KB User's Guide - SitePref Tab - Content Modules

Content Modules

There are three Content Modules that come ready for use (e.g. "delivered"):

1. News and Announcements - Displays news content.
2. Top Documents of the Week - Displays documents that have been most recently viewed.
3. Most Recently Updated Docs - Displays documents most recently edited and set to the status of Active.

The image below shows the three delivered Content Modules and their subsequent fields in the KB Admin Tools.  Content Modules display document and news item links on the Live site(s). The Limit field has a dropdown menu which allows you to display a list of 5 items and 50 items.

 

Below are the descriptions to the Content Module Attributes:

• Module name field - Create a name for this field. Please know this name will appear on the live site(s).  This field is required.
• Internal checkbox - Check to make the Content Module available on the Internal Live site.
• External checkbox- Check to make the Content Module available on the External Live site.
• FullView checkbox- Checkto make the Content Module to appear when viewing on a full desktop/ laptop screen view.
• MobileView checkbox - Check to make the Content Module to appear when viewing on mobile devices.
• Order field- Select what order this Content Modules will appear on your site. Please remember we start with 0, 1, 2.
• Limit of number of items to display - The dropdown list appears in the delivered Content Modules only and defaults to 20 items.
• DocID(s) /URL - (This field appears after a Custom Content Module is created).
  
  - Enter one document ID and display everything in the Body field of that document
  - Enter a comma delimited string of document IDs to display a list of documents you own in the sequence of your choosing.
  - Enter a URL to display
  
  
• Add button - Please be sure to click this button to add the your Custom Content Module to the delivered Content Modules. If you only click on the Update button on the bottom of the screen, your new Content Module will not be added.

The image below shows two Content Modules, a custom content module, "Welcome", and a delivered content module, "News and Announcements".

 

Modify a Delivered Content Module

Update the name of a delivered Content Module by:

navigating to the SitePref tab > Content Modules link > Content Modules screen.

Put your cursor in the Module name field and update it to something more relevant to your users. In the image below, a red arrow is pointing to the editable Module name field. Enter text that is more specific to your purposes, for example: "Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences News", or, "2022 Conference Updates".

The image below shows the delivered News and Announcements content module with a red arrow pointing to the Editable Module name field.

Be sure to click on the Update button on the bottom of the screen to save your work.

 

Create a Custom Content Module

You may create your own Custom Content Module.

Use Cases:

• Welcome users to your new KB space: include introductory text and resource links
• Notify users of amended Holiday hours
• Announce updates to service, maintenance times, expected outages
• List upcoming conference details, display a small table, add images
• Display a Google calendar of regular meetings

Step One:

a) Create a document that has all the information you would like to display in the Custom Content Module. This document can have styled text, images, resource links, tables, collapsing and expanding panels, Google Calendars..anything you can see on any other KB document. While a document has four required fields, only the Body field of this document will display in the Custom Content Module.

b) Set the Priority field of this document to Exclude from search. This will prevent users on the Live site from accidentally "discovering it" (via search keyword search) among your documents / prevent potential confusion.

c) The SiteAccess document setting must be set to the appropriate KB Site, Internal and/ or External. If you set the document to only the Internal site, the Custom Content Module will not display at all on your External Live site, even if you click on the External check box Custom Content Module attribute.

d) Set the document status to Active and write down the document ID number for future reference.

Step Two:

Navigate to the SitePref tab> Content Modules link. This will lead you to the Content Modules screen.

The image below shoes the Content Modules screen. The Add a custom content module option appears at the top of the screen.

Step Three:

Enter a Module name, determine which live site to display your Custom Content Module and the order it will appear among your other content modules. Enter the document ID referenced above in Step One in the DocID(s)/ URL field.

Step Four:

Click on the Add button on the far right of the Add a custom content module section.

Step Five:

Scroll to the bottom of the Content Modules screen and click the Update button to save your work.

Custom Modules on the Live Site

Example: The image below, shows a Custom Content Module and a delivered Content Module:

a) Move to Production and Meetings custom content module
Displays the content of a single KB document, the Move to Production and Meetings shows an embedded Google Calendar whose code/content resides in a single KB document.

c) News and Announcements delivered content module
News and Announcements is a delivered Content Module displaying 2 News items
 

 

Display Content of a Single KB Document

Create a KB document with the content (e.g. images, links, tables, Google Calendar Code) you want displayed in your Custom Content Module. Enter that single document ID number in the DocID(s)/URL field to display the body of that document. In the image below, the document ID 36843 is circled in red.

 

• The document must be in the Status of Active.
• The document SiteAccess must  be set the appropriate KB Site. (In the example above, the "Calendar" should only be seen by Internal Staff and the Content Module will only appear on the Internal site. Therefore, the SiteAccess of your KB document should be set to Internal).
• We recommend you select the Search Priority of Exclude from search, especially if you think your users may be confused should they discover this content.
• Finally, click on the Update button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.

Display Custom List of Documents

You may display a specific list of documents in the order of your choosing. In the Doc ID(s)/URL field, place a comma delimited list of the documents your would like displayed. In the image below, you will see three comma delimited document IDs for the Custom Module called, "Meteor Data".

• The documents listed must be in the Status of Active.
• The document Site Access of each document must  be set the appropriate KB Site. (In the example above, the "Meteor Data" can be displayed internally, and externally. Therefore, the Site Access of these KB documents should be set to Internal and External).
• Finally, click on the Update button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.

Content Modules: Expand and/or Collapse 

After creating Content Modules that best suit your KB site, you will see a upward pointing arrow/ chevron in the right corner. This arrow indicates that the Content Module is collapsible and then expandable. The KB will remember what you choose to collapse/expand and remember the next time you visit your Live site.

• Note: The upward pointing arrows/ chevrons are readable by those accessing the KB via a screen reader (by means of the keyboard, specifically the space bar.)
  
  

 The image below shows the arrow/ chevron circled in red.

 

 

See Also:

• KB User's Guide - General Info - Embed a Google Calendar into a Document
• KB User's Guide - General Info - Embed an Office 365 Calendar in a Document