Welcome to this article, in which we'll be taking a look at the new home page management functionality that's now in beta with Nudgis version 13.2.0. It is now possible to define different home pages depending on the user's language and whether or not they are authenticated.
Table of contents
Overview
Since Nudgis version 13.2.0, home page management has been completely reworked. This is currently in beta, and will be subject to modification before final implementation.
Nudgis now lets you manage several home pages, depending on the language selected for display by the user, and the user's authentication status (logged in or not).
It is also possible to make changes to a home page without these being immediately applied to the site, as was previously the case. This means you can carry out modifications and tests with complete peace of mind, without impacting your users.
To enable the new home page for users, go to Administration, Site settings then Global settings and check the “Enable the new home page experience (beta)” option at the bottom of the page.
Please note that the changes described in this article affect the home page only, and do not affect the rest of the site.
Creating home pages
To access the home page management page, go to the Administration page, Site settings section:
To begin, create a new entry :
And define a name, a language, and the visibility of the page (the options available for this last option are "For all users" and "Only for authenticated users"). These options can be modified later.
Here's how the list of home pages looks:
The first three columns show the options we've just seen.
The "Active" column allows you to activate or deactivate a home page. It's important to note that only one home page can be activated for a given language and visibility. For example, you can activate only one English home page, visible to authenticated users.
The "Actions" column contains four buttons:
- "Edit Layout" gives access to the graphical editing of the home page, which we'll come back to in the next chapter.
- "View" lets you visualize the home page, to check that it meets your expectations before activating it.
- "Settings" lets you modify the options in the first three columns.
- "Clone" allows you to duplicate the home page (to be able to edit it without modifying the page if it is already activated, for example).
- "Delete" allows you to delete the home page (please note that there is no recycle bin system, meaning the hompage will be permanently deleted. When the deletion is triggered, a warning message is displayed asking for confirmation of the operation).
Home page editing
The toolbox
To start editing a home page, click on "Edit layout".
On the layout editing page, you will first find the toolbox in the top left-hand corner:
This is made up of 4 tabs:
- Actions : The first button adds a new widget to the home page. The second, "View", takes you to a preview of the home page. Finally, the "Manage home pages" button returns you to the list of home pages seen in the previous chapter.
- Header :
Here, you can define whether the header should be visible or hidden.
You can also define whether the header should be frozen or not: if the header is frozen, it will always remain visible when you scroll down the home page.
If the header is not frozen, you can choose to start the first widget below the header (in this case, we recommend making the header transparent so that the first widget is visible below).
Finally, you can define the text and background colors.
- Menu : The same options as for the header are available for the Menu.
In the same way, we recommend making the Menu transparent if it's not frozen, so that it doesn't encroach on the logo in the header.
- Footer : The same options are available for the footer, with the exception of the frozen state, which makes no sense in this context.
Finally, the two buttons on the left of the toolbar are used to move the toolbar , and to reduce or enlarge it
Widgets
When the home page is created, it contains a single "Header" widget, which serves as the title and description of the page (we invite you to modify this widget, but advise you not to delete it - only one widget of this type can be present on the home page).
The rest of the widgets on the home page are stacked from top to bottom as you add them. You can change their vertical position using the widget tools to the right of the widget.
The first button allows you to move the widget, the second to edit it, and the third to delete it.
To create a new widget, click on the "Add widget" button on the toolbar:
A pop-up window opens, offering you two choices:
Text widget
Text widget editing has three tabs.
Data contains the text to be displayed on the page in the form of a widget title and description. You can align the text on the left and right of the page, as well as in the center, and choose the size of the widget.
The Skin tab lets you define the text color and background of the widget. You can choose a plain background by selecting "Color", or use an image or video (to optimize bandwidth and limit the environmental impact of the solution, we advise against using a video as background).
To add an image or video, you need to create a link. If your media is not available on a public online site, you can add it in Nudgis storage by going to Administration > Customize appearance > Advanced (CSS).
Finally, you can impose a maximum width and custom CSS code for each widget.
The last tab lets you insert links into the widget. To add a link, you need to fill in 3 fields: the label, the description and the URL.
The label is the text that will be displayed on the link button, while the description is the text displayed when the mouse hovers over it. It is used in particular for accessibility purposes. Finally, in the third field, add the URL to which your link should point.
Here's how the "Text" widget looks with the parameters used in this documentation:
Media or channels widget
This type of widget lets you add links to items in the Nudgis catalog. Like the "Text" widget, this one lets you add a title and description, as well as edit the widget's skin.
As the parameters for these first two tabs are broadly identical to those for the previous widget type, we'll focus on the last tab, "Links".
You can choose between two types of link:
- "Custom links list" lets you add fixed links such as media or channel links, or a custom link as in the "Text" widget above.
Clicking on "Add a link to a media or channel" will bring up the Nudgis catalog, allowing you to select an item from the catalog. A tab pointing to the latest media will also be available, as well as a tab dedicated to searching the catalog.
Select an item and then click on the "Select" button to add the link.
The "Add custom link" button is used in the same way as the "Text" widget seen earlier in this article.
- The "Dynamic media list" widget lets you add a link to non-fixed content, such as channel content, the latest media, or a specific search result.
Select the desired item and click save to add the widget. It is also possible to apply filters to the dynamic content that will be used for display (if, for example, you want a widget that displays only live streams or only videos).
Here are some examples of "Channel and medias" type widgets :
To learn more about catalog navigation and search filters, we invite you to consult this article in our Help Center.
Now you've got all the tools you need to create your own Nudgis homepages, so get creative and check out our other articles on editing your Nudgis platform.
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