Creating content

On this page we'll walk you through creating a new piece of content using a simple banner as an example. This will probably be very similar to some of the types of content that are installed in your library. Also included here is an example of creating a more complex content item, see Creating linked content.

Choosing the type of content to create

To create a new piece of content, first click the "Create content" button at the top right of the Content Library window. This opens the content types browser and lets you choose from the content types that are available in your current content repository.

The content types window is shown in the image below. In this example we'll create a Tutorial Banner content item by selecting the Tutorial Banner icon and clicking "Add content".

Adding the content

The content editing window is opened with the fields defined by the Tutorial Banner content type. Notice that the content type is shown at the top of the window.

Labels provide more detail about the purpose of each field on the content editing form, in this case a headline, strapline and and a background image. We'll fill in the heading and subheading and add the image.

To add the background image, click the "Add" button as shown.

The Asset Library browser opens, showing the images that are available to add to this content. In most cases your assets will be stored in the Amplience Content Hub linked to your hub, as is shown here.

To add an image, hover over the chosen image and click "Add".

The chosen image is added to the content and displayed in the form. Once all the fields have been populated, the content can be saved.

The Save content dialog is displayed. In this example we'll name the content "Summer collection banner". The name will be displayed when adding this content to slots in an edition, so when you create content items you will probably use some naming conventions to identify it with a particular project.

For more details about the options shown in the Save menu, see the saving content page.

The content is now saved. If this content type has a visualization associated with it, then a preview of the content is shown in the window on the right hand side. The preview will show the content as it will appear when it's displayed on your website or app.

A visualization is refreshed each time you click Save.

Once you've finished editing the content, you can click the Back button to return to the Content Library.

The newly created content item is now shown in the Content Library. The content is sorted by last modified date, so our banner appears in the top left.

Creating linked content

In some cases you will need to create a content item that contains links to other items. One example is a carousel that contains one or more carousel slides. These carousel slides would be stored separately to the carousel itself and could be reused in multiple pieces of content.

On this page we'll show you how to create a piece of linked content, using a simple carousel as an example. Linking items together is a common approach to creating content, so it's likely you will be creating your own carousels, image grids or similar content.

Creating a carousel

To create the carousel, choose "Create content" at the top of the Content Library window and choose "Carousel" from the content types window.

A new carousel is created and opened in the content editing form. The carousel itself is very simple, just containing a list of slides with no other fields to fill in. To add a carousel slide, click the plus icon as shown in the image below. The Add content window is shown, asking whether you want to create a new carousel slide or add an existing one.

If you choose "Add existing" the Content Library window opens showing all the carousel slide items in your selected content repository. Click to select the slides you want to add and a tick will appear in the bottom right of the card for each selected item. Hover over one of the selected slides until the "+" icon appears and click the icon to add the slides to the carousel.

Alternatively you may choose to create a new carousel slide and add a new image to it. If you click "Create and add new" a content form opens with a new empty carousel slide.

This is a very simple content type and just contains an image. Click the "Add" icon to choose an image to add to the new carousel slide.

The media browser window opens showing a list of images from your media repository. Select an image and click "Add" to add it to the carousel.

The image is added to the carousel slide. Click "Save" and give the item a name.

Once the item is saved, you are returned to the main carousel form and you can see that the slide that was just created has been added.

There are now 4 carousel slides linked to this carousel. Click Save to save the carousel.

Give the carousel a name and click "Ok" to confirm the save.

The carousel has now been saved. Because the carousel content type has a visualization associated with it, a preview of the carousel content appears in the window on the right hand side.

Click the back button to return to the Content Library.

Content item properties

The properties pane in the content editing window provides you with easy access to information about a content item or slot. It also includes a content delivery section from which you can view and copy the content ID and the URL used to retrieve item from the Content Delivery API.

To open the content editing window, double-click a content item or slot in the Content Library or choose "View" from the item's menu. You can show or hide the properties pane by clicking the "i" icon at the top right of the window. The item's name, content type, creation and modification date, and publish status are shown, together with the item's locale and status if set. You can also see the current version and the user that made the most recent change.

In the example below the latest version of the "Winter banner" content item is published and it has a status of "Accepted".

Content delivery

In the "Content delivery" section you can view and copy the Content ID and the URL that developers use to retrieve the content item from the Content Delivery API. Clicking the URL will fetch the content and display the result in a new window.

Note that the content delivery URL will only work when the content has been published and will return the latest published version of the content.

Content Delivery 2 URLs

If you have Content Delivery 2 enabled on your hub, additional links will be shown in the Content Delivery section.

For content items or slots that have a delivery key, a URL is shown to retrieve the content using the content delivery 2 API using either the id (1) or delivery key. For content items and slots that don't have a delivery key, only the delivery URL to retrieve the content using the id is included.

The JSON content returned by clicking on the Content Delivery 2 URL for the banner content item is shown in the image below.

