Story
I can add a page easily by selecting an existing page anywhere in a view, then choose to add a page. I first select a page template, then fill in the initial values. Most fields will have sensitive default values and it's clear to me, what I have to look at when I intend to add a typical page, and which fields I only have to touch, if I have to do something special right from the start. The important fields are visible right away.
Description of desired behavior
Adding a new page
Critique of the current way to add a page
In previous versions of Magnolia, you could create a new page right away. The newly created page would use a (configurable) default template. While it seemed like this was a quick way to add a page, you actually always had to change both URI and title, since nobody could live with the defaults. The default template chosen for the new page could have been the one you wanted, but the more templates a setup offered and the more generic a parent page was (e.g. a "section" page vs. a "site map"), the more likely you'd have to also change the template, since the one chosen for you wasn't the one you intended to use. Last but by far not least, there was no way for template authors to require a user to provide values for mandatory fields. This required templates to be constructed in a way that they could always be instantiated as pages, even with somewhat useless default values. And you'd had to know that you then had to go to the page properties to set some of the more sensitive values required for your page to work properly.
New way to add a page
Adding a page is now a three step process. You first select the page template, then provide meaningful initial values for all mandatory fields and possibly change some other fields as well. When you're happy with your choices, you finally go ahead and create the page - only then will it get added to your site. This process is modelled using a multi-step process form.
Selecting a page template
This first step is described in Selecting a page template as it has a number of different aspects, which are best covered on a dedicated page.
Provide initial values
Once the type of page to be created has been fixed by choosing a page template, Magnolia presents a single-page complex form for filling in values. The immediately visible, important fields for every newly created page are the page name (URI), page title and navigation title as well as a checkbox for hiding the page in the navigation. These fields are grouped in their own fieldset. Other important fields my be added in separate fieldsets depending on the template.
Less important fields shown in blocks containing overviews include all keywords and metadate related fields. Additional fields may be language settings and publishing options. Note, however, that not all page properties defined for a page template need to be available in this step - choose the initially available settings carefully to not overload the form.
Create the page
By clicking the "Create" button, the new page with the selected template and given initial values is created as a sub page of the parent page, which was selected when the "add new page" command was chosen. A second option allows to create the page and immediately create another page using the same page template and the same parent parent. This allows to quickly create a number or equal pages in a sub section of a site.
Mockups
!Mockup image - add a new page|align=center!