About Aurora Page Templates
Designer provides many page templates you can use and customize to fit the needs of your community. Many of these fall into similar categories and therefore have similar widgets and out-of-the-box designs. Some are a bit more complex and apply to the community globally. Below is an index and description of these categories and individual page templates. While there are many page templates and widgets to choose from, much of the functionality is repeated throughout Designer. For more information on this functionality, see the following articles: Using Page Templates Create and arrange sections in a Page Template Getting Started with Widgets Community Home template The Community Home page template applies only to the homepage of your community. On this template, you can add any widgets you want members to see on the very first page they land on in the community. Commonly added widgets are: Recent Content Places Top Contributors Top Content Header & Footer template The global Header & Footer template is unique in that it applies across your entire community. It contains the site header—composed of the navigation bar, the breadcrumb trail, and the banner—and the site footer. For more information, see Header & Footer Configuration. Container Dashboard templates Container dashboard templates define how higher-level place landing pages appear to members of the community. The following dashboard templates fall into this category: Category Dashboard Group Dashboard These templates enable you to provide a look into what’s available to members of that container to read, follow, and comment on. Commonly added widgets are: Recent Content Category Information or Group Information Members Top Contributors Top Content Content Type Dashboard templates Content type dashboard templates define how content type landing pages appear to members of the community. The following dashboard templates fall into this category: Forum Dashboard Blog Dashboard Knowledge Base Dashboard Ideas Dashboard Event Dashboard These templates enable you to provide a look at what’s going on in a board (forum, blog, knowledge base, events board, ideas board). Commonly added widgets are: Recent Discussions or Recent Content Forum Information, Blog Information, Knowledge Base Information, Event Board Information, or Ideas Board Information Top Content Top Contributors Content type-specific widgets are not available on a different content type’s dashboard template. For instance, you cannot add a Recent Discussions widget to a Knowledge Base Dashboard or an Ideas widget to a Blog Dashboard. Content post templates Content post templates define how a particular piece of content looks to members. The following templates fall into this category: Forum Discussion Blog Post Knowledge Base Article Idea Event These page templates come out of the box with widgets that cannot be deleted because they contain the body of a top-level discussion, post, article, or idea or because they contain a space for commenting on a discussion, post, article, or idea. However, you can add other widgets to these templates. Commonly added widgets are: Featured Content Related Content Recent Discussions Content type-specific widgets are not available on a different content type’s post template. For instance, you cannot add a Recent Discussions widget to a Knowledge Base Article template. Member Profile template The Member Profile page template applies only to the Member Profile, which is what members see when they click another member’s username in the community. On this template, you can add any widgets you want that give information about the member being highlighted. This template comes out of the box with a member information widget that cannot be deleted. This widget contains the member’s username, rank, email address, join date, number of contributions, and number of likes. You can add other widgets to this template. Commonly added widgets are: Contributions Top Contributions Groups Featured Content Related topics: About Community site structure About Categories About Groups About Blogs About Forums About Knowledge Bases About Ideas About Events Refer to the Build Khoros Communities course for training on site design.Aurora: Group Information widget configuration
The Group Information widget displays basic information about the Group. It is available on the Group Dashboard page template. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget's settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to either the left, center or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the Group. You can switch these individual elements on or off using the following toggle controls: Widget Title: The title of the widget. This appears at the top. Avatar: The group's designated avatar. Description: A short description of the group as defined in the group's settings. Owners: A count and listing of group members with ownership permissions for the group. Creation Date: The period of time that has passed since the creation of the group. Latest Activity Date: A display of the time since the last activity on any messages within the group. Membership Type: The current type of membership the person has with the group. Join Action (Open Groups only): A call-to-action button that enables members to join the group directly. Member Count: A total number of people who are members of the group. Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the group’s description. More Options The More Options section of the widget settings features a toggle that enables you to optimize page-load time using lazy loading so that image loading occurs as the user scrolls, creating a shorter time for the initial page load.Aurora: Event Board Information widget configuration
