About GovCMS as a Drupal distribution

GovCMS is a group of Drupal modules that have been specifically chosen and grouped together to form GovCMS. This grouping of Drupal modules is called a distribution.

Drupal is an open source content management system (CMS) that can be used to create a variety of different websites. It’s built using the scripting language PHP, which runs on a web server. It loads data from a database (usually MySQL) and then displays that data as HTML, Javascript and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) on web browsers. Content is created in the “backend” of the CMS and then displayed on the “frontend”, the website. When we refer to “backend” in this manual, we mean the place where you create content (the CMS) and when we talk about “frontend” we mean the website as it’s seen by website visitors/viewers.

Drupal is used by many governments around the world, including in Australia.

Features of GovCMS distribution

GovCMS includes many features tailored for Australian government websites, including:

• Publishing workflows so content can move from ‘Draft’ to ‘Needs review’ to ‘Published’ (live)

• Website analytics to give you access to insights about your users

• Webforms to collect and report information/data from your users

• Compliance with Australian Government website requirements

• The ability to easily edit content without any HTML skills

• Responsive display so GovCMS websites can be viewed (and look good) on phones and tablets

• Standard (default) content landing pages for News, Events and Blogs

• Metadata support for search engine optimisation (SEO)

• Compliance with Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) metadata standards

• WCAG compliance (to meet accessibility standards)

• The ability to manage media, such as photos and videos

GovCMS in action

Your instructor will show you some Australian government websites built using GovCMS and go through some of the sites’ features. Common site features/requirements include:

• Forms: You may need to build forms that collect data from the public, such as this GovCMS site for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority: https://www.casa.gov.au/about-us/webform/feedback-casa.

• Custom lists: Sites often show a compiled list of articles, media releases, publications or other types of content. This is a list of articles tagged “News” for the National Australian Built Environment Rating System: https://www.nabers.gov.au/about/news.

• Unique designs: While GovCMS is a whole-of-government digital platform, it still caters for many different and visually attractive designs and different navigation structures. The Department of Communications and the Arts is quite a unique government website that shows how beautiful a GovCMS site can look (you can also test the site on your phone): https://www.communications.gov.au.

• Menu systems: GovCMS sites have flexible menu options. The Governing Council’s page from the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development website demonstrates a deep menu structure: https://www.decd.sa.gov.au/sites-and-facilities/governing-councils. Notice also the breadcrumbs and URL structure. (Breadcrumbs are displayed at the top of the page and show the site user where the page sits in the navigation hierarchy - see Unit 10 for more information.)

About the GovCMS team

GovCMS is sponsored by the Department of Finance in Canberra. You can read more about GovCMS at https://www.govcms.gov.au.

GovCMS hosting options overview

There are two GovCMS options to choose from:

1. GovCMS SaaS: Software as a Service (SaaS) is a fully managed offering, removing the burden of managing your own software, licensing and infrastructure.

2. GovCMS PaaS: Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a partially managed (infrastructure hosting only), offering in a dedicated cloud environment. PaaS gives agencies greater freedom to customise functionality however requires you to manage the Drupal application layer of your site(s).

Every site is unique. A web development partner may configure your site to have a completely different structure, menus, content types and page layout. Although we teach the general principles of managing your website content via GovCMS, in some cases the way your site has been built may result in differences to the interface. For example, you may experience different widgets when editing content, or have differently named content types. Some types of landing pages may require additional training in order to manage content.

Our training site

During this training course, we’ll use a pre-installed version of GovCMS with some content and layouts already setup.

While every GovCMS site is different, most of the content administration tasks are the same across GovCMS websites. Your instructor will point out any potential differences during this training session.

In GovCMS (and most CMSs) there are different ‘roles’ for different users with different ‘permissions’. This simply means that different roles can perform different functions.

GovCMS roles

GovCMS uses the following roles:

• Content Editor - A Content Editor can typically create new content and content revisions and mark them for review by an Approver.

• Content Approver - A Content Approver can publish, archive and delete content created by Content Editors.

• Site Administrator - A Site Administrator can delete content, revert content revisions, place content blocks and perform other content management tasks that require special caution and experience.

Why multiple roles?

GovCMS’s different roles are set up to restrict:

• Who can create, edit and delete content

• Who can publish or archive content

• Who can perform more technical tasks that will have larger effects on the website and CMS, such as adding metadata, adding content fields to content types, adding new menu items, etc.

This training manual is for government or not-for-profit employees using GovCMS to edit and manage their website. However, many of the concepts in this manual can be applied to other Drupal sites.

This manual assumes you have GovCMS on your local computer or on the GovCMS hosting platform. While there are no specific knowledge prerequisites, if you’ve had experience with other CMSs you’ll find this course (and using GovCMS) easier.

Public URL: https://salsa-digital.gitbook.io/govcms-content-administration

GitHub URL: https://github.com/govcms-training/content-admin

What you will learn

In this training manual, you will learn how to:

1. Login to the administration area and access key areas

2. Create and manage content and content revisions

3. Create and manage files and media assets

4. Publish content and learn the GovCMS content moderation workflow

5. Manage content URLs, URL aliases and redirects

6. Use taxonomy to categorise content

7. Create online forms

8. Manage blocks of content and update site navigation

9. Manage content layout

10. Understand more about GovCMS and Drupal

About GovCMS

Welcome to GovCMS, a whole-of-government digital platform based on open source content management system (CMS) Drupal.

One of the advantages of GovCMS as a whole-of-government digital platform is that the content covered in this course can be applied to the many GovCMS websites across Australian government. In addition, while this course focuses on GovCMS, much of the content and exercises can be applied to Drupal websites.

Contributing & Feedback

We’re continually working on improving these documents with community input and we appreciate any feedback, whether it's helping to contribute to further documentation or code, grammar issues, or simply a suggestion or improvement! Please refer to the Contributing guide for more guidance on this topic.

Alternatively you can also provide any feedback by emailing govcms.training@salsa.digital

Note: While these training materials are updated regularly, modules are also often updated and so you may find some differences between your user interface and the screenshots in this document. We appreciate your feedback and will work as quickly as possible to incorporate any corrections.

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License (CC BY-SA 3.0 AU).

Navigate to Login screen

To get to the Login screen of most GovCMS sites, type the site’s URL and add /user on the end. (For many government sites this won't work unless you’re on the internal network.)

For example: https://www.govcms.gov.au/user/login

Shield protection

Your environment may be protected by Shield authentication, which means you’ll see a popup window with the Username and Password fields. You need to enter the Shield username and password to get to the Login screen.

Note The Shield username and password are distinct from your own individual username and password. If you do not know the Shield login details, contact your site administrator or IT department.

Training Environment Details

In preparation for the training course, you should have received a number of emails providing you with information required throughout the course. These include:

1. The url for your own personal training environment. This will be similar to: https://your-name.govcms10-training.govcms.gov.au.

2. The Shield username and password.

3. An email confirming your account creation details.

If you have not received this information, please notify your trainer.

We wish to express our gratitude for your dedication in providing feedback and contributing to the refinement of our training manuals. We are committed to enhancing these documents through the valuable input of our community, and we highly value any feedback you may have to offer. Whether it pertains to further documentation or code contributions, the identification of grammatical issues, or the submission of suggestions and improvements, your engagement is sincerely appreciated.

Should you wish to peruse the manual, it is accessible via the following link:

For those inclined to actively contribute and effect changes in the manuals, we have prepared a dedicated page that will assist in guiding you through the contribution process. This resource will detail the tools we employ and outline the sequential steps necessary for successful contributions.

Providing Feedback

There are a few ways you can provide feedback:

• You can email your feedback to

• You can submit an issue via the GitHub issue queue:

Overview and basics

• The source code for this manual is hosted on Github and uses a service called Gitbook for publishing its documentation.

• The manuals are written using Markdown mark up language.

• The GovCMS content administration manual is part of the distribution which also includes the .

• Both these manuals share a which lists out issues and feature requests on a kanban board.

• to view the current issue queue for the GovCMS content administration manual.

• All contributions must be licensed under .

Getting started and prerequisites

For contributing to the manual, the following is needed to get started:

• Some knowledge of Markdown,

Gitbook & GitHub integration

• • Any changes merged in to master will automatically be reflected on Gitbook.

• develop: the default branch used for development and content changes.

How to contribute

Trying to edit or create a file in this repository will create your fork automatically. You can then edit pages or create new pages, and commit your changes and file a pull requests one document/issue at a time.

