Website Manager Variables

Variable assignments are used to control how each page is handled during assembly. The variables are created in Author-it Administrator, and the values assigned by the author as the content is created.

Tip: Variables can be assigned to Object Templates. When new objects are based on those templates, the assignments are made automatically.

The following variables are used:

• Placeholder is used to assign the webpage placeholder to a topic. The placeholder is used by Website Manager to identify where the content will appear in the assembled webpage. Topics containing page parts require the placeholder value to be assigned. If the topic does not have a placeholder assigned it will not be used when the webpage is assembled.
• Menu Name assigns the name displayed in the sitemap and menu. When the menu name is assigned, the value assigned appears as an item in the sitemap, and is included in the menu (when it is displayed with a checkmark). If a menu name is not assigned, the topic is included the sitemap but is not selected and does not appear in the menu. The Menu Name variable is also used to define a different heading for the page in the menu (for example, when a topic name is too long).
• Template assigns the experience template used by Website Manager when the page is assembled. If a value is not assigned the experience's default template is used.
• Page Reference assigns a filename to the HTML page published from Author-it. If the Page Reference value is not assigned to a topic Author-it defaults to the filename (when it has been assigned in the HTML tab), and then to the object ID.
• The Parent Page Reference can be applied at Book or Topic level. The Parent Page Reference is used to define the parent to which this topic is a child of. This variable should be used when publishing a section or individual pages (via sub-books) rather than the whole website. When the Parent Page Reference is used the page (or pages) are added to the sitemap at the correct location.

  Note: If applied to a book, all root topics marked with the page value that do not have a parent page reference will use the setting from the book.

In addition, the Website Manager Publish Format variable is used to set the publishing format as HTML or XHTML when the book is published to Website Manager.