Templates

This article will cover how to utilize EasyContent's templating system to its full potential so that you can produce more high-quality content in less time.

Let's get started!

Template Landing Page

In the template landing page, you can see all of the current project's templates. Here, you can create, duplicate, or rename a template. You can also clone them to another project or set a new default template.

To access this page, select a project from the project dropdown in the sidebar menu, then click Templates.

Click on a tile's vertical three-dot menu to access its options.

The Default Template

When you create a new project, it will have a default template with three default tabs: Main Content, CMS Fields, and Example Tab.

Let's examine the three default tabs in greater detail.

Main Content

The main text of your content item will be in the main content tab. It has three default fields: title, main content, and files. These fields belong to the system fields category.

System fields are an integral part of EasyContent. They are tied to our API and CMS integrations. They can't be deleted but you have the option to disable them by unchecking the "visible" option.

The other field category is general fields. Also known as custom fields, these fields can be freely added or deleted from your templates.

Title Field

The title will be your article's title or <h1> tag. It has multiple options, all of which are explained below.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Main Content Field

The main content field is where your article's text content is written.

You can prefill it with some text. For example, you can add guidelines, writing tips, outlines, and others. Then, when a new content item or a brief using this template is created or claimed, the main content field will contain the text you added to the template.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Add/edit default content - anything added here will be the default text for when a content item is created, assigned to, or claimed by someone for the first time.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Files Field

Finally, we have the files field. There aren't any customization options for this one aside from the option to add a field guideline. Note that you also can't disable or hide this field unless you're willing to disable the entire main content tab (more about disabling tabs later).

CMS Fields

The CMS fields tab is hidden by default. To unhide it, click the the vertical three dot menu next to its name and click "show". Once visible, you will see multiple system fields. Most of them are used for SEO and WordPress integration.

Featured Image Field

When enabled, the featured image field allows assigned users (as well as those with the right permissions) to attach a featured image to the content item.

• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Note that images uploaded to a custom asset field in other tabs can't be selected as a featured image. You must upload your featured image to the Files field in the Main Content tab. You can also use an external image URL, just paste the image URL in the featured image field. Make sure it's a direct image link and not a webpage with an image on it.

When viewed in the content editor, the featured image field will have the alt text option. Use this to add alt text to the featured image when it's automatically published to WordPress.

Excerpt Field

The excerpt field allows assigned users to add an excerpt text to the content item. If your project is connected to WordPress, this will be used as the post's excerpt when synced.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

The excerpt widget and any other widgets that accept text input will have a character and word counter visible. If a recommended length is set, it's displayed in the form of N/Limit, like in the example below.

Tags Field

The tags field allows users to add tags to a content item. If your project is connected to WordPress, this will become the post's tags when synced. Tags must be separated with commas.

• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Custom Post Slug Field

The custom post slug field lets you define a custom post URL (example.com/this-is-the-custom-post-slug).

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Making this a required field is a good idea to consider if you're looking to optimize your content for SEO and UX, especially if you're syncing to WordPress. If you do sync to WordPress, be sure to enable custom permalinks via Settings > Permalinks in WordPress for this field to be properly synced.

Meta Title Field

The meta title field allows you to set a custom meta title for your content items. It's a good idea to set a 60-character recommended length for SEO purposes.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

If you're using WordPress, you will need to have either Yoast SEO or All-in-One SEO Pack plugins installed and activated for this to sync properly.

Meta Description Field

The meta description field allows you to set a custom meta description for your content items. It's a good idea to set a 160-character recommended length for SEO purposes.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Visible - when this is unchecked, this field is disabled. In that case, it won't appear in the content editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Like the the meta title field, this also requires either Yoast SEO or All-in-One SEO Pack plugins installed and activated for this to sync properly.

Hiding Main Content and CMS Fields

If you don't want to use the Main Content and/or the CMS fields tabs, you can hide them by clicking the vertical three dot menu and selecting "hide".

When a tab is hidden, it will not appear in the content editor and on a shared link. It will also not sync to WordPress.

⚠️Important note: while you can still publish an item to WordPress using a template with hidden system tabs, the resulting post will either have empty content or no SEO settings. Our plugin pulls these data from the system fields in the system tabs. If you intend to use a template on a content item that will be published to WordPress, it's required that you utilize the system tabs and its system fields.

Custom Tabs

You can create as many custom tabs and add as many custom fields to them as you wish. However, you can't add system fields in a custom tab.

Custom Fields

Currently, there are nine custom fields available. Let's take a look at each of them.

Heading

The heading field is used for organizing your tabs. You can use this to mark sections of your tab especially if it contains a lot of other fields. Think of them as headers, just like the ones you use to separate different sections of your articles.

Guidelines

The guidelines field adds a global-level guideline text to your entire tab or parts of it. You can use this to describe what a tab or a tab section is for.

Single line text

This field adds a single-line text input field.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Paragraph text

This field adds either a rich text editor or a plain text editor.

• Set recommended length to - you can define a recommended length of n words or characters. Note that this doesn't prevent the user from submitting or approving the content item even if the recommended length is not met.
• Plain text - when activated, this widget will add a plain text editor instead of a rich text editor.
• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

File/Image upload

This field adds a file uploader, similar to the one in the main content tab.

• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Checkboxes

This field adds a checkbox input field.

• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Add option - use this to add choices. You can add as many as you want.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Radio Buttons

This field adds a radio input field.

• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Add option - use this to add choices. You can add as many as you want.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Date

This field adds a date picker.

• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor

Dropdown Select

This field adds a dropdown selection field.

• Required - when checked, the user must fill out this field before they can submit, approve, or "Publish to WP" the content item, effectively preventing it from advancing to the next workflow status. Note, however, that this doesn't prevent a user with the manage content items permission to directly alter its workflow status.
• Add option - use this to add choices. You can add as many as you want.
• Limit the number of selection options to - allows you to set a limit to how many items a user can select from the pool of available choices.
• Field guidelines (optional) - you can use this to add little helper text that will appear under the current field when displayed in the content editor.

Reordering and Deleting Template Fields

To reorder a template field, simply click and drag their handles or click the up or down arrow.

You can delete a non-system template field by clicking its corresponding delete icon.

Creating New Templates

When you create a new template, it will automatically have the Main Content and CMS Fields tabs as well as their respective system fields.

To create new template, go to the template landing page and click the create template tile.

Template Options

You can access the template options by clicking the vertical three-dot menu next in a template tile. Using this, you can set a template as the default one (if it isn't already) as well as rename it, delete it, duplicate it or clone it to another project.

Keep in mind that when you set a template as the default, you won't be able to delete it. You'll need to select a new default template first before you can delete your old default.

Another way to access template options is when you're editing a template. Click the vertical three-dot menu next to the template name to access template options.

Applying Templates to Content Items and Briefs

There are several ways to apply your template to a content item or brief (or to a group of them).

1. Via actions - you can use this if you want to apply a template to multiple items at once.
   
   
   
   
2. Via the template name link - clicking this brings out the template selection window.
   
   
   
   
3. Via action column - similar to #1, but for single items.
   
   

You can also apply a template to a content item or brief as you create them: