Settings

The behaviour and default fields for sections is set under the ‘settings’ option for its ‘parent’ section, that is the section in which it is contained.

A section inside another section is referred to as it’s subsection(s). The settings are under the button called ‘subsection settings’ in order to clarify that these settings do not change the field options for the section you are currently editing, only those adding into it (subsections).

For top level sections - content on the main navigation menu - these options are set using the ‘settings’ button above the menu.

The settings are saved in a template that can be applied in multiple places throughout the site.

Subsection preview

Alongside the ability to configure field options for subsections you can activate a ‘preview’ of subsections in the parent section. Styles can be used in conjunction with field options to create a wide range of presentations of subsections - everything from sideshows to text lists, in single or multiple columns.

The options here determine what elements of each subsection are included in the preview. The style template controls how it will look.

Field options

The options available in section settings are:

  • Name for the template. 
    • This is only so you can identify the template when you use for another section.
  • Parent title
    • An option to display the title of the parent section above the title of the section itself.
  • Title
    • This is compulsory
    • The title displays on the page using the heading 1 CSS style.
    • The navigation menus use the section title
    • Title is the first option for subsection preview. In the subsection preview title uses CSS heading 2.
  • Subtitle
    • Displays under the title, using the heading 2 CCS style.
    • In the subsection preview it uses CSS heading 3.
  • Author
    • This can be entered manually or connected to a database list from which the author can be selected for each section
    • [configuration options coming soon]
    • The author appears under the subtitle
    • When connected to the database, in the subsection preview clicking the author’s name filters the subsection preview to just that authors articles
    • Including the author field in subsection preview reveals a further option ‘show index’. This generates an index of all authors.
      • By default the index shows the most frequent ten author names, with the number of sections they’ve authored in brackets after their name.
  • Date
    • The date field is useful for news, articles, blog posts or any section where you want the subsections ordered by date.
    • The date a section is added is saved as the default date, and can be change for each subsection.
    • Activating the date field reveals some further options:
      • Show post dated. By default setting the date in the future hides the section from the site until that date and time. By checking this option a section with a future date and time will show regardless.
      • Show index. This creates a navigation index that groups subsections by month. The number of subsections dated within each month shows in brackets after that month.
      • [display format options coming soon]
  • Expiration date
    • By activating the expiration date field you can set a date and time at which a section will disappear from the website navigation menus and subsection preview.
    • Using the preview option the expiration date can show in the subsection preview.
    • The show expired option allows you to override the default behaviour and keep sections active past the expiry date.
  • Web link
    • This field is for adding a link to another website
    • There is an option to include the link in the subsections preview
    • The link will become clickable on the website and open in a new browser tab or window (depending on the users setting)
    • If you leave the content area blank in a section with a web link, clicking the title will automatically open the link. This is useful for example in a news item opening in an external website or a section of links.
  • Twitter
    • By adding a twitter account field, the section will automatically show twitter’s account profile button.
    • Checking preview includes this in the subsection preview also.
  • Facebook
    • The Facebook option allows the section to display a profile page link
    • The preview option includes this in the subsections preview
  • LinkedIn
    • In a similar way to Twitter and Facebook, the linkedin option will generate a linkedin profile button on the section and optionally in the preview.
  • Abstract
    • The abstract field is for a short intro into the section
    • Activating the field allows for an abstract to be set for each subsection
    • Where an abstract is not created, the first 200 characters of text is used automatically, rounded down to the nearest word
    • The ‘default length’ field changes the number of characters used in the default. This does not affect an abstract entered into the abstract field.
  • Thumbnail image
    • This is an image you can upload specifically for use in the subsection preview
    • It can also be used in a version of the navigation menus
    • The thumbnail image field is an image upload field. It will automatically resize the uploaded image to 300px or the maximum size specified in the ‘max. size’ field.
    • [more size and crop options coming soon]