For content changes or new pages, you can use the GitHub online editor:

• Open the page you want to edit on your forked version of the repo on GitHub and press the Edit icon (pen icon).

• When have finalised your changes, scroll to the bottom of the page and write a description of the changes you're proposing under the "Commit changes" ection. Then select Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request and click on Propose file change. This will direct you to the Pull request page

• On the Pull request page, write a short comment explaining why are proposing those changes and publish your pull request clicking on Create pull request.

Any pull request should be based on the develop branch. We will not consider pull requests made to master.

Review process

Moderators will review and comment on pull requests. We may suggest changes, improvements, or alternatives, in which case the original contributor will be tagged directly so follow-up instructions are clear. There may be times where moderators will make commits to your fork directly for clarity.

Community

Navigate to your training environment URL (provided in your training preparation emails) and type the Shield username and password into the Shield authentication popup:

• Username: Refer to the email sent to you prior to the course.

• Password: Refer to the email sent to you prior to the course.

You should now see the GovCMS login screen as shown in the screenshot below. Enter your username and password and sign in.

• Username: Refer to the email sent to you prior to the course

• Password: The password you entered after clicking on the one-time login link from the email

After successfully logging in, you will be redirected to a page that shows the following:

1. Prompt to setup two-factor authentication.

2. The Admin menu.

3. The username of the account you’re currently logged in with.

Note: Some elements from the screenshot below may be different, due to permissions settings.

Setting up Two Factor Authentication (TFA)

1. Click on your name in the Admin Menu.
2. Click on Edit profile.
3. Click on the TFA tab.
4. Click on Email codes.

5. The next screen will ask for your password. Enter it and click on Confirm.

6. Check the box "Receive authentication code by email" and then click on Save.

7. The next screen will ask if you want to "Trust this browser". This is an optional step but it's recommended to check this box if you want to bypass TFA the next time you log in. Click on Save.

8. The confirmation page will say "TFA enabled".

What happens if you choose not to "Trust this browser"?

After logging in, you will be presented with the TFA page. Click on Send to receive the email code.

If you do not click on Send, no code will be sent to your email.

The Admin Menu

The band running across the top of the page (2.) is called the “Admin menu”, and is an indication that you’re currently logged into the site (as opposed to simply visiting it as an “anonymous” user).

You may see or hear the Admin menu also referred to as “Administration”, “Admin bar”, “Admin toolbar”, “Navbar”, or simply “Toolbar”.

The Admin menu helps people who have logged into the site (such as site administrators, content authors/reviewers, etc.) to navigate more quickly through the various pages of the admin interface. Once logged in, it’s available in the frontend and backend of your GovCMS site.

Users can log out from a GovCMS site in several ways:

1. Navigate to your site's URL (e.g. https://yoursite.gov.au//user/logout).

2. Click on your username at the top left of the page in the Admin menu and then click Log out.

Hover over menu items to expand menus

The Admin menu gives you access to a variety of functions. When you hover your mouse over the various menus in the Admin bar (without actually clicking on any of these menus), most of them expand to reveal more options.

Try one that has multiple levels: Click on the Manage menu item at the top left of the page to ensure the menu is expanded, then hover over Structure → Content types → Standard page →, then finally click on **Manage fields((.

Tip: Depending on your account’s level of permissions, you may see some menu items missing from the Admin menu. This is by design; it’s not a flaw. This is in line with the user roles and permissions discussed at the beginning of this manual.

Navigate back/forward between pages

You can use the back/forward buttons in your browser to navigate back and forth between the two previous admin pages you have visited (Content and Manage fields).

Alternatively, open these pages in two separate browser tabs.

Admin area location on page

While logged in and switching between the various pages in the admin interface, you will find that the administration area stays quite consistent across the entire site.

Admin area location - Horizontal and Vertical alignment

Horizontal alignment

The Admin menu is by default placed horizontally across the top of the page in the standard desktop view. However, when on mobile view it automatically switches to a vertical display down the left-hand side of the screen.

Although the switch to this mobile mode happens automatically on smaller screen sizes, you can also manually trigger it on a non-mobile device such as your laptop. Simply click the vertical orientation button, on the far right of the page.

Vertical alignment

The screenshot below demonstrates how the Admin menu looks when placed vertically.

In “mobile” or vertical mode, the menus in the Admin bar do not expand automatically when you hover your mouse over them (because on mobile devices there is no mouse). To expand a menu item, click on the downwards-pointing arrow that is found to the right of the menu item you want to expand (1). When expanded, the arrow icon changes to an upwards-pointing arrow (2). Click the arrow to collapse any expanded menu.

To switch the Admin menu back to its default position, click the horizontal orientation button, located at the bottom right of the Admin bar).

The Manage menu items

The “Manage” menu in the Admin bar contains the following items, with those most commonly used by Content Administrators highlighted in bold:

• Content - This is where content managers manage the site’s content pages and files (video, audio documents, etc.). This training course focuses on this area.

• Structure - This admin feature allows structural configuration of the site such as content types, types of blocks and how breadcrumbs are displayed.

• Appearance - This is where developers can manage the site’s theme, which controls how the site looks visually.

• Extend - Enable and disable extra modules that come with the GovCMS distribution to provide extra functionality for your site.

• Configuration - This area is usually only available to site admins. Custom modules and core configuration is controlled here.

• People - Manage users, roles and permissions for GovCMS users.

• Reports - Provides access to a range of site reports, such as available fields, user actions and Google Analytics.

• Help - Access to some basic GovCMS help files.

In this exercise you will create a new user account.

1. Click on People on the Admin menu, then click Add user.
2. Add an email address. Use training@example.com as the address (we don’t need a working email address for the purpose of this training session).

3. Check the “Content Author” and "Content Approver" checkboxes in the Roles area.

4. Enter your first and last name in the Username field.

5. Enter a password in the Password field (notice what happens if it isn’t complex enough). Adjust until your password, then re-enter in the Confirm password field. Make a note of your password!.

6. Make sure the Status toggle is set to “Active”.
7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Create new account button.
8. Click on the admin username at the top left of the Admin menu, then from the menu that appears, click Log out.
9. Log back in as the newly created user using the Username from step 4 and the Password you noted down in step 5. Note: You need to log in using the Username****, not the Email address.

What do you notice is different about the site? Discuss with your trainer.

Tip: The administrator user, sometimes called the admin user or user 1 is the "super user" of the site. This user is more privileged than a user with the role of "site administrator". Best practice dictates that no one should use the admin user for day-to-day tasks.

Users on the GovCMS SaaS platform do not have access to this user account at all, while on the GovCMS PaaS platform this user account is reserved for those managing your site (such as people in your IT department and/or your developer team).

Click on either the “GovCMS Training Site” logo at the top left of the page, or on the “Home” menu link at the top of the page to go to the site Home page.

You’ll notice that the Admin menu is still visible, but now you also see the contents of the Home page as a site visitor would see it.

Note The Admin menu and other components (highlighted in the screenshot below) are still available, as you are still logged in to the site. These components are discussed later in this course.

To return to the previous page, add /user to the end of the URL in your browser.

Tip: If you’ve navigated away from the home page, the link on your browser may differ from the one provided. To get back to the homepage, you can click on the “GovCMS Training Site” logo at the top left of the page, or click on the “Home” link in the main navigation menu at the top of the page.

Frontend and Backend

The regular pages that contain the actual content your site visitors see (blog/article text, images, etc.), are often referred to as the “frontend”, while the Admin interface may be referred to as the “backend”.

Example Homepage

The screenshot below shows what the default front page of a freshly installed GovCMS site (with some demo content added) looks like.

Overview of homepage regions

The horizontal sections are also often referred to as “regions”. From top to bottom, these are:

1. The Site logo and search bar.

2. The Main navigation menu.

3. A “hero” block with a full-width image and a welcome message.

4. Informational text with a link to a page with further details.

5. Some more informational text using different colours for background and text.

6. A listing of some pieces of content, rendered as “tiles”, with links to the actual content.

7. A section with a secondary navigation menu.

The top section that contains the site logo and the main navigation menu (sections 1 and 2 in the screenshot above) is usually referred to as the “header”, while the section at the very bottom of the page (7) is referred to as the “footer”.

Tip: Remember, because GovCMS allows web developers and designers to lay out and style the site according to the needs of each agency, the homepage and other pages may differ visually to the GovCMS site you will use during a training course.

However, the content administration experience will generally be consistent across GovCMS sites, because this task is performed after you login to the administrative interface.

