Before we dive into all the technical details about editing, let's take a step back and ask:
While the answer may seem obvious, understanding the responsibility that you the Editor has can greatly effect our audience engagement.
“Every great design begins with an even better story.”
Lorinda Mamo, Designer / Creative Director
Creating great user experiences is all about telling a story and bringing things to life. Building a detailed narrative around our users helps you to walk in their shoes and understand where they’re coming from.
Check out our Web Site Standards - for an overview of Office and School Standards
There are many ways to deliver a story to your audience. How can other pieces of the puzzel help tell your story?
We strongly recommend using the website as the "owner" of your story. Why? #1 Because of search. Analytics prove the majority of our audience is finding information by searching for it on their mobile devices. #2 It's easier to maintain one "winner" of information instead of maintaining multiple technologies and holders of content/data.
Lets make the user experience an enjoyable one!
Web Services
Note: We strongly recommend your marketing accounts (Google, Calendar, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X, etc.) are created with the main Office/School brand account. This allows ownership to be transferred or managed by staff. Failure to do so risks years of social history and content being lost with an individuals transfer.
Now that we've covered "Why" a web page is needed, "What" should an editor add to the website?
Ask yourself: "Am I the owner of this information?"
Title & Name your pages using language at a reading level our audience understands. Not everyone understands PGCPS jargon, plain English at a 5th grade reading level is best. Avoid files, (PDFs, Word, Excel) info-graphics and content that interrupt the user experience.
Can't avoid posting a file? Check out our: Document Naming Guideline
Images should be used for decoration only!
Web Services
You can waste a lot of time trying to find the "perfect" image, not to forget; adhering to 508 compliance, copyrights, and the skill needed for general image editing. You can easily avoid the added responsibility by:
Typically it depends on the "type" of Google asset your looking to feature. Our main use of Google is through: Google Sites, Google Documents & Other (Google slides, slide-shows, etc.)
Should not be used! Why? For a number of reasons, but the main ones are:
Typically documents should be used to feature large amounts of data/info to display. Think large data charts or multi-page manuals and detailed instructions. Google documents should not be used for basic newsletters, announcements or "one-pagers" as we like to call them. Avoid lazy editing and get the information into text format! The PGCPS website works as an official "letterhead."
There are times when Google products work well within the Optimizely web editor:
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Once you've entered the Experience Editor note your edit method view (On-Page or All-Properties) and familiarize yourself with the editor layout & general features.
Note: Editor layout is saved to the user account, add/remove/rearranging your gadgets only needs done once.
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In the navigation gadget familiarize yourself with the different tabs and icons within each. Get used to selecting pages as well as "drilling down" the tree nodes to access sub-pages.
Note: Drill down, to access your School or Office. If the page properties are grayed out, this means you lack permissions to edit. You may continue to view all page and blocks but permissions are needed for editing rights. Contact us for all permission inquiries.
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The Assets Gadget is seperated by 2 tabs: Blocks and Media. Both share the same folder structure, however; you must select the correct tab to view the chosen content type. The Experience Editor remembers your folder location under each tab.
Note: Drill down, to access your School or Office. The Blocks/Docs/Images folders were created to keep content organized, DO NOT REMOVE these folders. You may create sub-folders to further organize your assets. Use these folders when creating and accessing the specific asset type.
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Be sure to select your Office or School project and double check before editing. Use the project Overview page to view all the active "working on" items.
Note: Be sure to refer back to Working With Projects when needed. We recommend removing project items after they've been published, clear the clutter! Remember to publish your media items (PDFs, Images, Docs) as well.
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Understanding basic terminology, how to find and manipulate default page properties and understanding how the Title and Metadata properties can be used is critical to maintaining a healthy CMS.
View details about all available School page templates. See live examples and explanations for each page property.
Note: Each School only has 1 School Home Page page because they work in conjunction with our School Directory Page. Web Services and School editors collaborate on some areas in your School Home Page: School Info, Helpful Links, Resources & Related Content areas.
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Blocks are used to present information to your audience. Most of your editing experince will be presented through your usage of Blocks.
Note: By default the information within a published block is not entered into our search engine until the block is placed onto a published page.
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Understanding basic terminology, how to find and manipulate default page properties and understanding how the Title and Metadata properties can be used is critical to maintaining a healthy CMS.
View details about all available Office page templates. See live examples and explanations for each page property. When you begin to create new pages this is a good place to review and find which page template can work best.
Note: Each Office only has 1 District Office Detail page because they work in conjunction with our Office Directory Page. Typically you'll use Landing Page for 99% of your page creation, as it provides the most flexible layout.
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Blocks are used to present information to your audience. Most of your editing experince will be presented through your usage of Blocks.
Note: By default the information within a published block is not entered into our search engine until the block is placed onto a published page.
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While browsing PGCPS.org logged in, editors can click the orange Epi button 
to load the editor to the browsed page.
Note: Your editing view (On-Page or All Properties) will determine the page properties you can view.
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After you've created Pages and Blocks, Drag & Drop the blocks onto your page, next, you must use pages somewhere; otherwise, the only way your audience finds content is through search. Promote your work!
Be sure to Preview your edits to make sure they display as expected.
Note: Before you create any Pages or Blocks, be sure to have a solid plan of action. Use the following guides to assist:
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Now that you've created pages and blocks and used them somewhere, you must now complete the workflow process:
Published content is instantly available to the public, it will be live in search immediately.
Review: Schedule and Archive
If this is your 1st time here we recommend checking out all the details above ↑, otherwise you should be comfortable with the basic editing principals inside Optimizely and have a site currently being browsed by your audience.
A big part of a refresher is 1st double checking your site pages/assets and that your editor is in order.
You now have the ability to quickly edit existing blocks from "content drop zones", asset folders and container blocks.
Selecting "Quick Edit" opens a dialog box that displays the properties of the selected item, allowing you to make edits. (Rich Text Block shown below)
Be sure to "Save" or "Publish Changes" after you complete your edits.
