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Use Content Channels

If content channel types define the structure, content channels represent the implementation. Here's an example: you might have a channel type of Blog and channels Pastor Foster's Blog and Rock Solid Church's Blog that implement this type. You might be wondering why channel types are even needed. The answer is that they help enable reuse. In our blog example above, if you didn't have channel types you would have to define the structure every time you wanted to create a new blog - yuck!

Create a new channel under Admin Tools > CMS Configuration > Content Channels.

  1. Name - The name of the channel should be descriptive but not too long.
  2. Description - A description of the channel. This description is available to be displayed on the page.
  3. Type - The content channel type that this channel is implementing.
  4. Icon CSS Class - A CSS icon class to be used on the various internal entry and administration screens.
  5. Categories - Add categories so you can group and organize your content channels according to how they're used. Navigate to Admin Tools > CMS Configuration > Content Channel Categories to add the categories you need for your content. Like other entities, a channel can be in more than one category if it's needed in different areas.
  6. Editor Type - This is where you'll select the editor that will be used when adding new content.
  7. Items Require Approval - Depending on your use case, you might want content items to require approval before they are displayed. This setting allows you to define this on a per channel basis.
  8. Enable Personalization - This enables the personalization features for this channel's items. For more details see the 
  9. Items Manually Ordered - Many times, content channel items will be ordered by date. Sometimes though, you'll want to manually order them. This setting enables manual ordering.
  10. Child Items Manually Ordered - This setting determines if child content channel items should be manually ordered.
  11. Default Content Control - Select the default editor type used when creating content items.
  12. Child Content Channels - If content channel items are allowed to have child items, this setting determines which content channel those items are allowed to be from.
  13. Item Attributes - Content channels inherit all of the item attributes defined by the channel type. There may be times when a specific content channel needs to add a new attribute specific to its implementation. You can add these new attributes here.
  14. Content Library - Define settings for the Content Library.
  15. Enable RSS - This setting enables the channel's RSS features. This allows the content items to be published to an RSS feed that can be consumed by an individual's RSS aggregator or another software system that supports RSS integrations.
  16. Enable Tagging - Select this option if you'd like to allow the items in this content channel to be tagged.
  17. Tag Category - If you select Enable Tagging, the Tag Category dropdown menu is displayed, allowing you to select which category of tags you want to use to identify the items in this content channel.
  18. Content Channel Publishing Point - If you want to provide a direct link to the content channel, you can enter the URL into this Lava-enabled field.

You’re not limited to HTML just because a Content Channel started that way. By enabling Is Structured Content, you can start using the structured content editor right away for every new item you add. This means team members who aren’t comfortable with HTML can jump in to help write blog posts, update external website ads or collaborate on ministry updates. It’s a great way to share the workload and invite more voices into your communication without losing the work you've already done.

Note that Content Items that were originally created with HTML will stay that way, but all new items will use Structured Content.

Content Channel Tags

Just as you can tag people in Rock, you can also use tags to help identify and categorize content channels. One small difference, though, is only organizational tags can be used with content channels (as opposed to personal tags), and those tags must belong to a category specified when the content channel is configured.

Let's take a closer look at how to set this up.

  1. The first thing you need to do to start using tags with content channels is set up tag categories. Categories are created in the Category Manager, found at Admin Tools > General Settings > Tag Categories. Create as many categories as you want. Once a category is created you will need to add a Role to the security under the Tag section for each. Otherwise added tags in that category will not be saved.

Note

Using Categories
Each category will have a list of tags. Say you have a "Sermon" category and a "Podcast Sermon" category you would create two tags for each category. Tags are all about how you want to organize your Content Channels. The power is in your hands to create the categories the way it makes sense for your organization.

2. The next step is enabling tagging in your content channels. Select the content channel you want to tag from the list found at Admin Tools > CMS Configuration > Content Channels and click Edit to modify its configuration. Check the Enable Tagging box, then select the category you'd like to be available for the content channel.

3. The final step is creating the tags you'll use with your content channel items. You can create as many as you need. Tags are created in the Tags screen, located at Admin Tools > General Settings > Tags. For each tag you create, use the Entity Type of "Content Channel Item" and select "Organizational" for the Owner. Leave the Qualifier Column and Qualifier fields blank. Alternatively, you can add tags directly from the content channel. You will be able to view and edit those tags in the general settings after they've been created if need be.

Now that your categories and tags are set up, you can add tags to content channel items. Simply type the tags you want to use in the "add tag" area of the Content Detail screen and click Save when you're done.

Note

Block Settings
You can create a page dedicated to viewing all your content channel tags using the block settings.


Content Channels Add a Content Channel Item