Contextual Links

Hover your mouse over the various sections of the page. Notice that for some of them, a small round button with a pencil icon appears over the top-right corner. These are called “Contextual Links” and they provide an easy way to quickly access some common tasks, related to the element the contextual menu belongs to. In the left-hand screenshot below you can see what the contextual icon looks like when hovering over one of the tiles in the Content example (demo). When you click on the pencil icon, the available actions/tasks are revealed, as shown in the screenshot below.

Using the filters area of the content management page

You can use the filter section of the content management area to search and display specific content.

Use the filters to display a customised list of content:

• Title: Type in search words to display content with a title that matches your search.

• Content type: Select a content type to only display that type of content.

• Published status: Select the published status to show only published or only unpublished content.

• Language: Select from the dropdown list to display only content in a specific language.

Once you’ve made your selections (you can use one or all of the filters above) click the Filter button to filter content based on the criteria entered and/or selected.

In this exercise you’ll learn how to find a piece of content using filters.

1. Type ‘Test’ into the Title area of the filter.

2. Click the Filter button.

Now, only the content with the word ‘test’ in the title is displayed.

Also notice the Reset button appears after a filter is performed. Click Reset to go back to the full content list.

Content page title

Below the Admin menu, the page title shows that you are in the Content area of the Admin interface.

Main navigation options

Underneath the page title there are three navigation options in the form of tabs:

1. Content

2. Files

3. Media

Click on the Files tab to see the list of files on your site. Click on the Media tab to view a list of the media you’ve uploaded into your GovCMS site. Unit 6: Files and Media Assets looks at managing media files and assets in GovCMS in more detail.

Breadcrumbs and Add content button

Above the Navigation options tab is a breadcrumb link that shows you’re in the Home/Administration section of the site.

At the top right of the page is the Add content button.

Tip: The breadcrumb provides a handy “Home” link, which takes you to the homepage of your site. It’s a fast way to switch from the admin backend to the frontend.

Filter options

Below the Navigation tab is the Filter section. This allows you to filter the list of content displayed. Filtering is covered in the next lesson - Content management - filters overview.

Site content and bulk operations

Below the filter section is the list of actual site content, displayed by default in date order, with the most recent content at the top.

If one or more items in the content list is selected, the bulk operations area appears at the bottom of the page. Bulk operations are covered in Unit 12 - Advanced - content bulk operations

Content types used in GovCMS

GovCMS websites are made up of different content types. You can view a list of the GovCMS content types that are available “out-of-the-box” by hovering over Content on the Admin menu then clicking on Add content.

Many of these content types are used across all GovCMS sites. Each content type has specific fields (properties and metadata) associated with it.

The standard GovCMS content types are:

• Alert

• Event

• Page

• Web form

Why use different content types?

Content types are a useful way to group similar content, with similar characteristics. It means people can talk about sets of content (such as Events) using the same language. Content types also provide a way to set up a common template across a type.

For example, events will always have a time, date and location and so the event content form contains these fields. Other types of content may not include all these pieces of information.

Content types are also used when setting display rules for the site. An example is showing the three most recent Blog articles on the homepage.

Further general information on content types is available in the Drupal Documentation.

We welcome your feedback on our training materials so we can keep improving and adding new features. Please fill in the survey and let us know your thoughts.

How to log in

How to log out

Homepage layout overview

How to access the content management area

Content management area overview

Content management filters overview

Administration menu overview

Content types overview

Content form overview

Rich text editor overview

Create, edit and archive content

Managing content revisions

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.

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.

The Content form

When creating or editing any content in GovCMS, you’ll use the Content form.

Each of the different content types mentioned in the previous page can have different custom areas depending on how a site is configured.

At the same time, there are many areas common to all content creation forms.

An overview of the Page form is shown below to highlight these common areas.

Form elements description

The areas highlighted are:

1. Title: Type in your content’s title.

3. Save and Preview buttons.

4. Revision log message: Leave some helpful text to explain your changes. This is not visible to the public.

5. URL alias: Expand this section to give the content a customized URL.

Notice that on the right-hand side there are also other fields - we’ll discuss these in different sections of this manual.

What is structured content

For the purposes of this course, structured content can be thought of as the information, data or content that is entered into and stored in a GovCMS site.

A number of content types and their assoicated fields have been defined in GovCMS. See Unit 2 - Content types overview.

Fields and structured content

Using fields in GovCMS allows content authors to add content once, and display the information across the site in a variety of different ways. Using fields to capture and display data (structured content), removes the burden of managing the same content in multiple areas of the website.

In the example below, the website is configured to display the “GovCMS Information session”, (which is an Event content type) in two different displays:

1. A Teaser display (used in listings)

2. The Full Page display. It shows the same event, but the information presented to the public differs based on the website configuration.

Similarly, a Job listing search may reveal summary information about the advertised job, as displayed below:

Clicking the job title brings the viewer to the full page with more details about the particular job listing.

Reuse of content

This is the same content, displayed by the CMS in a different layout to the end user.

The information is captured via the content editing form, and GovCMS will display it in the way preconfigured by the site builder (the web development partner or in-house team that built your website).

Content Editors do not usually have much flexibility in changing the layout of the page (or a display, such as the search page display). However, the use of advanced tools - like Panelizer and Paragraphs - allows some advanced control to the page layout and provides additional display options depending on your GovCMS website configuration.

Resuse of media assets

Media assets (such as images or PDF files) are also reused and presented to the viewer in a variety of ways. For example, an image that was uploaded as part of content creation gets stored in the central Media library. That image can be referenced from other pages, and GovCMS will create a copy of the image in line with the preconfigured image dimensions.

This image may be displayed at its full dimensions, as a thumbnail or other dimensions depending on the site configuration and where the image is displayed.

Fields

Fields allow content administrators to enter data into the backend of their GovCMS site. The fields available vary depending on the content type, however some fields are common (and mandatory) across all content types, including a Title.

Some fields are optional, for example the body field in a Webform.

Field settings, such as whether a field is optional or mandatory and the associated widget type are pre-configured by your site builder when building the site. For example, for an Event content type in GovCMS, the start and end date and time are logical and necessary, so they are configured to be mandatory fields.

Properties

A property is set at a deeper level (sometimes referred to as "baked in"). For example, all content has a date it was created on, and this date property plus any associated functionality is fixed. It is part of GovCMS and the underlying Drupal CMS.

The screenshot below shows both the Author property and the Last saved property which are visible to the author when editing the Event.

The Rich text editor provides a number of buttons/tools that are similar to those used in word-processing software like Microsoft Word. The screenshot below shows the top menu of the Rich Text Editor.

Hovering over any of the buttons reveals the name and function of the button. For example, the Link button (discussed further below).

Many of the buttons such as bold, italic, Format and Table are self-explanatory. Three specific functions are discussed in this manual:

1. Links

2. Embedding media files (covered in the next page)

3. Pasting from MS Word

Links

The link button is used to link to a page outside your website or to an internal page. For external links, simply copy and paste the URL into the URL field (e.g. www.govcms.gov.au).

For internal links (i.e. to link to another page within your website) start typing the title of the page into the URL field. As you type, a list of suggested pages will drop down. Click on the page you would like from the list, then click Save.

Pasting from MS Word

When copying text from Microsoft Word, the Rich Text widget will attempt to replicate the formatting of the original text. This can lead to inconsistent fonts, text size and other formatting issues.

You can avoid this problem by clicking the Paste from Word button, shown in the screenshot below.

On older browsers (such as MS IE < 11) this will open a small pop-up window. When you paste text into this pop-up window the formatting will be removed, so the text will match your site’s text formatting requirements.

Modern browsers paste the cleared text and preserve the heading formats, links and lists for you.

Note: When typing the text directly into the Rich Text Editor, the text will automatically be formatted in the style setup by the designers and developers who created the site.

Tip: Many modern browsers are aware of the problem and support text cleaning function out-of-the-box. For this reason, browsers like Chrome or Firefox will not show the pop-up box and paste the text with all unnecessary styling removed - yet preserving headers.

Accessing the content management area

You can access the content management area through the top Admin bar.

Using the Admin bar at the very top, click on Manage then click Content.

Notice how the style of the main area of the site has now changed. You are still logged in, but rather than seeing the content of your site as a site visitor would see, you are now viewing what is called the Admin interface.

This is where you will be performing most of your day-to-day tasks as a content administrator.

Depending on your user profile, you may also see a dropdown with different format types. If this is visible, the Plain Text format will remove rich text formatting and just display the plain text that was entered.

Inserting Media into body - The Media Widget

You can insert images and videos directly into the body field of a Content form via the Media widget. Click on the Media Library button from the WYSIWYG editor.

