Atlas Community Guidelines
The mission of this online community is to provide a peer-to-peer and direct support channel for people cultivating enterprise communities on the Khoros platform. It is a central for education and thought leadership on best practices, where we also ideate with customers directly on how to improve and extend the product platform.Meet the Community Team
There’s an amazing team working on the front lines and behind the scenes of the Khoros Community to provide its members with all the tools and solutions they need to be successful. You can find out more about our team members below. There are many more who actively assist on the community on a day to day basis, and we'll be adding to this list over time. Feel free to reach out to any of them any time you have questions, suggestions or just want to say hi! Blake Hall / BlakeH (Community Manager) Blake enjoys building the Atlas community with all of you. He loves supporting helpful members and aligning the community with best practices. He also enjoys gaming, exercising, reading, and churning up some ice cream (including a brand new flavor almost every week!). Cory DeWitt / CoryD(Senior Content Marketing Manager) Bio coming soon! Kathy Hein / KathyH (Team Lead, Community) Kathy comes from Texas, where she lives the nice, quiet rural life by herself. She started with Khoros five years ago and couldn't imagine ever working for another company. After starting as a moderator, she's worked her way up to Team Lead, a job she loves as she's been involved in such positions since the internet was a thing, working for various gaming forums and companies before joining Khoros. In her spare time she loves any kind of crafting, and has a serious yarn addiction (she promises, just a few more skeins...). She also loves movies, especially sci-fi and superhero, and is proud to be a Marvel fangirl (although there is a bit of room for DC in there too ha!). Anthony Luckett / AnthonyL (Team Lead, Community) Anthony is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout his 11 year tenure at Khoros his main focus has been connecting enterprise community teams with the strategies and solutions they need to find success. Shaun Kester / Shaun (Community Coordinator) Born in Minnesota, Shaun has been with Khoros since 2011. Having worked in Moderation, Administration, and Social Media Management, he is also a certified Community Manager. In his spare time, he enjoys a wide variety of activities and interests such as cars, motorcycles, technology, gaming, scifi, sports, fitness, SEO, content creation, music, investing/finance, and probably a few others he forgot to mention. He is also a stay-at-home father of two children. Phil Daniels / PhilD (Community Coordinator) Phil has been with Lithium/Khoros since 2010 and started as a community moderator. Since 2016, he has been assisting our customers in a Community Consultant role, providing Advisory services to help communities grow and succeed. His time spent as a moderator provided him with a solid foundation in best practices and knowledge of the Khoros platform which has been invaluable in his role as a consultant. He and his wife currently live in New Jersey with their two dogs, who provide unique entertainment daily. He also enjoys watching old films, including sci-fi / dystopian movies and TV series. Donna Ward / DonnaW (Community Coordinator) Originally from Texas, Donna lives in rural eastern Montana with her husband and 2 dogs. She’s been with Khoros for a long time but has been moderating for 27 years. She loves working on the Atlas community and with other Khoros communities. In her spare time, she crafts, babysits, reads, and spends time with family and friends. Mohammed Faizan / MohammedF (Community Coordinator) Faizan began his career 7 years before joining Khoros and has been with the company for nearly 3 years. He has always had a passion for helping customers. As a moderator, he ensures posts are properly organized and makes every effort to get responses to community members' questions wherever possible. In his free time, he enjoys gaming, playing outdoor sports, going to the gym, and watching movies/series. Syed Sajid Khan / SyedSa (Community Coordinator) Sajid has been with Khoros for nearly 3 years in a moderator role. He is dedicated to managing posts and engaging in chats combined with his strong passion for assisting community members. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his feline companion, socializing with his friends, and hitting the gym.What's changed in Aurora from Community Classic
This article captures some of the high-level changes (terminology, features, and concepts) that have changed (or will be changing) in Aurora from Community Classic. Terminology changes For Aurora, we have updated several terms that were previously used in Community Classic. Kudos are now called Likes. Subscriptions are now called Follows. Discussion Styles are now called Content Types. Content Types is the collective term used to describe the different types of boards community supports (forums, knowledge bases, blogs, etc.). Group Hubs are now called Groups. Tags and labels have been combined are now just all called Tags. There are two types of tags (preset and freeform). Tool changes and enhancements The site-building tool Studio has been replaced with Designer and Dev Tools. In Aurora Designer, you can edit your site’s Theme and manage Page Templates. In a future release, you'll also use this area to manage Email Templates and text strings. In the Dev Tools, you will find the tools needed to develop and customize your site. The Content Editor has been enhanced with several new features and meets accessibility requirements. Auto-save is enabled by default for all content types. Members have access to full version history of content with the ability to Delete, Edit, Compare, and Restore versions. Integration with Unsplash image libraries for Blog cover images and Page Template sections. Community Analytics is no longer a separate tool and now is built into the Community application. Where did it go? Not sure where something moved to? Here’s a list of some of the bigger things that have moved to a new place in Aurora: Admin Settings: Several of the settings pages have been simplified (or removed) and grouped differently. Settings pages that used to be in the “Community Admin” or “Admin” area are now available under Settings. Each card (tab) groups related settings into a new page. As we continue to build out more Aurora