Content Types
Before you create any content you need to understand that there are different types of content with different purposes.
A page is generally for a static piece of content, where the date, authorship, comments and being able to compare earlier versions are not the priority.
A blog is essentially a content type where the 'author' is important, as is the date, and comments are usually accepted.
A wiki is a 'page' where the important feature is that authorised people can modify the actual content, and therefore being able to compare versions is necessary. Comments may also be accepted.
A discussion, post or forum is where the thread of comments is important.
The above are the more commonly used content types, but in addition there are:
An event where the date is crucial and other fields may be included such as the location and organiser.
A poll which may be either a Binary Poll (choosing between options) and a Ranking Poll (ranking them in order of preference).
A resource which tends to be an item that has an attachment such as a PDF, or a hyperlink to another location
A book page which is usually a type of wiki page, that other users can modify, but which sits in a chapter-type structure - just like this page.
There are some other important concepts too remember.
Permissions and Roles
Whether or not you can create, edit or comment on any of the above will depend on your permissions and the role you have. And the same goes as to whether the item is available to be seen by people.
Content Settings
When publishing an item there are many settings that can be applied, again some of which will depend on what permissions and roles you have. Things such as
- publication date whether it is just the date you 'published' the item on, or whether you want to give some other, usually earlier date, so it shows correctly in any chronological lists.
- author some users will be able to allocate the authorship of the item to some other user
- menu some users will be able to specify that a particular item should appear as a menu item either for the main menu bar, or for one of the secondary level menu items.
Audiences
On sites such as this, which use Organic Group (OG), there is also the potential to determine who the audience is, i.e. whether the item is 'public' meaning that anyone can see it, or whether it is restricted to one or several Organic Groups.
OG members may also be able to create content for other members of the Group to see, but not be able to create other type of content.
Attachments
Some content types permit the attachment of documents such as PDFs.
Images
Many types permit the insertion of images. But images can also be added as their own 'content type' for displaying in Galleries.
Vocabularies
This tool allows us to categorise or tags each item with relevant 'terms'. These terms will then usually show on the item so that users can click on them and find all other items that have been tagged in the same way. This is really useful in helping to guide people to finding information that they may be interested in. As well as the structured terms, there are also 'free tags' that mean that if there are additional terms you want to use for this document then they can be added.