This will open the Media widget.

You can upload images or files from your computer by selecting "Select files"

Browse for and select a file on your local machine, then click Open.

Embedding code - videos and URLs

Using the Media widget you can also use the Remote video form to embed videos in content (e.g. YouTube or Vimeo videos).

Click on the Media Library button on the Body content section. Click on the Remote video tab, then enter the following information:

• A url for the video you wish to embed.

Click on the Add button.

Media Library

All files uploaded to a website (or already included) are found in the Media Library. Media assets are displayed with the most recently added first.

Use the following to refine the media presented:

• Enter text in the Name field.

• Select from the dropdown to narrow the search to media items of type:

  • Audio

  • File

  • Image

  • Remote video

  • Video

Click the Filter button to perform the search.

In the screenshot below, the search word 'Govcms' has been entered into the Name field and for Type "Remote video" is selected.

Note: When you use a file from the Media Library or Files area, you are linking to a copy of the file, including its metadata. If you make changes to the file or its metadata, these changes will take effect for every use of the file on the site.

Content Reference is a fantastic way to build relationships between different content in GovCMS. Some examples of a relationship would be:

• An Event category taxonomy term associated with an Event

• One content page referencing another content page or a few pages (check the homepage of your training site):

• Content pages referencing an image or user

In this exercise you will learn how to create content, specifically a new Page.

1. To begin, you may wish to click on the Home menu item to return to the homepage of your training site.

2. On the Admin menu hover over Content, then hover over Add content and click Page.

   The Page is one of the simplest types of content. You should see a page similar to the screenshot below:

   
3. Add some text to the Title field (for the moment, ignore the other fields). Title is the default required field.

4. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the page. You’ll automatically be taken to the page as it will appear on the frontend of your website. Notice that we are saving this content as "Draft".

   
5. Make a note of the URL.

Once you have saved the new content, you will notice the following GovCMS features:

1. The title of the new page is part of the page’s URL. We look at this feature more in Unit 7: URL Aliases and Redirects.

2. You can see a status message, which is only visible to you. This message disappears if you refresh the page.

3. You can see the additional tabs such as View, Edit, Delete and Revisions. These are only visible because you’re logged in (they cannot be seen by the public).

4. The new content is not live/published and will not be until it goes through a publishing workflow (because we saved it as "Draft"). This means that if you log out you won’t be able to see the content nor would a site visitor see this new content.

If you go back to the Content administration area by clicking on the Content button in the Admin menu, you will see your new content in the content listing. In the Content Type column, the content you just added will be listed as a Page.

In this exercise you will learn how to archive or unpublish content.

1. Navigate to the Content page by clicking on Content in the Admin menu and locate the Page you created in Exercise 3.1.

2. Edit the page by clicking on the Edit button to the right of the page you created.

   
3. Select the “Archived” option from the Change to dropdown menu.

4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

   
5. Test the page in another browser as an anonymous user. To do this, copy the url from your browser after you click Save.

6. Open a new 'private' or 'incognito' window. Paste the url into the new window. You should see an 'Access denied' message similar to the below screenshot. The page still exists in the CMS and can be edited or restored by content administrators, but is no longer accessible to the public.

   

Note: The "Archive" workflow state is a feature that you developers can configure. It is NOT a default feature of GovCMS.

In this exercise, you’ll practice editing some content.

1. Click on Content in the Admin bar to go to the Content listing page.

2. Click on the Edit button to the right of a piece of content.

   
3. Make some changes to one of the fields (for example, update the text in the Title field).

4. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the page. Notice that you are saving it as a new "Draft". After saving, edit the same page again and set it to "Publish".

   
5. From the Content page, click on the page you just updated to see the content as site visitors would see it. Note how your changes are reflected in the updated page.

   

Depending on how your site is set up, content changes can have a much bigger impact that one page. For example, when you create a News and Media content type, that content will be displayed on the News and Media page and may also be displayed on the homepage (e.g. as part of a list of the three most recent News and Media articles). Unpublishing content could break existing links to that content, adding links as menu items (e.g in the footer links, or in the main navigation) will mean that your new menu item/link is displayed on every page, and new content can also create a link in the breadcrumb menu.

Methods of creating Content

You can create content in several different ways:

• Click on Content from the Admin menu and then click on the Add content button at the top left of the page.

• Hover your mouse over Content in the Admin menu, then hover over Add content, then click on the type of content you’d like to create. In the screenshot below we can click on Page.

• Hover your mouse over Content in the Admin menu, then click on Add content. You can then click on the type of content you’d like to create.

How to edit content

You can edit content in one of two ways:

1. Via the page itself: Simply click on the Edit button at the top when on the page itself (see the screenshot below).

   
2. Via the Content management area of the admin interface. Click Edit in the corresponding row.

   

Either of these options will take you to the page in Edit mode. For example if you edit the "Why GovCMS?" Page you will see a page similar to the screenshot below:

In GovCMS sites (as with most websites), content administrators will, from time to time need to remove content from their site. There are many cases in which conent may need to be removed, including Events that have passed, Blog articles or News & Media that no longer need to be highlighted on a site, expired job listings and so on.

Archiving content in GovCMS simply unpublishes the content. It does not delete the content. As such you can restore the content if needed.

The outcome of archiving any content is that it is no longer visible to site visitors. Should a site visitor navigate directly to the page that was previously available, they would receive an 'Access denied' message, as demonstrated in the next exercise.

Revisions overview

GovCMS creates a new revision every time a content page is updated. This allows you to track how the content has changed over time on your site.

View revisions

To view and manage revisions, use the Revisions tab. To access this, navigate to the Content page, then click on a piece of content. Then click on the Revisions button (highlighted in the screenshot below):

From the Revisions tab, you can view the individual revisions, revert to an earlier revision, and delete revisions.

Information about each revision of the content is displayed, including :

1. Date and time of the revision.

2. Who updated the content (creating the revision).

3. The revision log message, if entered and the status of the revision at the time it was created (in brackets).

4. Radio buttons used to select revisions to Compare (see below).

5. Operations dropdown, which allows a user to Revert the content to the selected revision, or Delete the selected revision.

6. The Compare selected revisions button (see below for information on this feature).

These items are highlighted and numbered in the following screenshot:

Note: Depending on your website configuration, not every user role can access the Revisions tab.

View differences between revisions

There are two main ways to view the differences between revisions.

Firstly, clicking on the date and time link of a given revision will take you to that revision or version of the file (see 1. in the screenshot above).

Secondly, to see the differences between two different revisions select the radio buttons in the rows of the revisions you wish to compare, then click on the Compare selected revisions button.

The screenshot below shows what was changed between the versions, namely:

1. Renaming the page.

2. Addition of a Featured image and a Thumbnail image.

It also shows which revisions of the page are being compared (3.)

Revert revisions

GovCMS also creates a new revision when a user reverts to a previous revision.

If you have four revision versions (eg, 1, 2, 3 and current, when you revert to #2, then a copy of #2 is made and the copy is set as the current revision.

After the reversion, there are five versions/revisions (1, 2, 3, 4 and current), where current is a clone of #2.

Revision log message

Another useful feature of the revision system is the Revision log message field, which appears near the Create a new revision checkbox at the top right of the content editing form.

If a message is added to this field when creating a revision, the message will appear on the Revisions tab along with the revision.

While the Revision log message is an optional field, it is recommended to add a meaningful message whenever a revision is created. This is so that others (or you, months later) can see why the content was changed and what the changes were, without having to actually view previous revisions.

Scheduled Transitions

Scheduled transitions is useful if you want to update the revision at a specified date/time.

To schedule a transition, simply navigate to the "Schedule transitions" tab as shown below:

Then click on "Add Scheduled transition":

Select the revision to transition, and then set the new transition state along with the execution time and date as shown below:

After clicking on the "Schedule transtion" button, the confirmation screen looks like this:

You can find all pending scheduled transitions by going to Content >> Scheduled transitions as show below:

The transition will be executed at the specified time (thanks to the automatic cronjobs).

A crucial point to keep in mind is that cron runs once every hour at a randomly chosen minute. Therefore, it is possible that the transition may not occur precisely at the specified time. Nevertheless, it will be executed within one hour of the designated time.

In this exercise you will learn how to view your revision history for a piece of content.

Follow these steps to find the change history for the test Standard Page you worked on in Exercise 3.1 - Create some content:

1. Navigate to the Content Administration page by clicking on Content at the top left of the page, and find the page you edited in exercise 3.1.

