Widgets are a great way to share content across your site for three reasons:
They automatically update as new content gets created.
EXAMPLE: The Latest Discussions widget displays the latest discussions posts and automatically shows new discussions as they're posted. The benefit is two-fold: Widgets ensure fresh content is always available for your members and they require minimal maintenance.
They respect security settings and user access on a per-user basis, dynamically showing only the content available to each user.
EXAMPLE: When Mary views the Latest Discussions widget, she only sees posts from communities she belongs to, while John only sees posts from communities he belongs to, and so on.
They have configurable parameters with which you can customize them.
You should take advantage of the benefits that are offered by these customizable widgets so that automated and dynamic updates keep your site content fresh and your community managers focused on user-engagement tasks and projects.
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Widget categories
There are dozens of widgets available and they are grouped into categories based on their associated module or function (e.g., blogs, discussions, communities, libraries).
TIP: When editing a page, click the Category menu on the Build tab to view the widget categories. After selecting a category, its widgets are displayed.
Add a widget
To learn how to add widgets, refer to the Build Page Layout & Content article.
Widget parameters
There are dozens of widgets, and each has several configuration parameters which enable you to customize the content, layout, and appearance of the widget.
TIP: When editing a widget, the field names and descriptions make it easier to understand each parameter's purpose, as shown in the following example.
Popular widgets
Although there are dozens of widgets available, you're most likely to use those in the Feeds category because they automatically display the latest content from your community site's core modules (announcements, discussions, blogs, etc.).
NOTE: These are the default widgets that typically get added to a community site's (and any microsite's) landing page and home pages.
Best-practice Feed widgets
Like all widgets, each best-practice widget will display content based on its configured parameters. The best-practice widgets are described below.
| Widget | Description |
|---|---|
| All Content | Displays ALL of the most recent content (new blog and discussion posts, volunteer opportunities) from across your site. |
| Announcements | Typically added to a website's home page or to community home pages to provide the latest announcements. |
|
Latest Discussions Latest Q&A |
These two widgets are typically added to a site's home page or to community home pages to provide the latest discussion posts and question and answer posts. |
| Most Active Users | Lists the most active users within the chosen time period by either their total contribution points or engagement points. |
| Recent Blogs | Typically added to a website's home page or to community home pages to provide the latest blog posts. |
| Recent Ideas | Typically added to a website's home page or to community home pages to provide the latest shared ideas. |
| Recent Shared Files | Typically added to a website's home page or to community home pages to provide the latest shared files. |
| Upcoming Events | Typically added to a website's home page or to community home pages to keep users informed about upcoming events. |
Widgets tips
This section offers tips that will help you make the most of your widgets.
- You can change the view for the Library widget from its default of List to Folders. Open the Library Entry List widget and select Folder View from the Default View dropdown.