The Event Board Information widget displays basic information about the event board. It is available in the Event Dashboard page template. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget's settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to either the left, center, or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the event board. You can switch these individual elements on or off using the following toggles: Widget Title: The title that appears at the top of the widget. Avatar: The event board’s designated image or default icon. Description: A short description of the event board as defined in the board's settings. Event Count: The number of events currently published in the board. Latest Activity Date: A display of the time since the last activity on any events within the board. Follow Action: A call-to-action button that enables visitors to follow the board directly. Follower Count: A total number of members subscribed to the board. Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the event board’s description. More Options The More Options section features a toggle that enables you to optimize page-load time via lazy loading. With this option turned on, loading occurs as the community member scrolls down the page, creating a shorter time for the initial page load.Aurora: Ideas Board Information widget configuration
The Ideas Board Information widget displays basic information about the related ideas board. It is available on the Ideas Board and Idea page templates. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget’s settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to the left, center, or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the Ideas board. You can turn on or off these individual elements using the following toggles: Widget Title: The title that appears at the top of the widget. Avatar:The Ideas board's designated image or default icon. Description: A short description of the Ideas board as defined in the board’s settings. Post Count: The number of ideas currently published on the board, including completed ideas. Latest Activity Date: The amount of time since the last activity on any ideas within the board. Follow Action:call-to-action button that enables members to follow the Ideas board directly. Follower Count: A total number of members subscribed to the Ideas board (as long as it is greater than zero). Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the idea board’s description. More Options The More Options section of the widget settings provides an option that optimizes page-load time by using lazy loading so that image loading occurs as the user scrolls.Aurora: KB Information widget configuration
The KB Information widget provides basic information about the knowledge base (KB) related to where it is displayed. It is available on the Knowledge Base Dashboard and Knowledge Base Article page templates. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget's settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to either the left, center or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the KB. You can switch these individual elements on or off using the following toggles: Widget Title: The title that appears at the top of the widget. Avatar: The KB's designated image or default icon. Description: A short description of the KB as defined in the KB's settings. Post Count: The number of articles currently published in the KB. Latest Activity Date: A display of the time since the last activity on any articles within the KB Follow Action: A call-to-action button that enables people to follow the KB directly. Follower Count: A total number of members subscribed to the KB. Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the knowledge base’s description. More Options TheMore Optionssection features a toggle that enables you to optimize page-load time via lazy loading. With this option turned on, loading occurs as the community member scrolls down the page, creating a shorter time for the initial page load.Aurora: Blog Information widget configuration
The Blog Information widget displays basic information about the blog. It is available in the Blog Dashboard and Blog Post page templates. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget's settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to either the left, center or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the blog. You can switch these individual elements on or off using the following toggle controls: Widget Title: The title that appears at the top of the widget. Avatar: The blog's designated image or default icon. Description: A short description of the blog as defined in the blog's settings. Post Count: The number of posts currently published in the blog. Latest Activity Date: A display of the time since the last activity on any posts within the blog. Follow Action: A call-to-action button that enables people to follow the blog directly. Follower Count: A total number of members subscribed to the blog. Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the blog’s description. More Options TheMore Optionssection features a toggle that enables you to optimize page-load time via lazy loading. With this option turned on, loading occurs as the community member scrolls down the page, creating a shorter time for the initial page load.Aurora: Forum Information widget configuration
The Forum Information widget displays basic information about the forum. It is available in the Forum Dashboard and Forum Discussion page templates. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget's settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to either the left, center, or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the forum. You can switch these individual elements on or off using the following toggle controls: Widget Title: The title that appears at the top of the widget. Avatar: The forum's designated image or default icon. Description: A short description of the forum as defined in the forum's settings. Post Count: The number of posts currently published in the forum. Latest Activity Date: A display of the time since the last activity on any posts within the forum. Follow Action: A call-to-action button that enables visitors to follow the forum directly. Follower Count: A total number of members subscribed to the forum. Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the forum’s description. More Options TheMore Optionssection features a toggle that enables you to optimize page-load time via lazy loading. With this option turned on, loading occurs as the community member scrolls down the page, creating a shorter time for the initial page load.Aurora: Category Information widget configuration
