If you’re a developer or designer, chances are you’ve worked on a project where knowing the type of content the client will want to add is crucial to the design or development process. Emails are sent around containing the content but it can be incredibly difficult to keep it all managed, especially if that content isn’t final and subject to change in the foreseeable future. If only there were a system where content could be managed easily by both parties and kept in a manner that is convenient for both.
This is where GatherContent comes in. It offers an easy way for developers and clients alike to manage the content that will comprise the website while the website itself is still being developed. Read on to find out more.
Overview
GatherContent is a cool new app that allows those creating websites to easily manage the content that will be stored within each page of that website in a central location, easily available for reference when needed. Complete with a fully-featured page builder to allow pages to be sectioned out and easily navigated, it handles the job of managing content incredibly well. Once the project’s done, you can export the sitemap with a single click and begin using it in the project!
Overview
Getting Started
GatherContent is currently in private beta and as such, registration can only begin once you’ve obtained an invite key. Getting one of these couldn’t be easier – simply enter your name and email address on the app’s homepage and the invite will most probably be sent in due course. Once it’s been acquired, you’ll then be able to proceed with registration. Within minutes, registration should be complete and you’ll be able to start working with the app.
Just after registration, you’ll be asked some questions about your organisation which aren’t compulsory to complete but it will probably help to shape future incarnations of the app and you’ll also be given the option of inviting team members to provide them with access to the account.
Inviting Team Members
Projects
To get started with GatherContent, you’ll be asked to first create a new project. This can be completed either through the interface itself or should you require it, the app even provides the ability to import projects from Basecamp. Incredibly useful for those who want to easily migrate their projects over, this is a useful little feature that can help to save a bit of time.
Adding Project
Once the project has been added to the system, work can then begin on adding the content itself. This can easily be created with the GatherContent Page Builder.
Content
Content can be added in the form of ‘Pages’, a structured format similar to how any content management system would structure this type of content. GatherContent features a ‘Page Builder’ tool that can allow content to be structured easily. Once the page has been created, the Page Builder can be launched and the content itself can be added. The tool makes it incredibly easy to add lots of different types of content to a page, simply by dragging each into the page contents. Whether this be a block of text, a section break or a form field, each element is easily defined and can be added and removed should the need arise.
Page Management
Each element can be duplicated with the click of a button, a brilliant time-saver should a page consist of a lot of the same sort of thing. Additional info can also be added to each element such as instructions for the person expanding the content and a recommended word limit. Pages can be structured and added in the ‘entries’ format as well, a sort of template which can make adding dummy user-generated content quite easy too. All in all, the Page Builder is an incredibly-useful tool which helps to make adding content to the system even easier.
Page Builder
Pages can also be added in bulk and each project comes with a randomly-generated email address which emails can be forwarded to, allowing content and attachments to easily be added.
Collaboration
Though it’s perfectly reasonable to use the app as a single user looking to place all of the content in one place, GatherContent also allows for collaboration – allowing other users to be easily invited to the project where they can access the content or be given privileges to manage the projects and members of the teams added to the system.
Managing Collaborators
GatherContent makes it really simple to manage companies and users associated with each in the system and ensure that everyone that requires access has it.
Adding Collaborators
What Next?
Finally, the last thing the average user’s going to want to do upon the project’s completion is export the data. GatherContent offers an easy way to do this by allowing everything in a project to be exported as a PDF file that can easily be referenced once development commences.
Exporting Project
Final Thoughts
In terms of general functionality, GatherContent certainly delivers – offering an easy way for content to be managed without developers having to sift through emails to find a certain structure of a page, only to realise halfway through the development process that it’s an outdated version.
Overall, I found GatherContent to be a really unique and interesting app and one whose functions I’ve never really seen before. The interface is really well-designed and easy on the eye, making it an app that users can genuinely enjoy using. I think it’s great what the developers have done and found a market that not many other apps have attempted before and completely nailed it with an app that does everything it says and more.