Define content types
Turn each content type from your plan into a type in the admin area, then write and publish one item to see the whole flow work. The full reference is Content.
Create a content type
In the admin menu open Content, then Content types, and press Add Content Type. (Articles is already there from the first-run wizard; edit it rather than adding a second one. So is Info Pages, which holds About, Contact and your policies: see Write static pages.)
Fill in Content Type Name (Plural) and Singular Name, for example Case Studies and Case Study. The plural heads the list page and the admin menu; the singular labels buttons such as Add Case Study.
Add a Description (shown under the list page heading) and pick an Icon (Font Awesome) for the admin menu.
Leave Generate public pages on when each item deserves a page of its own, such as an article or a case study. Turn it off for parts of a page that editors change, such as services, a hero or testimonials: the items then show only as cards on the home page, with no page, list page or sitemap entry each (see Let editors change your home page). With it off the slug is hidden, and the template picker is called Card template.
Check the Content Type Slug. It is filled in from the name and becomes the URL:
case-studiesgives/case-studies. Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only. Each type needs a slug of its own: save refuses one that another type already uses.Choose the Entry order: Newest first for articles and news, or Your own order for services, team members or questions, which you then drag into place with Arrange on the entry list.
Check the Content Template. A template folder with the same name as the slug is picked for you; otherwise it is Default Template. You can switch to your own folder after Design templates.
Under Custom fields, press Add Field for each extra field in your plan: give it a Name, a Type and, if it must be filled in before publishing, tick Required.
Press Save Content Type. The type appears in the admin menu under Content.
Structured data (see Get found by search engines and AI) is at the bottom of the form when you add a type and when you edit it: choose a type such as Product or Event and map its properties to the custom fields you have added. When you edit a saved type, the form also has Searchable custom fields (see Add search).
Settle the slug before you write items. Items and tags are stored under the slug (arc_{slug}), so once a type has any, the slug is locked and the edit form says why. It is also locked while another type's reference field points at the type. While the type is empty you can still change it, but its web address changes with it, and links to the old one stop working.
Delete a content type
Choose Delete on the type in Content types. The confirmation says how many entries the type has: they are deleted with it, drafts and published, with their translations and version history, and so are its tags. This cannot be undone, so export the type first if you may want it back (Data import and export). Deleting does not take its pages off the site: unpublish the entries first.
A site set up before slugs were checked can have two types with the same slug, which share one set of entries. Deleting one of them keeps the entries for the other, and its confirmation says so.
Choose field types
| Type | Holds |
|---|---|
text, number | A short text or a number, such as a subtitle or a price |
richtext | Formatted text with its own editor |
date, datetime | A day, such as a deadline, or a day and a time, such as an event start |
image, icon, color | An image from the media library, an icon, a color |
file | One file, or several in order, from the media library's Files: a price list, a brochure, a menu (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV or text) |
boolean | A yes or no |
dropdown, radio, checkbox | A choice from options you list, separated by commas, or from the items of another content type (Use data from another collection) |
infocard | Repeating cards, each an icon or image with a headline and a paragraph |
gallery | Repeating photos and YouTube videos with captions |
labelvalue | Repeating label and value pairs, such as an at-a-glance box |
faq | Repeating questions and answers, under an optional heading |
maplocation | Repeating places, each with a name, an address and a map pin, under an optional heading |
What each type stores and how a template shows it, with an example per type, is in the field types reference.
Each field gets a key from its name, shown under the name as you type. Templates use that key, and it is fixed once the type is saved: renaming the field later changes only its label, so name fields carefully. Do not add fields for what every item already has (title, URL slug, cover image, body, summary, dates, tags, author, read time).
A few rules worth knowing before you add fields:
- Required is checked when you press Publish. Drafts and previews save with the field empty.
- You can change a field's Type after saving, but values already written are not converted, so check the items that have one.
- Deleting a field takes it out of the editor, but the values stay stored on each item, and a template that names the key still shows them.
- In a second language, only text, rich text and the words in repeating fields (headlines, captions, labels, addresses) are translated. Every other field is shared by all languages.
The default template already shows four repeating fields, with no template work, when they are named exactly Gallery (a gallery field), Details (a labelvalue field), FAQ (a faq field) or Locations (a maplocation field). Any other repeating field needs a template that loops over it.
Write and publish an item
Open the type in the admin menu under Content, and press Add followed by the singular name.
Write the title and the body. The editor has headings, lists, tables, images, links and code, plus ready-made blocks (FAQ, Key takeaways, How-to steps, Definition) from the toolbar's grid icon.
In the Basic tab, fill in the Summary, check the URL Slug, and pick a Cover Image, Tags, an Author and the custom fields. Left empty, the summary is the first 100 characters of the body and follows it as you write; once you write your own, body edits leave it alone, also after you reopen the entry. The summary fills the SEO meta description by the same rule, until you write that yourself. List cards show the meta description, or the first 25 words of the body when there is none. The page address under the slug, and the one its copy button copies, is on the Production URL (Settings, About), or on the address the admin is open on while that is empty.
Press Preview. It saves a draft and opens the page in a new tab, rendered with the type's template.
Press Publish. The page is written to the live site, and the list page, sitemap and feeds are updated.
Save as draft keeps work unpublished; the editor also saves as you type. The History tab keeps earlier versions you can restore. From the content list you can Arrange the items of a type in your own order, Unpublish an item, choose the Columns shown, and Bulk Import items from a CSV or Excel file.
Next
Give your types their own look: Design templates.