The Category Information widget displays basic information about the category. It is available in the Category Dashboard page template and features a variety of settings that enable you to customize the widget to fit your needs. Widget Text Alignment The Widget Text Alignment area of the widget's settings menu enables you to set the alignment of content inside the widget to either the left, center, or right side of the widget. Widget Elements The widget includes a series of elements that showcase different information about the category. You can switch these individual elements on or off using the following toggle controls: Widget Title: The title that appears at the top of the widget. Avatar: The category's designated image or default icon. Description: A short description of the category as defined in the category's settings. Latest Activity Date: A display of the time since the last activity on any posts within the category. Follow Action: A call-to-action button that enables visitors to follow the category directly. Follower Count: A total number of followers for the category. Max lines of description text Use the slider to set up to 20 lines of text for the category’s description. More Options The More Options section features a toggle that enables you to optimize page-load time via lazy loading. With this option turned on, loading occurs as the community member scrolls down the page, creating a shorter time for the initial page load.Aurora: Header and Footer configuration
The global Header & Footer page template is a bit different from some of the other page templates because it’s applied across the entire community. It enables you to style the top and bottom portions of your community site pages for a cohesive experience. As with other page templates, you can reorder widgets within both the Header and Footer sections. See Create and arrange sections in a Page Template. Header You can adjust settings for the entire Header section and/or for the widgets that make up the Header. Header settings For the overall Header page template, you can adjust these settings: The Background color selector applies your selected background color to the entire Header page template (behind the widgets). The colors available here have been set in your community's theme. When you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. The Background image feature enables you to upload a background image for the entire Header page template (behind the widgets) and configure how it is aligned and displayed. The Background image appearance enables you to adjust 3 different settings for the image selected for the Header page template: Size: Choose from among Auto, Contain, and Cover. Position: Choose an option with a combined alignment of center, left, or right and bottom, center, or top. Repeat: Choose from among No repeat, Repeat, Repeat X, and Repeat Y. Note: Background color and image are visible through transparent widgets. For example, in the screenshot below, an image was chosen for the overall Header, and the gray background color chosen for the Banner widget was set to 51% opacity. Therefore, the Header image is showing through the selected Banner color. Out of the box, the page header is made up of three customizable widgets: Navigation widget Breadcrumb widget Banner widget Designer enables you to add more widgets to the Header if desired—click Add widget (plus icon) and select a widget. Customize as desired. Refer to Getting Started with Widgets to see a list of the widgets you can use. Navigation widget configuration The Navigation widget is the portion of the Header page template that contains links to navigate your community. Use the following settings to adjust this widget to your specifications. Note: The Navigation widget cannot be adjusted on any other page templates. Navigation links Navigation links in the Aurora Navigation widget are entirely customizable. You can add and arrange links next to the logo in the header or in the side menu. Create a text link Text links are the links that appear in the body of the navigation bar to the right of your logo. Note: If you want to add any community pages that are outside of your community structure (such as the Groups home page) to the navigation, you can follow the procedure for adding an external link. Enter the URL for the page in theURL field. Create a side menu link Side menu links appear when a community member opens the side menu. This enables you to maintain a clean navigation bar in cases where you have too many menu options to display at once. Note: If you want to add any community pages that are outside of your community structure (such as the Groups home page) to the side menu navigation, you can follow the procedure for adding an external link. Enter the URL for the page in theURL field. Change link highlight style You can adjust the highlight styling, color, font, and alignment of links in your navigation bar using these tools available in the editor. The Link highlight style area of the menu focuses on the method by which links are highlighted as you move your cursor over them. The 3 available options are: Color: When you hover your cursor over a link, the color of the link changes. The specific color is defined in the area below the Link highlight style and depends on whether you have visited the link previously. Underline: When you hover your cursor over a link, the link is also underlined in a color defined below the Link highlight style. Background: When you hover your cursor over a link, the background of the link changes to a color defined below the Link highlight style. Link and icon colors There are 4 color options for the navigation bar you can adjust. These include: Link color: The color of the link label when it is not highlighted. Link highlight: The color of the link label when it is highlighted. Icon color: The color of any icons that appear in the navigation bar. Unread highlight: The color used to highlight a link that has not yet been visited by the member. The color drop-down menu doesn't just display the currently configured color for the item—it also indicates whether or not a selected color meets accessibility rules for the community. If you adjust the highlight style or color setting in a way that doesn't meet the rules, a caution icon appears over the color indicator. Additionally, when you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. Link style and alignment In this area, you can adjust the size, style, and alignment of the text links in your navigation bar. Font size: Use the slider to