features, more cards/tabs will be added to the Settings area. Content Management Areas: Most content-related management tasks (find and edit drafts, review and manage reported abusive content, Spam Quarantine, and Moderation) are now performed from the Manage Content space: Developer Experience Aurora is built on the philosophy that internal and external developers should have access to the same development tools, empowering everyone involved with your community's user experience while providing a seamless, simple, and powerful SDK to help you get the most our of Khoros Communities. Why React? We chose React to power the web layer of our technology stack because of its ubiquitous nature and powerful built-in toolset. React, coupled with React Bootstrap, offers developers the ability to create powerful customizations to the user interface without losing out on the popular Bootstrap DLS that has been a part of the success of Khoros Communities over the years. Add the powerful Apollo Client state management library makes takes the communication between your React components and your community's data to the next level. It provides GraphQL call management, a catchable data store that monitors and responds to data updates. This update gives developers a better toolkit without taking away some of the most popular time-saving capabilities our developer community has come to appreciate. Why GraphQL? GraphQL is the query language for all of Aurora's APIs. This solution is consistent across our entire user interface, giving external developers the same backend experience we use to create Aurora's built-in features. REST API served us well in Khoros Communities for many years, but in Aurora, we wanted to give developers access to a more precise, flexible, and capable API to make data more accessible across the board. Where communities once relied on custom REST endpoints or multiple individual calls to retrieve necessary data, GraphQL can handle multiple operations at one time, and return only the data you need when you need it.Aurora recommended font and image file types and sizes
Throughout the Aurora community, you’ll find many different features that support images, such as page templates, ranks, and badges. Below, you'll find required and/or recommended sizes and file types for various features. Avatars Admins: SVG, JPG, or PNG format Square image required Minimum recommended dimensions: 300px square Badges PNG or SVG format Note: SVG images might not currently load properly in email notifications. Minimum recommended dimensions: 240 px square Custom fonts TTF, WOFF, or WOFF2 format Favicon PNG format Minimum dimensions: 512 px square Hero banner image JPG or PNG format Maximum recommended size: 2000 x 600 px or a similar ratio An image without text or logos is best; the hero area is designed responsively and the visible area may change based on viewport. Logo PNG or SVG format Size is flexible; you can update Logo Height within Designer > Page Templates > Header & Footer. Content images Blog banner images Otherwise, use a large, quality image and it will be resized for you. JPG or PNG Recommended dimensions: 800 x 500px Post images JPG or PNG Member has a choice on size; image will be resized on upload. Place avatars SVG format 400px square Ranks PNG or SVG format Uploaded images are converted to 16 pixels in height and up to 100 pixels in width wherever they appear in the community (square images will be 16 px by 16 px). Note: Your image will be scaled to fit the supported dimensions, so we don’t recommend using a really tall image as it will be difficult to see when it’s scaled to 16 pixels high.Take a tour of Aurora
Welcome to Aurora. We've put together this video training course to help you get familiar with key features and concepts about Khoros' re-imagined Community Experience. This 12-video series is grouped by four community roles: Managers Moderators Developers Members The entire course takes about 1 hourto complete. Note: We will be updating these videos and adding new ones as we continue to roll out new Aurora features. Subscribe to this article to be notified when new videos are available. Community Managers Community Overview Building your community structure Designing your site Configuring feature settings Roles and permissions Gamification Measuring success Community overview (3:49) Building your community structure (6:03) Designing your site (7:54) Configuring feature settings (4:52) Roles and permissions (4:51) Gamification (4:23) Measuring success (3:08) Community Moderators Moderating your community (9:14) Community Developers Getting Started as a Developer Getting Started with Handlebars Creating Handlebars GraphQL API Getting Started as a Developer(4:58) Getting Started with Handlebars(6:56) Creating Handlebars(4:20) GraphQL API (3:54) Community Members Personalize your community experience Getting around and finding the content you want Contributing to the community Using your inbox Personalize your community experience (3:45) Getting around and finding the content you want (1:54) Contributing to the community (4:55) Using your inbox (2:46) What to read next: Getting Started as an Administrator Getting Started as a Community Manager Getting Started as a Site DesignerGuide to Atlas Ranks
Welcome to Atlas, your home for learning how to build the best customer experience possible. As a member of our community, you’ll be able to join discussions, ask questions, search for answers, and learn from resources - all of which will help you maximize your knowledge of the Khoros platform While you use the site, you may receive notifications about your Atlas rank increasing. This page describes what ranks are, how they tie into your community contributions, and where to view your rank progress. What are ranks? How do I increase my rank? How can I view my rank and badge progress? Frequently Asked Questions Bonus: How do I implement ranks in my own community? What are Atlas ranks? Your Atlas rank helps you understand how helpful your community contributions are relative to others Each rank on Atlas appears next to a user’s name and signifies their contributions to the community You can view these on a user’s profile page (including your own), as well as next to their name in any of their community contributions - like posts, replies, blogs, and so on Passive Ranks These ranks are available to members who participate passively via giving kudos or adding tags to content Member New members who have not yet made any contributions Visitor Users who have