Getting Started with AEM

Navigating AEM

Navigation page

Once logged in, you will land on the Navigation page. The Navigation page is a hub that leads to different areas to edit.

Screenshot of Navigation landing page, including the Sites option.
  • Projects: Not currently in use for CoPA.
  • Sites: Contains the site hierarchy, with links to all site pages, both published and drafts. Most content authoring will take place from the Sites section. Continue to the Sites section for more info.
  • Experience Fragments: Contains Experience Fragments, which are fragments of a web page replicated across multiple places on the site. Go to the Experience Fragments section for more info.
  • Assets: Contains Assets, which are primarily photos or documents uploaded by authors to include on the site. Go to the Assets page for more info.
  • Forms: Contains AEM Forms, which may be developed for specific agencies as needed. Access the Forms guide for more info.
  • Personalization: Not currently in use for CoPA.
  • Content Fragments: Contains Content Fragments, which are editorial text structured in a specific format and available across multiple places on the site. Go to the Content Fragments section for more info.

Sites

Site hierarchy

1. From the Navigation page, click on Sites. You will land on the site hierarchy page.

Screenshot of the Sites page on AEM, including the CoPA PWP PAGov folder that most CoPA authors will use.

Each site that is part of CoPA’s AEM instance appears as a folder. The PA.gov site appears under the “CoPA PWP PAGov” folder. The other folders are for Sapient use only, for editing test sites and the Web Content Management site.

2. Click the site folder to see the sections of the site, then select the appropriate language folder.

Screenshot of the Sites page on AEM, with CoPA PWP PAGov, then English, folders selected. The Level 1 pages under English display for authors to click into.

3. Under the English folder, the Level 1 list pages will display. These pages are typically navigation pages or intros to specific content (ex. a general Agencies page and a and Contact page). Click on the relevant Level 1 page.

Editing a page

Option 1: To edit the page, click the checkmark to the left of the page name. From the top navigation bar that appears, click Edit. Go to the “Pre-step to Authoring any Component” guide to learn about editing any page.

Sites screen with Agencies folder selected, showing options for subfolders that authors may choose to edit.

Option 2: To the right of the selected page, a list of Level 2 pages under the Level 1 page will appear. Click on the relevant Level 2 page.

On Sites selection page, a page under the Governor folder is selected with the checkbox checked off, revealing the edit toolbar at the top of the screen.

Assets

Uploading assets

1. From the Navigation page, click on Assets. You will land on the Assets navigation page.

Screenshot of Assets navigation landing page.

2. Click on Files, then on the folder for your site.

3. From the folder page, you may edit or view an existing asset. To create a new asset, click the Create button in the top right corner. From the dropdown, select Files.

An Assets folder with the Create dropdown open. Authors should select Files to upload local files onto AEM.

4. Name the file, then click Upload.

5. Click on the file, then Properties to edit the asset properties, if desired.

6. The file is now available for reference on the AEM site.

Asset Properties

Asset Properties can be edited by clicking on the asset file and selecting “Properties.” Most Asset Properties can be left in a default state, but some should be edited. These are listed below.

Required

  • Under Basic tab: Title
    • When the asset is uploaded, the author adds a title, which is then used to populate the asset name. The title may be changed here.
    • Both the name and title may be changed by selecting “Move” from the asset’s information screen.
  • Under Basic tab: Description
    • If the asset is a photo and added to a page with the Image component, authors are prompted to add alternative text. By checking “Inherit from description of asset,” the field will autofill with the text added here.
Asset Properties, with Title and Description fields filled out.
Image component authoring dialog, where the selected image is the same as the example above. The description from Asset Properties appears by default in the "Alternative text for accessibility" field when the checkbox "Inherit from description of asset" is checked.

Optional

  • Under Basic tab: Tags
    • Tags are more relevant for document uploads than they are for images.