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International Author Training 

AEM Training Videos

  • Watch step-by-step videos with expert nariation.  
  • Use the "Guide Me" button in the bottom right corner of each video to launch step-by-step walkthroughs.
  • First-time users: it will prompt you to install the Scribe extension (quick and easy).

Still have questions? Email an AEM expert: DCMteam@mheducation.com (expect responses within 24 hours during standard business hours)
 

Click the arrow icon in the lower right corner of any video to launch a guided walkthrough. This will open a side panel with step-by-step instructions.

Quick Start Guide

When you log in to AEM, you should see 3 options, Sites, Experience Fragments, and Assets (DAM).   These videos will walk you though the steps and explain how to navigate through the appropriate folders. 

If you have any questions, please email the DCMteam@mheducation.com. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE WORKING IN A LIVE ENVIRONMENT.  DO NOT DELETE OR EDIT EXISTING EXPERIENCE FRAGMENTS OR ASSETS.

If anything comes up, please email the DCMteam@mheducation.com.

The tutorials in this section are meant to guide you through the basics of accessing folders and the layout of Adobe Experience Manager. For instructions on editing content, please refer to the authoring section.

Log in to AEM

These steps will show you how to navitgate from the landing page of AEM to the sites folder, where you will be able to edit content on pages.  

These steps will introduce the basics of AEM pages, including how they are structured and how to view the components within a page.

Authorable vs. Non-Authorable Page Areas

This PDF will show you briefly what areas of pages are authorable and what are not.
Download

Experience Fragments are reusable pieces of content that can appear on multiple pages and be updated in a single location, ensuring consistency and making authoring more efficient.  Please note that you will have access to Experience Fragments on the live US site. Do not edit any existing ones in these folders.

The Digital Asset Manager (DAM) is where all images and PDFs used on the site are stored. You'll have limited access to the DAM under an "International" folder.  Please keep in mind when uploading images, they should be less than 200KB and in the webp format. 

Authoring and Editing Content in AEM

Best Practices

  • Images should be less than 200KB and in the .webp format. WebP images load faster, improve SEO (because of the faster load time), and maintain image quality.
  • Image and PDF files names should be all lowercase with a "-" in between the words (example wonders-cover-g3.webp)
  • When adding an AEM URL to a component, always use a relative link. Relative links provide greater long-term flexibility, ensure consistency across environments, and make ongoing maintenance easier. Example:
    • Relative link: /content/mheducation/us/en/gb/en/prek-12
    • The absolute link for this same URL would be: https://www.mheducation.com/gb/en/prek-12. Please do not use these when linking internally on AEM pages.
  • If editing any of the page metadata, keep in mind the recommended character limits. 
    • Page titles should be 55 characters or less. 
    • Page metadescriptions should be 160 characters or less.     
  • Formatting: Program names should be italicized and grade ranges should use an em dash (K–12) to be consistent with the rest of the site.        

When editing a page, you will need to un-inherit content from the master (US) page. Doing this breaks the connection to the US page, so any future updates made to the US page will not automatically apply to the section you are editing.  

If you wish to add a new section to a page in AEM, you may do so.  These will be custom to each region and have no relationship with the US page. 

When you are done editing pages, you will kick off a workflow that will send a notification to the Digital Content Management team.  Someone will approve your request or let you know if further edits are needed. Please allow 24 hours for approval.

Within our content pages are experience fragments that you may wish to customize for your region.  Previously you were shown how to navigate to the correct folder, now we'll show you how to edit content on these. Please keep in mind that you are accessing folders that are part of the live site, DO NOT EDIT EXISTING EXPERIENCE FRAGMENTS.  

When creating your customized versions, please add “international” and the applicable region to help distinguish them from the US versions.

Example: reveal-math-slide-1-international-sg

When you want to update the content used in an experience fragment, you'll follow the steps from the last video.  This video will walk you through how to link that content up on a page. 

You can upload image, videos, and PDFs to the Digital Asset Manager (DAM).  There is a folder specific for international assets the will be used for this purpose.

Use .webp or .svg formats for all images, and keep file sizes under 200KB. Larger files can slow page load times, which may negatively impact SEO and user experience.  

When uploading to the DAM, please be sure assets are named with all lowercase, no special characters or spacing and a hyphen in-between words. (Example: wonders-g1-cover.webp)

If you wish to edit the page metadata (page title or page meta description), you may do so in the page properties.  As with any on page edits, this will cancel any inheritance from the US pages.  

Accessibility

Authors will verify any of these issues before publishing.  If any issues are noted, the pages will be returned and you will be asked to correct.  

Basic things to watch for:

  • Images: Most images on our site do not require alt or title text—only those not already described within the page content. If removing the image wouldn’t result in any loss of information, you can leave this blank.
  • Heading structure: The heading structure should follow a logical order and not skip levels.  The bookmarklet tool in the resources section below is a quick, easy way to review this.
  • Link should be clear and understandable to the user (aria-labels):  Users should be able to tell what the link is if it's taken out of the context of a paragraph.  For example, if you have multiple links on the page that say "Learn More", you'll need to make sure these have a descriptive aria-label stating what they are learning more about (i.e. Learn More about Inspire Science).  
  • For more information on accessibility, please see the Digital Content Management team accessibility page or refer to the WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines.

Resources

  • Accessibility

    Bookmarklets

    These bookmarkets are a great tool to do a quick accessibility review of your page. From the "Install Link" column, just drag the link to your bookmark bar/folder. The most common ones used are Images and Headings.

  • Quick Start Guide

    Adobe Experience Manager

    This is the official quick start guide on the Adobe site. While there may be some differences in the environment, this shows the basics of how to access and edit pages.