Media types
A media type describes a kind of reusable asset the way a content type describes a kind of record — with fields, a form, a display, permissions and a place in listings. Everything on this page is configuration; none of it is code.
Back office → Structure → Media types.
Why media is not just "a file"
A file is bytes. A media item is bytes plus what you know about them: who took the photograph, which machine the diagram belongs to, when the certificate expires, which licence the video is under.
The practical difference
A file store answers "where is the picture". A media item answers "show me every diagram for the i550 whose revision is older than the current one" — because it has fields, and fields are what a listing filters on.
The types that ship
| Type | Holds | Rendered as |
|---|---|---|
| Image | A picture | Through an image style |
| Document | A file | A download with its size and kind |
| Video | A file or a hosted URL | A player |
| Audio | A sound file | A player |
| 3D model | A model file | A viewer you can rotate — see 3D models |
| Chart | A data series and a configuration | A live chart — see Charts |
| Map | Points, areas and a base layer | A live map — see Maps |
Making a new one
Add a type, give it a machine name, then add fields. A "Certificate" media type might carry the PDF, the issuing body, the valid-from and valid-to dates, and a term reference to the standard it certifies.
From that point it behaves like everything else: it can be referenced from a product, listed, filtered by expiry, translated, and given permissions of its own.
Image styles
An image style is a named recipe — a size, a crop, a focal point. A field renders through a style, never at whatever size the photographer supplied.
Back office → Configuration → Image styles.
Change the recipe, not the pictures
Because a style is a recipe rather than a copy, changing it re-renders everywhere it is used. That is the whole point: you never re-upload a catalogue because a card grid got wider.
A style that is missing does not break a page — the original is served, and that is a visible mistake rather than a hole.
Where the bytes live
In the one file tree, per organization, with quotas and visibility rules. A media item points at a stored file; deleting the item does not silently delete bytes another item still points at.
Media in documentation
Pages imported by Sourcebook fetch their images into the same store, in a folder tree mirroring the git repository.