Preview and Share Preview
What this feature offers: "Preview allows editors to view changes for any fields they're editing in the RTE in real time, which is one of my gold-standard features of the whole CMS," says Amelia. This functionality gets taken one step further, however, with Share Preview. This option on the Preview pane allows you to see a snapshot of the changes you have made, opened in a new window or tab.
I like to see my changes and interact with them. Share Preview allows you to step into the role of a visitor to your site before you ever have to think about hitting publish.
Why might you want to use this? Share Preview gives you a few different options. First, being a tab/window of its own, it has a URL you can share with non-CMS users—say your legal team or even your design team. Second, it’s a snapshot in time of the changes you were making. You can use these snapshots to compare different versions of even the smallest changes. Debating which color your module will look best in? Use Share Preview.
Publishing Guides
What this feature offers: Publishing Guides allow editors to add notes to fields in the CMS. These notes typically contain documentation and context for editors.
Why might you want to use this? Documentation is always a win, but being able to insert some documentation into the tool itself, specific to what you want to tell your users, is a double win. CMS users could visit the documentation site to find out what a field is for, but production guides let teams further customize the documentation to your specific use case.
Translations Tab
What this feature offers: Translations are generally summarized in two ways in the CMS: The Translation Tab and the Translation Dashboard. The Translation Tab lives on an individual asset and allows you to view all of the linked translated and localized pieces of content. The Translation Dashboard allows you to view a summary of all of the translations going on within your site, and it’s customizable.
Why might you want to use this? The Translation Tab is a great way to keep track of and monitor versions of a specific asset. You want to see all of the different languages your article was translated into, and determine what is your next translation move? The Translation Dashboard allows you to take a look at the translations for your overall site in a way that is relevant to you. You can filter the dashboard to narrow down what locales and stages to just what you need to look at.
Gear Tool Shortcuts
What this feature offers: The gear gives users additional options for an asset post-save. This list includes options to create a new asset, copy the asset you just saved, or create a content template from the saved asset.
Why might you want to use this? "Don't get overwhelmed by the options—they all come in handy at different times," advises Amelia. Here's how:
- The Create New option is helpful when you are on a a busy publishing streak. Any time you just need to create multiple assets of the same content type, use this feature.
- The Copy option is handy for when you need to make another asset exactly like the one you just saved or published.
- The Create Content Template option is similar to Copy, but creates a "shortcut" template of the asset. For instance, if you made page layout complete with several modules that you want to reuse across your site, you could create a content template in order to repeat and reuse. (More on content templates here.)
Rich-text Editor (RTE) Shortcuts
What this feature offers: RTE shortcuts allow users to type their commands rather than having to click through to get what they want. Some of these commands are quite standard, like bolding text, but Brightspot has RTE shortcuts for all of its functions. They can be viewed by hovering over the tile in the RTE or you can use the chart here.
Why might you want to use this? "We are all about efficiency and reducing editorial clicks, so this one's straight-up time-saver," notes Amelia. "RTE shortcuts can help adding things like embeds, quotes, lists and more feel quite seamless."
Bulk Search Actions
What this feature offers: Bulk search actions allow users to edit or archive an entire selection of assets. This function works best if you select a group of assets with the same content type.
Why might you want to use this? "You definitely want to use this for any changes you want to make en masse," says Amelia. "Need to re-tag a bunch of articles? You can first identify all articles using the old tag via search, then replace the old tag with the new one all at once."
