Contribute looks and acts a lot like a browser. In fact, it uses Internet Explorer to render pages on the Windows version and Safari on the Mac side.
How Does it Work?
Macromedia breaks the process of editing a web page down into three steps: Browse, Edit, Publish. Contribute looks and acts like a web browser. When you open Contribute you will see the primary website you’re working on. You can browse to the specific page you need to edit and click the ‘Edit Page’ button. New buttons pop up across the top of the screen allowing you to add or edit text, links, images and more. When you’re done editing, you can submit your page(s) for approval or publish them to the live server.
Most sites are based on a template. You will have access to certain areas (the main content area and contact information, for instance) while other areas like the navigation or logo will not be editable. Contribute hides the underlying HTML, CSS and other programming code and only gives you access to the pages you will be editing.
The beauty of this system is that it empowers non-technical users to update content with few hurdles between the content they have to present and the means to get it on the web. Of course there’s no magic solution that will make everyone actually add all of that new content in a timely manner, but the technical hurdles are removed.
This article is designed to be read by anyone using or thinking about using Contribute to publish their pages: designers, administrators, and end users.
Zac earned his BFA in graphic design at New MexicoStateUniversity. In the years before college, he wrote, drew, and published comic books. In the years since college, he's worked as a graphic designer for three large B2B distributors creating catalogs, web sites, and multimedia presentations.