Your Intranet Building Blocks: Subsites & Applications

Subsites

Subsites are independent areas of your intranet, storing content for key business areas. For example, you may create subsites for departments,
core services, or groups of users. Each subsite can be administered by different staff, then locked-down and maintained in a manner that suits
user requirements.  Please review this in-depth explanation of subsites and how they function within the intranet. 

In the above intranet structure example, there is the Home site and three subsites. Note: that each subsite has it's own URL, layout and applications. Despite utilizing different content applications, all subsites must use the same structural applications; Layout Manager, iD Themes, Nav Editor.

ApplicationsThe full suite of Intranet DASHBOARD Applications is stored within each subsite. Administrators can then select the applications they require to create the structure and maintain the content of their subsite. All applications fall into just two categories: Structure and Content.

Structural applications control the way users navigate around the intranet, how the intranet looks and which content is available. Content applications control the documents, articles, videos, web pages, links, images and all other information that users require from your intranet. 
Please review this in-depth explanation of applications and application behavior across the intranet.

Administering your Intranet: The Front End & The Admin

The intranet is comprised of two working areas; the Front End & the Admin.

• The Front End is where users view and contribute content.
• The Admin is where administrators control subsite structures, content creation and content approval

To administer your intranet, login to the Front End and The Admin. Instructions for logging in provided here.

  
In the Admin, Administrators create what users will see on the Front End

The Layout Manager: Laying out your intranet home page

It is the intranet layout that determines how users access content. You will create the layout using the Layout Manager application, allowing you to setup the screen layout for the home page of your intranet and subsites.

Use the Layout Manager to decide where to place applications in the layout.


Creating a template

Before you can create a layout, you will need to create a template to base the layout upon. You can either create a template from scratch, or you can select and use or select and modify one of the inbuilt subsite templates available within Layout Manager.

Recommended applications to include in the template are Site Header, Site Footer, Search, Nav Editor, Breadcrumb Bar, Quick Links and News.

Applying the template

Now that there is a template, the layout for the intranet home page can be created. By selecting the template, you can then customize the layout and reorganize the applications according to how you wish you home page to look. A template can also be copied for use in other subsites across the intranet.

In order for a layout to be displayed on the front end of your intranet, you first need to apply it in the applicable subsite by selecting the Applied radio button next to it. Note: you can have multiple layouts available in a particular subsite, but only ONE can be applied (active) at any time.

Creating a layout

Layouts are used to structure and present application content. They can be created via the Front End of the intranet by users who have been granted Front End Security of Creator level or higher.

Setting up subsites

An Intranet DASHBOARD installation typically consists of a collection of subsites. From the Admin, these subsites are then arranged into subsite groups. Administrative permissions can then be set based on subsite groups, or individual subsites as required.

Setting up a subsite group

A separate subsite should exist for each division, functional group or department in your organization. When a subsite is created it is automatically assigned a layout based on the default template, however, you can create a layout based on the template as created for the home page.

Adding a subsite and applying a layout

Once the subsite has been setup, you can edit the details and customize the options. This includes modifying the subsite name, adding a header image, assigning subsite administrators and customizing the breadcrumb bar options.

Customizing the subsite

The Nav Editor: Defining the information structure

Consistent, clear navigation ensures intranet users are quickly finding content. The Nav Editor is used to add and edit the horizontal and vertical navigation items across the intranet. Ensure that the Nav Editor is added to the layout of Home and subsites. Multiple Nav Bars can be created for each site and displayed there. Although best practice commonly dictates that only one Vertical Nav Bar and one Horizontal Nav Bar should be visible at any time.

Creating a navigation to suit your intranet

 

The Nav Editor is used to create links to intranet content. The Nav Editor creates both horizontal and vertical navigation.

Customizing the look of your intranet

Selecting the iD Theme to suit your intranet

The default Intranet DASHBOARD installation has an iD Theme already applied. You can change the "look and feel" of you intranet by selecting one of the other inbuilt themes using iD Themes.

Add your company logo to the intranet site header

The default Intranet DASHBOARD installation has a placeholder for the logo in the site header. Ensure your logo is 148 x 56 pixels before uploading.

Clever Tools

Managing Clever Tools

The Clever Tools list allows your to provide access to applications that you have not included in the layout of your site. Before the Clever Tools list can be built, please ensure that the Clever Tools application has been included in the layout for the applicable site.

Content Management

Publishing content

Publishing content is easy with iD CMS which allows Front End inline creation and editing of files and web pages using an easy to use, drag and drop interface. In order to start publishing content, you need to setup the templates and folders, as well as apply security settings to govern who can or cannot create, edit and delete pages and files. 

Publishing News

Publish articles and announcements on the intranet using News to keep your users up to date with latest information and updates from across the company. By publishing news articles regularly, you ensure that content is kept fresh and up to date which encourages your users to visit the intranet more often as their "sources for information". You can also publish RSS Feeds from external sites - this also assists in keep your intranet fresh with the latest industry news. In order to publish articles, you must first setup News categories within the applicable subsite.

Direct users to specific content

Adding banner ads

By adding banner ads to your intranet you have the ability to link to a page on the intranet or external applications/web pages. Banner ads are a great way of bringing attention to important pieces of information and directing users to specific content. You will need to setup the initial structure for banner ads using Ad Manager which includes the ad size(s), the location of the ad on the intranet and the category it belongs to.

Quick Links

Another way of directing your users to specific content is by using Quick Links, which allows for the creation of lists of links that can be included in the layout of a subsite or iD CMS page. These links can be to external resources or to pages/applications within the intranet.Additional Applications

To learn more about our suite of 40+ apps please see our Applications section or watch from a range of tutorials.