Glossary of Terms

A

Actions Panel

The left hand panel in iCM content editors.

Alternate Link Text

An article's alternate link text overrides the heading text in locations where navigational links to the article are output. This is often used where an article has a long heading that would not suit a navigation menu item. The alternate link text will also appear in the browser's address bar where no friendly URL has been set. This text is optional.

API key

With a lowercase k. API keys are used to secure workers running on the API Server.

API Server

Always capital S. The API Server provides a range of services to iCM and your website. These services are delivered by "workers" and include things like authentication, workflow and the forms service.

Artefact or Artifact?

Artefact is the British spelling, Artifact the American. However, in computing, the American artifact is the accepted term. Only use artefact if you spent the weekend digging up pottery sherds on Dartmoor.

Article

The name used in iCM for content that will become web pages. Note that not all articles will appear as published pages on the site.

Article Extras

Also known as the article "Extra Tab", this section of the article editor provides additional configuration for the article. Extras are defined per template, ie the article extras for an article using the Authentication template will be very different to those of the List template. Some template types do not use extras at all.

Article extras are private forms, built using the forms designer. By convention they are named after the template that uses them, appended with the letter x (so LISTX, BLOGX etc).

Article Views

Article views are used when an article is going to be output as part of another page. They allow their template to control exactly what is rendered. For example, the "related" view for an article using the Contact template will output a summary of the contact's details when it is related to another article.

Assigned Tasks

Workflow process user tasks assigned to the user. While assigned to a user, no one else can work on them.

Authentication Provider

A named configuration for a given Authentication Type.

Authentication Type

Facebook, Google, ADFS etc.

B

Best Link Text

See "Alternate Link Text"

Body Content

Standard iCM article content, created using the article editor. It includes styled and formatted text, tables, and inline elements like external links, embedded scripts and document links.

C

Capitalisation

Always capitalise product names. There's no need to capitalise bits of iCM. So: body text, related content, forms designer; but Default template, Case Management etc.

Case Management

Case Management delivers case handling and CRM capabilities via your website. It integrates with other elements of the platform, allowing your users to track their cases via My Account and User Requests, and your staff to work on cases using the Self Service template.

Claimable Tasks

Workflow processes user tasks that a user can claim to work on. Tasks can be assigned directly to a named user, see "Assigned Tasks", or be made available to a group of users, known as candidates.

Where a task has several candidates, each user will have the ability to claim that task, so that they can carry out the required work. Once a task has been claimed by one user, it is removed from the claimable task lists of other users.

Tasks are claimed via the Self Service template.

Click

Try and avoid using "click" to describe user actions. Buttons should be "pressed" and links should be "followed". You can give instructions to right-click (with a hyphen).

Context Menu

When you right-click on something in iCM, and get that pop-up menu, that's the context menu. When describing an item in the context menu, use quotes. For example, Right-click on the article icon and select "Preview this article".

D

Data

Yes, it's a plural. But in general writing it's best to use data as a singular mass-noun. Unless you are someone who, in the words of the guy who edits the Guardian style-guide, "likes to sound hyper-correct, old-fashioned and pompous".

Drop-down

Drop-down lists, drop-down menus etc.

E

Effect

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/326:_Effect_an_Effect

eg

No dots - because the Guardian Style Guide says so.

End point

Not endpoint, Endpoint or end-point. No need to capitalise.

End points are JavaScript functions that you can write and deploy to the API Server. They can then be called by forms, workflow processes or third party systems, or set to run on a schedule.

Environments

Name	Description
Local	A developer's personal workspace, running on their own machine. It may connect to a shared development environment database, iCM or API Server
Development	A GOSS-hosted environment that developers can use for new functionality and fixes. This environment may be unstable and is likely to change regularly. This is a place for active development and is not suitable for formal testing
Test	A stable environment used by everyone to test the latest development work. We have dedicated test environments so work can be tested while other work goes on in the development environment
Pre-Production	A replica of the production environment used as a staging area. This environment should be kept in sync with the production environment and serves as a trial run for deployments. It may also be used to replicate support issues found in the production environment
Production	The live, public facing site
DR	A Disaster Recovery environment

Explorer

The left hand panel in iCM when you're browsing around content. Content in the explorer may be referred to as a tree, expand the article tree.

Extra Tab

Unless giving specific directions to Click on the "Extra" tab the preference should be article extras.

F

Friendly URL

A readable URL that can be used to access the article. If available this URL is output in preference to the standard URL wherever possible. This element is optional.

G

GOSS

Always ALL CAPS. The name of the company, not the name of the product/software.

H

Heading Text

The heading of the article, used as the page title, generally output as the page's H1 element.

History

Histories are records of actions (events) carried out during a workflow process, form submission, or other interaction with the platform. A history will have a unique ID (a key made up of a number of labels), a packet of subject data, and a series of events. See History Service for more information.

Not to be confused with version history in iCM.

I

ID

Both letters are capitalised. The term was originally an abbreviation for Identity Document which came into more general usage, rather than a short version of Identifier.

ie

See "eg".

Introductory Text

Or Intro text. Text that appears above the main page body content. The introductory text may appear in a contrasting style, depending upon the site's theme. Introductory text is generally used where a snippet of an article is output, like a search result or when the article appears as part of a list. See also "Summary Text".

J

K

L

Login

Is a noun, "log in" is a verb.

M

MailHog

MailHog is an open source SMTP testing service. In our hosting infrastructure we create a contained instance of MailHog for each non-production environment that needs to use a mail server. See Emails from Non-Production Environments.

Media Item Components

A media item in iCM can have various components defined within it. In the case of images these components (known as variants) may make up various sizes, dimensions or resolutions. A video media item has components for the video file, transcript, captions and poster.

Menu Items

Use quotes when giving instructions, eg:

Click "Submit this article" to publish your changes.

Menus

See Explorer and Actions Panel.

N

O

P

Process

A deployed model, designed in the process modeller.

Process Instance

Once a model has been deployed as a process, instances of it are started, usually by form submissions.

Process Model

The thing you design, import, export and deploy in the process modeller.

Q

R

Related Assets

Or related content, these are items related to an article via its "Related Content" tab. Related content will either appear in a panel on the page, or form part of the main page content, depending upon the template in use and the website's theme.

S

Setup

Is a noun "set up" is a verb.

Sign in

Sign up

Join.

Signup

Is a noun "sign up" is a verb.

Standardised Site

The Standardised Site is a release of all of our latest products that can be deployed as a single automated update. See Standardised Site Release Notes for more information and the latest release notes.

Subsite

Not sub-site. A single iCM installation can be used to manage the content for multiple Subsites.

Summary Text

Article summary text is not displayed when viewing the article for which it is entered. It generally appears in search results or in lists etc in pace of the intro text.

T

Template

Each article in iCM uses a template. The template determines the elements that will be output by the page. Templates provide site functionality, whereas themes provide site styling and layout.

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A