As a site member, you have a folder in the members section where you can store your content. Rather than detailing how to add and edit all the different types of content available, we will cover adding one type of content, a Document, in detail. All content types are added and edited in a very similar manner, so it is mostly a matter of repeating the steps here.

What is a Document?

A document is a page of content, usually a self-contained piece of text. Documents can be written in several different formats, plain text, HTML or Structured Text.

Adding a document

To add a document, you will need to be in Contents View mode; the link is available on the left hand side of the page. This mode shows you the list of objects in the folder and lets you edit them. If you do not see the Switch to Contents View link, you do not have permission to add or edit content in this location.

Once you are in Contents View, you will notice a drop down box in the upper right hand corner of the center panel next to the "add new item" button. This gives you the list of content types you can add in this folder. Select Document from this list, then click add new item. Once a document has been added you are taken immediately to the edit page for that document.

Editing a document

The document can be edited directly in the web browser, using the edit form. One thing to note is the highlighted edit tab at the top of the page. Messages appear at the top of this page, as shown below.

There are four fields for a document:

• Name: This identifier will become part of the document's web address. It should be short, descriptive and contain no underscores or mixed case. For example, "audit-report-2003". If you do not provide a name, Plone will create one for you.
• Title: This item will be shown at the top of the page, in the breadcrumbs, in the search interface, in the title of the browser and so on. This field is required.
• Description: This is a short lead in to the document - usually no more than 20 words - to introduce the document and provide a teaser for the remainder of the document.
• Body Text: This field contains the body of the document. The format for the content is set using the radio buttons below the field. They are:
• Structured Text: The default setting. Structured text is a format for taking plain text and producing HTML without the user having to learn or type HTML.
• HTML: Any arbitrary HTML can be entered by a user.
• Plain text: Plain ordinary text with no mark up.

If you do have your document as a file on your computer you can upload this instead of typing it into the body text field. Use the upload button at the bottom of the page. The contents of an uploaded file will replace any content in the body field.

Once you have finished editing your document, click the save button. You will be returned to the view tab where you can see how the document will be rendered. To edit it again, click on the edit tab.

If you don't provide correct input on the edit form, when you save the document you will be returned to the edit page and your errors will be highlighted. At this point your changes have not been applied - you must correct the mistakes and click save again.

Assign properties to a document

Any object can have properties assigned to it. These properties are also known as metadata and provide information such as keywords, copyright and contributor information. The properties form has several fields that are common to all types of objects:

• Allow discussion: This property lets this document be discussed by users who have the right to do so. If left in default, it will use the site wide policy.
• Keywords: Keywords are a way of assigning metadata to an object. Use control+click to select multiple keywords from the list.
• Effective Date and Expiration Date -- The effective date is the first day an object should be made available and the expiration date is the last day. Searches and navigation only show objects within this date range. Leaving these items blank makes an object infinitely available.
• Format: The MIME-type of the object. If you don't know what this is, just leave it.
• Language: The language in which the item is written.
• Copyright: Copyright information for the object.
• Contributors: The names of the people who contributed to the object. Each person's name should be on its own line.

Publishing your document

Documents are created in the visible state, which means people can access them, but they will not show up in the site navigation tree. Visible documents are available through the search feature and by linking directly to their URLs.

When you are satisfied with your document you will need to submit it for publishing. To do this, select the state tab. This page gives access to the publishing process.

• Effective Date: allows you to specify a date this content is effective from. Until this date is occurs, the content will not be published. If this date is not specified, then there will be no effect and the document will be published.
• Expiration Date: allows you to specify a date this content will expire on. After this date the content will no longer be published. If this date is not specified, then there will be no effect and the document will be published.
• Comments: provides an interface to add comments to this publishing process. These comments can be read by the person reviewing your content in the publishing process. Similarly if the reviewer rejects your content, they will be able to put comments here so that you will know why your content has been rejected.
• Change state: these are the states that the document can be saved to. Publishing and reviewing content is covered in more detail in Chapter 4 of this book, but for the moment you will want to publish your content, so select Submit and then click save.

Your document will now be in the pending state. A reviewer will review your content and decide whether to publish it as-is, edit it and publish it, or reject it.