This article...
- Illustrates how to access, add, edit, and remove blog widgets using Page Designer.
- Describes the “All Blogs List” widget for displaying recent blogs across your site.
- Describes the “Recent Blogs” widget that showcases recent posts with optional community, author, and time-based filters.
- Explains options for the “Blog Details” widget, including display settings for images, author, date, and engagement stats.
- Details the “Create/Edit Blog Post” widget’s features, including rich text editing, images, videos, links, and privacy controls.
Higher Logic provides dozens of widgets that you can use to:
- modernize the look of your community pages,
- enhance the usefulness of your site, and
- increase member engagement.
In this article, we'll focus on widgets associated to our Blogs module.
Access the widgets
You'll be able to add, edit, and remove widgets when editing one of your community's pages. To edit a page:
- Navigate to the page you want to update and click Edit Page on the Admin Toolbar (or right click for a new tab). Alternatively, you can click Edit Navigation to access the CMS and your community's complete page list, from which you can access and edit any page.
- Editing a page is accomplished with Page Designer. Click the Build tab and scroll down to the Widget section.
- Use the Category dropdown and/or the search field to more quickly find a specific widget.
- Widgets are grouped by type in the dropdown.
- Select the All category to view the complete list of widgets; click Blog to view the widgets discussed in this article.
Blog widgets
Each of the widgets in the Blog category is described in a dedicated section below.
All Blogs List
By default, this widget displays all of the most recent blogs from across your site. It provides a large amount of preview text so users can get a feel for what a post is about, as well as pagination buttons to easily browse the complete list of blog posts.
This widget is typically placed within a specific community on its Blogs tab or sitewide on the All Blogs page, providing an effective way to manage and display blog content.
- If you don't want all blogs to display, you can filter the ones shown by a specific Blog Category or community (or both).
- Privacy settings for blogs are respected, so users will only see what they're allowed to see.
- Featured Images do not display in this widget.
Example
Options
You can configure the All Blogs List widget via the following options:
Blog Category: Use this option to show only blog posts in one specific blog category.
Community: Use this option to show only blog posts from one specific community.
Default Filter: Use this option to choose the filter the widget applies when the list first loads. Available options are Most Recent, Top Rated, Most Read, My Contact’s Blogs, My Blog, and Unpublished.
NOTE: When entering one of these options in the Default Filter text field, be sure to write them without spaces: MostRecent, TopRated, MostRead, MyContactsBlogs, MyBlog.
Max Number of Posts to Show in List: Use this option to set how many blog posts display per page in the widget.
No Data Add Button Description: Use this option to set the text for the add button that appears when there are no blog posts to display.
No Data Text for Not Logged In Users: Use this option to set the message shown to users who are not logged in.
Show Author Name?: Use this option to show or hide the author name for each blog post.
Show Author Picture?: Use this option to show or hide the author picture for each blog post.
Show Body Preview?: Use this option to show or hide preview text from each blog post.
Show New Blog Post Button?: Use this option to show or hide the button that lets users create a new blog post.
Show Number of Comments?: Use this option to show or hide the number of comments for each blog post.
Show Post Blog Button When There Is No Data?: Use this option to show or hide the post button when the widget has no blog posts to display.
Show Publish Date?: Use this option to show or hide the publish date. If a post is unpublished and this option is enabled, the widget shows “unpublished” instead of a date.
Show Recommendations for Each Blog Post?: Use this option to show or hide the Recommend/Like feature and its recommendation count for each blog post.
Show Tags?: Use this option to show or hide tags for each blog post.
Recent Blogs
This widget provides a "snapshot" of recent blog posts. It's typically limited to three posts, and displays less text, making it ideal to place in a page's sidebar.
- From this widget, you can click Add to create a post and View all blog posts to view the main Blogs page.
- If you don't want all blogs to display, you can filter the ones shown by a specific community, Community Type, and/or author. You can even define a time period limit to exclude blogs older than the specified number of days; this setting can be helpful if you want a Recent Blogs widget that focuses on only the most recent content.
- Privacy settings for blogs are respected, so users will only see what they're allowed to see.
- Featured Images do display in this widget; however, only the Featured Image from the most recent blog will display.
Example
Options
You can configure the Recent Blogs widget via the following options:
Community: Use this option to limit the widget to blog posts from a specific community. On community landing pages and website pages, you typically do not need to configure this option because the widget respects the current community context.
Community Type: Use this option to show only blog posts from communities of a specific community type.
Days Back: Use this option to include only blog posts from the last set number of days. Posts older than that number are excluded.
Display Posts by a Specific Blog Author: Use this option to show only blog posts created by one specific user.
Exclude Posts by Super Admins?: Use this option to hide blog posts written by Super Admin users.
Hide if No Data?: Use this option to hide the entire widget when there are no blog posts to show for the current viewer, including when no posts match the filters or the viewer does not have permission to see them.
Max Number of Posts to Show in List: Use this option to control how many blog posts appear in the widget.
Preview as User (for Authenticated users): Use this option to preview the widget as though you are a specific logged-in user. This helps you check which blog posts that user would see. If you click a post in preview mode, you still might not be able to open the full post details.
Preview as User (for Non-authenticated users): Use this option to preview the widget as though it is being viewed by a user who is not logged in. This helps you check the public-facing experience. If you click a post in preview mode, you may be prompted to log in to view the full post details.
Show Body Preview?: Use this option to show or hide preview text from each blog post.
Show Community Name?: Use this option to show or hide the community name for each post. This affects only blog posts that are associated with a community.
Show One Post per Unique Blogger?: Use this option to limit the widget to one post per blogger, which helps prevent a single author from filling multiple spots in the list.
Show Published Date?: Use this option to show or hide the published date for each blog post.
Blog Details
When a user clicks to view a blog article, they are viewing the blog's "details page." This is the default widget on this core community page that presents the blog's content.
Options
You can update a few options for this widget to adjust your community's core blog viewing experience:
Hide Back to Community Button?: Use this option to control whether the Back to Community button is hidden. If you set this option to No, readers can use the button to return to the community when they opened the blog from a community-specific page.
Show Featured Image?: Use this option to show or hide the blog’s featured image on the details page. If the blog has a featured image and this option is enabled, the image displays at the top of the post.
Show Author Name and Published On Date?: Use this option to show or hide the blog author’s name and the published date together on the details page.
Show Comments and View Count?: Use this option to show or hide the comment count and total view count at the end of the blog post. This setting affects only whether those counts display; it does not control whether users can comment on the blog post.
Create/Edit Blog Post
When a user views your community's Blogs page, it includes the Create a Post button to create a blog. Clicking this button takes the user to the Post to Your Blog form, where they can write their blog and configure a few options.
This is the default widget on this core community page that presents the blog-creation form.
Key features
- The widget presents a set of fields that users can fill out to create or edit their blog posts. This includes the blog's title, category, content, featured image, and privacy settings (who can view the blog and who can write comments).
- Users can add images, videos, and links to their blog posts. The editor allows for rich text formatting and customization.
Options
This widget has no configurable options.