ET Online

SpongeCake:The Editorial Process

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SPONGECAKE:THE EDITORIAL PROCESS 1

A. INTRODUCTION 3
B. USING SPONGECAKE 4
C. OUTSIDE THE TOOL 4
D. NAVIGATING SPONGECAKE 5
E. BEGINNING THE EDITORIAL PROCESS 6
F. NAVIGATING THE CREATE/EDIT ARTICLES PAGES 7
GETTING TO THE START 7
JUMPING AROUND 7
GOING STEP BY STEP 7
G. STEP 111 - ETART 8
TO FIND AN EXISTING ARTICLE. 8
EDITING AN ARTICLE 9
H. CREATING ARTICLES 10
I. STEP 222 – E RTICLE INFORMATION 11
ACCIDENTALLY RECREATING ARTICLES 13
ARTICLE INFO FIELDS 14
K. 333 – ECONS 19
CREATING NEW ICONS 19
GETTING IMAGES 20
ASSIGNING MEDIA 21
EDITING ICONS 22
L. 444 – OEXTS 23
TEXT FIELDS 23
M. HTML TAGS 27
MORE HTML: SPECIAL SYMBOLS 30
N. 555 PICTURES 31
FINDING PICTURES 31
ASSIGNING PICTURES 31
DELETING PICTURES 31
O. 666 MEDIA 32
P. 777 LINKS 33
LINKING TO ET ONLINE ARTICLES 34
REMOVING A LINK 35
CHANGING THE ORDER 35
LINKING TO NON-ET WEBSITES 36
Q. 888 VIEW 37
R. JUMP PAGES 38

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A. Introduction
Spongecake Tool Manual
Spongecake is a powerful content management and Web publishing tool that was
developed in-house by Paramount Digital Entertainment specifically for the ET Online
Website. Spongecake is browser-based and allows writers, designers and content creators
to generate and manage material that is automatically distributed throughout the site.

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B. Using Spongecake
Spongecake can be used to:
• Create an Article
• Edit an Article
• Find Articles
• Add Media Assets to the Database
• Change/Edit Media Assets
• Schedule and Publish Articles

Different people will use the tool to do different jobs but it is a good idea for everyone
who is going to use Spongecake to read the entire Instruction Manual to get a sense of
where their work fits into the whole.

C. Outside the Tool

Some aspects of the creation of ET Online are not handled by Spongecake but will be
touched on and described in this manual. These processes are often referred to as "outside
the tool" because they are not generated from within Spongecake. Mostly this refers to
Flat HTML pages that are not dynamically created by the Spongecake database (static
pages).

At launch, these included:

• Photo Galleries
• Media Galleries
• Movie Release Schedule
• The Birthday Site
• Contests
• Mini Sites (such as "Survivor") and special pages

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D. Navigating Spongecake
Once you have your article ready to input you open Spongecake. Open a browser window
and enter sitedev in the address field.

At the top of the page, below the Spongecake graphic, you will see a navigation bar that
looks something like this:

Upload Team Spongecake

Create / Edit Articles Assets Slotting Preview Templates

Create / Edit Articles : To look up or edit existing articles or to create new articles.

Upload Assets : To manage or change existing media assets such as photos, video
clips, audio files or upload new media assets into the system.

Slotting To publish articles to the live Website or to schedule changes in

the live site that will take effect in the future.

Preview Templates To see the layout of different Templates.

What Do You Do?

In this manual we will cover three interrelated processes that Spongecake automates.

• The Editorial Process – The creation of content, usually text. If you are involved
with this process you will be concerned with the Create / Edit Articles section of
Spongecake.
• The Media Process – This is about managing the media – pictures, graphics,
video and audio – that is part of the Website. If this is your concern you will be
interested in the Upload Assets section.
• The Publishing/Producing Process – This is the process of putting the material
live on the Web. This is handled by Slotting.

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 E. Beginning the Editorial Process
Click on the link that says Create/Edit Articles and you will be brought to the Start Page
which looks something like this:

Or, CREATE A NEW ARTICLE

Please SELECT AN ARTICLE TO EDIT:

Website
Section:
Article
Search String:
Type:
Sort
By:

Enter a search to get a list of articles to edit

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F. Navigating the Create/Edit Articles Pages
Note at the top and bottom of the page you see a navigation system that looks like this

Step: 111 222

Info
333
Icons
444
Texts
555
Pictures
666
Media
777
Links
888
View
Search

Getting to the Start

Since you are currently on Step 111 (Search/Start Page) the 111 is highlighted in
green. If you need to get back to this page while you are creating or editing an
article click the "111 Search" link.

