An important aspect of consultation pages is the ability to display a clear and concise timeline of the project or proposal. When an OC Consultation page is created, 3 child folders are created with it. Timeline entries are added under the 'Timeline' folder, using the OC Consultation Timeline content type.
The timeline items are only shown on the OC Consultation page itself, they are hidden from navigation by default, and are not shown as pages by themselves. However, you can link timeline entries to other pages, enabling your community to navigate to discussion or general information pages.
See it in action: Check out a consultation page on our demo site to see a timeline.
How to create a timeline entry
- Right-click on the Timeline folder under the consultation page.
- Select Create Page. It will automatically create a new page with OC Consultation Timeline as the content type.
- Fill in the necessary fields.
- Publish your timeline entry.
Make sure you publish the OC Consultation Timeline page and the 'Timeline' folder, so they will show on the OC Consultation page.
What to include on your timeline entry
Use the following information to fill out the timeline page fields:
| Field | Function |
| Page name | Completes the unique page URL |
| Timeline title | The title displayed in the timeline on the consultation page |
| Link to, leave empty to display as text only | Insert links to internal or external pages using the Insert links option. Leave this blank to just show the title in the timeline without linking anywhere. See our article on discussion pages to learn about including links to discussions in your timeline. |
| Timeline dates | |
| Closing date | The date displayed in the timeline for this timeline entry. |
| Hide closing information | Check 'Yes' if you don't want to show the closing date on the timeline. This field is useful when the exact closing date is unknown, and you want to enter an approximate date. For example, if you want to just display the month and year, you would check 'Yes' for this option and enter the details in the field below. |
| And display following instead | If you hide the closing date from view, you can enter alternative information here. |