Plone userguide

Adding Portal Content

How to add documents, folders, images and other types of content to the GEARS portal.

Adding content to the GEARS portal is a simple process. In order to add content, you must be logged in to the portal and you can only add content in the parts of the portal where you are allowed to (this is called having permission). As a portal member, by default you will have permission to add content to your member folder, so this is a good place to practice.

To begin, make sure you are logged in to the portal. For help on how to register and log in see the quick start page.

Once you are logged in, navigate to your folder by clicking on my folder in the personal links bar next to the "preferences" and "logout" links.

What is my folder for? It's the default place where you add new content. Think of it like your "My Documents" folder in Windows.

Every document and folder you have full permissions for, will be presented with a number of tabs above the web page. For example, when opening your folder, you will see the folowing tabs:

By default, the contents tab will be activated when you access your folder. This means that in the page below the tabs you will see the contents of your folder, a list of the files and folders it contains. If you haven't added anything to your folder yet, the only item that will be in your folder is a document called "home page for member" (where member is your username).

The contents tab allows you to rename, cut, copy... the folder's content. To access a specific file or folder, you just need to click on it's name. Above the document list there is a drop-down list which allows you to add new types of content, including news items, events, documents, files, folders, images…

Click on the view tab and you will see the home page for the given folder you were in (your folder). Since this is your first visit, the text of this home page will be the standard message: "This item does not have any body text, click the edit tab to change it."

This brings me to the

edit tab: This tab shows the same document as the view tab, but with an editable interface. This shows the document's short name, title and description. You also have a series of buttons and options to help you create and edit the document's content (body text), like in your favorite word processor.

If you are familiar with HTML and want to dig into the page's code, this is possible by ticking the HTML box at the bottom of the page. However we do not recommend doing this if you are not absolutely sure of what you are doing.

All types of content will have a name (or shortname), a title and a description:

    * The name becomes part of the item's web address, and should be written in all lowercase letters with no spaces.
    * The title will appear in the navigation structure and at the top of the page.
    * The description should provide a brief summary and will appear beneath the title.

 There are many different types of content available in the GEARS portal. Probably the easiest way to learn about them is to play with them. In the meantime, here's a brief description of the ones you will probably use the most:

    * An Event is something to be added to the calendar, such as a conference, a meeting, or a social event. (See: http://gears.eife-l.org/Members/nadinej/gears-meeting )
   
    * A News Item is a special type of document that becomes visible on the "News" tab when published. This type of object should be used for announcements and things like that. (See : http://gears.eife-l.org/Members/mvancoillie/services-federation-with-gears-portal )

    * A Document is simply a web page. You can write document content in HTML, plain text, or StructuredText. This help is a document.

    * A File is an external document type, such as a word document or a pdf file. You can add just about any type of file to a Plone site. When users navigate to your file object, they will be able to download the document you uploaded.

    * A Folder is a place to store other objects. For instance, you might create a folder within your members folder where you keep images.

    * Article, is a document you create from "crash", adding text, images, tables…all you want to put in. Homepages in the portal are articles.

    * Link : just to add a link and provide to others this link (see: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=959&password=M.41F4878C1DE87667668D040913C53C) to join our virtual meeting facility provided by our partner Elluminate.

Content State:

All portal content has a state, which defines it's visibility, or by whom it can be seen. The basic states are: Private or Published

The default setting for content added to the GEARS portal is “private”. This means that it is visible only by the owner that created it and the portal administrator.

Example:

You have just created a short news item, and it's state is "private". You would like the news item to be published for others to see when they visit your personal folder, and to publish it in the "news" section of the public GEARS portal. In order to do so you must "submit" the news item for publishing. This is done after saving the file. In the top right corner choose "submit" in the state drop list.

A portal administrator will review and validate your news item, and publish it. The state will then be "published" and the news item will appear in the news section of the GEARS portal. After publishing content you remain it's owner, and may restrict, retract or delete your content.

 
(this document is derived from Plone documentation available here: http://plone.org/documentation/manual/end-user-manual)

Some documentation in French and in English is also available on EIfEL portal : http://www.eife-l.org/publications/misc/contribuer-portail)