation, and the {$BRAND_BASE_URL} forum.

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[title="3"]To-do list[/title]
[media width="150" description="The to-do list" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/adminzone_todo_list.png[/media]
The first section in your content area is your to-do list. This is an automatically generated list of things that need to be done on your website. Some are day-to-day updates, such as changing your awards (top content) or adding news. Some are less frequent and more critical, such as making backups and sending newsletters.

Composr will attempt to mark whether or not these actions have been completely recently. You can choose how often you would like to do these activities (for example, making backups monthly instead of weekly) by going to the Setup Section then the 'Configuration' icon and then 'Administrative options'.

If there are options which are not validated then a link to edit these is included.
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[title="3"]Version Information[/title]
[media width="150" description="Version checks" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/adminzone_version.png[/media]

This section shows information about the current version of Composr that you are using, and whether or not it is the most recent one. If not, you will be given a link to upgrade to the latest version.
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[title="3"]Notes[/title]
[media width="150" description="The note area" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/adminzone_notes.png[/media]
This is an area for you and your staff to make notes. You can write anything you need in this space, and it will be shared between you and all of your other staff.
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[title="3"]Tips[/title]

You will be provided with a large number of handy tips. They are organised into 4 levels of increasing difficulty with a combined total of about 60 tips.

[title="3"]Links[/title]

This section provides a selection of useful links. The links may be edited via the edit button on the block. This could be handy, for example, if you create Comcode pages on the Admin Zone for staff policies and guidelines. You could also use it for links to competitors or frequently used sites for quick tracking.

[title="3"]Action log[/title]

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[media width="150" description="The action log" float="right"]data_custom/images/docs/tut_adminzone/adminzone_actionlog.png[/media]
This section shows recent administrative/content actions on your website.

Most actions will show a number of helpful followup links. For example, if you have added some news, you'll be able to view that news article, edit that news article, or add another to the same category. This makes it really easy to come back to what you were doing previously if you tend to get lost while navigating around the Admin Zone.

You'll be able to see the full details of each logged action by clicking the date/time.

You are able to filter in a number of ways:
 - Focus on just your actions (change "Show actions for" to "Me only")
 - Make the display more compact by excluding repeated actions (disable "Include repeated actions") -- if the sort order is by popularity then this will show each action type only once, otherwise it will show each action type and content combination only once
 - Include major user activities, such as password resets (typically for keeping an eye on potential abuse)
 - Sort by the most common actions (change "Sort by" to "Popularity") -- if you do this you probably want to exclude repeated actions too

There are more powerful filtering tools at your disposal on the Action Log screen under Audit > Action logs (audit trail).
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[title="2"]Miscellaneous other Admin features[/title]

This part of the tutorial details some miscellaneous administrative features that are not covered in other tutorials.

[title="3"]Low-level logging[/title]

{!errorlog:DOC_ERRORLOG}

Low-level logging is available from Admin Zone > Audit > Low-level logging.

[title="3"]Content reviews[/title]

If the [tt]content_reviews[/tt] addon is installed, you can set content to be re-reviewed after a particular date. This is useful for keeping your website up-to-date.
You can also set the last review date to be shown visibly to users. This might be very useful from some legal and customer service standpoints -- it is essentially an automatic public declaration of content that may be outdated, and thus that you should not necessarily be held to what it says.

The content review settings are shown on content add/edit forms.

[title="2"]See also[/title]

 - [page="_SEARCH:tut_staff"]Coordination between staff and staff/members[/page]
 - [page="_SEARCH:tut_censor"]Dealing with annoying users[/page]
 - [page="_SEARCH:tut_trace"]Using IP addresses to trace users[/page]
 - [page="_SEARCH:tut_staff_advice"]Advice for choosing and managing staff[/page]
 - [page="_SEARCH:tut_repository"]The Composr Enterprise Repository[/page]

[concepts
 1_key="Admin Zone"   1_value="The zone used to perform most site maintenance, accessible only by staff"
]Concepts[/concepts]

{$SET,tutorial_tags,Administration,errorlog,core_adminzone_dashboard,content_reviews,novice}{$SET,tutorial_add_date,Aug 2008}{$SET,tutorial_summary,An explanation of how to use the Admin Zone, and the special features available from the Admin Zone dashboard.}[block]main_tutorial_rating[/block]
