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Customizing project descriptions with the Content Builder

Written by Ken Van Mechelen

This article is machine translated from english

What is the content builder?

The Content Builder is a powerful tool for customizing project descriptions. It provides a flexible way to build interactive pages by combining text, images, multimedia, and third-party embeds.

With the Content Builder you can:

  • Create rich layouts using sections and columns

  • Add multimedia elements such as videos, presentations, and documents

  • Embed surveys and forms for audience interaction

  • Collaborate on documents or share updates directly in the project description

  • Add text, images, and embed content

  • Include surveys, slides, or news updates before or during engagement

  • Create buttons to link between projects or phases

  • Add an HTML block to embed custom HTML directly in your project page

  • You can use widgets such as columns to fill in your page creatively (e.g. adding content in the center only, adding an image on the right, ...)

How to find the content builder?

For projects

  1. Hover over the preview of the project page

  2. click on Edit Page Content

  3. click View page to see the live desktop layout (the back-office preview is narrower)

For folders

  1. Go to the back-end of your folder.

  2. Click the Settings tab.

  3. Below Folder Description click Edit description in Content Builder

How to use the different widgets?

  1. Open the Content Builder editor

  2. Locate the left-hand menu with three categories: Sections, Layout, and Content

  3. Drag any item (e.g., section, layout block) to the canvas in the center of the screen

  4. Click a block to edit its text, image, or settings; the editor appears on the right side of the screen

  5. Rearrange or delete blocks as needed

  6. To delete a block, hover over it on the canvas and use the delete icon on the block itself; the right-hand settings panel does not include a delete option

Adding phases and adding extra surveys

Phases widget

The Phases widget will be added by default to your project page - it's placement can be moved using the drag and drop function of the content builder, and it can be deleted. It will automatically show the phases name, which phase is currently live will be highlighter green, and if that phase has an engagement opportunity (survey, submit idea,...) it will also show the button to submit a contribution.

You can always use the Participation Box, which holds the participation button, at add another participation button higher up in the project page.

Extra Surveys widget (parallel surveys)

If you wish to have a survey always on that it not attached to a certain phase you can create extra surveys in your project. And to make them visible in the project page you will need to add the Extra Surveys widget in the project content builder.

You can customize where this extra survey is visible on the project page by dragging and dropping this widget anywhere int he content builder.

ℹ️ For how to create one, see Creating an in-platform survey.

Embedding in the content builder

Supported embed types

Content Builder supports a wide range of embeddable content.

Surveys: Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, and others. Copy the default sharing link and paste it into the embed field.

Documents: Google Docs/Sheets/Slides, PDFs, and Microsoft Office files via OneDrive are supported. Extract the URL from the embed code if needed.

Maps: Google Maps and ArcGIS links require cleaning up the embed code to keep only the https URL.

Data Visualizations: Tableau and Google Data Studio embeds require you to extract and slightly modify the iframe URL.

Social Posts: Facebook and Eventbrite are supported; Twitter and Instagram are not.

Videos: YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Wistia, and Dreambroker (with special URL edit) are supported.

How to embed third party tools?

  1. Click the <Embed> option in the left menu

  2. Get the embed URL from your third-party provider

  3. Paste the URL into the embed field in Content Builder

ℹ️ Embedded links may appear differently on desktop and mobile devices. Use the height configuration option to ensure proper display across all devices.

⚠️ Always test embeds by opening an incognito browser window to ensure the link works publicly.

Editing embed URLs

Many embed links need to be trimmed before use.

How to clean embed links:

  1. Copy the long iframe code.

  2. Delete everything before https://.

  3. Delete everything after the URL (e.g., width= or frameborder=).

Example for YouTube below:

  1. Press Share

  2. Press Embed

  3. You will get a link that looks like: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="<https://www.youtube.com/embed/abc12>" …>

  4. Only copy the https link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/abc123

Embedding PDFs

  1. Select the File Attachment widget to upload a file to the project

    1. ⚠️ 360 input will open in a new window, make sure to save your project beforehand

  2. Return to the project, in the file attachment widget, select the file you would like to embed

  3. Save

  4. Right click the attached file in the front office, select Open Link in New Tab

  5. Copy the URL in the new tab

  6. go back to the content builder and Select the Embed widget, in the website address past the URL from the file attachment tab

  7. If you do not want the attached file to be visible in the project description:

    1. Create a new project and hide it by setting the Access Rights to Unlisted

    2. Attach the PDFs you want to embed in other projects in this project

    3. Follow the same instructions above for embedding the PDFs

Adding custom HTML with the HTML block

The HTML block lets you paste your own HTML straight into a project or folder description. Use it when the standard widgets can't produce what you need, a styled table, a definition list, or markup you already have from elsewhere.

ℹ️ The HTML block needs to be enabled for your platform. If you don't see it in the left-hand menu, contact your Government Success Manager.

How to add an HTML block

  1. Open the Content Builder editor.

  2. In the Content category of the left-hand menu, drag HTML block (listed just below Text) onto the canvas.

  3. Click the block. A code field opens in the right-hand panel.

  4. Paste or type your HTML, then click Save.

  5. Click View page to check the result on the live desktop layout.

ℹ️ The HTML block is translatable. Use the language switcher above the code field to enter separate HTML per platform language. A language you leave empty shows nothing to visitors in that language, it is not filled in for you.

What HTML is allowed?

For security reasons your HTML is cleaned up when you save.

Kept:

  • Structure and text: headings, paragraphs, line breaks, lists, tables, div, span, header, footer

  • Images and links, including alt and aria- attributes

  • Media: video, audio, source and iframe, including controls, frameborder and allowfullscreen

  • Inline styling through the style attribute, e.g. <h2 style="font-size:30px;">

Removed:

  • <script> tags and all JavaScript, including event handlers such as onerror and onclick

  • Form elements: form, input, button, select, textarea and fieldset. The whole form is removed, not only the tag, so you can't build a working form in an HTML block. To collect responses, use a survey phase, or embed an external form with the Embed widget.

⚠️ This clean-up happens on save, without a warning. If part of your HTML disappears after saving, it contained something from the list above. Reload the page after saving to confirm what was kept.

ℹ️ Links you set to open in a new tab automatically get rel="noopener noreferrer" added.

Good to know

  • The block is centred with the same maximum width (1200px) as the rest of the page content.

  • Your markup is not made responsive for you. Always check the result on mobile.

  • The HTML block is available anywhere the Content Builder is: the project page builder, the folder description builder, and custom pages. Anyone who can edit that page can use it, project and folder managers included.

Limitations on the content builder

Some functions of the Content Builder have restrictions:

  • Image resizing isn’t supported; images automatically fill their container.

  • Some social platforms (Twitter, Instagram) cannot be embedded due to external policies.

  • Embed links often require manual editing to remove iframe code.

  • On the project page, elements can be dragged into any section except the header and the title, which stay in place.

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