Navigate to our DX Training Video guide for further visual guidance.
Purpose
The Link Collection List microcontent type allows you to create curated lists of external links that complement your website's content. It's ideal for situations where automatic generation isn't suitable or you need more control over the order and presentation of links.
When to Use
Use Link Collection Lists for:
- Non-Automatic Lists: Use this module when you want to manually add and manage a specific list of links that can't be automatically generated through other means.
- Custom Order: If you need to control the order in which links appear in the list, this module provides manual sorting options.
- Contextual Links: Link collections are designed to be embedded within other pages like topic pages or landing pages, providing relevant external resources to users.
- Partner Links: Showcase links to partner organizations or related websites.
- Further Reading: Provide users with additional resources to explore a topic in more depth.
Elements of
- Title: title of collection, limited to 75 characters (option to hide title)
- Description: brief description
- Link URL: url
- Link Text: limited to 50 characters
- Link Description: content limited to 120 characters
- Enter no more than 20 links, at least 2 links are required. Provide a valid URL and label for each link. Optionally, provide a link description in plain language to give more context to users, up to 120 characters.
- Option to sort links alphabetically
Example of a link collection:
Difference Between Link Collection and the Linkit tool:
Link Collections are best to use if:
- For easier link update since any changes made to a link collection it updates site wide
- Highlighting important links that you want to stand out more for users in a basic page or landing page
The Linkit Tool is best used if:
- You have one link that doesn't need to be updated
- The link doesn't need any images or special attention brought to it by use of a card or image
When creating each link, put in the title, of the existing "major content type" to which you wish to link.
If a link is specified as "off platform" there will be an external link indicator.
If a link is specified as "on platform" there will be an internal link indicator.
Link collection lists may be displayed in "card" format as well as in "list" format.
One individual link collection list, may be placed throughout the site, such as on different landing pages.
Example of Link Collection Cards:
Example of Link Collection List:
Log in to your site
Everyone who writes things on this website has a special title. These titles give them certain abilities, like who can edit, review and publish what. You can ask for a different title or take one away from someone using the user manager.
Navigate to /admin/content/micro
This Admin view displays all micro-content on the site and allows authors to sort & filter the list. Authors can edit micro-content types from this view.
Create a new Link Collection List
Create new content by navigating to Content | Add content | Link Collection (List) or directly to /node/add/link_collection_list
The Link Collection list requires individual links, where a link consists of a URL, a Title, and optional text.
Remember to type in the page title, of the text you wish to link.
This allows you to do "relative" links.
If you are typing in a URL, ie. https://va.iowa.gov, this will be an off-platform "external" URL and will display as such.
Once your link collection list is available, place it into any Landing Page.
Place the microcontent into a Basic Page or a Landing Page
Now that there is microcontent that has its place inside the /admin/content/microcontent menu, you may take that content and place it throughout the site.
As an example, common placements include:
| Type of Microcontent | Landing Page | Basic Page |
|---|---|---|
| Promo | Can be placed | Can be placed |
| Accordion | N/A | Can be placed |
| Link Collection List | Can be placed | Can be placed |
| Visual Link Collection | Can be placed | N/A |
| Statistic | Can be placed | Can be placed |
| Automatic List | Can be placed | Can be placed |
| Contact | N/A | Can be placed |
| Document | N/A | Coming soon |
Confirm your knowledge
If you need visual guidance that shows the step-by-step process of creating things for your website make sure to go to our Video Training Page!