Jumping Around
You can also jump from step to step using this navigation bar but only AFTER
you have created or selected an article. For instance, once you have selected an
article or created a new one you can jump directly to the Texts associated with
that article by clicking on 444, or view the final product by clicking to 888. (The
function of each Step is covered in the following pages.)

Going Step by Step

You can also navigate through the article pages using the <<<PREV and
NEXT>>> links, but those appear only after you have created or selected an
article.

TIP – Get used to the Spongecake Nav System. Using the BACK
button on your browser will NOT get you back to the previous page.
If you use the back button you will be left with a BLANK SCREEN! If
this happens click on Create / Edit to get back to the section you left
but you will have to search for the article you were just working on .

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G. Step 111 - Start

To Find an Existing Article.

There are several ways to find an existing article:

• Enter a keyword into the Search String box and click on the button.
Your Keyword may be the name of a movie or a band or the name of a celebrity.
NOTE: The Keyword Search will only search the KEYWORDS, the TITLE and the
DESCRIPTION. It will not search every word in the body of the article.
• If you know what kind of article you are looking for you can enter a keyword
AND select the kind of article you are looking for in the box labeled Website
Section.
• To get a list of all the articles of a certain kind, select the kind of article you want
and leave the Search String field blank. For example if you want to see all the
Movie Feature articles simply choose that option in the Website Section box and

push , leaving the other fields blank.

TIP – You must click on the button to start a search. Unlike

some other search engines you might be familiar with you cannot simply
hit the return key on your keyboard after you have entered the search
criteria. If you do hit the return key your search criteria will disappear.

Search Results
If there is an article or articles that match your search criteria you will see a table listing
those articles along with the ARTICLE DESCRIPTION, the TITLE, the PUB DATES
and an ICON associated with the article. There is also a column that says "PUB?" which
will have a check ( )in it if the article is publishable.

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Example:
Suppose you are looking for an article about Jason Biggs you might enter “biggs” in the
Search String field. After you click on the Search button you would see something that
looks like this:

Article
Icon Pub? Title Pub Dates.........................
Description
'Saving
Silverman', Saving Silverman 2001-01-26 - 2010-01-26
Feature
Jason Biggs,
'Saving
Jason Biggs 2000-07-14 -
Silverman',
Interview

Editing an Article
To edit an article simply click on the ARTICLE DESCRIPTION in this list. You will
immediately find yourself on Step 222 with the information about that article.

TIP - Once you have selected an article you can go from one step to
another within that article. You will be dealing only with aspects of
that selected article until you select a different article. To select a
different article return to the 111 SEARCH page.

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New Articles
To create a new article simply click the link that says CREATE A NEW ARTICLE.

H. Creating Articles
Be conscientious
It is very important that every user of Spongecake is careful and conscientious
about the information that they enter into the system. A content management tool
is essentially a database and a database is only as effective and useful as the data
that is entered into it. For example, pictures or interviews that are named
incorrectly may be difficult or impossible to find again. Moreover, material that is
published to the Web by Spongecake will be available to millions of users
worldwide almost instantly. This is another good reason to be meticulous when
using this tool.

Be prepared.
This means that writers and editors should create their copy using another
program (usually MS Word) and input their new articles into Spongecake AFTER
they have done their copyediting and revisions. It is also very important to name
the media assets correctly so that once they are entered into the system they can
be found again.

What you need

The parts you need to publish an article using Spongecake:

• The text - this will include the main body of the article, a teaser, a title
and, if the article is an interview, a quote and an introductory paragraph
• The section that the article belongs in
• The icons and graphics you will use
• The pictures you will use and their captions
• The audio and/or video clips you will use

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I. Step 222 – Article Information
If you choose to create a new article, choose an existing article, or click on the 222 link in
the bottom nav-bar you will come to a page that looks like this.
Subject:

(99
chars max)
Description:

(100
chars max)
Template:
Preview all Templates
Website
Section:
Article Type:

Title:

(50 chars max)

Sub-Title:

(150 chars max)

Nav-Title:

(99
chars max)
Teaser:

(200 chars max)

Keywords:

(1000 chars max)

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 Pub Start :

Pub End :

Syndicatable:
Yes No
Last Modified:

<-- Notice: Do not change this unless you have proper authority to do so.

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J. SAVE YOUR WORK!
After you have made any additions, edits or changes to this or any other page (except for
page 777) in this section you MUST click on the UPDATE button in the bottom left hand
corner of the screen to save your work. If you are creating a new article the button will
say CREATE but it will still be at the bottom left of your screen.

Spongecake will not automatically save changes. If you use this tool you
must remember to click the or button to save your work.

Accidentally Recreating Articles

There is a known bug (or more accurately UI problem) with Spongecake which makes it
very easy to accidentally create two or more versions of one article as you are working on
page 222. If you do create extra versions of an article, re-title the version(s) you want to
discard with the word DELETE in capital letters at the beginning of the DESCRIPTION
field.

Why It Happens
When a user hits CREATE for the first time the page is created with an OID but the Info
222 page is refreshed rather than directed toward the 222 page for that OID number. If
you wait for five minutes without touching your keys and then hit CREATE again on this
page you will create another article. To get into the OID of your article simply go to
another page and then come back. You will see the OID number in the URL at the top of
the page.

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Article Info Fields
It is very important to fill in these fields completely and accurately. Pay careful attention
to naming conventions and style issues. Text that is entered into these fields will be
eventually show up on the Website or be used to navigate the database. Remember to be
careful and be prepared.

PLEASE NOTE: For all the fields on the Article Info Page: Do NOT add accent marks
and special symbols to the text in these fields. It will NOT appear correctly on the final
page. So leave those symbols off of these fields.

SUBJECT
Definition – This field describes the main subject of an article.
Parameters – The goal is to create an alphabetical list that is easy to read and
makes sense. Do NOT put quotation marks around the names of TV Shows
and Movies in the Subject Field. Do NOT put albums in italics.

This field will be one of the following:

• Celebrity Name – Last name, First name. Examples: Foster,
Jody…Gellar, Sarah Michelle
• Two (or more) Celebrities – Put the two in alphabetical order and
list the first one last name first and the second one first name first.
Example: Pitt, Brad and Julia Roberts
• Movie Title – Put articles (the, a, an) at the end of the title.
Example: Perfect Storm, The
• TV Show Name – As with Movie Titles, put articles at the end of
the title. Example: Simpsons, The
• Bands and Albums –For the band name put articles at the end of
the band name. Example: Rolling Stones, The
• Awards and Events – Awards shows should be described using the
correct name of the event, not a nickname, followed by the year.
(PLEASE NOTE: The Oscars should always be called The
Academy Awards in the Subject and Decription fields.) Example:
Academy Awards, 2001…MTV Video Awards, 1999
• Unusual subjects – In general put articles and first names at the end
of the Subject. When in doubt ask yourself what the main subject
is and how that would appear in the encyclopedia
Publishing – The SUBJECT will appear in alphabetical lists generated by certain
searches.

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DESCRIPTION
Definition – This field describes the main elements in an article.
Parameters – This field must be less than 100 characters and must adhere to the
following format:
(Title or Name), (Project or Topic), (Kind of Article), (Editorial
Comments)
Example: Morgan Freeman, ‘Along Came A Spider,' Interview,
talks about Monica Potter

If there is no project or topic, or no specified kind of media, or no comment

(which will be most of the time) just leave that information out.
Example: ‘The Dish,' Feature
Example: Angie Harmon, Leaving “Law and Order," News
Example: American Music Awards 2001, Feature
Example: ‘N Sync, Profile, written just before the 2001 Grammys
Example: Aerosmith, <i>Just Push Play</i>, Feature

Annual events represent a small exception. Annual Events should follow this
format:
(Title of Event or Award), (Year), (Topic), (Kind of Article), (Editorial
Comments)
Example: MTV Music Awards, 2002, Arrivals, Photo Gallery
Example: Academy Awards, 2020, Fashion, Feature

Publishing – The DESCRIPTION appears internally only in the Spongecake

index of articles and in the list generated by an internal Spongecake search.
Notes – In describing the Kind of Article in the description field use "Photo
Gallery," "Video Gallery" and "Audio Gallery," rather than "Hotshots."

TEMPLATE
Definition – This field proscribes the template that the article will use
Parameters – There are only two options:
• !*Use This Template
• Jump Template
Use the first for all articles and use the second if you are creating a Jump
Template.

If you are creating a JUMP PAGE with the JUMP TEMPLATE please Jump
to the section on Jump Templates in this manual.

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WEBSITE SECTION
Definition – This field describes the section the article will be published in.
Parameters – You must select from a list of options: Newslinks, Celebrities,
Movies, Television, Music, Hotshots, Contests, AboutET
Publishing – This does not get posted to the Web. This field helps to find the
article later.
Notes – If you select Hotshots, Contests and/or AboutET you are creating a Jump
Page and you should use the Jump Template.

ARTICLE TYPE
Definition – This field describes what kind of article you are creating.
Parameters – You must select from a list of options. Feature, NewsItem,
Interview, Profile, Jump Template, Tonight on ET, Weekend on ET
Publishing – This field determines the graphic header on the top of the article
page. This field also helps to find the article later.