adjust the size of the font of the links. Font weight/style: Use the Style drop-down menu to adjust the style of the font of the links: Light, Regular, Medium, Bold, Italic. Alignment: Select from left, center, or right alignment for link placement on the navigation bar. Logo height The Logo height slider changes the amount of vertical space (in pixels) that the logo is given in the navigation bar. Mobile devices and other small viewports may display a smaller value than the one set here when space is limited. Other elements The following settings enable you to show or hide additional elements on the navigation widget: Language picker: (for Localized Communities only) The drop-down menu that enables community members to switch between your enabled languages. With the Style drop-down menu, you can also indicate whether you want to show the Icon, the Label, or the Icon and Label. Search icon: The magnifying glass icon that gives members access to the community's search functionality. Register link: If an unauthenticated or unregistered user is on the site, they can access the registration link to create an account. Username: Username of the currently authenticated member next to their avatar in the navigation bar. Background color and image You can set a background color or add a background image to your navigation bar using these options. The Background color selector applies your selected background color to the navigation bar and any drop-down menus that appear from it. The colors available here have been set in your community's theme. When you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. The Background image feature enables you to upload a background image for the navigation bar and configure how it is aligned and displayed. The Background image appearance enables you to adjust 3 different settings: Size: Choose from among Auto, Contain, and Cover. Position: Choose an option with a combined alignment of center, left, or right and bottom, center, or top. Repeat: Choose from among No repeat, Repeat, Repeat X, and Repeat Y. The Background opacity option lets you set the percentage of opacity in the image you’ve uploaded. Visual effects The Visual effects settings enable you to turn on or off visual elements for the navigation widget: Fixed position on page scroll: Fix the navigation bar into position at the top of the page as you scroll down. Show bottom border: Show a small border at the bottom of the navigation bar to separate it from other page elements. Show bottom shadow: Add a drop-shadow effect to the bottom of the navigation bar. Boundary padding The Boundary padding settings add padding to the top and/or bottom of the navigation bar. The first number field enables you to set the amount of vertical padding (in pixels) above the logo. The second field enables you to set the vertical padding (in pixels) below the logo. Breadcrumb widget configuration The Breadcrumb widget is the portion of the Header page template that shows the member where they are in the community, especially within the hierarchy of parent and child places. Note: The Breadcrumb widget cannot be adjusted on any other page templates. Link color and highlight You can adjust the color of the breadcrumb links and icons: Link and icon color: The color of the links and icons when they are not highlighted. Link highlight: The color of the link label when it is highlighted. Background color You can set a background color for your Breadcrumb widget using these options. The Background color selector applies your selected background color to the breadcrumbs. The colors available here have been set in your community's theme. When you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. The Background opacity option lets you set the percentage of opacity in the image you’ve uploaded. Visual effects The Visual effects settings enable you to turn on or off visual elements for the navigation widget. For the breadcrumb bar, the only visual effect option is Show bottom border, which adds a small border to the bottom of the breadcrumb bar to separate it from other page elements. Banner widget configuration The Banner portion of the Header page template contains the title of the page as well as any descriptive text you’ve included for a particular page. Note: You can override the settings of the banner in the page header on individual page templates outside of the Header & Footer template. If you make changes to the banner on another page template and you want to revert it to the default Header & Footer banner, you must reset the page template for that individual template. At that point, the global Header & Footer page template banner will appear on that page template. If you don’t reset the page layout after making changes to the banner, the banner will operate independently of the one on the Header & Footer template. Text colors Use the Text color drop-down menu to set the color for any text that may appear in the banner. The color drop-down menu doesn't just display the currently configured color for the item—it also indicates whether or not a selected color meets accessibility rules for the community. If you adjust the highlight style or color setting in a way that doesn't meet the rules, a caution icon appears over the color indicator. Additionally, when you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. Background color and image You can set a background color or add a background image to your navigation bar using these options. The Background color selector applies your selected background color to the navigation bar and any drop-down menus that appear from it. The colors available here have been set in your community's theme. When you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. The Background image feature enables you to upload a background image for the navigation bar and configure how it is aligned and displayed. The Background image appearance enables you to adjust 3 different settings: Size: Choose from among Auto, Contain, and Cover. Position: Choose an option with a combined alignment of center, left, or right and bottom, center, or top. Repeat: Choose from among No repeat, Repeat, Repeat X, and Repeat Y. The Background opacity option enables you to set the percentage of opacity in the image you’ve uploaded. Visual effects The Visual effects settings enable you to turn on or off