Organizing content types

For a project with lots of content types, finding the one you want can be a challenge, but there are several features to help you keep your content types organized. You can sort the content type list, manage a list of favourites and search for a content type by name.

The sort options are available from the menu in the top right of the content type browser. You can choose to sort the list by the date that the content type was added to the repository, in ascending or descending order by name, by most commonly used content type, or with your favourites shown first.

To add a content type to your favourites, hover over the content type icon and click the star icon in the top right. Content types are removed from your favourites by deselecting the star.

When you choose a sort order it will apply to all the repositories on your hub. In the case of favourites, only those content types that have been added to the current repository will be shown in the list. The sort order is saved in your browser's local storage and will persist between logins.

Click in the search box and start typing to search for a content type by name. Only those content types containing the text you entered will be displayed in the list.

In the example below, only those content types with "localized banner" in their name are shown.

Viewing and editing content items

To open a content item, click or hover over the item you want to open until the ellipsis menu is shown in the top right of the content card. Choose "View" from the contextual menu as shown in the image below. Alternatively you can double-click a content item to open it.

The content form will open for this item and you can choose to view or edit its contents.

Editing a content item

Here's the content editing form for a simple banner content item that was created previously. To delete the background image, just hover over the image icon until the trash can icon appears. Then click this icon to delete the image. The image will be deleted and you can choose a new one to add.

Of course you can also edit any of the other forms in the banner. In this example we're editing the subheading to "Grab some bargains!". Once the change is made we click the Save button.

The content is now saved. Notice that the visualization has been updated to reflect the new subheading.

There are a number of other options available from the save menu, including renaming the content item and save as. For more information see saving content.

Editing linked content

Linked content is also easy to edit, as we'll show with the example of the carousel.

To open the carousel for editing, choose "View" from the item's contextual menu or double-click the item to open it.

The content form appears showing the carousel and each of the carousel slides that it includes. To edit one of the carousel slides, hover over the chosen item, in the example below the second one in the list is chosen, until the pencil and trash can icons are shown. Click the pencil icon to edit the carousel slide.

The carousel slide content item is now opened for editing. Once the item is edited, clicking the save button will return to the carousel. To go back to the carousel editing window without saving, just click the Back button.

Saving a content item

If you are creating content that has not yet been saved, then the Save menu will contain a reduced set of options, as shown in the image below.

If you click the main Save button the Save dialog is shown. Give the content a name, choose which folder it should be saved in and optionally add a locale, status and assignee. Click "Ok" to save the content.

Once the content is saved, if there is a visualization defined for the content, then it will be displayed on the right hand side of the content form.

If you make a change to the content, then the Save menu will be enabled and contain a number of options, as shown in the image below. Even if the content is up to date and the Save menu itself is not enabled, you can still save another copy of the content or rename it.

Here's a list of the available options on the Save menu:

Save as

Create a new version of this content, including the same values for the fields (in this case headline and strapline) and the same assets.

Save and create another

Save and close the content. Create a completely empty form for this content type. In the case of content, for example a carousel, that is the "parent" to "child" content such as the individual carousel slides, "Save and create another" is only available for the child content.

This item is only enabled if the content has changed since last saved and the Save button is enabled.

Save and close

Save the current content, close the window and return to the content library. This item is only enabled if the content has changed since it was last saved and the Save button is enabled.

Add to edition

Associate this content with an edition. When you choose this item the 'Add to edition' dialog is displayed for you to choose the edition to which you want to add the content item.

If there are unsaved changes when you choose this option, you are prompted to save the changes before the 'Add to edition' dialog is displayed.

See adding content to an edition for more details.

Tag snapshot to edition

Open a dialog allowing the user to choose an edition to make this content available to. See tagging a snapshot to an edition for more details.

Save and update editions

Save the content. If this content is used in any editions you can choose which editions to update with the latest version of the content. If the content does not require saving and the Save button is not enabled, then this will just be "Update editions".

Delivery key

Specify a delivery key that can be used instead of the content id to retrieve content items and slots. See content delivery and delivery keys for more details.

Save and publish

Save the content and publish it to the Content Delivery Network (CDN). If the content does not require saving and the Save button is not enabled, then the menu name will be "Publish".

Rename

Choose a new name for the content and save it.

Save and localize

Save the content and create new variants of the content item for each locale you selected. See content item localization for more details.

Copying content

To make a copy of a piece of content, choose "Copy" from the item's menu in the content library. You'll be asked to give the copy a name and a new copy of the selected content will be added to the content library with the name you've chosen. Note that you currently need to refresh the window for the copied item to be displayed.

The new copy will include references to the same content items as the original, so if you make a copy of a carousel and then make a change to one of the carousel slides it contains, then both the original content and the copy will be updated.

In the example below to copy the "Living room- fall promotion" item, choose "Copy" from the item's menu.

Give the new content a name and click OK to create the copy.

After refreshing the window the new content item is shown in the content library.

When an item has been copied, all of the fields will be copied from the original item. You can edit the new item to change whatever fields you choose, including the image in this example.