TITLE
Definition – This is the title of the article. This title will appear on the Website.
Parameters – The title can be no more than 50 characters. This cannot be left
blank. Other than that writers can be as creative as they want to be. This should
NOT be all caps.
Publishing – This appears as the title of the article on the article page and in
external searches.

SUB-TITLE
Definition – This is usually a quote from an interview. This can be left blank and
will often be left blank in non-interview articles.
Parameters – Give the name of the person being quoted ONLY if it is not obvious
from the context. Typically the quote will be from the subject of the interview so
attribution is redundant. If there are several people interviewed you must then add
the attribution. To add an attribution put in a break tag <br> and then two hyphens
a space and then the name.
Example: "This is a good example"<br>-- John Sylvain
This will look like this on the page:
"This is a good example"
-- John Sylvain

This field must be less than 150 characters long. If it is more than 150
characters you will not be able to save the information successfully.
Publishing – This field shows up at the top of the article underneath the Title. The
text is small, maroon and italicized.

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NAV-TITLE
Definition – This is a more descriptive and perhaps more pedestrian title. The
Nav-Title can be similar to the DESCRIPTION.
Parameters – The NAV-TITLE is for public consumption so it should look like a
title but it should be a descriptive title. The NAV-TITLE should be in Title Case
and should not have the extra commas of the DESCRIPTION

The Nav-Title should generally follows this form: (Title or Name), (Project or
Topic) followed by (The Kind of Article) if the article is an Interview, a Profile, a
Contest or a kind of Gallery. If the article is a Feature or a News article leave off
the (Kind of Article).
Example: Morgan Freeman ‘Along Came A Spider’ Interview

A movie feature that has no other topic might just end up being the Movie Title.
Example: ‘The Dish’

You can change some words to make the title flow.

Example: Angie Harmon Leaves “Law and Order”

This field cannot be left blank.

Publishing – This shows up on the Website under related links.

Notes – The Nav-Title is almost the same as the first part of the DESCRIPTION.

TEASER
Definition – This is a short blurb about the article designed to entice readers to
find out more.
Parameters – The TEASER can be up to 200 characters. Names should be All
Caps and tagged with <b>bold</b> tags.
Publishing – The TEASER appears on the home page and on sub-feature pages
when the article is slotted there.
Notes – Do not add <name>, <movie> and <tv> tags to text in the TEASER but
do add the <b> bold and <i> italics tags if they are necessary.

KEYWORDS
Definition – This should include all celebrity names and project names that apply
to the article, including names and words that appear in the DESCRIPTION
Parameters – Enter in all lower-case letters. Use no punctuation except commas
to separate keywords. Put in full names.
Publishing – The search engine looks at the DESCRIPTION and the keywords to
find articles.

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 PUB START AND PUB END
Definition – Defines when this article can be published
Notes – Not entering a PUB END date will allow an article to be published
indefinitely.

SYNDICATABLE
This field is for later use. For now just leave it on NO.

PUBLISHING STATE BOX

This box determines whether an article can be published or not. Only authorized
personnel can determine that an article is publishable.

An article can be in one of three possible states:

• Creating: This denotes an article that is being created.
• Active: This denotes an article that has been written and is the process of
being put together.
• Publishable: This denotes an article that is ready to be published.

Save Your Work

At the bottom of the page is the Create button. If you are editing an existing article this
will be the Update button. It is very easy to forget to click this button before you move
on.

If You Forget….
If you do forget to save your work before you move on you can do the following:
1. Hit the back button on your browser
2. Then click the Refresh button on your browser.
3. A dialogue box will appear. Hit Retry.
This should get you back to the Info page you were working on.

If Creation Fails
After you've entered the text and hit the Create button you might get back a message
saying:

CREATE Article FAILED

This has probably happened because you have entered too many characters in one of the
fields. 9 times out of 10 this has happened because your SUBTITLE (quote) is too long.
Try shortening the quote and saving again.

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K. 333 – Icons

Creating New Icons

If you are creating a new article you will find yourself on a page that looks something
like this:

ASSIGN Article ICONs

Article 2370:

NAV Icon:
(50x50) Please select Placeholders and assign media
to them.

THUMBNAIL
Icon: (70x100)

SUBFEATURE
Icon: (70x100
with 3 pixels of
transparency
on right hand
margin)

FEATURE
Icon:
(280x120)

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TIP – If you come to this page and you get this message: “Please call me with OID
set !!!” You probably forgot to push the CREATE button in the bottom left hand
corner of the 222 page. Unfortunately this may mean you have lost the data you just
inputted and you might have to start again. Don’t get mad. Get even. Make a big
sign for yourself that says “Always Click the CREATE/UPDATE Button!” and stick
it to your computer screen. Preferably in the bottom left hand corner.

