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Creating your content

There are two ways to create new content in Contentful: Using Add entry from the main content dashboard; and using the Create new entry and link options within any content you’re building or editing. So be careful – you can quickly add a lot of content to the system, including duplicate entries.

Before you create anything new, your mantra should be “Do we already have it?”

The Add entry method

Start with Add entry upper right on the dashboard. If your content type dropdown above the main content list is set to a specific type, Add entry will give you that type as your first option. Otherwise scroll to find the type you want to create. TIP: type the first 3 letters of what you need in the search box - it filters quickly.

Click on the content type to create your entry. The next screen you’ll see will be the entry editor for that type. At that point, you’ve created content without entering a single field. If you come out of the entry (use the left-facing arrow, upper left), you’ll see your new content atop the main list.

Instant content:

Upside: it’s incredibly easy to add new content to the system. Downside: you can quickly accumulate a lot of junk content and false starts. So it’s a great habit to immediately delete any entries you didn’t mean to create or that you know you won’t be using later for publishing, drafting, training or testing.

In the entry editor, complete the various fields for that content. (This document has guidance for each content type, so use the menu on the Getting Contentful page). Anything you type or click will be auto-saved. 

The Create new entry and link method

When you’re editing a piece of content and you’re given the option to either Create new entry and link or Link existing entries, choose wisely: As I said above, you can quickly create duplicate content. Unless you’re certain that the content you need doesn’t exist, you should always start with Link existing. 

Navigating the Russian dolls

Whenever you’re within a content entry and you click to edit other content within that entry (for example, a CTA assembly in a content page), that entry will open as an overlay.

If you then click into any content within that entry, it will also open as an overlay. And so on.

You get the picture. Your screen can become like the film Inception, and you won’t be sure which level of content or reality you’re within. Just keep your eyes on the name of the content type you’re editing and you’ll be fine.

When you publish something, if it has nested content that isn’t published, you’ll be notified and asked if you want to go ahead and publish. Generally, you can go into that draft item, complete any missing fields or other requirements within and publish it, then come out of it into your original item.

If you haven’t added metadata, etc., or haven’t completed a required field, Contentful will let you know.

Editing the content fields

Content naming tips

Contentful’s search is one of its strengths. Whether you’re looking for content in the main dashboard or within the flow of building a piece of content, the search tool gives you dropdowns and filters to help your search. However, you can play a part in keeping content findable by observing a few naming conventions:

  • Clearly describe the content itself or its purpose.

    • BAD: June 2019

    • GOOD: Debt advice newsletter 2019

  • Give it a name general enough so it could be reused in a range of ways, but not so general that it becomes unfindable.

    • BAD: Donation button

    • GOOD: Christmas appeal CTA button

  • Don’t include the content type in the name. The system will tell you what the type is.

    • BAD: How to get your deposit back callout

    • GOOD: How to get your deposit back

Generally speaking, the more granular/smaller the piece of content, the more generic the name can be. Individual components that are nested in larger assemblies and pages only need to clearly say their purpose, not where they're used. Some examples:

  • Vertical Rush FAQ - How much should I raise (accordion component)

  • Vertical Rush FAQs (accordion assembly)

  • Right to a secure home (standard hero)

  • Man running up a hill (full width image)

  • Partner with Shelter CTA (Component banner or Standard CTA)

Using the Rich text editor (RTE)

Many content types in Contentful include a rich text editor, which lets you give your text a range of formatting and also lets you embed content like images and, depending on where it’s used, other content such as video components, inline callouts, share blocks and more.

Contentful doesn’t build pages and content in HTML. It uses JSON (a type of Javascript), and when you publish a page our publishing technology converts it to HTML for the web. Because of this, you’re not able to see a code view that some CMS’s provide. But Contentful’s text formatting is reliable.

Pasting text

All pasted text from any source (websites, Word etc) must be stripped of any previous formatting*. The easiest way to do this is Ctrl + Shift + V.