2. Click the Title link to access the page.

3. Click the Revisions tab (see screenshot below for an example).

Tip: When saving content changes it’s a good idea to leave a short but descriptive Revision log message. This can help you and other Content Editors understand what changes were made in each revision (which is particularly handy if you need to revert to an older version).

Content moderation summary

A content moderation workflow allows content to go through an approval process before it’s posted live on a website. This means that content can be authored by one person and reviewed by another before it is approved. Only once approved is the content made visible to the public (site visitors).

GovCMS content moderation workflow

Content moderation is a GovCMS tool (module) that provides a default workflow process. In this model:

• Content has four "states":

  1. Draft

  2. Needs Review

  3. Published

  4. Archived

• Content transitions as it moves from one state to another.

• Different people or different roles have different permissions regarding what actions they can perform in the content workflow. For example, in the default setting, Content Editors cannot publish content. Only a Content Approver can approve content.

The screenshot below summarises the default GovCMS workflow:

This default workflow can also be extended by a site builder/developer.

Changing the content moderation state

You can publish content using the content editing form. To see the states availale for a piece of content (and for your given role) navigate to Content by clicking on the Content button in the Admin menu. Then click on a piece of content to edit it.

The workflow "states" available will depend on:

1. The current content state.

2. The transitions you’re permitted to use within your official content role.

In the example below, the content was authored by a Content author. The current user is a Content Approver and the Page content is in the state of Needs Review. The Content Approver can select from two options in the Change to dropdown:

1. Published. This would make the content visible to site visitors.

2. Draft. Usually this would then require the Content author to make further changes to the page before again submitting it for review by changing the state to Needs Review.

Note While the Content approver is reviewing the page, they are in Edit mode, and so may make their own changes to the page before publishing.

The Content moderation dashboard

The GovCMS content moderation module also provides a customisable dashboard. To access the Content moderation dashboard click on the Content button in the Admin menu to navigate to the main Content Administration page. Then click on the Moderated content tab highlighted in the screenshot below.

Once in the Content moderation dashboard you will see a list of content that is in different states. In the example below we see there are 4 items in Draft and one item in Needs Review. A Content Approver could use this list to see what items are ready for them to review.

In this exercise you will learn how to revert to a previous revision (or version) of your content.

1. Go to the Content Administration page by clicking on Content at the top left of the page and find the page you were editing in the previous exercises (3.1 and 4.1).

2. Click the Title link to get to the page.

3. Click the Revisions tab.

   You should see a list of revisions similar to the screenshot below:
4. Locate the version before the current one and click on the Revert button on the right hand side

   You will receive a prompt asking you to confirm whether you wish to revert to the selected revision, similar to the screenshot below. Click on Revert to complete the process.
5. You will be returned to the Revisions page. Note the following in this page:

   1. The new revision has been created, showing the date, time and the author.

   2. You are also be presented with a Status message indicating what has been performed.

   3. The Current revision is the new revision you just created. Text on the left hand side indicates which revision this new revision is based on.
6. Navigate to the public view of the page (using an Incognito/Private window in your browser) and confirm if the content has been reverted.

Note: Only a previously Published revision can become the Current revision. A draft revision will create a new draft revision and the current published revision will remain as the Current revision.

Try reverting a revision in the status Draft. In the Revisions page you should see something similar to the screenshot below:

Note the following:

1. A new revision has been created, however;

2. The previous Published revision remains as the Current revision

This exercise will demonstrate how content can be moved through the Content Moderation statuses.

1. In the Admin menu, click on Content, then click on the secondary tab Moderated Content.

2. Choose a content item in the list that requires moderation. For example you could choose to edit the Standard page called Autem which is in the state of Draft as highlighted in the screenshot below.

3. Click on the Edit button at the right hand side of the page.
4. Make some changes to the content (e.g. delete some text or add text).

5. Save the content, leaving it in the "Draft" status (notice that you’re redirected to the Moderated Content page and that the content page you were just editing is now at the top of the list).
6. Select the content item you just edited and click Edit again.

7. Select “Needs Review" from the Change to: dropdown and click Save.

8. Edit the same content item again.

9. Select “Published" from the Change to: dropdown and click Save.

Note Moving content through the workflow process from Draft to Published usually involves multiple people. However, if your account has full permissions, you can move content through the states and publish changes immediately.

Files and Media - overview

An important feature of any Content Management System is the ability to create and manage media assets such as images, videos, documents, PDFs and other files. GovCMS allows you to upload and manage media assets which can be reused throughout your content.

Files and Media - what's the difference?

A file refers to a physical file stored on the file system of your site. Similar to files stored on a server (or local machine), files contain properties such as:

• File type (e.g. jpeg, png, pdf)

• File size

• Upload date and time (on a local machine this is similar to 'Created date/time')

Media assets are entries in a site's database which reference or point to a file. Media assets are content that links to a physical file, providing the ability to store additional information (or properties) in fields about the file. These fields include:

• A user-friendly name

• Alt text for images

• Captions for video and audio

• Tags and revisions tracking.

Files management interface

To access the Files management interface, click on Content then Files in the Admin menu.

The Files management interface (also known as the Files list page) presents a list view of all physical files uploaded to the website and an indicator of the number of places the file is used in the column Used in.

The File list page includes filters at the top allowing searching for a file by Filename, MIME type (file extension)or Status and below that the list of files. The default order when this page loads is in order of last updated date. Ordering can be changed by clicking on the small icons next to any column in the list.

Each file listing includes:

1. Name

2. MIME type (file type)

3. Size

4. Status (Permanent or Temporary)

5. Upload date (date and time)

6. Changed date (date and time)

7. Used in (not an accurate number, see warning above)

The Files management interface can also be accessed by clicking Content in the Admin menu then clicking the Files tab in the tab area section highlighted in the screenshot below.

Note The Files list page does not provide any configuration options for files. It is mainly used for the purpose of locating files and tracking unused files.

Media management interface

The Media management interface can be accessed by clicking Content in the Admin menu then clicking the Media tab in the tab area (highlighted in the previous screenshot).

The Media management interface (also known as the Media tabbed section) displays a listing of all Media contained on the site and the following details about each item:

1. Thumbnail

2. Media name

3. Type

4. Author

5. Status (Published or Unpublished)

6. Updated (Last updated date/time)

It also includes a filter section allowing searching for a Media asset by Media name, Type (Audio, Image, Video etc.).

The default order when this page loads is in order of last updated date. Ordering can be changed by clicking on the small icons next to any column in the list.

The Media management interface provides a rich media management interface, including locating media assets editing them, replacing them or deleting them.

GovCMS provides a central media library, where all media assets, such as images, documents and other files are stored.

Depending on the type of media asset, a corresponding type of media should be used.

Media types

By default, GovCMS provides the following Media types:

1. Audio

2. File

3. Image

4. Remote Video

5. Video

Each Media type can have various forms and display fields configured.

Media library overview

To access the Media Library, click on Content in the Admin menu then hover over Media and click on Media Library.

The main elements of the Media Library page and their functions are:

1. Add media

2. Table and Grid tabs. These allow switching between views of Media

3. A search and filtering area

4. A Media listing table that displays the Media entities matching the filtering criteria, or lists all Media entities if no filters are applied.

5. Bulk operations

These elements are highlighted and numbered on the screenshots below.

The Add media button allows you to add new Media assets to the site.

The Filters allow you to filter and search the media library for an existing media asset.

The Bulk operations area allows you to implement bulk operations on multiple media assets. For example, you can use the checkboxes to select multiple media assets, then delete all selected media assets at by clicking the Apply to selected items button.

Adding Media

To add media to the Media Library, click the +Add media button at the top left of the Media Library page.

Note This can also be performed by clicking Content → Add media when currently not on the Media Library page.

This brings you to a page that lists all media types available on the site. Click the appropriate media type, for example Image.

Fill out all required fields. Providing some tags and a Revision log message can help manage large media libraries. Save the Media.

Reusing media

The main advantage of having the central media library is reusability - the same media asset can be included in multiple content pages.

Media assets that were uploaded to the site directly from content (such as by uploading an image into the Rich Text Editor) will appear in the central Media library and can be also reused on other pages on the site.

Uploading media - Content form

When creating or editing content via a content form (e.g. the Page form) the form includes an area to upload a thumbnail image.

When you click on the Add media button from the content form, an overlay window opens showing a list of available media to select from the media library.

Click on Select files to open a file browser, or drop files on the highlighted area.

Note The Files page is rarely used by users, and there is a proposal to remove this page from Drupal / GovCMS in future.

