This article...
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Details the primary functions of Discussion widgets for enhancing community engagement.
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Lists and explains key discussion widgets, including Thread Digest, Thread View, Moderation Approval, and Post Message.
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 Discussions 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 and accessible from their own category in the dropdown.
- Select the All category to view the complete list of widgets; click Discussion to view the widgets discussed in this article.
Discussion widgets
Each of the widgets in the Discussion category is described in its associated section below.
Discussion Thread View
When clicking to view a discussion post, users are navigated to the post's details page, which is powered by the Discussion Thread View widget. This is a default widget included on the Topic Thread page, located in the CMS and editable with Page Designer, and will not function if added to any other page.
NOTE: The easiest way to access the Topic Thread page is to navigate to a discussion post and then click Edit Page in the Admin Toolbar.
This widget displays the author's post, along with any associated replies from other users. In addition, it provides additional features like the ability to recommend posts, reply to them, and manage them with options like editing, removing, and pinning.
Many of the widget's features can be turned on or off when editing it with Page Designer (see image above), like the ability to edit posts, close threads, display recommends, etc.
Example
Post Message
When creating a discussion or question post, users are navigated to the Post a Message page, which is powered by the Post Message widget. This is a default widget included on the default Post a Message page, located in the CMS and editable with Page Designer. However, you can add it to custom pages, if needed.
NOTE: The easiest way to access the default Post a Message page is to create a discussion or question and then click Edit Page in the Admin Toolbar.
This widget displays the post-creation form, shown below, allowing users to select a community to post to (if not already within a specific community) and type their message. By default, this widget allows you to post a message, as well as schedule a post or save it as a draft.
Example
Print Message
The Print Message widget displays a message in a format that is optimized for printing. It removes all HTML, formatting, buttons, etc. and simply presents a message's text, as shown below.
NOTE: This widget must be placed on the Topic Thread page for it to function. The easiest way to access the Topic Thread page is to navigate to a discussion post and then click Edit Page in the Admin Toolbar.
Example
Support System Request
The Support System Request widget allows administrators to create support cases directly from a discussion post or thread. When this widget is added to a page, it typically provides a button (often named "Send to Zendesk" or similar), which enables the admin to generate a support case based on the content of the discussion. This functionality assists in seamlessly escalating issues identified in community discussions to the appropriate support platform for further handling.