Once you do, you’ll need to create P breaks (<p> and </p> in HTML) before each paragraph or formatting change. When you paste imported text, it may appear to have paragraph breaks but don’t be fooled – it doesn’t. So you’ll need to:

  1. Place your cursor right in front of the first character in the paragraph or line

  2. Hit Backspace until the text is next to the previous text

  3. Hit Enter or Return to create a proper P break

Note: Currently (July 2020) you are able to copy text from a Shelter web page and paste it into the RTE of some content types, and it will retain the formatting – header styles, bullet lists and hyperlinks. You can do this in a Content page and a Jump menu content block component. With other types, however, you still need to remove previous formatting.

Formatting text

When creating the body copy for your component or page, the menu bar at the top of the RTE gives you all the formatting options including hyperlinks. This field guide page shows you how each formatting option displays on a page:

  • Keyboard shortcuts for the RTE:

Embedding content

Contentful’s RTE allows you to embed content entries and media assets between paragraphs of text. However, it does not allow text wrapping.

Click Embed - depending which content type you’re editing, you should be able to select Entry, which lets you add content that fits what you’re editing (eg a table into a press release page), or select Asset to add an image from the Media library for your Contentful space (see the guide to using the Media library).

To edit or remove embedded content, click the 3 dots on the block’s right edge. If you select Edit, that entry will open as an overlay.

Previewing your content

As you’re building content and pages, you’ll of course want to see how it will render for the user. The only content types we can preview in Contentful are page templates. Which means to see how any components or assemblies will look, you need to add them to a page and preview the page.

To preview a page, simply open an existing page entry or create a new one. You can use the Preview button at any time, even before you add any content:

The platform behind our preview is called Gatsby, which updates the preview without having to publish.

(Note: If it’s being slow to display a page once you’ve clicked the button, be patient. If it’s not working at all, let the Central Digital cross-org team know. They’re working to improve its performance.)

Publishing your content

For any content entry, the green Publish button always sits in the righthand sidebar.  

Do not be daunted by the word ‘Publish’ but don’t be careless either. Using it will only affect the live website if you’re publishing:

  • a page that’s already on the live site

  • content within a page that’s on the live site

For any other page or content, clicking Publish will simply ‘build’ the content to a state where it’s ready to go live if needed. For a page and its content to sit on the live website, the page first needs to be added to the tree (more below).

To publish a page, you should have published all content nested (added or embedded) within it. It you attempt to publish a content entry containing other draft content, you’ll get a prompt.

You can still publish your content but best practice is to first publish the nested content. Any draft content will prohibit pages from displaying on the live site.

The tree? 

The tree is formally known as the Navigation component. It’s a tool that allows us to create page hierarchies for our websites.

Contentful doesn’t use hierarchies – it’s a vast, flat sea of content, connected together by us, its happy users. But websites require hierarchies of pages for URL structures, breadcrumb navigation, and anywhere that section navigation is used such as the left-hand sides of Shelter Legal sections in Scotland and England.

The tree is where we build those hierarchies - parent/children/grandchildren relationships of pages.

It’s also how we enable pages to go live on the site. So it’s a very powerful tool, the tree. And because it determines URL structures, it carries risks (moving a grandparent could break an entire section) and can only be managed by designated admin users of Contentful.

Unpublishing

You can unpublish pages and content in two ways:

  • From within the content editor, by clicking the arrow in the green button and selecting Unpublish. This will prompt you if any other content is linked to it (left example below).

  • In the main content dashboard, by ticking the box next to an entry and clicking Unpublish. This won’t prompt you, it will just unpublish the content and return it to DRAFT status (right example below).

Scheduled publishing

You can easily schedule a publish or unpublish for any future date and time. You may need a press release to go live at midnight on a campaign launch date, or remove a page when an event is over. 

Any questions? Email Lindsay Foley in the Central Digital team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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