Content Items
Content Items enable you to create any type of user-facing content. They are not by default forms which require the user to submit information or take an action, though they can be coded to behave as such. (Image 1)
Content items' potential uses are as manifold as the potential pages on your web site. Some of the more common uses in the Salsa community include:
- Any type of static content to flesh out your web site or any section therein -- an "about us" page, and the child pages that list staffers and board members, for instance;
- Landing pages for particular projects or campaigns, and provide a "base" from which to link different Salsa actions under that umbrella;
- More fully customized versions of regular Salsa form pages -- for instance, if you want to completely rearrange elements of a signup page, you might copy and paste the relevant HTML into a content item and begin working with it by hand (code proficiency required);
Configuring a Salsa content item is a simple three-step process, described below. You'll also notice a box in the corner of the screen (Image 2), which enables you to:
- View the page as it currently appears to visitors;
- Change the design template branding your page (see Image 3).
Reference Name
Throughout Salsa, Reference Name fields provide an internal reference for you to identify the page; it is not shown on the user-facing pages.
Title
The public name of the event will appear as a banner headline atop the page (in h2 HTML style). This will also set the HTML "title" element of the web page, meaning that the name you place here will generally appear as the page's name in most browser tabs or panes.
Status
You won't see the "Status" selector when you initially create a Content page.
After you've saved the page, however, you have the additional option to set your Content page to Active, Inactive, or Archived.
Pages set to Inactive or Archived (currently, those two statuses are synonymous) no longer display their content to end-users who might follow the View Page link you've published. Instead, visitors will see the page's template with no further content. Active pages display their content as usual. (All new pages are Active by default.)
The Status option gives you the ability to "turn off" outdated pages. You might also consider building a special template for use with Inactive/Archived pages that explicitly directs users to other parts of your site.
Content
This field, the "meat" of the content item, appears after the Title, and can be HTML-styled using the WYSIWYG editor, including images, links, and video embeds. At any time, you can click the "Source" button of the WYSIWYG (see Image 4) to access the page's HTML code.
To use content items for advanced customization of other Salsa forms:
- Create a version of your desired page in the appropriate Salsa tool (for instance, by building a Signup Page).
- View the end-user appearance of that page.
- Select "view source" in your browser to view the HTML source of the end-user page.
- Find the "form" and "/form" HTML tags that configure your Salsa form. Select and copy the entire code between (and including) those tags. (Note that pages sometimes have multiple forms; don't copy the "sign up for our newsletter" code from your template's sidebar!)
- Return to the content item.
- In the content item's "content" section, click the "Source" button (see Image 4) to access the HTML source of the content item.
- Locate an appropriate spot and paste in your copy of the HTML form from the other Salsa page.
- Customize as desired.
You'll need to have some comfort working with HTML (and perhaps CSS) to do this, and you'll need to troubleshoot your own results. Unfortunately, we are generally unable to provide HTML support on custom pages, including customized content items.
