Add Creating a New Section Guide.

content/docs/user-guides/creating-a-new-section.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+---
+title: Create a New Section
+description: Add a new top-level section to your Canopy site with its own pages and navigation.
+---
+
+# Create a New Section
+
+As your project grows, you may want to organize content into distinct sections beyond about.
+
+Canopy generates pages from the folder structure inside `content/`. Creating a new section is as simple as adding a
+folder, populating it with MDX files, and registering it in your site navigation.
+
+This guide walks through creating a new "Essays" section from scratch.
+
+## 1. Create the section folder
+
+Inside the `content/` directory, create a new folder for your section. The folder name becomes the URL path:
+
+```
+content/
+├── essays/          ← new section
+├── docs/
+├── about/
+└── index.mdx
+```
+
+A folder named `essays` will be accessible at `/essays` on your site.
+
+## 2. Add an index page
+
+Every section needs an `index.mdx` file. This becomes the landing page when visitors navigate to `/essays`:
+
+```mdx filename="content/essays/index.mdx"
+---
+title: Essays
+description: Long-form writing and analysis.
+---
+
+# Essays
+
+Explore our collection of essays on history, culture, and the archives.
+```
+
+At this point, visiting `/essays` displays your new landing page.
+
+## 3. Add a section layout
+
+Create a `_layout.mdx` file in your section folder. This wraps all pages in the section with consistent layout and
+enables sidebar navigation:
+
+```mdx filename="content/essays/_layout.mdx"
+<Layout navigation={true} fluid={true}>
+  {props.children}
+</Layout>
+```
+
+## 4. Add pages to the section
+
+Create additional MDX files in the folder. Each file becomes a page within the section:
+
+```
+content/
+└── essays/
+    ├── _layout.mdx
+    ├── index.mdx
+    ├── introduction.mdx
+    └── methodology.mdx
+```
+
+```mdx filename="content/essays/introduction.mdx"
+---
+title: Introduction
+description: An overview of our research approach.
+---
+
+# Introduction
+
+This essay introduces the themes and questions that guide our work...
+```
+
+These pages are now accessible at `/essays/introduction` and `/essays/methodology`.
+
+## 5. Add the section to navigation
+
+Open `content/navigation.yml` and add an entry for your new section. The `href` should match your folder name:
+
+```yaml filename="content/navigation.yml"
+navigation:
+  - href: /search
+    label: Works
+  - href: /essays
+    label: Essays
+  - href: /docs
+    label: Docs
+  - href: /about
+    label: About
+```
+
+After rebuilding, "Essays" appears in your site header alongside the other navigation links.
+
+## Learn More
+
+See the [Layout documentation](/docs/content/layout) for all available layout props including sidebar customization
+and table of contents options.
+
+The [Primary navigation](/docs/content/layout#primary-navigation) section explains how `navigation.yml` works in detail.

content/docs/user-guides/enable-a-map-with-navPlace.mdx

@@ -1,12 +1,21 @@
 # Enable a map with navPlace
 
-Use the `<Map>` component to plot every Manifest that exposes IIIF Presentation 3 navPlace `Point` features. This guide walks through the prerequisites and shows how to embed a map on any MDX page.
+When working with IIIF Presentation 3 content, digital scholars may want to visualize where items in their collection
+are located geographically.
+
+The `<Map>` component plots Manifests that expose navPlace Point features, allowing spatial relationships to be explored
+interactively.
+
+This guide walks through the prerequisites and shows how to embed a map on any MDX page.
 
 > navPlace is an IIIF extension for geographic context. Make sure your manifests contain `navPlace.features` entries before running the build so Canopy can extract coordinates.
 
 ## 1. Add navPlace data to your manifests
 
-Each manifest must include `navPlace` with GeoJSON-like `Feature` objects. Only features with `geometry.type === "Point"` are plotted.
+To display items on a map, each IIIF Manifest must include geographic information describing where it is located or relevant.
+
+Canopy reads this information from the Manifest’s `navPlace` property, which contains GeoJSON-like `Feature` objects.
+Only features with a `geometry.type` of `"Point"` are plotted on the map.
 
 ```json
 {
@@ -36,7 +45,12 @@ Canopy collects these features, normalizes titles + thumbnails, and writes them
 
 ## 2. Embed a Map in MDX
 
-Place `<Map iiifContent="…" />` on any MDX page (`content/**/*.mdx`) or in `content/works/_layout.mdx`. The component is SSR-safe: it renders a placeholder on the server and hydrates on the client with Leaflet + MarkerCluster.
+Once your Manifests expose `navPlace` data, you can embed a map anywhere in your site to provide a geographic overview
+of your collection.
+
+Place a `<Map>` component on any MDX page (`content/**/*.mdx`) or in `content/works/_layout.mdx`. The component is
+server-side–rendering safe and renders a lightweight placeholder on the server and hydrates on the client using
+Leaflet and MarkerCluster.
 