Putting Our Best Face Forward

Icons are representative photos or graphics that will appear on the front page or on the
index page or other places in the Website to characterize or to be a symbol of the article.
For an article about a new album for instance, the album cover or a picture of the band
may be a good icon. For a movie article you may use an image of the star of that movie
as one icon and a production still from the movie as another.

Getting Images
To create icons you must first have some images to choose from. To find images that
have already been uploaded to Spongecake, simply use the Search field. Enter the name
of the movie or celebrity that you are doing the article on and you should get a list of
images.

TIP – Photos, graphics, video clips and audio clips (collectively called “Media
Assets”) must be uploaded to Spongecake before they will be available to be used in
articles. To learn how to do that, go to the section on “Uploading Assets.” Somebody
else (perhaps the photo editor) may be responsible for acquiring and managing the
assets for this article. If so, you need to communicate and coordinate with them.

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Assigning Media
To assign media to an icon:

1) Click on the placeholder so that it is selected. (It should change color.)

2) Select the media asset you want to use. (Highlight it with your mouse.)
3) Click the SET button.
4) Click Update when you are done.

Icons
NAV ICON
• The NAV Icon appears when the article is brought up in a search.
• The Nav Icon must be be 50x50 pixels.
• The Nav Icon must have the prefix "50_" in its name.
Example: 50_freddygotfingered_soundtrackcover_0104_20thcentfox.gif

THUMBNAIL ICON
• The Thumbnail Icon appears on the Section pages when the article is
slotted on a Section page but is not the Top Story.
• The Thumbnail Icon should be 70x100 pixels.
• The Thumbnail Icon MUST have the prefix "70_" in its name.
Example: 70_freddygotfingered_0104_20thcentfox-2.gif

SUBFEATURE ICON
• The Subfeature Icon appears on the Home Page/Front Page when an
article has been slotted there but the article is NOT the Top Story.
• The Subfeature Icon must be 70x100 with 3 pixels of transparency on
right hand margin.
• The Subfeature Icon must have the prefix "hp_" in its name.
Example: hp_freddygotfingered_0104_20thcentfox-1.gif

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 FEATURE ICON
• The Feature Icon appears on the top of the front page or subfeature page
when the article has been slotted as a top story.
• The Feature Icon must be 280x120 pixels.
• The Feature Icon must have the prefix "hptop_" in its name.
Example: hptop_beastieboy_0102_capitol.gif

Editing Icons
If you are changing icons or adding icons to an existing article, follow the same
procedure as adding new icons.

Don’t Forget! Click the UPDATE BUTTON to save your

work!!!!

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L. 444 – Texts
This is where the meat of the article is entered into the system.

Te Entering Out of Order

xt When you are entering information into the text fields it is okay to skip
Fie around. You can, for example, input the article first and then create the
lds captions later.
Th
ere This will often be the best way to enter information because you may
are want to enter the captions or the photo credit after you have entered the
13 photos into the article.
text
fields and they appear in the approximate order they appear on the article page

TEXT 1 CREDIT FOR PHOTO #1

Definition – This is the credit for the first photo.
Parameters – Should be less than 30 characters but it should give the name of the
source as completely as possible within those characters. If the credit is included
in the image or if it is an image from Entertainment Tonight no credit is needed.
Credit to another company should use the word "courtesy" and look like this:
Examples: Courtesy 20th Century Fox…Courtesy Epic Records…
Courtesy CBS
Do NOT enter the © symbol.
If the credit goes to a photographer just enter his or her name.
Publishing – The credit appears directly below the photo in very small letters
aligned to the right margin. If the credit is left blank the space will disappear.
Notes – You can find the credit of the photo by looking up the photo in the Asset
Manager or by looking at the name of the photo. The last part of the name gives
the company that produced and owns the photo.
Example: freddygotfingered_0104_20thcentfox1.jpg

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TEXT 2 CAPTION FOR PHOTO #1
Definition – The description of the first photo.
Parameters – Should be less than 60 characters. Less than 40 is better.
Publishing – The caption appears below the photo aligned to the left margin.
Notes –
• For many articles and interviews the caption can simply be the name
of the person in the photo.
• If there are two very similar photos and no intervening video or audio
just caption the first photo.
• For a still from a TV show always identify the show along with the
person.
• No periods in the caption unless it is a complete sentence. All names
should be in title case. All appropriate quotation marks should be used.

TEXT 3 VIDEO #1 DESCRIPTION

Definition – Describes what is in Video #1.
Parameters – Should be less than 60 characters. Less than 40 is better.
Publishing – If there is a Video #1, this description will appear in the gray media
box along with a link to that video.