In this exercise you will upload an image directly to the media library (Part 1) and then use that image when creating content (Part 2).

Part 1: Upload media file

1. Navigate to the Media page by clicking on Content then Media on the Admin menu.

2. Click the Add Media button at the top left of the page.

   
3. Click Image to upload an image file.

   
4. Upload an image file:

   1. Give it a short, descriptive name.

   2. Choose a file from your computer, using the Browse button.

   3. Click Open to upload the file.

5. Add Alt text.

   Note Image alt text is required to enable screen readers and facilitate vision-impaired people.

6. Click Save

   

Part 2: Add media to a Page

1. Create a new Page following the instructions in Exercise 3.1

2. Click on Banner and then expand "Banner featured image". There you will see an Add media button. Note - you may not have a "Banner" tab if you are not using CivicTheme. In that case, find any Media upload field and use that.

   
3. Select the image and then click on Insert selected.

   
4. Once the image is selected you will see a preview in your content like the this screenshot:

   
5. Fill out any required fields for your Page and click the Save. The image now appears on the frontend. The location of the image may be different on your site depending on your theme.

   
6. Navigate to Content → Files from the Admin menu and locate the image file you uploaded. It should be at the top of the list as it is the most recently added file. Note the name of the file.

   
7. Next, click on the Media tab button and locate the Media entity that that points to the file you uploaded.

   
8. Discuss with the trainer, why the Name of the file (from the Files tab) is different to the Media name (from the Media tab).

Tip: The Media entity allows you to enter a more user-friendly Name (and other metadata) rather than using the name of the file.

In this exercise, you will learn how to use Bulk actions operations.

To complete this exercise you may need a few files - such as images or PDFs. You can download some from your website, from https://www.istockphoto.com/au/stock-photos or use some files on your local machine.

Manage media - Bulk operations

Let’s learn how to use the Bulk operations functionality to manage Media.

1. Navigate to the Content → Media page from the Admin menu

2. Select the Media entities using the checkboxes to the left of the Thumbnails.

3. Select Delete media from the Action dropdown.

4. Click the Apply to selected items button.

   
5. You will be directed to a page asking if you are sure you want to delete the items. Confirm the action by clicking the Delete button. This will remove all the selected Media entities from your training site.

Tip: Don’t link or embed files directly by modifying HTML in your pages. Always use GovCMS functionality to add or upload Media. This ensures that links or images stay valid if a file is deleted from your site.

Warning - If you delete media, then those media will go missing from the content that were using them. Be careful when deleting media as this can break the design of those pages.

In this exercise you’ll learn how to create a URL alias for a page.

1. Return to edit the page created in Exercise 7.1. (From the Admin menu click on Content, then click on your page from the list and click the Edit menu item).

2. Expand the URL alias section.

3. Set a custom URL alias, such as /important-content-page (you may choose your own). Note The URL must begin with a backslash: '/'

4. Click on the Save button.

   
5. Note the new URL for the page.

6. Try navigating to the /node/100 path noted down in the previous exercise, by pasting it into the address bar of your browser. (The node ID number - 100 - will differ for you).

7. Next, return to Edit the page from step 1.

8. Under the URL Alias section on the right-hand side, check the Generate automatic URL alias box.

9. Save the page - compare the results.

10. Check if the internal path (such as node/100) still works.

11. Check if the manually entered URL alias from step 2 is still functional.

12. Ask your trainer any questions.

URL aliases and redirects

This unit discusses URL aliases and redirects and how they relate to URLs.

URLs

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a web address. While some can be long and meaningless, others can be simple and descriptive.

For example, the URL below does not provide a good description of the content it will provide to a site visitor:

• https://mywebsite/online.store/products/category13/stock/93891/show.html

This URL, on the other hand, provides clear information about the source or organisation (GovCMS) as well as the topic of the content (support):

• https://www.govcms.gov.au/support

URLs can be automatically generated based on the Page title of a piece of content, automatically generated numerically, or specified using a URL alias.

Drupal (and GovCMS) creates and maintains its own internal URL for each piece of content. These URLs contain the node/ path and a number, for example https://mywebsite.gov.au/node/15. This address is only accessible to content authors and administrators that are logged in to the site.

It also (by default) creates a URL based on the Title of content. For a Standard Page with a title of 'My Example Standard Page' would have both the following URLS:

• https://mysite.gov.au/node/15 (accessible only to logged in users), and;

• https://mysite.gov.au/my-example-standard-page - accessible to site visitors (and search engines)

URL aliases are used to create more user-friendly URLs as discussed below.

URL aliases

A URL alias is a manually created, specific, descriptive URL for a page on a website. There are three main benefits of using a URL alias:

1. Create more descriptive and meaningful URL for users.

2. URL aliases are read by search engines, and form an important component of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

3. They make websites, its links and results in search engines look more professional.

URL aliases are generally the best type of URL for content authors to provide for site visitors to use.

URL redirects

Sometimes an alternative URL is required for a web address or piece of Content. This may be due to an incorrect URL being published in print, or when providing a link from another website, where a shorter URL is preferable (for example, for a marketing campaign).

Redirects are also created automatically by GovCMS to make sure only one (usually the latest) URL alias is functional and to ensure previously created URL aliases do not return “404 Not Found” response.

The screenshot below illustrates how Redirects forward all traffic to the latest Alias for a given URL.

In this exercise you’ll learn how to create a redirect.

Note: Managing redirects on the site requires “privileged” role access, such as an Administrator. Although you have Administrator access for the training site, this may not be the case for your own GovCMS website.

In this exercise we’ll create a fully custom redirect from a short URL to a page of your preference.

1. In the Admin Menu, click on Configuration, hover over Search and metadata, then click URL Redirects.
2. Click the Add Redirect button at the top left of the page.

3. Enter Path with your preferred redirect URL. This is the URL where your page, selected in the next step, will be redirected from. This should not be an existing alias or content URL in your site. In the screenshot below we use, as an example: short-redirect as the Path.
4. In the “To” field, type the title (or part of the title) of the page that you need to be redirected to. This autoselect field will locate the page, using your input. Select the page you want to redirect by clicking it.

   You can redirect to an external URL, by entering a full URL in the “To” field - for example, (make sure you enter the schema or full address, such as https://, or the redirect won’t function).
5. Press the Save button.

6. Test your new redirect by going to the Path you provided in step 3 (including the full URL to this Path and confirming that the page you selected in the To field is displayed. What’s the page URL now?

In this exercise you’ll learn how to update the meta tags for a Page.

1. Navigate to the Page created in Exercise 3.1 by clicking on Content, clicking on your page then clicking the Edit menu item.

2. Create some Basic page content in the Body field (you should already have content here but you may wish to edit it). Do not modify the Meta Tags yet.

3. Publish your page by setting the Change to field to 'Published' and clicking the Save button at the top right.

4. Using the browser inspector tool (usually right-click, then Inspect element), review the <head> of your page. Locate and review the content of tags such as title and description - see the screenshot below. Note the screenshot below is using the GovCMS site as an example. (NB - Some browsers are managed by your organisation and restricts you from viewing the source code.)

5. Discuss any questions with your trainer.

   
6. Edit the page you created in step 1 and update values for the Meta Tags - the Page title and Description fields.

7. Review page source (as in step 3) and check how the values of those fields have changed.

Hint: The elements 1 and 2 from the search result screenshot can also be verified by hovering over the browser tab.

What is a token

A token is a formatted chunks of text that serves as a placeholder for a dynamically generated value. For example [site:name] serves as a placeholder for a site's name.

How tokens are used to populate default meta tags

The search result screenshot above outlines “tokens” that are automatically replaced by GovCMS when content is created or updated. The tokens in use are:

1. [node:title] - title of the page, taken from the page's Title field.

2. [site:name] - the name of the site (GovCMS in this case).

3. [node:summary] - an automatically generated summary of the page contents.

In this exercise you will learn how to update a page’s URL alias.

1. Add a Page: From the Admin menu click on Content, then hover over Add content and click on Page.

2. Fill out the fields as shown in the screenshot below, such as Title. On the right-hand side of the form, click to expand the URL Alias section.

   
3. Uncheck Generate automatic URL Alias.

4. Make sure the 'URL alias' field is empty.

5. Set the Save As dropdown to Published.

6. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the page.

7. Navigate to the page you saved - note the URL.

Your content should have a URL like: http://example.com/node/100

In this example “node/100” is the internal Drupal path for the page. The number "100" is a unique number that Drupal uses to store information about this specific page. In Drupal, this is called the "node ID". Each page will have a different number. The number "100" will be different on your site.