 ```mdx copy filename="content/about/maps.mdx"
 ---
@@ -49,33 +63,52 @@ Our manifests encode navPlace metadata, so we can show a geographic overview:
 
 <Map
   iiifContent="https://tamulib-dc-labs.github.io/sesquicentennial-manifests/collections.json"
-  height="520px"
+  height="600px"
 />
 ```
 
-- `iiifContent` accepts a Manifest or Collection URL and determines which navPlace markers render.
-- `height` controls the rendered canvas (string or number). Default: `600px`.
+The `<Map>` component accepts the following props:
+
+* `iiifContent`: A IIIF Manifest or Collection URL. Canopy resolves the resource and renders markers for all available `navPlace` points.
+* `height`: Controls the height of the rendered map canvas (string or number). Defaults to `600px`.
+
+> Note:  The `iiifContent` resource must be a part of your Canopy site in order to be used with `Map`. External resources cannot be loaded.
+
 
 ## 3. Add custom points with MapPoint
 
-You can mix in arbitrary coordinates for items that lack navPlace or for non-IIIF references. When `iiifContent` is omitted, the map only displays your custom points.
+In addition to rendering points from navPlace, you can add custom locations directly to a `<Map>` using `<MapPoint>`.
+This is useful for places that lack navPlace data or for locations that are not tied to IIIF resources.
+
+When `iiifContent` is omitted, the map renders only the custom points you provide.
 
 ```mdx copy filename="content/about/maps.mdx"
-<Map height="520px">
-  <MapPoint lat="41.8781" lng="-87.6298" title="Newberry Library" summary="Chicago, IL" href="/works/newberry-atlas" />
-  <MapPoint lat="22.5726" lng="88.3639" title="Calcutta" summary="Survey depot" />
+<Map
+  iiifContent="https://tamulib-dc-labs.github.io/sesquicentennial-manifests/collections.json"
+  height="520px">
+    <MapPoint lat="41.8781" lng="-87.6298" title="Newberry Library" summary="Chicago, IL" href="/works/newberry-atlas" />
+    <MapPoint lat="22.5726" lng="88.3639" title="Calcutta" summary="Survey depot" />
+
 </Map>
 ```
 
-Each `MapPoint` supports:
+Each `<MapPoint>` represents a single geographic location and supports the following props:
 
 - `lat` / `lng` (required) — decimal degrees.
 - `title`, `summary`, `href`, `thumbnail`.
 - Child MDX content for longer descriptions (`<MapPoint>…</MapPoint>`).
 
-Custom points leave their titles unlinked by default so the popup stays informational. Add `href` when you want the heading to navigate elsewhere. If you omit the `thumbnail` prop, the map reuses the first referenced manifest thumbnail so you still get a visual teaser.
+By default, custom points render as informational markers with unlinked titles. Add an `href` when the point should
+navigate the reader to another page or resource. If `thumbnail` is omitted, the map reuses the first available
+referenced manifest thumbnail so the popup still includes a visual cue.
+
+### Linking custom points to works
 
-When a point should drive the reader to one or more works, pass `referencedManifests` (or `manifest` / `manifests`) with the manifest IDs/URLs. Pair those values with the page’s `referencedManifests` front matter so Canopy already knows the local `/works/*.html` hrefs.
+When a location should direct readers to one or more items in your collection, associate the point with IIIF Manifests
+using `referencedManifests` (or the shorthand `manifest` / `manifests`).
+
+Pair these values with the page’s `referencedManifests` front matter so Canopy can resolve local `/works/*.html` links
+automatically.
 
 ```mdx
 <Map height="420px">
@@ -89,14 +122,19 @@ When a point should drive the reader to one or more works, pass `referencedManif
 </Map>
 ```
 
-## 4. Build or restart the dev server
+## 4. Build and preview your map
 
-Run your usual workflow so the navPlace dataset stays in sync:
+Once your `navPlace` data and map markup are in place, run your normal development workflow to generate and preview the map:
 
 ```bash
 npm run dev   # watches navPlace changes and rebuilds the dataset
 # or
 npm run build
 ```
 
-The viewer loads Leaflet + MarkerCluster automatically via `site/scripts/canopy-map.js`. Thumbnails, labels, and links in the popup come from each manifest’s cached metadata, so no extra authoring is required.
+> If editing your Github files directly, simply edit and save.
+
+During the build, Canopy collects and normalizes all `navPlace` features and makes them available to the `<Map>`
+component. The map viewer automatically loads Leaflet and MarkerCluster via `site/scripts/canopy-map.js`.
+
+Popups are populated from each Manifest’s cached metadata—including thumbnails, labels, and links.

content/docs/user-guides/index.mdx

@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ Step-by-step guides for the most common Canopy tasks:
 - [Share and reuse content](./share-content)
 - [Use metadata collections](./use-metadata-collections)
 - [Creatie a Timeline](./create-a-timeline)
+- [Create a New Section](./creating-a-new-section)