Internet Entrepreneurs Blog

Start by adding a new section using the form on the right of the section page. Fill in a section name (singular and plural) and description for your first section and click the ‘Add section’ button. You should now see your new section listed in the table and in the navigation bar at the top of the page. You can change the order of sections on this page or remove a section (and all associated data) by clicking the ‘X’ icon next to the section name.

Click your new section link to view your section dashboard. On the right side of the section configuration page you’ll see a list of section actions you’ll need to complete before your section goes live. The actions in the body of the section dashboard page will be used once your section configuration is complete.

Edit your listings

 

This form helps you build the form users will fill in to add information to your site (input) and the display of that information once it has been submitted (output). It is important that you give careful consideration to your data architecture before attempting to create your listings.

When you begin to design your listings you’ll see three buttons: ‘Add New Field,’ ‘Listing Permissions,’ and ‘Preview Form’. Below these buttons you’ll also see several default fields that have been created for you.

Add new field

The ‘Add new field’ button will reveal a form which allows you to add a custom data field. Choose a descriptive name for your field, choose the field type (field type information will be displayed once you choose a type from the menu), whether your users will be required to fill in the field to add a listing, if the field is hidden from user input, if the field output will be hidden from output (ie not displayed), and any explanatory notes you wish to include (these will appear on the form your users see).

Here is a listing of available input types along with a brief description of each:

• Short text: Use this for short text input like listing titles.
• Description: This is a larger text input perfect for reviews and descriptions.
• Choice (single): Creates a pull-down menu of choices of which users may choose only one selection.
• Choice (multiple): Similar to the single choice above but users are able to make multiple selections.
• Event date: Used for date inputs. The date a listing is posted is automatically collected so you can use this field for other dates (like for events).
• US Zip Code: This specialized field is limited to 5 numerical characters.
• Link: Allows users to add a link to another website. The domain will be displayed as the anchor text while a link to the full URL will be created.
• Numerical: This field type is ideal if your data is strictly numerical in nature. Choose this to make sure numbers are sorted numerically rather than alphabetically.
• Listing link: This allows your users to link a new listing to an existing listing

Note on ‘Input Type’ in the ‘Add field’ form: When you choose a ‘Choice’ type field you may want to enter some of the choices your users will see by using the boxes that appear below the menu preview. You will be able to update and add to these choices later if you need more input boxes or you wish to use a pre-formatted choice list.

Once you have added several custom data fields you can change the order of those fields by using the up and down icons in the ‘Move’ column. You may also choose to edit fields using the edit icon or delete a field using the delete icon. Warning: deleting an input field after listings have been added to your section can potentially cause problems – make sure you are happy with your input fields before adding data!

Finally, you can add text or HTML notes to the beginning or end of your form to help your users by filling in the “form notes” fields.

Permissions

The ‘Permissions’ link will reveal a form to set your section permissions. Users fall into four categories: Guests, Members (registered users), Subscribers, and Admins (you). Choose who you would like to allow to add and view listings within this section. You can also set whether submitters can edit their information once it is posted and when information is posted after a user submits your collection form. The recommended settings are set for you by default but you can change these at any time.

If you do not need to moderate listings added by registered members, simply click the box next to “auto-approve non-guest posts.” Guest posts will continue to be moderated but registered user posts will be added immediately.

Finally, you can also set email notifications to be sent to one of your admin users upon new content submission. This setting is recommended if you have set new content to appear only after you have approved it. For large sites with many submissions each day email notifications can become overwhelming. Choose whether you would like to be notified about pending posts or non-pending posts (posted) or both.

Click ‘Save information preferences’ to activate your section listings.

Preview form

Finally, you’ll see a link labeled ‘Preview form’ that allows you to preview the input form that will be used to collect your listing data. This form is not functional (i.e. you cannot use it to submit data) and does not reflect any templates or styles you may have applied to your website. Use this to get an idea of how your changes will look to users.

Editing fields

For the most part, editing fields is much the same as creating fields. You may change the name of the field, notes, and required, input, and output settings. For single or multiple choice field types you will see a list of the existing choices. You may rename, reorder, or delete any of the choices. You can also load pre-built option choices or a spreadsheet of values.