The Projects gadget

A project lets you manage the publishing process for multiple related content items, such as a landing page, blocks, and products (if you have Optimizely Commerce Connect installed) that are parts of a campaign. Projects support content management in different language versions so that you can manage the translation of content items in the project view.

You can create content or create draft versions of existing content, associate the content items with a project, and then publish the project immediately or schedule it for later publishing.

Work with projects

Create a project and add content

Create a project from the gadget menu and add desired content items through drag and drop. You can prepare the draft versions of the content items first and then create the project and add them, or vice versa. Use Sort in the context menu to sort content items for a better overview and Refresh to reload the view if multiple editors are working on the same project. Use Sort to sort content items for a better overview and Refresh to reload the view if multiple editors work on the same project.

Preview project content

The Preview option in the top menu has an option for projects where you can browse through included items, preview them as if they were published, and update them if needed.

Publish projects

To publish a project, included items must first be set to status Ready to Publish. You can do this for each item from the publishing menu when editing or from the context menu in the Project gadget.

When items are ready for publishing, you can publish the entire project directly or schedule the project to be published later (if you have publishing access rights). If you need to change the content in a scheduled project, select Remove Scheduling and Edit, change the content, and re-schedule the project publishing. Published projects cannot be edited.

Remove content and delete projects

Remove a content item from a project by selecting the item in the projects gadget and then selecting Remove from Project from the item's context menu. Removing a content item from a project means that it is no longer associated with the project but is not deleted from the website.

Delete a project by selecting the project in the projects gadget and then selecting Delete Project from the gadget's context menu. Projects are permanently deleted, but associated content items remain. When deleting a project scheduled for publishing, you can keep or remove the scheduling for each associated item.

Example: Publish a campaign using projects

This example creates a fashion sales campaign with multiple content items on a website with Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) and Optimizely Commerce Connect. The campaign will go live on a specified date and contain a landing page with a product listing block, two new products to be listed in the block, and a teaser block for the start page. You create the project first and then add the content items.

1. In the Optimizely Commerce Connect catalog tree, create a project for the campaign and name it Spring Collection.
2. Prepare draft versions of the catalog items in Optimizely Commerce Connect, create and edit the catalog entries, and add product descriptions and assets as desired.
3. When done, drag the prepared catalog entries from the Catalog gadget to the Project gadget, where you set the products to Ready to Publish before they are added to the project, but you can do this later.

   

4. Switch to the CMS edit view and create the landing page for the Spring Collection. Add text and assets as needed, and drag the landing page to the Spring Collection project.
5. Create a block listing the products included in the spring collection, and include it in the landing page. Add the product listing block to the project.
6. Create a teaser block to be used on the landing page for promoting the spring collection, and add the teaser block to the project.
7. Drag the teaser block to the start page, and add the start page to the project. The Spring Collection project now contains the items to be included in the campaign.

   

8. Preview the content items in the project, edit as needed, and set to Ready to Publish when done.

   

9. Schedule the project to be published on the defined go-live date for the campaign.

Example: Manage multiple content language versions using projects

This example creates a page with a registration form block for an event. The included items must be available in English (the original website language), French, and German, and you must manage the translation using a project.

1. Create the page and the related forms block in English first.
2. Create a project and name it Spring Meeting.
3. Add the English versions of the page and the forms block to the project.
4. Enable and activate the desired languages (here French and German) on your website, if not already done. (Must be done by an administrator.)
5. Switch to the French language branch and create a French version for the page and form block.
6. Drag the French version of the content items into the Spring Meeting project.
7. Repeat the previous actions for the German language version. The project has six content items, two for each language version.

   

1. Translate the content items into French and German, respectively.
   • Use compare to display the original English version when translating.
   • Use preview to verify the different language versions of the content.
2. Set the content items to Ready to Publish when done, and publish the project or schedule it for later publishing.