Some of the items I wish to include in an archive are transcriptions of newspaper stories (thankfully old enough to be out of copyright). I've created a simple "Item Type" (called "Newspaper Story" or something equally unimaginative), that has a few very basic fields. "Headline," author (for signed articles), Newspaper Info, and a "Text" field, where I put the HTML-ified transcription of the story.
Implemented this way there are no files associated with an item of the "Newspaper Story" type. Is this the best way to handle text-only items?
I'd like to be able to include such items in exhibits; but right now this doesn't seem to work. Should at least some basic image file be attached to these transcriptions, even if only as a sort of filler (an newspaper icon, perhaps?). Or should the transcription be attached to the item as a text file?
Implemented this way there are no files associated with an item of the "Newspaper Story" type. Is this the best way to handle text-only items?
This seems good to me!
I'd like to be able to include such items in exhibits; but right now this doesn't seem to work. Should at least some basic image file be attached to these transcriptions, even if only as a sort of filler (an newspaper icon, perhaps?). Or should the transcription be attached to the item as a text file?
You're right that adding text-only documents doesn't work well in Exhibits at the moment. This is because the exhibit layouts only display the title, description, and thumbnail for items.
You can, however, modify existing layouts or create a new layout to display your text-based items. This is an area of the documentation we've desperately needed to add, so I'll make a note to do that ASAP and let you know when its available.