From Content Creation to Publication

In this section, we introduce how to create and save a content item (a News Item in this case), edit it, and use workflow to publish it.

Create a News Item in Plone

1. Navigate to the folder or page where you would like to create the news item.

   In this example, we navigate to the root (top) of the site, https://demo.plone.org/

2. Click the add item button.

   

   The add item button

3. Click News Item

   

   Select the News Item type

4. In the title text block, type "Plone Conference 2024" then press Enter.

   In the next block, type "Brasilia, Brazil" and pressEnter.

   In the next block, type "Join us in lovely Brasilia, the capital of Brazil and an architectural gem!" then press Enter.

5. To edit other properties of the news item, press News Item at the top of the right column.

   

   News Item block properties

6. Click the Summary field and enter a brief summary of what this news item is about.

   

   Set the News Item summary

7. You should set a lead image for this news item, by clicking Choose a file or by dragging an image into the Drop file here to upload a new file target area.

   

   Choose a News Item lead image

8. Enter a description of the lead image, using the Lead Image Caption field.

   

   Set the lead image caption

9. You can use the Tags field to set tags for this news item (more on this topic later).

   

   Set the News Item tags

10. You can set the language of this news item using the Language setting.

Set the News Item language

11. You can link to other items on the site using the Related Items field. These links will be displayed at the bottom of the news item.

Set the News Item's related items

12. You can set the publication date using the Publishing Date field. By default, it will be set to the date and time when you publish the news item.

Set the News Item's publishing date

13. You can set the news item's expiration date using the Expiration Date field. If an expiration date is set, the news item will not be highlighted on the site after that date, though the news item will continue to be visible if users browse to it.

Set the News Item's expiration date

14. To save the news item, click the Save button at the top left corner.

The Save button

Edit a News Item

We edit an existing news item, adding text and an image.

1. Navigate to https://demo.plone.org/plone-conference-2024

2. Click the Edit button.

   

   The Edit button

3. Make changes by editing existing blocks, adding more blocks, deleting blocks, or changing block properties using the right column.

   

   Add some text

4. You can undo changes by clicking the Undo button at the bottom left corner of the page.

   

   The Undo button

5. If you used the Undo button, you can redo the changes by clicking the Redo button.

   

   The Redo button

6. Here we add two text blocks.

   

   Add some text blocks

7. To add an image, click the + button on the text block you want to replace with a different type of block (in this case, an image block).

   

   Change the type of block

8. Click the Image icon.

   

   Choose an Image block

9. Click the upload button to choose an image from your computer to upload to the site.

   

   The Upload image button

10. Click the Alt text field in the right column to set the description of the image. This is an important element of accessibility compliance for your site.

Set the image alt text

11. In this example, we type "a photo of the exterior of the Catedral de Brasilia".

12. You can set the title of the image. The title will be shown in content listings and in search results.

Set the image title

13. You can set a description of the image. The description will be shown in content listings and in search results.

Set the image description

14. You can change where the image will be displayed on the page relative to other blocks near it.

Set the image alignment

15. In this example, we want the image to fill the width of the content column.

Choose full width of the content column

16. By default, the image size is "Large", but you can change it to "Small" or "Medium".

Set the image size

17. Click the Save button.

The Save button

At this point, our News Item is in the "private" workflow state.

Items in the private state are visible only to and editable only by their creator and site administrators. Website visitors (the public, or anyone not logged in) cannot see private items.

Now we show how to publish an item. Items in the "published" state are visible to everyone, including the public, but continue to be editable only by their creator and site administrators.

Publish a News Item

1. Navigate to https://demo.plone.org/plone-conference-2024

2. Before a news item has been published, you see "No date". This is where the publication date will be shown.

   

   The news item has no publication date

3. Click the more button.

   

   The More button

4. Click the State dropdown list. It shows the current workflow state of the news item, "Private", in which only the creator and site administrators can view or edit the item.

   

   Click to change the state

5. Click Publish. In this example, you are able to publish directly, rather than having to submit for publication, because you are logged in as a site administrator.

   

   Choose Publish

6. The news item has been published, and the publication date, "11/9/2024", is shown.

   

   The news item now has a publication date