Content Types

Content types refer to the types of pages, or nodes, that are available in Drupal. Examples for NHMLAC’s Drupal site include: Basic Pages, Event, Exhibit, Story and many more. Content types differ in their intended purpose and what fields (or kinds of content) they can include.

To see a list of all content type nodes, click the "Content" button in the Drupal admin toolbar at the top of the page (see screenshot above).

This will take you to the The Content page (see screenshot above) which presents content nodes, filterable by Title, Content type and Published status. To add a new Content Type entity, click the "Add content" button at the top of the page.

Below is a list of all Content Types currently available in NHMLAC's Drupal sites.

Alert

Alerts are a banner meant to inform site visitors of important information. A link button is also available (as seen in the screenshot above in "Link text"). Publishing an Alert will result in a banner being displayed at the top of all pages specified in "Domains".

To change the background color of the Alert banner to blue, toggle the isMessage field.

Basic Page

Basic pages are a default content type in Drupal. At NHMLAC they are used for a variety of pages (see below for a list of examples). They are the most common Content Type for NHMLAC's Drupal sites.

Fields

1. Title: used as the title within Drupal and optionally the page if a Display Title is not chosen.
2. Display Title: an optional title that overrides default Title field. The Display Title is used to form the default page URL and is used as the default page H1 element
3. Featured Image: an image used as a hero image displayed at the top of the page.
   • Display title in image: if set to true, the pages title will be displayed over the hero image
   • Toggle overlay tint: If set to true, a semi-transparent black overlay will be placed over the featured image to darken it, allowing for text to be more readable
4. Basic Content: At the beginning of the content section of the page, allows for less paragraph types
5. Full Content: Allows for nearly all paragraph types available for Content types

Examples

• NHMLA Jobs (opens in a new tab)
• Join Us! (opens in a new tab)
• Field Trip FAQs (opens in a new tab)

Collection

Currently, there no documented uses of the Collection content type.

Event

Event pages are created for museum events, both ticketed and non-ticketed. This content type allows for displaying information about event dates, schedule, location and tickets. Published Event pages are automatically listed in the calendar.

Fields

1. Title: used as the title within Drupal and optionally the page if a Display Title is not chosen.
2. Display Title: an optional title that overrides default Title field. The Display Title is used to form the default page URL and is used as the default page H1 element.
3. Featured Image: an image used as a hero image displayed at the top of the page.
4. Featured Event: a featured event will display on the Featured Content Type views reference.
5. Location: list of possible locations for the event.
6. Related Exhibit: enables Event page to be displayed on an Exhibit page's "Exhibit Related Events" views reference.
7. Date Recur: controls when the event happens and if it repeats. This will determine when it shows up on the Calendar page.
8. Date Description: page subtitle (usually for a date formatted like "Friday, May 5, 2022 at 5pm").
9. Buy Tickets Link: button to buy tickets page link.
10. Teaser Settings: unclear what this controls.
11. No Tickets Fallback: text to be displayed when no ticket link is provided. Used for non-ticketed events.
12. Grade Level Range: Used to filter pages in the Learning Resources (opens in a new tab) page.
13. Excerpt: paragraph text displayed in calendar.
14. Content: collection of paragraph type instances.
15. Price/Admission : List of ticket prices above the Buy Tickets Link. button

Exhibit

Exhibit pages are used as the landing page for museum exhibits. They have also been used for program landing pages, such as the Bug Fair 2023 (opens in a new tab) and the 2022 Dino Fest (opens in a new tab) pages.

Fields

1. Title: used as the title within Drupal and optionally the page if a Display Title is not chosen.
2. Display Title: an optional title that overrides default Title field. The Display Title is used to form the default page URL and is used as the default page H1 element
3. Featured Image: an image used as a hero image displayed at the top of the page.
4. Exhibit Date: Date range for exhibits.
5. Price/Admission: List of ticket prices.
6. Buy Tickets Link: button to buy tickets page link.
7. Content: collection of paragraph type instances.
8. Excerpt: subtitle displayed in the Exhibits page and used for calendar.