TEXT 4 VIDEO #2 DESCRIPTION

Definition – Describes what is in Video #2.
Parameters – Should be less than 60 characters. Less than 40 is better. The
description of the second video and the second audio MUST be preceded by an
HTML break tag <br> to make the layout look good.
Publishing – If there is a Video #2, this description will appear in the gray media
box along with a link to that video.

TEXT 5 AUDIO #1 DESCRIPTION

Definition – Describes what is in Audio #1.
Parameters – Should be less than 60 characters. Less than 40 is better.
Publishing – If there is a Audio #1, this description will appear in the gray media
box along with a link to that audio clip.

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TEXT 6 AUDIO #2 DESCRIPTION
Definition – Describes what is in AUDIO #2.
Parameters – Should be less than 60 characters. Less than 40 is better. The
description of the second video and the second audio MUST be proceded by an
HTML break tag <br> to make the layout look good.
Publishing – If there is a Audio #2, this description will appear in the gray media
box along with a link to that audio clip.

TEXT 7 HOTSHOT GALLERY DESCRIPTION

Definition – Describe the Hotshot Gallery that is associated with this article.
Parameters – Should be less than 60 characters. Less than 40 is better.
Publishing – If there is a Hotshot Gallery this Description will sit next to a link to
that page.
At launch there is no way to add Hotshot Galleries to articles. Leave this
field blank for now.

TEXT 8 CREDIT FOR PHOTO #2

Definition – This is the credit for the second photo.
Parameters – See TEXT 1
Publishing – See TEXT 1.

TEXT 9 CAPTION FOR PHOTO #2

Definition – The description of the second photo.
Parameters – See TEXT2. If Photo #2 is very simlar to Photo#1 and the subject is
the same there is no need for a second caption.
Publishing – See TEXT 2

TEXT 10 AUTHOR
Definition – The author of the Article.
Parameters – Enter "By Firstname Lastname" when appropriate. If the name and
source are given they should be noted properly
Example: by Connie Cho<br>
<i>Hollywood Reporter</i>
Publishing – This appears below the title, subtitle (if there is one) and date but
above the main text of the article.

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TEXT 11 LEAD/INTRO PARAGRAPH
Definition – This is an introduction, almost only seen in interviews.
Parameters – This can be up to 4000 characters.
Publishing – If there is an INTRO PARAGRAPH it will appear above the body of
the article, separated by a horizontal line. If there is no INTRO PARAGRAPH
there will be no horizontal line.
Note – If you enter an intro paragraph accidentally and then erase it later

TEXT 12 ARTICLE/INTERVIEW BODY

Definition – This is where the main body of the article goes.
Parameters – This can be as long as it needs to be but there are certain guidelines
that must be followed and there are HTML tags that must be added to the text to
make the layout work.

TEXT 13 CREDITS
Definition – If additional sources need to be credited for an article they should be
entered here.
Publishing – This text will appear at the bottom of the page underneath the main
body of the text and above the related links.

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M. HTML Tags
You will have to mark up your article with a few HTML tags. HTML stands for
Hypertext Mark-up Language and it is the computer language that your browser reads
when you look at a Web page. These tags will format your text and will not appear when
the Website is published.

HTML tags always appear between these symbols: < >

Your browser, and every browser in the world, will use what comes between those
symbols to format your text, but the symbols and the text inside will not appear in the
browser.

Tags You Will Need

You will only need to use <br> and these five pairs of HTML tags: <b></b>,
<i></i>, <name></name>, <movie></movie> and <tv></tv>.

TIP – Make sure you close your HTML tags, using both the < and the
>. Also, be sure you use the end tags </_> or else your whole article
may end up in italics!

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THE HTML TAGS DEFINED

• <b> and </b> This is the bold tag and the end bold tag.

If you want some text to show up as bold you first put in the <b> tag and
then, when your finished bolding, put in the </b> tag.
Example:
I use <b> Spongecake</b> every day.
Will show up as:
I use Spongecake every day.

• <i> and </i> This is the italic tag and the end italic tag.

They work just like the bold and end bold tags.
Example:
I use <i> Spongecake</i> every day.
Will show up as:
I use Spongecake every day.

• <br> This is the line break tag.

It acts just like the carriage return on a typewriter (or the return button on
your computer when you are word processing). To create breaks between
your paragraphs you need to insert two <br> tags.
Example:
Tom Hanks starred in 'Cast Away,' which was directed by
Robert Zemeckis. <br><br>Tom Hanks is happily married
to Rita Wilson and actor Colin Hanks is his son.
Will show up as:
Tom Hanks starred in 'Cast Away,' which was directed by
Robert Zemenkis.

Tom Hanks is happily married to Rita Wilson and actor

Colin Hanks is his son.

