Getting Started
How to log in, use the CMS toolbar, and edit content on ND Theme CMS v4.
- Open your site and go to the login page (often
/admin/or a staff login link your team provides). - Sign in with your staff account.
- Return to the public site while still logged in. The CMS toolbar appears at the top of pages you can edit.
If you do not see the toolbar, confirm you are logged in and that your account has permission to edit that page. See Permissions.
The toolbar is your control strip for editing the current page.
Typical controls:
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Turns editing on so you can change content on the page. |
| Preview | Shows the page closer to how visitors see it, without the full edit chrome. |
| Toggle structure (Structure) | Switches between Content mode and Structure mode (see below). |
| Create | Starts a new page (or related create options, depending on your permissions). |
| Page menu | Page settings, Page-Meta, Archive, and other page-level actions. |
Exact labels can vary slightly by permission, but Edit, Preview, Structure, and Create are the ones you use most.
Use Content mode for everyday writing and layout tweaks on the page itself.
- Click editable regions (placeholders) to add or change widgets.
- Double-click or click into text to edit it inline where supported.
- Save when you are done with a change.
Use Structure mode when you need a clear map of the page’s placeholders and widgets.
- See every placeholder on the page (for example Page Content, Page Lede).
- Add, move, or remove widgets from the structure tree.
- Open a widget’s settings without hunting for it on the canvas.
Tip: switch to Structure mode when Content mode feels crowded, or when you are building a page from scratch.
- Enter Edit mode.
- In Content mode, click a placeholder’s plus control (or use Structure mode and add to that placeholder).
- Choose a widget from the picker.
- Fill in the fields and save.
Prefer NDT widgets when they cover what you need. See Widgets for the full catalog.
Many text areas support inline editing:
- Click the text on the page while Edit mode is on.
- Type your changes.
- Save.
For richer formatting or widgets that use a form (not inline text), open the widget from Structure mode or the plugin menu and edit in the dialog.
This site does not use a separate draft → publish workflow.
- Saving a page, a widget, or Page-Meta updates what the public sees right away.
- Use Preview to review carefully before you save risky changes.
- If you need to take something out of active listings without deleting it, use Archiving instead of expecting an “unpublish” button.
- Create and organize pages: Pages-and-Templates
- Set preview image, summary, tags, and sort date: Page-Meta
- Work with news, events, or people: News, Events, People