Pages are the most critical aspects of your site, as this is where you present your content to your community. As a CMS, OpenCities has developed a range of content types that differ according to purpose; different content types will have different kinds of structured content fields, which you can fill to structure your page.
Our range of content types includes navigational types such as the OC Landing Page and purpose-driven content types such as OC Event or OC News Article.
There are several ways to create or update pages, and lots to cover about what content to include – use this table of contents to jump to what you need:
Create a page
There are several ways to create pages on your OpenCities site; you can create pages using the My Shortcuts feature on the Dashboard, create pages through the site tree, or you can bulk import content.
Create from the Dashboard
The My Shortcuts feature on your Dashboard displays a group of shortcuts created by your site manager or system admin. By hovering over the icons, you can Create new pages of that content type or See All pages in the shortcut's section.
When site managers or system admins create a shortcut, they will indicate what section of the site that page will be published to. Once you Create and Publish the page, you can select View in the site tree to see where the page has been published. Remember that this list of shortcuts might not be the complete list of available content types; if you can't find a shortcut to the content you want to create, it may be available through the site tree.
Create through the site tree
To create pages through the site tree, you need to be in the Pages section of your admin, where the site tree can be found. Here's how to do it:
- Right-click on a page in your site tree and select Create Page.
- Select your content type from the list. The page will be created as a child page of the page you clicked on.
- Fill in all the content you need for this page.
- You can Save and Preview the page to see how it looks, and, when you're finished, Publish it so it will go live.
If you cannot create a specific content type, the module may not have been installed. Contact your site manager or system admin to install a module.
Create a translation of a page
If you have language packs installed, you can create translations for popular pages on your site. Please note that these are not automatic and require authoring to get accurate translations.
- Navigate to the admin of the page you want to translate and select Update if it has been published.
- In the Overview tab of the page, you will see a list of the languages you have installed for your site. Hover over the language you want to translate to and select Create from the dropdown menu.
- A new version of the page will open, with duplicate fields for content entry. The original language fields will be greyed out but are present, so you can easily translate to your chosen language. If you open the WYSIWYG Editor, you will see the default body content and a space for you to translate.
- Fill out all the content you need.
- When you're finished, select Finalise Translation. When your translation is finalized, it will attach to the original page. The page in the default language will need to be Published before both versions are available on the live site.
What to include on your page
On each page, there are several tabs that contain various content fields and settings. These tabs are:
Overview tab
This tab is where you will enter all of the page's content. The page fields will differ by content type but will almost always include a Page name, Page title, and summary field. Most content types will also have a WYSIWYG Editor, into which you will add the body content of the page.
On some content types, below the WYSIWYG Editor you will find a Template menu to select the template you need. You will also find the page's URL, information about its status, and all the buttons you need to action content on this tab.
When filling out the fields for each page, ensure your content reflects what the page is about. Using relevant keywords in your title and summary fields makes your page easier to find in search. Additionally, check out our best practices for images article if you're using images.
Settings tab
This tab displays the unique settings for the page:
| Hide from search and navigation |
Use these settings to hide your page from search or navigation:
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| Schedule |
Use these fields to schedule a Publish date, Review date, and Deactivate date for the page. When a review or deactivate date is approaching, a reminder notification will be sent to the Page owner. These notifications will be sent out three days before the review or deactivate date by default. To change this, you will need to contact us. |
| Owner |
This displays the Page owner of the page. The owner is usually the user who created the page and has complete control over it. You can change the Page owner from this tab by selecting the edit icon next to the current owner. A list of all your users will display; pick a user from the list and select Save. |
| Content Type |
This shows the content type you have selected for this page. You can change it by selecting the edit icon next to the content type and selecting a new one from the list. Please note that some information could be lost if the new content type has different fields. |
| Create URL address |
This field displays all URLs associated with this page and ensures that visitors with a previous URL will be redirected to the most current page. OC Site Managers and OC System Administrators are the only users who can see this field and add new URLs. |
Engagement tab
This tab contains information about how site visitors are engaging with the page. The tab may include menus for:
These menus depend on the content type you're using and whether you've enabled the above settings in Site Management.
Links tab
This tab summarizes all the links on the page. It will show you:
- Any files attached and linked to the page as content files
- All outgoing internal and external links on the page
- All internal pages that link to this page
This information is essential, as you cannot archive or delete a page that has other pages linking to it. You will need to remove or repoint links before archiving or deleting the page.
History tab
This tab displays all previous versions of the page and all workflow comments the page has received. A new version is created whenever a published page is updated. Here's what you can do:
- Select an old version from the list to see it in admin and Preview it
- Select Roll Back to unpublish the most current version. The current version will still exist as a WIP page, but the live page will be the version preceding it. Use this option to take a page offline instantly.
- Re-publish an old version by selecting it from the list, selecting Copy to WIP, and then Publish
Only one published version of a page can exist at one time, so once you Publish a version, all previous versions will be deactivated.
Page statuses
Page statuses tell you what stage your page is in. This information is visible on the Overview and History tabs.
The statuses are:
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WIP (Work-in-progress)
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The page is in draft stage. It's been saved but not published yet. |
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Published
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The page has been published on your live site. |
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Rolled Back
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The page will be unpublished and removed from the live site. If any previous versions are still Published, the most recent version will go live. |
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Deactivated
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The version was published but has been replaced with a new one. |
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Archived
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The page has been archived. |
Page buttons
When creating or updating a page, numerous buttons help you action content.
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Update
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Update to move your published page into a WIP stage so you can edit it. |
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Preview
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Preview your page to see how it will look on your live site. You'll need to Save your page to see recent edits in Preview. |
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Check Out
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You’ll see this button on a WIP page that another user has been updating. Press Check Out to start editing it yourself. Save when you’re done, then press Check In so other users can edit it. You should check with the other content authors if they are currently editing the page before you check it out. If you Check Out a page that hasn't been saved, any edits will be lost. |
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Check In
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When you Update a page, the page is checked out to you. Press Check In to check the WIP page back in, so another user can check it out and edit it. |
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Roll Back
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Unpublish a version of a page. The content will still be saved, but it won’t appear on your live site. If there is a Published previous version, that version will go live. We recommend checking the History tab of your page to ensure that there are no active versions of the page. If there are active versions, and you want to unpublish them, select the version from the History tab and select Roll Back. |
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Save
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Save your recent edits on a WIP page to Preview it or continue working on it later. |
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Review
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Send your page out for external review. This is a separate process from a Workflow. |
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Submit
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Submit your page to a Workflow. Approvers can review and comment on the page and then publish or delete it depending on the workflow. |
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Publish
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Publish your page so that it goes live on your site. If you don't see this button, the page must be submitted to a workflow – use the Submit button instead. |
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Delete Version/Page
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Delete this version of the page. If the page only has one version, this button will be Delete Page instead. |
Update a page
To keep your site current, you'll need to keep your content updated. There are three ways to Update a page:
- The Dashboard: use the search bar to look for the page or browse for it under My Content. You'll find pages you own under the My Pages tab and your work-in-progress pages under My WIP.
- The site tree: navigate through the site tree to find the page you need and select Update to create a new version of it.
- The live site: if you select View Site from the main menu and navigate through the front end to the page you need, you can select Edit page from the information bar across the top of the site to go straight to that page's admin.