Administration Dashboard overview
The Administration Dashboard is the central area where you configure and manage your contest.
There are 11 main sections of the Administration Dashboard as described below.
1 – Dashboard
The Dashboard icon takes the user to the default dashboard homepage as displayed above. This includes the display of high level site metrics and analytics.
2 – Contest
The Contest icon links to the setup area for contests. The currently created contests will be displayed. Users can create multiple contests depending on the package ypu can have multiple contests published at the same time.
When a trial is first created a default contest will be created in the publish state. You can use this as a template to configure your first contest.
To configure the contest, select the “Manage” button for the specific contest.
To view the different attributes of the contests, select the “Columns” button and select from the available fields to display.
Each contest is assigned a sub-folder to the contest domain e.g. demo.us.launchpad6.com/contest1. These can be displayed by showing the Alias column. The alias can be changed from the design section.
You Can also create new contests by selecting the “Create a new Contest” button or by copying the default (or any other created) contest.
If a contest is copied then all the configuration and any modified site templates, static pages or widgets will also be copied. Entries from copied contests will not be copied to the new contest.
You can also style the contest site or embedable widgets by selecting the Design button.
3 – Users and Groups
The users and groups icon takes you to the list of all users that have been setup to manage, moderate or judge your contest.
It also contains all users who have entered the contest if the contest has been setup so that entrants must register to enter the contest.
In the top right hand corner you can create new users, delete multiple users, select columns you would like to display as well as export all selected columns to CSV.
4 – Global Pages and Themes
The global pages and themes area will only display on the left menu if you have enabled the "Global Site Pages" in the site settings area.
The pages & themes area is where you can customize the look and feel of your mulit-contest site so you can provide a landing page and gallery for all contests that are published or have been previously run and closed (Note offline contests will not be displayed).
If you enable these pages then you should set the default page to the /Global Home Page or /all contests (contest gallery) page.
The pages and themes area contains two options. This includes “Themes” and “Static Pages”.
Themes is the area where you configure the standard global landing multi-contest pages that are provided with the ContestPad platform.
Static Pages is used to create completely custom static pages. These are typically used to create standalone home pages which then link to the landing site pages or to create additional static pages to the contest pages. In this case they are typically used to create “about us”, “company” and other informational pages about the site, or the organization providing the contests.
When the “Themes” is selected the Themes Selection panel is displayed.
The Theme selector provides multiple standard contest template designs that you can use as a starting point to configure your site.
The active template will be displayed with the “Active” status next to the theme name. The “Active” template is the template that is activated for the website.
You can activate multiple themes at once. If multiple are activated a language selector button will appear in the top right corner of the contest pages. This allows you to create multiple language variants for the site landing pages which each active theme representing the language you want to support. The default theme will be the theme displayed by default.
To configure the template using the standard configurator select the “Edit” button. You can also make advanced customisations to the template by selecting the “Code” button. This will take you to a HTML editor where you can make advanced changes.
You can also make copies of templates.
This can be handy if you want to create a few different versions of your contest look and feel. You can then just activiate the themes you would like to use.
5 – Visit Site
The visit site button is located in the top menu.
The “Visit Site” link is used to preview the default contest (or global pages) site that is setup in your site configuration area.
This allows you to preview what the site looks like. It is important to note that this will bypass the “under construction” or “password” setting you have set for your site.
6 – Upgrade Trial
The “Upgrade Trial” button is used to upgrade your trial to a full paying subscription. This is only active when your site is still in trial phase.
This will take you to the package selection area so that you select your package, enter payment details and fully activate your account to a full paying subscription.
The system will also specify how long you have left on your trial.
7 – Site Configuration
The site configuration icon is used to configure the ContestPad site level settings.
This is where you configure things such as site name, meta tags, timezone, domain names, whether to enable Global Site Pages, default pages, under construction and password protection and more.
8 – Accounts Area
The accounts area contains three sub menus. These include to view your personal profile, view your accounts area and also to logout of the administration dashboard.
The “My Profile” area is used to configure the personal details of your profile.
This includes details such as Firstname, Lastname, username, email address and phone number.
You can also use this area to set you own personal avatar as well as reset you own password.
You can also review the security groups that you belong to and if permission is granted you can change your security groups.
The Account & Billing area allows you to review all outstanding and previously paid invoices for the platform as well as update payment method and bill to details.
Another important aspect to this area is this is where you can close down your site once you have finished with your contest.
This will ensure you are not invoiced when the next due period arrives.