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CUSTOM HTML TAGS DEFINED
These are special tags that will only work in Spongecake. We can define what
they do. At launch the <movie> and <tv> tags will not do anything but in the
future we will be able to use these tags to make these articles and the site richly
interactive.

These custom tags should go next to the name of the celebrity, movie or television
show.

These custom tags MUST BE LOWER CASE.

• <name> </name>
The <name> tags will cause everything between them to appear
bold.
Example:
I use <name> SPONGECAKE</name> every day.
Will show up as:
I use SPONGECAKE every day.

This tag is used to highlight the name of a celebrity or a band the

first time that their name appears in an article.

The first time any name appears on a page it should be bold and it
should be in all caps (see the style sheet for rules and exceptions)
but the <name> tag should only be used in articles. In teasers use
the <b> tag.

Names that need lowercase letters should be typed that way even
the first time they appear.
Examples: REBA McENTYRE, LEONARDO DiCAPRIO

When a first name is mentioned and the last name is included in

parenthesis the name tag should go around the last name inside the
parenthesis and the first name should be bolded.
Example: <b>BENJAMIN</b> (<name>BRATT</name>)

• <movie></movie>
The <movie> tags should be around the names of movies inside
the quotes the first time that a movie is named in an article. Unlike
names, movies and tv shows should be in title case, even the first
time they appear.
'<movie>Star Wars</movie>'

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 • <tv></tv>
The <tv> tags should go around the names of television shows
inside the quotes the first time that a television show is named in
an article.
"<tv>Frasier</tv>"

More HTML: Special Symbols

Certain characters such as accented vowels and symbols like ™ and ® require special
codes so that they can be rendered by the Web browser. Here are a few of the most
frequently used.

É &#201; uppercase E, acute accent

Á &#193; uppercase A, acute accent
é &#233; lowercase e, acute accent
á &#225; lowercase a, acute accent
Ü &#220; uppercase U, umlaut
ü &#252; lowercase u, umlaut
í &#237; lowercase i, acute accent
® &#174; registered trademark
 &trade; trademark sign

Examples: Renée must be written as Ren&#233e.

RENÉE must be written REN&#201E.

Do not try to use the © symbol as it will disappear if used inside Spongecake. Instead use
the word courtesy or (c).

(A complete list of special symbol codes can be found at the end of the Style Guide or at
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/reference/special_characters/)

TIP: Don't Forget! Click the UPDATE BUTTON to save your

work any time you make a change.

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N. 555 Pictures
Adding pictures to your article is very simple. The process is very much like the process
of finding and assigning images to be Icons.

Finding Pictures
To add pictures to your article you must first have some images to choose from. To find
images that have already been uploaded to Spongecake, simply use the Search field.
Enter the name of the movie or celebrity that you are doing the article on to search for
appropriate images.

TIP – Photos, graphics, video clips and audio clips (collectively called “Media
Assets”) must be uploaded to Spongecake before they will be available to be used in
articles. To learn how to do that, go to the section on “Uploading Assets.” Somebody
else (perhaps the photo editor) may be responsible for acquiring and managing the
assets for this article. If so, you need to communicate and coordinate with them.

Assigning Pictures
To assign a picture to a placeholder:

1) Click on the placeholder so that it is selected. (It should change color.)

2) Select the picture you want to use. (Highlight it with your mouse.)
3) Click the SET button.
4) Click Update.

Deleting Pictures
To delete a picture or an image that has been assigned to a placeholder:

1) Select the placeholder

2) Select "Empty Set-No Image
3) Click the SET button.
4) Click Update.

TIP: You can search for a picture using the name of the picture, the name
of the person in the picture or the project that you are writing about. If you
have trouble finding the picture ask the photo editor if it has been uploaded
and what name it was uploaded under.
If you set a picture and then do another search for something else the
page will refresh and you will lose the first picture. Set the first picture, click
the update button to save you work, and then hit the update button.
Don’t Forget! Click the UPDATE BUTTON when you are done.

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O. 666 Media
Adding links to audio and video clips is also extremely simple and similar to the process
for adding icons and photos to your article.

Once the Media Manager has informed you that the requested Video and/or Audio files
are uploaded you can search for them on this page. Once you have found them you assign
them to the appropriate placeholder.

Assigning Media
To assign a media file to a placeholder:

1) Click on the placeholder so that it is selected. (It should change color.)

2) Select the media file you want to use. (Highlight it with your mouse.)
3) Click the SET button.

Deleting Pictures
To delete a video or audio file that has been assigned to a placeholder:

1) Select the placeholder

2) Select "Empty Set-No Image
3) Click the SET button.
4) Click Update.

Don’t Forget! Click the UPDATE BUTTON to save your

work!!!!

