A user came up with an interesting question: what the heck are the standard topics actually used for?

While this question seems obvious to someone who has been on the system for a while, a newly trained admin may find the "topics" approach a bit counterintuitive.   So let's first discuss why we use topics in general.  Then let's dive in and look at the pre-created topics.

Why Topics?
Let's talk about newspapers for  a brief moment.  One reader is interested in International News articles, while another is looking for that used sofa in good conditions.  If all articles were simply lumped together in no particular order, reading it would be difficult.   To prevent endless searching by the reader, a structure of "Sections" is the norm.  National News, Business, Sports, Classifieds, etc…  Each Section lists articles and other items in it and the user is left with a much more user friendly task.

When it comes to content, think of your Magnet site as an online newspaper - a vehicle with which you publish content to your readers.  And to continue this analogy, think of every web-page as a newspaper article.  And to put it all together, we call Sections: Topics.

Ok, so what are the pre-created Topics?
Since Topics are basically an organizational tool, we have chosen some common subjects and built Topics around them.  Most of these Topics have some functionality built around them.  Usually, a Collection page (like news.html) and also a Portal Page Pod (like the Upcoming Events Pod on most of our home pages).  Let's look at those "stock" pre-created topics:

• Generic - this is a catch-all.  Basically, any article that you DO NOT want to include in a collection should be Generic.
• Internal - used by some clients for items such as Bylaws, management instructions, internal manuals, etc…  Basically, a library of your organization's various rules and procedures.
• News - anything you feel is newsy about or around your organizations (say, a member just sold her company, or won a prestigious award).
• Events - any upcoming events.
• Member Benefits - anything your members get as a benefit for joining.  50 % off WSJ, $20 off at the local Starbucks, etc…
• Jobs - if you'd like to create a mini job board for your users - this is one way to go about it.
• Blog - used in our Blog feature (see http://www.hbsab.org/blog.html).
• Chapters - reserved for Enterprise clients.
• Featured Volunteers - the perfect way to acknowledge your volunteers.
• Featured Member - same as volunteers, but for your members.
• Sponsors - a way to highlight your organization's sponsors.
• Partners - by now you probably got the point…
• Events MultiTrack and SubEvents - this is reserved for Enterprise clients as well.

And what if you want to create another Topic?
Ah ha!  We can create any topic you want, with its own collection page and Pod.  There are usually some minor production charges.

Great, what why are there 3 Topic drop-downs?
In some cases, you may want to place one article in multiple sections (try to do that in a real newspaper).  For instance, say, Joe just won an Oscar for his gripping documentary about life in the suburbs of Sheboygan, WI.  You create one article, use Topic 1 as News, ad Topic 2 as Featured Members.  Bam!