visual elements for the navigation widget. For the banner, the only visual effect option is Show bottom border, which adds a small border to the bottom of the banner to separate it from other page elements. Footer You can adjust settings for the Footer section and/or for the widgets that make up the Footer. Out of the box, the Footer contains an uneditable widget with basic footer content (for example, some links to important areas in the community, Powered by Khoros information, etc). This widget is intended as a placeholder that you can delete and replace with your own footer content. You can adjust settings for the entire Footer section and/or for the widgets that make up the Footer. You can adjust the following settings for the overall Footer page template: The Background color selector applies your selected background color to the entire Footer page template (behind the widgets). The colors available here have been set in your community's theme. When you hover your cursor over a color choice in the color picker, the hex code is displayed. This enables you to distinguish between similar colors before making your selection. The Background image feature enables you to upload a background image for the entire Footer page template (behind the widgets) and configure how it is aligned and displayed. The Background image appearance enables you to adjust 3 different settings for the image selected for the Footer page template: Size: Choose from among Auto, Contain, and Cover. Position: Choose an option with a combined alignment of center, left, or right and bottom, center, or top. Repeat: Choose from among No repeat, Repeat, Repeat X, and Repeat Y. Other widgets You can also add custom or Text/HTML widgets to the Header & Footer. In these cases, several options are available. All options described in Custom widget configuration and Text/HTML widget configuration are available with the addition of two more options under More options: Use width of page content: Sets the widget as wide as the page content only rather than as wide as the browser window. Remove widget wrapper: Removes the default padding around the widget. Related topics: About Page Templates Using Page Templates Create and arrange sections in a Page Template Getting Started with Widgets Override the global banner on page templatesAurora: Ideas widget configuration
The Ideas widget provides a list of ideas in the related Ideas board. It is available on the Ideas Dashboard and Idea page templates. Layout Detailed List List Card Configuration Options List style Content alignment Title Number of items Sorts and filters List item/Card elements Lines of preview text to display More options Layout The layout options available for the Ideas widget are Detailed List, List, and Card. From the Edit Widget panel, select any of these options to change the layout of the selected type. Each layout has its own set of options. Detailed List The Detailed List layout features a smaller thumbnail accompanied by each idea's title, chosen elements, and content preview. List On the List layout, each idea is displayed in a list with its title and chosen elements. Card With the Card layout, each idea is displayed on a tile with its title, all chosen elements, and content preview. Configuration Options List style The available options in the List style section for the Detailed List and List layouts include: Space: Uses whitespace to create space between items. Divide: Adds a horizontal line to divide items. Border: Creates a border that separates items into individual boxes. Content alignment When you select the Layout of Card, you can also choose whether to align the card content to the left or center. Title The Title sets the title that appears at the top of the widget. If the Visible only to screen readers toggle is turned on, it is relayed only to visitors using screen readers. Number of items Use the slider to indicate how many Ideas (up to 20) can be displayed on the widget. Sorts and filters The Show filter and sort controls option enables the community member to filter the list of ideas by status and tag. In the Sorts and filters area, if you selected Detailed List for the Layout of the widget, you have the option to add multiple sorts and filters that appear on tabs or drop-down menus at the top of the list. Community members can click these to sort and filter ideas as desired. Click Add and select the ones you want to use. If you selected List or Card for the Layout, you have the option to select a single sort or filter option to organize the Ideas in the widget. Sorting options: Most Comments Most Recent Most Views Most Votes Newest Trending(combination of recency and number of votes) Status set filters: New In Progress On Hold Completed Closed The sort order for the status sets is always Most Recent. List item/Card elements Elements are additional pieces of information that you can turn on to be displayed in the widget. The list of available elements changes depending on which layout you've selected: Author Author rank Comments/reply count Idea Status Preview image Preview text Tags Timestamp Unread count View count Detailed List and List layouts have an additional Lead with menu. Select an option that designates what to show along with the idea in the widget: the idea author'sAvatar the content type Icon None The Detailed List and Card layouts have an additional Vote display menu. Select an option from among: Vote on Ideas: With this option enabled, members can vote on ideas directly on the Ideas widget. Show Count Only: With this option enabled, members see only the count of votes on an idea. None Lines of preview text to display The Lines of preview text to display slider gives you control over how many lines of text from the Idea are displayed along with the Idea in the widget. After the set number of lines, an ellipsis (...) is used. More options Additional configuration options for the widget appear in the More options section: Hide if empty: Prevents boards that have no ideas on them from appearing in the widget. Include “Show More” link: Creates a Show More link if more Ideas are available than the number designated on the Number of items slider. Optimize page-load time: Optimize the page's load time using a lazy load method. Widgets only appear as the member scrolls down the page, shortening the time to render the page.
