To create a document entry is to put content on the web site. Unless you decide to make some specific changes as documented below, this new content will populate the center (main) section of the site. It will fill in reverse cronological order so the most recently created, or edited content will always be the first item listed on the EQB home page.
There are several different types of content you can create, each specific to how it is desired to display on the site. The content type documented within this page is for the Docs content type. This content type consits of a PDF document with citation and meta data describing it. The vistor will be able to search the web site and find information based on this citation data, and then optionally download the attached PDF file. For help in creating content other than this docs type, consult the menu to the left.
Before begining you must be logged into the web site with an account that has editing privileges. Once logged in you should see an what is called an Overlay Menu at the top of the page with menu items on it such as Dashboard, Content, Structure, Appearance, etc. If you do not see this menu, you are not logged in. If you are sure you are logged in, contact the helpdesk.
Creating New Content
From the overlay menu, hover your mouse pointer over Add Content, then choose docs from the pop-out child menu.
This will open the content editor. Though this form appears complex there is really only one field that is absolutley required to be filled in and that is the Title.
Title
It is designated with a red star to indicate it is required. The rest of the fields, though many of them may be desired, they are not required to be filled in to save the record. This is handy in the case of creating a placeholder. So a title could be filled in, the document not yet published and the record saved while other information is still being collected.
Summary
Usually you wll want to leave this field blank. The only time you will want to fill it in, is when you want a very specific teaser text that leads into the full document citation. If the Summary field is left blank, the Drupal system will automatically create a summary clipped from the next field which is the body. This automatic behavior is configured (and can be changed) based on the number of characters set in the Structure/Content Types/Edit menu. Blank is automatic, fill it in if something special is wanted as a teaser.
Body
This is the area where the bulk of the content is placed. This is the citation data for the file being attached. This is the primary field, along with the title, that the site search engine indexes. The more descriptive you can be in this area, the better the search results will match what the visitor is looking for.
The body of the document is edited in a typical (just like your word processing program) window. You can control the fonts, bold facing and size. You can create bullet points. There are lots of other features. Generally speaking however, the best long term plan for readability and ADA compliance is to keep the documents as simple as possible.
For more indepth information on the editor window, please read the page at http://vweb-dev.pca.state.mn.us/content/documentation-editor-links-and-formatting
Subjects
The subjects is a freeform text entry box that remembers previous entries. What this allows is for data consistancy, in that if you have a specific subject but don't exactly remember how it was worded, you can begin to type and when you see it, just click on it. The data will then be able to be consistantly found under a particular subject and there won't be troubles with alternat spelling or syntax. Conversely, sometimes it is desirable to start a new subject. In this case, type your entire new subject into this box. The next time you want to enter a new document under this same subject, it will appear as one of the choices you can pick from.
Document Type(s)
This field is for classifying the documents into content categories such as Affidavit or Notice. Setting this attribute will allow views of the data to be created from these types. So for instance, setting the type to Notice will cause the document entered to show up on the top of the Public Notice page. The field name, appearing to be pluaral is somewhat deceptive because this field is not multi-select. Only one choice can be made from the dropdown list.
PDF Document
This is where the actual document (PDF, DOC, XLS) file is added to this record. Click first on the Choose File button and navigate to and select from your hard drive. Once you have selected the document it is generally best (though not totally required) to go ahead and hit upload at this point. In theory you don't need to do this. In theory, the document will be uploaded and saved as you hit the final save button on the bottom of the page. However, in practice this will often cause an error message and the document will not actually be uploaded.
Contributer
Publisher and Contributor are similar yet distinct. The publisher field can be set to show the originating agency. This is hard coded and forces data consistency by only allowing selections from the drop down list. The Contributor is more freeform. It is a 255 character text field that allows you to type an agency, group or author name.
Source
The source field is
Creator
This is agency that first sponsored the document.
Counties
Allows Optionally choose the counties. This sets the geographic region of the document. Though this is an optional setting it would allow users to search by counties. This box has two special features. For one, the first item on the list is Minnesota. Choosing this would indicate a document entry that is applicable state wide. The second feature of this dropdown box is that it is multi-select. By holding down the Command (Apple), or Ctrl (Windows) and clicking on counties, each of those counties will be saved. This box is configurable and could be edited to add regional information, so there could be additional items in the drop down added after this documentation was written.
Rights
The rights field is used to distinguish between published records and draft/internal records. When a record is created it starts automatically with the rights of “Draft. There is then a function to toggle this to “Public”.
Bottom Tabs
Generally you do not need to change anything in the bottom tabs. The only exceptions to this would be if you want a specifically shortened url, you can enter it manually. Or, if this is a child document to some other parent and you want to set what the parent document is. If you have either of these circumstances, read on.
The common ones:
URL Path Settings
Not doing anything in this tab will cause the system to choose a url alias for you. This will normally be just fine. But there are times where you would like a specific very short url. Usually this will only be for major topic areas where you want to publicize the url. In this case, uncheck the Generate automatic URL alias and then in the box below, type in the alias you want. Do not start, nor end with the "/" (slash) character. Do not use any spaces in the url for the maximum browser compatibility.
Node Hierarchy
This tab is edited in the case of uploading a child document. Children are attached to parent documents using the Node Hierarchy tab. The only change you will make is to enter the title of the Parent document into the text box. To aid in your search to the correct parent, as you type the Drupal system will perform lookup matching. Likely shortly after beginning to type a title, the document will be in the list and can be clicked on.
Publishing Options
Uncheck the Published checkbox to make the record not visible on the web site. The record will still be in the database, can still be edited but won't be viewable. This is handy for times when all the information is not available at the same time. A record can be assembled and then the Published status re-checked when the entry is fully complete.
Lesser used settings within tabs:
Menu settings
For creation of a main page where it is desired to have one of the menus link directly to the new document being created. Check the box for Provide a menu link, then in the box below it put the text that will form the menu title. This is the exact text that will show up in one of the drop down menus. It should be fairly short in length for maximum display compatibility. Below this, enter the description of where the menu link will take the visitor. On some Drupal themes, this is the text that will appear if the visitor hovers their mouse pointer over the menu choice. Next, choose the Parent Item from the dropdown list. This is another way of saying, "what menu do you want this on?"
Authoring Information
Allows for manually changing the author name assigned to the record.
Revision Information
Each time a record is edited it creates a copy of the version in the database so it is possible to roll back to a previous version. This version control system is handier when notes are kept about each revision. To add these notes, enter them in the Revision Log Message of this tab. Make sure the Create New Revision box remains checked.