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 P. 777 Links
When you get to this page you will see something like this:

Related Articles and Links Editor

'Loser'
Article:
Pub Dates: 1995-01-01 - 2010-12-31
Teaser:

Search to get a list of articles to add as related links:

Search String: Category:

Enter an arbitrary URL as a related link:

Creating Links
You can create links to ET Online Articles that are related to the subject of your article
and you can add links to associated outside Websites.

The links you create will appear at the bottom of the article page.

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Linking to ET Online Articles
First you must find articles that may be related. Enter keywords into the Search String to
get a list of articles.

Example
Since Loser features Jason Biggs we might enter “biggs” in the search string field.
If we do we get this list:

Chk Icon Article Name Title Pub Dates.........................

'American Pie II' Media THE AMERICAN

2001-03-20 - 2001-05-04
Page PIE GUYS!

'Boys and Girls' BOYS AND GIRLS 2001-01-01 - 2010-12-31

'Loser' LOSER 1995-01-01 - 2010-12-31

SAVING
'Saving Silverman' 2001-02-08 - 2010-04-10
SILVERMAN

Jason Biggs 'Saving SAVING JASON

2000-07-14 - 2001-04-07
Silverman' Interview BIGGS!

Adding Articles
To add links to these articles from your new article simply check the boxes next

to the articles you want to include and click on the button.

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 Example
After we have selected some articles we get a list that looks like this:

Related Articles and Links Editor

'Loser'
Article:
Pub Dates: 1995-01-01 - 2010-12-31
Teaser:

Select Icon Article Name Title Pub Dates......................... Order

'American Pie THE
II' Media AMERICAN 2001-03-20 - 2001-05-04
Page PIE GUYS!
Related
Articles: 'Boys and BOYS AND
2001-01-01 - 2010-12-31
Girls' GIRLS

Jason Biggs
SAVING
'Saving
JASON 2000-07-14 - 2001-04-07
Silverman'
BIGGS!
Interview

Links to these articles will now appear at the bottom of your new article.

Removing a Link
To remove a link:
1) Check the box to the left of the icon.

2) Click on the button.

3) To remove multiple links simply check multiple boxes.

Changing the Order

To change the order in which the links appear on the article page:
1) Select the articles you wish to shift by checking the box to the left of the icon.
2) Change the order by changing the number in the boxes on the right.

3) Click the button.

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Linking to Non-ET Websites
To add Non-ET Websites to your list of links, go to where it says

Enter an arbitrary URL as a related link:

In the left hand field just below this enter the name of the link you are adding. In the
right-hand field enter the URL of the new link.

EXAMPLE
For our “Loser” article we could add a link to the movie’s official homepage.
Under Nav Title we would enter Official Movie Site
And next to it we would enter the URL. http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/loser/

PLEASE NOTE: Generally it is a good idea to avoid adding outside links

to your articles as this will lead users away from the site. Only add outside
links that are absolutely essential to the article.

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Q. 888 View
After you have created an article on step 222 you can View the article at any time by
clicking on the 888 link at the bottom of your screen. Changes that you make and save
will be reflected in the 888 page.

Links to unpublished articles will NOT appear on the view page and will not appear on
published pages until those articles are published.

Untranslated Symbols will look like a "?" on this page so it’s a good idea to look
at the article and search for "?".

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R. Jump Pages
Jump pages are pages that are created within the Spongecake environment that JUMP
IMMEDIATELY to static pages created outside the tool.

Why Are They Made?

Static pages can be linked to without Jump Pages, but if you want to SLOT a static page
so that they can appear on the Home Page or on a Section Page you must create a Jump
Page.

EXAMPLE: If you have an Academy Awards Fashion Photo Gallery that you
want to feature on the Home Page you must create a Jump Page.

Once you have mastered creating articles with Spongecake, creating jump pages is easy.

Create the Static Page

Before you create the Jump Page you must have a static page that you are going to jump
to. This can be a photo gallery, a contest page or any kind of static page that is created
outside of the Spongecake tool.

STEP 111
Simply click on CREATE A NEW ARTICLE

STEP 222
Fill out the information pages as if you were creating an article. The only
difference is the TEMPLATE. Select the JUMP TEMPLATE instead of the
regular article template.

STEP 333
Assign icons as you would with any article. Don't forget to hit UPDATE!

STEP 444
This is where the process differs from creating a normal article. In the Jump
Template you will see only one text field on this page.

In this field enter the URL of the static page that you want to jump to.

EXAMPLE: /hotshot/tvguide/index.html

STEP 555 – YOU ARE DONE.

Once you enter the URL and hit update you have created a JUMP PAGE. The
other steps are unnecessary and they will not work.

You can now slot the Jump Page.

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