Ribbons and Badges promote participation in and commitment to your online community, and serve to recognize and reward accomplishments and community participation. Because of this, they're an important part of its social environment, as they give users extra incentive to be active and engaged members.

NOTE: There's no technical difference between Ribbons and Badges, so this article refers to both as "Ribbons."

In this article, you'll learn how to:

Create Categories with which to organize your Ribbons and Badges
Upload custom images for use with your Ribbons and Badges
Create Ribbons and Badges from scratch

Watch the video

Access your Ribbons

To create and manage Ribbons:

In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.

Navigate to Engagement > Ribbons and Badges.

Difference between Ribbons and Badges

Technically speaking, the usage of Ribbons and Badges is interchangeable; however, Higher Logic recommends their use based on the following distinction:

Badges are intended for gamification/achievements,
while Ribbons are intended as identifiers.

EXAMPLE: John earned the "Top Contributor" Badge by posting numerous Discussion threads and answering countless community questions. This Badge is a reflection of his high community engagement.

On the other hand, John is a community manager at XYZ Association, and therefore has the "Community Manager" Ribbon to identify him as such.

Manage your Ribbon Categories

To view your current categories, and create new ones, click Ribbon Categories at the top of the page.

Ribbon Categories provide two benefits:

They enable you to organize your Ribbons into groups.
You can configure the Digital Ribbons and Badges widget to only show Ribbons of a specific category, giving you control over which Ribbons are displayed to your users on a given page.

Create a Ribbon Category

To create a category, click Add New Ribbon Category, give it a name, and click Save. All created categories are selectable when creating new Ribbons.

TIP: Because categories are applied to Ribbons upon creation, it's easier to define your categories before creating your Ribbons.

Manage Ribbon images

Let's take a look at how to upload new images to use for your Ribbons and edit existing images.

NOTE: The recommended size for Ribbons is 250px wide by 40px tall; the recommended size for Badges is 250px wide by 200px tall. Images larger than these dimensions will be automatically re-sized.

Supported file types include: JPG, PNG, and GIF.

On the Ribbons and Badges tab, click Manage Ribbon Background Images.

Upload an image

In the Upload New Ribbon Background Image area at the top, you can upload images to use when creating Ribbons and editing existing ones.

Click Choose File and browse for the image you want to use.
Give the image an identifiable name making its purpose clear.
Click Upload.

All images you upload are selectable when creating or editing a Ribbon.

Edit an image

In the Edit Ribbon Background Image area below, you can edit any existing Ribbon to update its name and/or image.

Select the image you want to edit from the Image to Update dropdown.
Click Choose File and browse for the image you'd like to replace it with.
You can also update the image's name in the provided field, if desired.
Click Save to finalize the replacement.

Ribbon creation overview

At any time, you can create Ribbons, and even manage the requirements that must be met for users to earn them (via Automation Rules); if these requirements are met, Ribbons are displayed prominently on the user's profile for everyone to see.

NOTE: In addition to earning Ribbons and Badges via Automation Rules, Super Admins can also manually give users badges. See How Do Users Earn Ribbons? to learn more.

To manage your current Ribbons, click Ribbons and Badges at the top of the page.

Create Ribbons

On the Ribbons and Badges tab, click Add New Ribbon.

On this page, there are a number of settings to configure. As you do so, the Preview area on the right updates your Ribbon’s size, text, color, and text alignment in real-time, making it easy to get everything just right as you work.

Options

Field	Description
Ribbon Image	Select the desired Ribbon image from this menu. The available images are pulled from the Manage Ribbon Background Images area. The recommended size for Ribbons is 250px wide by 40px tall; the recommended size for Badges is 250px wide by 200px tall. Images larger than these dimensions will be re-sized.
Ribbon Name	Give the Ribbon a name appropriate for its purpose. This name is only seen by admins, and can differ from the text displayed to users.
Ribbon Height / Width	The image's height and width, in pixels. Use these two settings to adjust your Ribbon image, as needed, especially to accommodate any text.
Ribbon Text	Any text entered here is displayed on top of the image. This field is often left blank if a Ribbon's image has text.
Text Offset	This controls the text's vertical alignment. Depending on the size of a Ribbon's image, you'll want to adjust this number until the text is centered.
Font	Select the desired font type from this menu.
Font Size	Select the desired font size, in pixels, from this menu.
Font Color	This field only displays the hex code for the current font color. To update it, you need to use the Color Wheel to select a color and shade.
Description	Describe your Ribbon here. This text displays to users when hovering over the Ribbon on their profile, and is a great way to explain how a Ribbon can be earned if set to Attainable.
Show as an attainable achievement	Controls whether a Ribbon/Badge is Attainable or not. Ribbons/Badges set to Attainable are opaquely displayed on the profiles of members who have not yet earned them; this is a great way to give members a preview of the Ribbons/Badges they can achieve. If a Ribbon/Badge is marked as Attainable AND members have earned it, it displays in full color on the their profiles. If it's marked as Attainable and members have NOT yet earned it, it displays as greyed out on their profile until they have earned it. Whether Attainable Ribbons/Badges are shown is also a configurable setting for the Digital Ribbons and Badges widget.
Category	Group the Ribbon into a category, if desired. Refer to the Manage Your Ribbon Categories section above to learn more. You can configure the Digital Ribbons and Badges widget to only show Ribbons of a specific category, giving you control over which Ribbons are displayed to your users on a given page.
Sort Order	The Sort Order is important for two reasons: It determines the order Ribbons/Badges appear on a user’s profile. It also controls the order Ribbons/Badges are displayed on the Admin > Engagement > Ribbons and Badges page. Ribbons and Badges are listed from lowest to highest, so you’ll generally want to set your most important/prestigious Ribbons/Badges lower so they appear above the others.
URL (if clicked)	If you want users taken to a website when the Ribbon is clicked, enter its URL here. This is often used to take users to a page explaining what a Ribbon is and, for attainable Ribbons, to explain how to earn them. Enter URLs in the format: http://www.examplewebsite.com Links open in a new tab.

Edit, copy, and delete Ribbons

On the Ribbons and Badges tab, each of your Ribbons is listed with an associated Edit, Copy, and Delete button, as shown below.

Click Edit to update the Ribbon's configured settings, including its image. Refer to the table above for descriptions of each option.
Click Copy to make an exact replica of the Ribbon. It will be indicated with "- Copy" in the Description column.
Click Delete, followed by Ok in the confirmation popup, to permanently delete the Ribbon. Note that deleting a Ribbon immediately removes it from the profiles of all users who had it.

On this page, there are a number of settings to configure

Manage Ribbons