Resource

The Resource content type makes it simple to share important documents, videos, files, and publications on your YaleSite. Whether you’re posting a PDF policy doc or a research publication with authors, citations, and journal metadata, Resources give that content a dedicated home that can be discovered, filtered, and displayed across your site.

When to Use the Resource Content Type


Use Resources when a file, video, or publication deserves its own dedicated page — not just an
inline link buried in another page. Resources can be tagged, filtered, and surfaced dynamically
through the Resource View block, making them easy to organize and reuse across your site.
Good fits for this content type:

  • Research papers, white papers, and academic publications
  • Policy documents, forms, and institutional guidelines
  • Training materials and instructional guides
  • Recorded lectures or video content
  • Downloadable PDFs and reference documents
  • Resource libraries that grow over time

Already hosting publications on Google Scholar, PubMed, or another platform?

You can still create a Resource for each one here. Just leave the Media file field empty and set the External Source URL in Manage Settings (right sidebar) to link visitors directly to the publication on that platform.

Resource Content Fields

Content Field Description
Resource Media This is the core of your Resource. You can upload a file (TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, PDF, XLS, XLSX) or an image, or paste in a YouTube or Vimeo URL. If you upload a PDF, the platform automatically generates a thumbnail from the first page — useful for card and grid views. You can override that thumbnail with a custom Teaser Image if needed.
Abstract A summary of the resource’s content. Especially useful for research papers or publications where visitors may want to understand what a document covers before downloading it.
Citation The full citation for the resource, formatted however your team or department prefers. This appears as part of the publication’s detail display.
Authors

You can credit two types of authors on a Resource. You can mix and match both on the same entry.

  • Affiliated authors are People nodes already in your site. Reference them here and their display name pulls in automatically.
  • Non-affiliated authors are anyone not in your People directory. Enter their name as plain text.
Publication Date Add a date with flexible formatting. Choose from month/day/year, month/year, or year only — or hide the date entirely for evergreen content where timing isn’t relevant.
Journal Publication Name / Issue For academic or research content, you can enter the journal name and issue where the work was published. This also becomes an exposed filter in the Resource View block, so visitors can search or filter resources by publication.
DCN (Digital Content Number) The DCN field is a flexible identifier field for formally catalogued publications. It works in two parts: a label (from the DCN taxonomy vocabulary) and the actual identifier value you enter for that resource.
Related Resources Link to other content on your site that are related to this one. Related Content displays as a block on your Resource page in a minimal format (title and date) so visitors can easily navigate to connected content without leaving the page.

Resource Taxonomy Fields

Taxonomy helps you organize Resources so they surface in the right places and respond to filters in the Resource View block. Here’s what’s available:

  • Resource Category — Choose from categories tailored for different types of materials (reports, videos, guides, etc.)
  • Academic Years — Tag which academic year(s) the resource is associated with. The dropdown is pre-populated with year ranges, so you don’t have to create terms from scratch.
  • Areas of Study — Connect the resource to relevant fields of study or academic programs.
  • Discipline — Tag the resource with one or more academic disciplines.
  • Geographic Areas — Indicate geographic regions relevant to the content.
  • DCN Types — If you’re using the DCN field, this vocabulary provides the structured label (like ISBN or DOI) that pairs with your identifier value. Managed in Manage Taxonomy → DCN.
  • Audience — Who is this resource for? Options include students, faculty, staff, alumni, and general public.
  • Affiliation — Connect the resource to specific Yale schools, departments, or units.
  • Tags — Flexible freeform keywords for anything that doesn’t fit the structured vocabularies above.
     

Teaser Fields

Control how your Resource appears in listings and card displays:

  • Teaser Title: Custom title for card views (defaults to main title if left blank)
  • Teaser Text: Brief description that appears in Resource collections
  • Teaser Media: Override the thumbnail that is generated by your Resource Media image for view results (useful for branded thumbnails)

The Resource View Block

The Resource View block lets you display collections of Resources anywhere on your site using the Layout Builder. It dynamically pulls in Resources based on the filters and display options you configure directly in the block.

Resource View

Display formats

  • Card Grid — Thumbnail image, title, and brief description in a grid layout. Good for general browsing.
  • Portrait Card — A taller, book-cover-style card designed for publication images. A good fit if your Resources have distinct cover art or formatted publication thumbnails.
  • List — Clean, scannable format better suited to longer collections.
  • Condensed — Compact display for tight spaces or secondary sections.

Filters

You can add a filter for any content field on the Resource — Journal Publication Name, Academic Year, Discipline, Tags, and more. The search bar, if enabled, searches across both the Resource title and the Journal Publication Name field.

One thing worth keeping in mind: more filters isn’t always better. We recommend enabling no more than 3–5 at a time. Too many options can make the view feel cluttered and harder for visitors to use.

Display fields

Beyond the title and thumbnail, you can choose which content fields appear in the view results — things like Publication Date, Authors, or Abstract. Same rule applies here: stick to 3–5 fields max to keep cards readable and the view a good size on the page.

Other configuration options

The Resource View block supports the same core configuration options available on other view blocks:

  • Include/exclude logic — Show only Resources that match specific taxonomy terms, or exclude certain ones.
  • Sort — Control how results are ordered
  • Limit / Pagination — Set a maximum number of results to display, or enable pagination to let visitors page through a larger collection.
  • Show Tags — Toggle tags on or off for each card or list item.

Ready to Start Using Resources?

Resources work best when you think about your audience’s needs first. Consider what materials are most important to your users and how they prefer to access content.

Need training? We offer hands-on sessions to help you master Resources and all YaleSites content types.

Have questions? Our support team is here to help you create an effective resource strategy for your site.

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