How the admin works
The admin area is a modular CMS rather than a single giant settings form. Editors log in at /admin/login.php and manage each content type through its own screen. The dashboard provides counts, quick-create shortcuts, and recent contact submissions, while the left sidebar exposes the full content structure: pages, products, services, people, clients, insights, blog, newsletter, testimonials, case studies, categories, sections, navigation, media, submissions, users, and settings.
For rich text areas such as page content, product pages, service pages, people pages, and selected long-form content, TinyMCE provides the editing surface. For structured content, the admin uses dedicated fields like slug, title, summary, flags, publish status, and SEO metadata.
Content ownership map
- Pages: page-level metadata, titles, body content, and base templates.
- Sections: reusable homepage and page-section blocks such as the hero and modular content bands.
- Products / Services: card content, slugs, full detail pages, SEO, features, and flagship or featured states.
- People / Clients: profile cards, detail pages, links, company references, and visibility flags.
- Case Studies / Testimonials: proof content and customer-facing evidence.
Content approval areas
- Insight Directories: create folder-like categories for grouped resources.
- Resources: manage downloadable or linked assets, directory placement, media selection, approval state, and publication.
- Blog: store opinion pieces and notes, with attribution to the admin user who created them.
- Newsletter: stores subscriber records and internal notes; no outbound mail is configured yet.
Safe admin workflow for routine updates
| Task | Admin area | Recommended method |
|---|---|---|
| Change homepage hero text | Sections | Edit the home / hero section so titles, subtitles, CTAs, and extra section data stay centralized. |
| Add or edit a service | Services | Set slug, summary, full description, page content, SEO fields, and flagship or featured flags before publishing. |
| Add a downloadable resource | Media, then Resources | Upload the file in Media first, then create a resource record and connect the file path or thumbnail. |
| Publish a blog post | Blog | Create the post, save excerpt and content, then set publish and approval controls intentionally. |
| Update navigation | Navigation | Edit menu items carefully because header and footer both rely on the navigation table. |
| Update site-wide text | Settings | Use this for shared values like footer text, newsletter labels, locations, and other cross-site fields. |
How the media library behaves
- The media library supports drag-and-drop upload for images, PDF, Office, audio, video, and ZIP files.
- Document resources can use optional thumbnails. If none is set, the public site falls back to file-type icons such as PDF or PPTX.
- The media library should be treated as the source of truth for resource files rather than hand-pasting upload URLs whenever possible.
Do this to avoid breakage
- Do not change slugs casually once pages are indexed or linked externally.
- Keep meta titles and descriptions purposeful; avoid leaving SEO fields blank on strategic pages.
- Use preview-minded formatting in TinyMCE. Long unstructured text blocks reduce page quality quickly.
- For proof content, get approval on customer names, logos, metrics, and source labels before publishing.