Form fields and form widgets

What is a form field

The data in your site’s content entities is stored in one or more fields that are attached to the entity type and/or subtype.

What is a form widget

A widget defines the method used to enter the data for the field. For example, both body text and text area widgets may be configured to allow content authors to enter text into a form.

For more information relating to form fields and widgets, see the Drupal documentation.

Form fileds and widgets on the Create Standard Page form

As you begin creating content, you will discover various form fields and field widgets that are available.

Take the example of the Create Standard Page form. Navigate to this form by hovering over Content, then Add Content and click on Standard Page.

Image of Standard page showing widgets

Note that each form field is represented by a different widget. Site builders or administrators may change the widget in use for a given field. For example, the Thumbnail Media Library widget may be changed to an image upload widget. Body text is using the Rich Text editor widget, but may be replaced with a text area widget.

Widgets are configured to make the job of Content Editor easier, to facilitate adding content and provide the best content editing experience.

By following the exercises in this manual, you will experience the majority of field widgets available in GovCMS.

Note Field widgets are configured by a site builder - your development partner. Field widgets may be different between websites even though using the same GovCMS distribution.