    • The roll-over option allow for an additional image to be uploaded which will show when the thumbnail is hovered on with the mouse
  • Main image
    • The main image is designed to be a larger image that appears on the section page
    • Using CSS you can position the image above or beside the main content of the section
    • The default main image size is 900 pixels. You can change this with the ‘max. size’ field
    • In the same way as the thumbnail image, you an upload a roll-over version that displays on mouse hover
    • If you intend to use the same image for thumbnail and main image for each subsection, select the ‘use thumbnail upload’ option so only one upload field is shown. Each uploaded image will be automatically sized for each purpose.
    • It is possible to display the main image in the subsection preview by selecting the preview checkbox.
  • Banner image
    • The banner image option is similar to the main image. It is intended for a wide image, possibly edge to edge showing about the section content.
    • The default size is 200 pixels. This can be overridden using the ‘max size option’
  • Full image
    • The full image option stores the image uploaded via the thumbnail or main image fields in a full size version, in addition to the resized version for use as a thumbnail or main image.
    • When full image is activated, clicking the main image opens the full image in the browser
    • You can set a max size if you want to place some limit on the size of full image stored.
  • Content
    • Section content is the main body of each section.
    • It is editable in a formatted content editor so that text can be formatted with HTML tags and styles.
    • Using the preview option, subsection previews can include the full section content. This way you can create structured layout for a web page taking advantage of all the features in subsection previews.
    • The ‘hide until click’ allow for a preview that include full content but hides it until the subheading heading is clicked.
  • Last updated
    • Every time a section is saved the last updated field is automatically updated
    • Using the preview option for last updated allows for displaying this date in the preview and on the section page.
  • Tags
    • Activating tags creates a field you can enter a comma separated list of tags for each subsection.
    • The tags will be linked to a listing of all subsections with the same tag
    • Show preview includes the tags in subsection preview
    • Show index generates a navigation index showing the top ten tags by popularity with the number of posts in brackets. Clicking ‘all topics’ under the list will present a page with every tag listed.
  • Description
    • A field for setting the meta description for each subsection.
  • Keywords
    • Field for adding meta keywords to each subsection.
  • Items per page
    • By default 50 subsections will show in the preview. You can use the items per page setting to increase or decrease this number.
    • If there are more sections than the number set, page numbers will show at the bottom for the site visitor to navigate further
  • Order by
    • Subsections in the navigation menu and subsection previews will be listed in the order defined here.
    • By default they will order according to where you place them, by dragging and dropping in the controlroom.co menu. This is the menu rank option.
    • Date created, last updated and alphabetical order are the other options. Using the descending checkbox you can reverse the order.
    • For example, for a news section you might select date created and check descending so the most recent additions will show first.
  • Hide menu
    • By checking this option subsections will not be included in the navigation menu.
    • You can use this option where the subsection preview provides users with sufficient navigation.
  • Hide page numbers
    • If there are more subsections than the number set in ‘items per page’ above, page numbering is automatically generated to access further subsections.
    • This item hides the page numbers, so the only subsections presented are those up to the items per page limit.
  • Preview level
    • By default, a section previews its subsections.
    • The preview level option allows the preview to show the subsections of subsections, a further level deeper or sections on the same level.
  • Show subsection titles
    • If you are previewing sub-subsections or sub-sub-subsections, selecting this option will divide the previews with the titles of sections one level higher.
  • Allow comments
    • Selecting this option activates a commenting feature that appears below each section’s content.
    • This might be used in a section of articles or blog style content.
  • Share buttons
    • Buttons for sharing webpages with various social networks can be activated with these options.
    • They appear below the title and above the section content and/or at the end of the section content.
    • The current options are:
      • Facebook
      • Twitter. Selection this option presents a field for your twitter account, which will be included in draft tweet text.
      • LinkedIn
      • Pinterest
      • Reddit
      • Other (AddThis). This is a plugin which provides share buttons for many other social networks.

All sections using the current subsection settings are listed below the field options.