How To: Post Content

The Zombie Preparedness Initiative web site allows the creation of multiple types of content (below, individual content items will be referred to as nodes), all of which can begin in the same way, but most of which are slightly different in application. To create content, you must first click on Create Content and you will be shown a list of options for content you can create. Please note, based on how long you have been a member and based on your status here on the ZPI site, some of the options listed below may be hidden from you.

Biography

A biography is a type of content which will display on each user's own page, each user can only have one biography written. This is a great place to help ZPI members get to know you and possibly to link to a site that contains more information for you such as a blog or some other social networking site. There are few limitations for creating biographies, but they must follow the site rules and not contain any offensive content.

When you click Create Content > Biography you will need to fill in two fields: Title and Body. Once these have been filled with appropriate information, click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

Book page

Books are the place on ZPI where fiction can be posted. The arrangements of books can be confusing to some, but once you understand a few things, it should be very simple to understand it all. Like content in the forums, books are arranged hierarchically, such that the book pages should typically be arranged thusly:

1. Book
   
   1. Chapter One
      
      1. Sub-Chapter One
      2. Sub-Chapter Two
   2. Chapter Two
   3. Chapter Three
   4. ....
   5. Chapter N

Of course, books are very flexible, there is nothing restricting you to this arrangement, but this is the easiest to understand.

When you click Create Content > Book page, you will have 3 fields to be aware of with an optional 4th. You obviously must enter a Title and add the main content into the Body field.

Depending on how you have arranged your fictional work you may enter things slightly differently, but you will need to assign a parent for the book page you are about to create. To make things easy to understand, if you have a book with multiple chapters, you should first create a parent book and leave the Parent field set to and make the Body just a summary of the book. Any corresponding chapters added to this original storyline you can set the title of that new book page to be the title of the chapter (or chapter number) and the parent can be set to the initial book that you created. If you have short stories that are no longer than one chapter, you won't need to create a parent book and you can leave the parent field set to . You can also use the weight field below the Body field just in case some chapters don't arrange themselves in the proper order.

If you arrange the book properly, users should be able to see a short summary of the book on the fiction page and, when they click the link to go to the book, they will see a hierarchy of the chapters and subchapters based on the hierarchical structure of the books.

Forum Topic

Here at ZPI, we have found that there are many topics which are far from black and white and which are still rife with debate. The forum can be used to debate various topics, when you click Create Content > Forum topic, you will need to fill in 3 fields. You must enter a title (please make it clear and simple), assign it to a forum category (in the dropdown, anything starting with '-'), and enter the main content into the body field.

Polls

Polls are another type of content similar to forum topics (and, in fact, the creation of a poll is very similar to forum topics). Polls must be assigned to a forum category just like a forum topic and in the question field you enter the title/question for the poll -- make it short sweet, and to the point. You must also provide the choices that people are to select, similarly, like the question, make them short, simple and concise.

Article

Articles are very simple, but far more formal than the previous types of content that have been discussed above. To create articles, click Create Content > Article. Articles require a title and body content, you must also select the article category to assign them to. Please understand, this type of content must be formally written in such a way that makes everything very clear and very professional. Articles will not be posted immediately but will go through an approval process by the administrators.