Note down this URL for the next exercise.

Taxonomy fields offer a variety of form widgets to facilitate content management. Some form widgets allow you to select from pre-created categories, while others may allow content editors to create new categories (or taxonomy terms) as they create and manage content.

Taxonomy form widgets are configured by the Site Builder, or the agency that built your website.

Tag-style

The Tag-style form widget allows you to select from pre-created taxonomy terms. The widget allows you to search and select one or more taxonomy terms from large vocabularies. Terms are populated in the form in tag-style and can be easily removed with a mouse. New taxonomy terms cannot be added using this form widget.

Dropdown select

The dropdown select form widget allows you to find and select a single taxonomy term. It’s usually used for small-to-medium taxonomy vocabularies featuring only a few terms (up to 10). New taxonomy terms cannot be added using this form widget.

Radio-button select

The radio-button select form widget allows you to select a single taxonomy term. It’s usually used for small taxonomy vocabularies featuring only a few terms. New taxonomy terms cannot be added using this form widget.

Checkboxes

The checkboxes select form widget allows you to select one or more taxonomy terms. It’s also usually used for small taxonomy vocabularies featuring only a few terms. New taxonomy terms cannot be added using this form widget.

Autocomplete text

The autocomplete text form widget allows you to find and select terms from existing taxonomy terms or create new terms. This widget can be used for large taxonomies, such as Tags.

The GovCMS distribution provides a helpful set of tools to manage the appearance of your content in major search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and others. This functionality is provided by the Metatag module (https://www.drupal.org/project/metatag).

The Metatag module provides two areas to manage the metadata of your site:

1. Global Metatag administration area: This area is usually only accessible by Administrator users.

2. Content pages: The metadata for can be managed at the page level for all content or pages.

To understand how to manage content metadata, perform a simple search for “Drupal metatag” in Google. The first search result is https://www.drupal.org/project/metatag.

The search result snippet consists of the following elements:

1. URL to the page

2. Page title

3. Site name

4. Search excerpt

As a Content Approver, you can manage all of these elements using the Meta Tags pane in every content page.

When creating or editing content - the Meta Tags pane is available on the right-hand side of the page in an expandable section.

By default the main elements are pre-populated by GovCMS automatically when you create or update content. These elements are populated using tokens. (Tokens are covered in the next lesson).

In the screenshot above, the Page title field populates elements 1 and 2 from the Google search result screenshot. The Description field (6) populates the search result excerpt (4). The URL alias of the page (covered in Unit 7) is used as element 3 in the Google search result screenshot.

Search results display can be customised by manually updating the information in the Meta Tags area.

Definitions

A taxonomy in Drupal (and GovCMS) is a way to classify or categorise certain types of content.

A vocabulary is a group of taxonomy terms. A vocabulary can only be used to categorise one type of content. For example, only the Event categories vocabulary can be used to categorise content of type Event.

These terms and the distinction between them is best illustrated by an example. Page articles can be classified or categorised by the Topics they relate to. The categories or taxonomy terms can be Policies, News or Services. The vocabulary in this example would be called Topics.

View vocabularies and taxonomy terms

To see the list of vocabularies available to use on a site, hover over Structure on the Admin menu then click Taxonomy.

Click on the List terms to the right hand side any of the vocabularies listed to show the list of taxonomy terms it contains.

In the screenshot below, the Topics terms are shown.

Add a taxonomy term to content

When creating (or editing) content of type Page content, authors can add a Topic (taxonomy term) to the content. Only the Topics vocabulary can be used for the Page content type (unless your developers have configured additional vocabularies).

There are two methods you can use to add menu items.

1. Hover over Structure, then → Menus and click Primary navigation.

   
2. Click on the Add Link button at the top left of the page.

   
3. Begin typing the title of an existing content in the Link field. It is an autocomplete field and as you type the field will auto-suggest from your existing content.

4. Add a Description and a Menu link title.

5. Click Save once complete.

   
6. Review the change to the menu in the Primary navigation. You should see the new menu item in the Primary navigation menu at the top of the page.

Method 2 - From content

1. Edit any Page content.

2. Expand Menu settings in the right sidebar.

3. Click Provide a menu link

4. Type in a Menu link title.

5. Select Primary navigation in the Parent link dropdown

6. Make sure your Page content is published.

7. Click Save

8. Go to the homepage and review the change to the menu in the Primary navigation.

In this exercise you will learn how to add taxonomy terms to an existing vocabulary.

1. Hover over Structure on the Admin menu then click on Taxonomy.

   
2. Click on the dropdown menu to the right hand side of the Topics vocabulary.

3. Click on Add terms from the list in the dropdown.

   
4. Enter a Name for your new taxonomy term, e.g. “Local news”.

5. Enter a Description (this field is optional).

6. Click on the Save button at the bottom left of the page.

   
7. You will now be back on the Add term page. Add a few more taxonomy terms.

In this exercise you will learn how to add a Page article and categorise it using the Topics vocabulary.

1. Create a Page (hover over Content on the Admin menu, then click Add content, then select Page).

2. Add a Title.

3. Expand the Metadata tab and begin typing in the Topics field. Notice the Topics field is autocomplete and the available terms include only the Topics taxonomy items. The new terms added in the previous exercise should be available.

4. Select a value from existing taxonomy terms in the Topics field.

   

What are breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs show the hierarchy path of a website and are a quick and easy way for site visitors (and content authors and approvers) to navigate back to certain pages from the page they are currently on.

In the example shown in the screenshot below, a site visitor is on the page 'Site builder training (TEST CONTENT)'. The breadcrumb shows:

• Home > Events > Site builder training (TEST CONTENT)

Navigating using breadcrumbs

A site visitor can click on Home to return to the Homepage of the site, or on Events to navigate to a listing of events.

Breadcrumbs and site structure / hierarchy

The exact breadcrumb will depend on your site’s structure and the number of levels in the hierarchy of the page. A breadcrumb is particularly useful for larger sites.

Take this example:

• Home > Publications > Media releases > 2019 > July > Media release title

Using this breadcrumb, site visitors can navigate quickly to Home, to the top level Publications page, to Media releases or even specifically to all 2020 media releases or all July 2022 media releases.

Menu items can be added to the Main navigation and Footer menu in two main ways.

Managing from the Structure - Menus page

To add menu items, view and edit existing menus, hover over Structure in the Admin menu then click on Menus. This will take you to a page displaying all the Menus that exist on a site.

Depending on your level of access, you can delete an entire menu from this page. Clicking on the Edit menu button for any menu listed will take you to a page where menu items can be:

1. Added - by clicking the +Add link button at the top left.

2. Deleted - by clicking the dropdown next to a menu item's Edit button.

3. Enabled/Disabled - using the checkboxes.

4. Reordered - by dragging and dropping using the cross handles to the left of each menu item.

Adding a menu item via this method is covered in Exercise 10.1.

Note Disabling a menu item does not delete the page. You can still access the page by going directly to the URL of the menu.

Adding a menu item from the Content edit form

Menu items can be generated while creating or editing content. For example, while creating a new Page. This provides a quick way to generate a new menu item. In the example below, a new menu item will be added to the Primary navigation menu.

To add a menu item from the Menu settings area on a content page:

1. Click to expand the Menu settings area on the right hand side of the page.

2. Click on Provide a menu link.

3. Add a Menu title link.

4. Optionally add a Description.

5. Select the Parent link - which menu to add the link to.

6. Optionally choose a Weight.

The Weight number determines the ordering of the new menu item in the chosen menu. Managing ordering is easier to manage from the Menu page. As such, you may wish to leave the Weight value at the default value of 0 while creating the page, then manage the ordering in the Structure - Menu page.

Restrictions for adding content to the site navigation

When creating or managing content you will notice that some content types have an option to be added to a Menu, while others do not.

As shown above, a menu item can be created while creating or editing a Page. The Menu settings area is not available in the Alert content editing form as shown in the screenshot below.

The site builder usually only activates the Menu Settings option for content that is not listed on the site in any way and can only be found via a navigation menu. The Page content type is a good example of content that has to be manually added to the main navigation or another menu.

Dynamic content such as Events and Alerts do not usually need a link in the main navigation menu, as this content is displayed in the corresponding listing pages.

In some cases, the relevancy of content may expire over time (e.g. Event content types), so having a link from a menu brings an extra content management burden to remove the link after the content expires such as in the cases of Events and Alerts.

Overview

There are several different types of site navigation available on GovCMS websites. Dropdown navigation can also be set up so that the menu items drop down when a mouse hovers over them. The following screenshot shows the main navigation menu in the header region.

