Get Started with Templates

This tutorial will teach you all you need to know about EasyContent's templates.

To access the template page, go to your project's dashboard, and in the project menu, go to Configuration > Templates.

A template defines how a content item should be written and structured. For example, you can have a template called "blog post" for your blog articles and another called "product review" for your review articles.

The Default Template

A default template is included in every project. It's an all-purpose template compatible with WordPress and covers all the basics of an article.

⚠ Make sure you enable the "CMS fields" tab if you plan to use this template on content items that will be synced to WordPress.

You can see what the default template looks like below.

Templates are made up of tabs and tabs are made up of fields.

Clicking on a tab's name allows you to rename it.

You may have noticed that some tabs have an "eye" icon beside their names. Clicking this allows you to toggle their visibility. When visibility is off, it's deactivated and it will not appear in the content editor.

The Main Content Tab

In this section, we'll discuss the main content tab and its default fields.

The main content tab belongs to the system tabs group. System tabs are special tabs that contain system fields used in our API and WordPress sync feature. System tabs can't be deleted, but they can be hidden.

System fields are essential to EasyContent's API and CMS integrations. Like system tabs, they can't be deleted, but they can be hidden.

Now, let's take a quick look at the main content tab's default fields and what they do.

The title field is the content item's title and is also your post's title or <h1> tag if you sync it to WordPress.

There are a few options available:

• Recommended length - allows you to set a recommended word or character limit
• Visibility - a toggle to show or hide a system field
• Required - when checked, the content item can't be submitted or approved unless this field is filled out
• Field guidelines - here you can add instructions or tips for your writers or reviewers for this particular field

The main content field is where your article will be written. This represents the rich text editor in the content item editor.

These are the options available for you to customize for the main content field:

• Recommended length - allows you to set a recommended word or character limit
• Visibility - a toggle to show or hide a system field
• Required - when checked, the content item can't be submitted or approved unless this field is filled out
• Field guidelines - here you can add instructions or tips for your writers or reviewers for this particular field
• Add/edit default content - this opens up a text editor that allows you to add a default text. The text will only appear in newly created content items or in a brief that is claimed or assigned to a user for the first time. You can use it for adding guidelines, reminders, tips, tricks, etc.

The files field lets you attach files to a content item. You can use existing files from the files library or upload new files from your computer.

CMS Fields Tab

In this section, we'll discuss the CMS fields tab's default fields.

This tab mainly consists of system fields used for adding metadata and SEO elements to a content item.

The CMS Fields tab is disabled by default. Click the "eye" icon to enable it.

ℹ Tip: If you connect your project to a WordPress site and have either Yoast SEO or All-in-One SEO Pack active, the meta title and meta description fields can be synced.

Most of these fields are similar, if not a direct counterpart of WordPress's posts and pages metadata. If you've used WordPress before, you should already be familiar with these fields. If not, don't worry, here is what each field does:

• Featured image - lets you add a "post thumbnail" or an image representing the content item
• Excerpt - a brief description of the content item
• Tags - add tags for organizing your website content into topics, similar that of WordPress and other major CMS platforms
• Custom post slug - lets you define a permalink for this content item
• Meta title - this will appear on the search engine results page (SERP) as the title, essentially making this your content's call-to-action to entice search engine users to click on your article, we recommend setting the length limit to 60 characters
• Meta description - this will appear under the meta title on the search engine results page (SERP). It should be a summary of your article and serves as a way to complement the meta title, we recommend setting the length limit to 160 characters

All of these fields share the same set of configurable options:

• Recommended length - allows you to set a recommended word or character limit
• Visibility - a toggle to show or hide a system field
• Required - when checked, the content item can't be submitted or approved unless this field is filled out
• Field guidelines - here you can add instructions or tips for your writers or reviewers for this particular field

Custom Tabs

To create a custom tab, click the add a new tab button. Give it a name and press enter on your keyboard or click the check button to save it.

Custom tabs can only have general fields. You can add as many general fields as you want.

The following general fields are available for you to use:

1. Single line text
2. Paragraph text
3. File/Image upload
4. Checkboxes
5. Radio buttons
6. Date
7. Dropdown select
8. Heading
9. Guidelines

ℹ️ You can also add these general fields to system tabs.

We have more detailed help for creating custom tabs here, which also explains what each of the general fields does.

Custom Templates

You can create a custom template via the template selection dropdown menu. Click it then click on Create new template. Give your new template a name then press Enter or click the check button to save your template.

When you create a new template, it will automatically have the Main Content and CMS Fields tabs. You can then go ahead and start customizing it.

Template Settings

Each template comes with its settings. Use the menu beside the template selection dropdown to access them.

This allows you to rename or delete a template or make it the default if it isn't already. The Make default and Delete template options are only present on non-default templates.

Great, you now have a good understanding of how templates work in EasyContent! Next, why don't you learn more about custom tabs and general fields?