Creating Index Pages and Entries

As mentioned in the overview, index pages allow organizations to organize and present content with customizable categories that your users/patrons can quickly and easily filter and group to find the content they are looking for.

Creating this content this is a multi-step approach where you must first create the index page, then create the individual entries that will appear on the page, we'll look at both of these steps in this article

Users with the Contributor, Editor, Moderator, and Administrator role have the permission to create and edit both index pages and index entries; however, only users with the Moderator and Administrator have the permissions to delete these items and publish them to your Stacks site. 

Considerations

Before creating an index page, consider how your users/patrons will be interacting with this information. Site labels can be updated to ensure field names and other terminology matches what your users/patrons expect to see. 

As we have discussed, index entries can also be filtered/grouped using the Category filter vocabulary field. It can save you time later on to create or edit the list of values that populate this field before you begin creating your index page(s).

For more information on editing site labels and creating filter vocabulary values, please see the Considerations for Creating Content article.

Creating Index Pages

1. From the Dashboard, click the Index Pages tile
2. Click +Add Index Page
3. Complete the form in the window that opens
   1. Title, this is the title of the index page and will appear at the top of the page
   2. Language, if applicable, select the language for the index page
   3. Body, this will appear at the top of the iIndex page directly under the title, and is typically used to provide a description or explanation of the information found in the index. 
   4. Review and adjust the Publishing workflow
4. Click Save

Creating Index Entries

Once one or more index pages have been created you can begin adding the entries that will appear on these pages. 

Like creating the index page itself, only users with the Contributor, Editor, Moderator, or Administrator role can create and edit index entries, and only Moderators and Administrators can publish them to your Stacks site. 

1. From the Dashboard, click the Index Pages tile
2. Click the Index Entries tab near the top of the screen
3. Click Add New
   1. Title, enter a title for the entry
   2. Featured, check this box to feature the entry on the page
      1. NOTE: a URL (in the next field) is required to feature an entry on the page
   3. URL
      1. URL, if applicable, enter the path or URL to the page you wish to direct users/patrons to when the entry title is clicked
         1. NOTE: for internal Stacks pages only use the path (example: /databases). For external websites, use the full URL (example: https://www.samplesite.com)
      2. Link Text, enter the name/link text to display to the user/patron
   4. Index Page, select the index page this entry will appear on
      1. NOTE: index page(s) must first be created to populate this list
   5. Category, select the appropriate category from the filter vocabulary list
      1. NOTE: filter vocabulary values must be added to populate this list, see the Considerations section above
   6. Body, enter any text, description, links, images, or embedded media that is applicable for the entry
   7. Image
      1. If the entry is Featured (as described above), the image will appear at the top of the index page in a slider, otherwise it will appear below the entry title and to the left of the body in the list and detail views
         1. Click Upload/Select file, follow to prompts to upload a new image or select from previously uploaded images
   8. File
      1. If applicable files can be added to the entry for users/patrons to view and possibly download
         1. Click Upload/Select File, follow the prompts to upload a new file or select from previously uploaded files
   9. Changed To
      1. Depending on the role of the user creating the entry, select the appropriate option to set the state of the index entry.
         1. This is typically used to indicate if the entry is in a draft or review state, prior to publishing
   10. Publishing workflow, review the settings and update as needed
   11. Click Save when finished, repeat the steps above for creating additional entries as needed

List and Detail View Settings for Index Pages

Additional settings can also be configured here to control the how your users/patrons will see index page information when viewing the Listing View or Detail View for your entries.