Homepage

Homepages are a special content type that are reserved for the home pages of our domains. Therefore, there are only four of them (nhmlac.org/ (opens in a new tab), nhm.org/ (opens in a new tab), tarpits.org/ (opens in a new tab), thehartmuseum.org/ (opens in a new tab)). It is unlikely that more will need to be more created.

Fields

1. Title: this title will not be displayed on the page, and is only used for identification purposes in the CMS
2. Header Content: content displayed in the header of the page — this is usually where a featured image would be displayed in most other content types. For homepages there a limited selection of pareagraph types, the most common of which includes Full Width Callout.
3. Content: collection of paragraph type instances
4. Featured Image: Used for social media share cards and meta tags (not displayed on the page).

Hours and Admission

Hours and Admission pages are used to display information about the museums hours and admission prices. These do not act as standalone pages and are instead added to landing pages via a Hours & Admissions paragraph type (see https://nhm.org/plan-your-visit (opens in a new tab) for an example).

It is unlikely that more of these pages will need to be created. Instead, existing pages, which are already added to the approriate landing pages, should be edited.

Icon Tile

Icon Tiles are used for the Icon Grid paragraph type. They are used to display a grid of icons with a title and description.

Landing Page

Landing pages are used for a variety of purposes and are most similar to Basic Pages. Key differences between Landing Pages and Basic Pages include:

• Landing Pages allow for a Full Width Callout to replace the Featured Image
• Landing Pages have different available paragraph types in the Content section
• Landing Pages lack a a distinction between Basic Content and Full Content
• Landing Pages can visually hide the page title
• Landing Pages can override the domain theme color

Learning Resource

Learning Resource pages are intended for educational content. They are displayed on the Learning Resources (opens in a new tab) page.

Other than being displayed on the Learning Resources page, Learning Resource content types allow for a linked media resource that can be downloaded via the "Download PDF" button (see screenshot above). This linked media node is added via the "Download Resouce" field.

List

The List content type is not widely used, with the exception of a few test pages. This content type was created after the site refresh. It is intended to be a list of other pages, but its display is not currently functioning.

Magazine

The Magazine content type was used for three editions of the digital publication of the museum's member magazine, the Naturalist (opens in a new tab). The content type is essentially a collection of associated Story pages. It is not currently being used.

News/Press

News/Press pages are used to display news articles and press releases. They are displayed on the Press & Filming (opens in a new tab) page under "News & Press Archive" section.

The main difference between a News/Press page and most other pages, other than being displayed on the Press & Filming page, is that they can optionally include a download link for a file uploaded to the site. (see screenshot below).

There are two News types to choose from the News Type field:

• In the News
• Press Release

Currently, "In the News" types are not frequently used.

Person

Person pages are used to display information about a person. They are used primairly for R&C staff, story authors, and executive staff. They allow for social media links, a biography and related content (i.e. stories written by the person are automatically written).

Sponsor

Sponsors are icons that are used in the Sponsor Bar paragraph type. They consist of an image and link.

Story

Stories are generally educational pages about a topic that are written by NHMLAC staff. They are displayed on the Stories (opens in a new tab) page and can optionally be included in a Magazine page.

They are unique in that Story pages override the domain theme color (such as

Fields

• Title: used as the title within Drupal and optionally the page if a Display Title is not chosen.
• Magazine Issue: search for a Magazine page to associate this Story with. This will display the Story on the Magazine page.
• Display Title: an optional title that overrides default Title field. The Display Title is used to form the default page URL and is used as the default page H1 element
• Header Content: optional paragraph type displayed at top of page, under the title (this will override the Featured Image).
• Featured Image: an image used as a hero image displayed at the top of the page.
• Featured Story: this seems to have no affect (it does not change what stories are displayed on a site's homepage or the Stories page)
• Excerpt: subtitle and the paragraph text displayed on the Stories page
• Author: search for a Person page to associate this Story with. The Author will be displayed underneath the Story title/except, prefixed with "By:". This will also display the Story on the Person page.
• Content: collection of paragraph type elements

Ticket Release

Ticket Releases are a content type developed in 2021 by an NHMLAC web developer when the museum was still using Galaxy as its ticketing system. Ticket Release content types are no longer needed and should not be used.