Contribute for Faculty Web Pages

Adobe Contribute is a user-friendly program for updating web sites. Weinberg offers copies of Contribute as well as a "starter page" to faculty members interested in publishing and updating their own web page detailing their professional accomplishments. This page details how to use Contribute for that purpose.

Request an Account and Access to Contribute

1. Request an account online for the WCAS faculty web server.  if you haven't done so already.  Be sure to check the option to "Add a starter page to my site."
2. Open a service request ticket and a Weinberg IT representative will install Contribute and connect it to your web page. 
   
   Note: if you already have Contribute installed you can follow instructions to Connect Contribute to Your Web Site

Create Your Page

Note: this section assumes you chose to add a starter page to your site when you requested an account.  If you'd like Weinberg IT to create a starter page for you, e-mail web@wcas.northwestern.edu.

1. Launch Contribute
2. Under "Begin editing my websites" (center of window), click the connection to your web site
3. Click "Edit" (top left of Contribute's browser).  If the edit button isn't available, you may have to click "Connect" first, then "Edit"
4. Contribute will switch to "edit mode."  You will have a formatting toolbar available at the top of your page.  Edit your page as you would in word-processing applications such as Microsoft Word.  The first time you edit your page be sure to:
1. Replace "YOUR NAME," "YOUR TITLE," and "YOUR DEPARTMENT" with appropriate values
2. Click the "Page Properties" button (top right) and change the Title field to "Your Name, Northwestern University" and click OK. 
   
   Note: this is what users will see in search results on Google and when they bookmark your page.  This is just a recommendation, feel free to use a title that best describes you and your work
5. Add additional text, links, and images to your page as needed.  See Further Reference (below) for more information
6. When you're finished, click the "Publish" button (upper left)

Note: if you don't want to use a Weinberg IT starter page, you can create a blank page by going to File > New and choosing "Blank Page."  When you publish your page save it as index.html or index.htm.

When Your NetID Password Changes

When you change your NetID password you will also have to change it in Contribute next time you connect to your web site.  Contribute should automatically ask you for the new person when you connect. If it doesn't see Changing Your Password in Contribute

Further Reference

Weinberg IT and Weinberg Web Communications offer reference on using Contribute to edit College pages.

Adobe offers documentation in Contribute under the Help menu and on their web site at:
http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/contribute/