Other navigation types

Other types of navigation include:

• A sitemap

• Breadcrumbs

• Sidebar ‘blocks’ with links to sub-pages

• ‘Go back to’ links that take the user back to the parent page in the navigation hierarchy

The GovCMS training website features only one level of navigation/menu structure. However, GovCMS allows for up to nine levels within the menu system.

Note: Web best practice suggests no more than three levels of navigation should be used if possible.

Online forms (HTML forms) allow users to fill out information on a website and can be used to capture a variety of data/information. In GovCMS, forms can be created in the following ways:

• Creation of custom forms (this requires development expertise and would be done by a development partner or in-house development team).

• Creation of a new Webform using the "Webform Module". This is the recommended option for content authors and the focus of this topic.

Note - Forms can also be created by creating a new Content type. However, this method is not recommended as it can lead to mixing public form submissions with site content. The GovCMS Contact Module can also be used to create a form, however functionality is limited using this method.

Webform module/Content type

Webforms can be used to:

• Setup a complex Contact us form.

• Add a survey to your website.

• Include a feedback form on your site.

• Add an order form to your site.

Webforms can be configured to send emails to selected recipients when the form is submitted by a site visitor. Completed form submissions can also downloaded/exported in bulk from the site.

The Webform template is accessible from the content management area of GovCMS. To create a new Webform, click on Structure in the Admin menu, then hover over Webforms and click on Forms.

On this page you will see a list of all previously created Webforms. Click on the + Add webform button at the top left to create a new Webform. See exercises 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3 for the steps required to build a Webform and use it on a site page.

Note: In GovCMS, each Webform is an independent entity; to attach metadata to a Webform, it must be referenced from a Webform content type. This approach allows for broader use-cases of webforms as independent entities and means they can be reused in multiple places.

Webform results

You can view the webform results from the Webform page (if your account has the correct permissions) by clicking on the Results tab. Results can be viewed and downloaded in many different formats.

1. Open an existing Webform

2. Click on the Results tab

In this exercise you will create a simple website feedback form. Before we can create a Webform page and attach a webform entity to it, the entity must exist. Let’s create our first webform entity.

1. Click on Structure on the Admin menu then hover over Webforms and click on Forms.
2. Click on the +Add webform button at the top left of the page.

3. Add a Title, for example "Simple Feedback Form".

4. Add some text to the Administrative description field (optional).

5. Set the Status of the Webform to be as 'Open' using the radio buttons.

6. Click the Save. button.
7. You’ll be redirected to the webform building interface (the Build tab is active), so you can add elements (fields) to your webform, configure various conditions and much more.
8. Click the Add element button, find the Text field element in the Basic elements section, then click on the Add Element button to add a Text field element for the Feedback field.
9. Add text to the the Title field as shown in the screenshot below.
10. Note the other tabs that allow you to configure the field - Conditions, Advanced and Access. Explore those tabs but do not modify anything yet.

11. Click the Save button.

12. Click on the Save elements button at the bottom left of the page.
13. Click the View tab to review your webform. It should look similar to the below screenshot.

14. Try adding some more form fields for practice.

Note If you moved away from your webform at any point during the exercise, use the Admin menu to return to the form via Structure → Webforms → [select the webform from the list].

Page layout in GovCMS is determined by your theme.

In the training site, we are using CivicTheme and the default components are shown in the screenshot below.

You can visualise these components by viewing the CivicTheme Storybook.

Here are some examples of CivicTheme components as seen in the frontend.

Event Card

Publication Card

Accordions

Slider

You can view more CivicTheme components here.

In this exercise we attach the webform created in Exercise 11.1 to a webform page, so that it’s accessible by the public and can have other attributes available to content types (for example, we could place it on a custom URL, attach to a site navigation menu, add metadata and use moderation workflow).

1. Create a new Webform content page by clicking on Content in the Admin menu then hover over Add content then click on Webform.

   
2. Add a Title and some text in the Body field, with guidelines about the form.

3. In the Webform field, select the webform created in the previous exercise (you may have named your form 'Simple Feedback Form' as in the screenshot below).

4. Explore the Webform Settings field, but do not modify anything there.

5. Attach the Webform to the main navigation.

6. Set the Save as dropdown to 'Published'.

7. Click the Save button to complete.

   
8. Note that 'Feedback' is now a menu item on the Primary navigation menu. Click on the link. The page containing your form should look similar to the screenshot below.

   

In this exercise you will create an Event registration form.

1. Add a new Webform (see previous Steps 1 to 3 of Exercise 11.1 how to create a webform). Set the title to be Event registration.

2. Click the + Add element button.

3. Search for the Element type of Entity select by typing in the search field as shown in the screenshot below. Click the Add element button next to Entity select.

   
4. Configure the options on the right hand side to match the screenshot below.

   
5. Add a another element using the + Add element button, choose a Text field element and label it “Full name”, making it a required field. You may add the description “Please enter your full name” in the Element description/help/more field set. You can also add a Required message. This text will be displayed to a user if they submit the form without completing the Full name field.

   
6. Add an Email element following the steps above, labelled “Email address” and make it a required field.

7. Add a Textarea element labelled “Comment” and make it optional. At this stage your "Event registration" Webform page should look similar to the screenshot below.

   
8. Click on the + Add page button at the top left of the page.

9. Add a title to the page on the right hand side. For example, you can name the page 'Name and Email address'.

10. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the Add Wizard page element area.

    
11. Add another page using following steps 8 to 10. Name the page 'Comments'.

12. Using the small cross icons to the left of the Pages and Elements, drag-and-drop to position the 'Name and Email address' and 'Comments'.

13. Indent the form elements as shown in the screenshot below and then click on Save.

    
14. Optional - Add an email handler so that webform responses are automatically emailed to a specified email.

    

In the Email handler pop up window, set the custom email address and click on Save. You can separate multiple email addresses with a comma.

Test your form

Hint: The Test tab allows you to easily test your form with auto-filled dummy data and without the need to assign your Webform to a Webform page.

Webform components can be used to collect different types of data. Different elements can be added to a Form using similar steps to the way a Text field was added in .

To see all the elements available when creating or editing a form, click on Structure on the Admin menu then hover over Webforms then click on Forms.

Click on the Build button to the right hand side of a selected form, as shown in the screenshot below.

Click on the +Add element button to the top left of the screen.

You will see a long list of available components. Scroll down to see them all. The screenshots below show some examples from Basic elements, Advanced elements, File upload elements and Options elements.

Webform options

The Settings tab contains some useful advanced options.

1. To access these options, click on the Settings menu.

2. Click on the various 'second level' menu items (General, Form, Submissions, Confirmation, Emails/Handlers, CSS/JS, Access) to view the options available.

In the sceenshot below, the form is configured to direct a site visitor to a Confirmation Page (3). The Confirmation title and Confirmation message (4) can be customised as shown in the screenshot.

Some of the more important and commonly used options are outlined in the table below.

There are many content operations that can be performed in bulk. In GovCMS the standard content operations that can be performed in bulk are:

• Delete content

• Make content sticky

• Promote content to front page

• Publish content

• Save content

• Remove content from front page

• Unpublish content

• Update URL alias

These bulk operations allow you to quickly and easily make the above changes to multiple pages. The Bulk operations dropdown and button are displayed when one or more items is selected on the Content listing page. Click on Content on the Admin menu then select the checkboxes for one or more items in the content list. Click on the Apply to selected items button to perform the selected action.

In this exercise you will perform a bulk action to delete content.

1. Click on Content on the Admin menu.

2. Select a few pages that you created during the training by clicking the checkboxes to the left of the page.

3. Click on the Action dropdown at the bottom of the page and select Delete content.

   

4. Click the Apply to selected items button.

5. You will be redirected to a conrfirmation page listing the content to be deleted. Click on Delete to confirm your action.

   
6. Review Content page - all content that you selected has been removed

Salsa Digital is an open source digital agency focused on helping governments and enterprises become more open, more connected and more consolidated. We contribute and deliver services across open source CMSs, open data, open platform and open design, with a strong involvement in specific open source initiatives such as GovCMS, Drupal, Single Digital Presence, Kubernetes/Lagoon, CKAN and CivicTheme.‌

Salsa is the exclusive delivery partner for Australia’s whole-of-government digital platform GovCMS, and for Victoria’s digital platform Single Digital Presence, both built on Drupal and a fully open source technology stack.

The following glossary provides an overview of terminology used in this manual and in Drupal.