engaged at least once with posts via kudos or adding tags Watcher Users who have engaged a few times with posts via kudos or adding tags Observer Users who have engaged several times with posts via kudos or adding tags Learner Users who have engaged many times with posts via kudos or adding tags Surveyor Users who have engaged a whole lot with posts via kudos or adding tags Active Ranks These ranks are reserved for users who have posted helpful contributions, organized from least to greatest Beginner Tier Users who have created a post or reply at least once on Atlas Ranks: Contributor Strategist Tier Fairly knowledgeable and helpful, they have made many community contributions Ranks: Helper > Adept > Guide > Ace > Mentor > Expert (highest) Consultant Tier Known names on Atlas, they have a long history of helping out different users Ranks: Advisor > Maven > Leader > Genius (highest) Luminary Tier The most well-known and long-standing members, with numerous invaluable community contributions - other members aspire to be more like them Ranks: Director > Champion > Executive > Boss (highest) How do I increase my rank? Simply put, your rank increases as you help others. This can be achieved in two ways: 1) You contribute helpful content to the platform - for example: If you have a question for the community, you create a post asking for help or ideas Alternatively, if another user asks a question and you reply with an insightful answer If you respond to a user troubleshooting a problem, and your answer is marked as a Solution 2) You recognize the contributions others have made - for example: When you ask for help troubleshooting, you mark other posts as Solutions When you give other helpful posts Kudos, or when others give your post Kudos Along with Titans, higher rank Atlas users may also earn the ability to create rich content on Atlas, for example: After solving a tough issue in your work, you write a blog showcasing how you solved it You create a rich community resource in the form of a knowledge base article How can I view my rank and badge progress? To view how you’re progressing on your ranks and badges, visit your Atlas profile page To get there, click on your profile image, which is visible at the top right of the navigation bar on any page of the community Beneath your user name, you’ll see your current rank, as well as any contributions you’ve made You can also view the most recent badges you’ve earned on the right side of your profile Clicking “View all” will show you all of your earned badges Frequently Asked Questions How can I increase my rank more quickly? Many different activities increase your rank However, activities that are more difficult to achieve, like earning an Accepted Solution from another user, or creating rich media (at higher ranks) like blogs or knowledge bases, award greater progress than activities which are easier, like giving a post a Kudo Does my rank go down if I don’t contribute regularly? No, all of your contributions over time will add to your rank. As long as you have a currently active account (i.e. the account has not been deactivated) and continue to make contributions, you will continue to accumulate progress toward your next rank. I’ve posted a lot lately, so why haven’t I ranked up? Ranking up is easy at first, but higher ranks require an increasing number of contributions Remember: just because you haven’t ranked up lately, doesn’t mean you won’t soon! Additionally, ranks involves a mix of contributing to the community, and acknowledging others If you’ve gone a long time without ranking up in spite of creating lots of content, you may want to spend more time letting others know you appreciate their content via giving helpful posts kudos, or by marking helpful replies as Solutions Similarly, if you’ve spent a lot of time letting others know you appreciate their content, you may want to contribute some of your own by asking good questions of others members in a forum post, or creating other types of helpful content like blog posts Bonus: How do I implement ranks in my own community? You may want to get started by learning about ranks We also recommend learning about badges, and the difference between these and ranks in the Community product Finally, we recommend reviewing our previous rank update blog to understand how we went about updating Atlas ranks, as it may give you ideas that could help as you build or rebuild your own For further guidance on badges and ranks, as well as community gamification systems, we recommend signing up for one of our Product Coaching sessionsAurora Accessibility Support
Accessibility is a critical component for communities that want to ensure their web content is accessible to people with disabilities. Aurora strives for a WCAG AA level of compliance for all the major community features. To ensure that we meet these standards, we have rigorous internal testing (automated and manual) that are part of the standard Aurora development process. Each release, we test keyboard navigation, heading levels, field labels, and interactive page elements to make sure that content is accessible and being read out correctly by screen readers.We also use a third-party vendor to manually assess the user flows, identifying and resolving accessibility violations. As part of the Aurora site-creation experience, we have also added several accessibility features. Alt Text for Images Members can add alt text while uploading images to the content on the community. Screen-reader friendly headings Admins can add headings for widgets that are visible only to screen readers. Color Contrast Verification The Theme editor's contrast-checker ensures that there is sufficient contrast between the background colors and foreground colors you choose. Skip to Content link on navigation bar From the navigation bar, you have the option to skip past repetitive content and go directly to the main content. When you navigate with the keyboard, a control appears that enables you to navigate beyond the repeated content.About Khoros Community: Aurora
Aurora is Khoros’ re-imagined Community experience that leverages more than 20 years of experience and learnings in the digital community space.Aurora delivers a sleek, modern, high-performance UX framework that adheres to community best practices while still giving brands complete flexibility to make changes or updates to address their specific needs.While built on the same platform as Khoros Community: Classic, Aurora includes significant changes in the new framework.
