Blog channels are locations in your digital workplace where you create and store blog articles. These articles are often long-form, rich-text articles about news, updates, and announcements. Your digital workplace can have many blog channels, each focusing on a specific niche topic or targeting a particular type of user. While on a blog channel, users can view a feed of published articles and follow the channel to receive email updates about new content.
Users will only see articles that they have at least Read access to.
Sections in this article:
Considerations
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Initial access rules: When creating a blog channel, it will inherit any cascading, anonymous, and author access rules from the page or space above it. However, if you create this channel at the root of your digital workplace, it will be given the same cascading-specific access rules as your digital workplace's current homepage.
At the same time, the channel's anonymous access rule will receive a value of No Access, while the author access rule will receive a value of Full Access. Since the specific access rules are placed on the channel, not inherited, they persist even if you move the channel to a different location. To change the access rules on a channel, select Actions followed by Access to navigate to its Access page. - Aggregating multiple blog channels: The blog articles widget displays a feed of blog articles from multiple blog channels in one central location. For more information, see Blog Articles widget.
- RSS feed: Blog channels with anonymous access turned on have an RSS feed. You can find a link to the feed's URL at the very bottom of a blog channel.
- Channel URL: When you first create a blog channel, its URL will match the title you've given it. To change the URL of an existing blog channel, see Changing a channel's URL.
Layout
Blog channels consist of the following components:
Component | Description |
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1. Channel header |
The channel header is shown below your workplace's navigation bar and above the channel's content. It contains the following features:
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2. Channel feed |
The blog channel feed occupies most of the space on a blog channel. This feed initially shows a preview of the 10 most recently published articles. However, you can view the following 10 most recent articles by selecting << Older articles below the feed. The feed shows these properties of an article:
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3. Side panel |
The side panel of a blog channel provides metadata about the channel and additional actions for users based on their access. Features include:
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4. Channel trailer bar |
The channel trailer bar is shown below the contents of the channel and above the workplace's footer. Features include:
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Create blog channels
The workflow for creating a blog channel depends on what type of administrator you are.
Workplace administrators can create a blog channel by following these steps:
- Select Control Panel.
- Under Presentation, select Site Manager.
- Select + Add and then Blog.
- Complete the following fields:
- Title: Enter a name for the channel.
- Description: Enter a summary that describes the channel.
- Location: Select where to create the channel. The search box above the selection list returns up to 100 results. Only pages and spaces to which you have at least Read access are visible.
- Hide from navigation: (Optional) Select to hide the channel from navigation menus.
- Select Add to create the channel.
Space administrators can create a blog channel by following these steps:
- Navigate to the space.
- On the space's navigation bar, select Administration.
- Under Presentation, select Navigation.
- Select Add and then Blog.
- Complete the following fields:
- Title: Enter a name for the channel.
- Description: Enter a summary that describes the channel.
- Location: Select where to create the channel. The search box above the selection list returns up to 100 results. Only pages and spaces to which you have at least Read access are visible.
- Hide from navigation: (Optional) Select to hide the channel from navigation menus.
- Select Add to create the channel.
Regardless of the method used to create the channel, you should configure the channel once created.
Manage blog channels
Configure blog channels
To configure a blog channel, go to the channel and select Actions. From the Actions menu, use these options to configure the channel:
- Edit: Modify the channel's title, summary (shown in the channel's information panel), and custom content for the channel (shown above the channel's article feed). If your digital workplace supports multiple languages, use the language tabs and translation button to ensure that any text you enter is readable in all your supported languages.
- Advanced: Modify the page title, enhance how external search engines index a page (if your digital workplace is public), and add custom JavaScript code and CSS to the channel's page. For more information, see Advanced page.
- Access: Modify how users and groups interact with the channel and its contents. For more information, see Access rules.
- Subscriptions: Modify which groups are subscribed to the channel and at what frequency they will receive notifications. In addition, control whether auto-following occurs. For more information, see Subscriptions.
- Channel Template: Use the editor to enter text, headings, and other content to pre-populate all articles created on the channel. When a user begins creating a new article, the template contents appear in the user's editor. For more information, see Channel templates.
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Settings: Modify the following settings for a blog channel:
- Email Content: Select whether users can email articles to the channel and what email address the channel uses. For more information about emailing content into a channel, see Add content via email.
- Labels: Select whether labeling articles is mandatory. If mandatory, users must apply at least one label to an article before publishing it. For more information, see Labels.
- Comments: Select whether commenting is turned off for newly created articles. When turned on, this does not turn commenting off for existing content or prevent authors from turning it on for specific articles. For more information, see Comments.
- Anonymous Commenting: If your workplace has public registration and anonymous commenting turned on, select whether anonymous users can comment on articles and whether the article's author must approve their comment before displaying it to others. For more information, see Enabling anonymous commenting.
- Notification Settings: Toggle whether the body of blog articles posted on this channel are included in subscription notifications. When this option is selected, notifications will only include the article's title, summary, and a link to the content. Authors may override this setting when drafting their content using a similar setting available for the article. Only new articles will inherit the new setting when toggling this setting on an existing blog channel. For more information, see Disabling blog body content in email notifications.
- Moderation: Select whether the assigned moderators must approve articles and comments before being posted. For more information, see Moderation.
- Archiving: Select an archiving policy for articles on the channel. For more information, see Archiving.
- Pinning Content: Select whether authors can pin articles on the channel and the pin's expiration period. For more information, see Pinning content.
- Read Tracking: Select whether newly created articles have read tracking turned on and customize the text of this button. When turned on, this does not add read tracking on existing articles or prevent authors from turning read tracking off on specific articles. For more information, see Read tracking.
- Search Box: Select whether the channel and articles have a search box in the channel's side panel. This search includes only articles on the same channel. For more information, see Search.
- Networked Enterprise: If the channel is in the hub workplace of your networked enterprise, select whether authors can share their articles to spoke workplaces. For more information, see Sharing Hub Blog Channel content to one or more Spokes.
- Channel Color: Select a color to associate with the channel. This color appears as an accent on the channel and article names and helps differentiate the channel in widgets that aggregate content from many channels. For more information, see Channel colors.
Audit blog channels
To better understand how users are interacting with the channel, go to the channel and select Actions. From the actions menu, explore each of these options:
- Activity: View what actions (e.g., views, edits, etc.) users have been performing on the channel and when they did them. This page only tracks activity on the channel itself and does not include activity on articles that are on the channel. For more information, see Activity page.
- Manage: View the status (e.g., draft, published, unpublished, and in review) of articles on the channel. For more information, see Manage - Action button.
For more in-depth auditing, see Data feeds or the Insights program.
Move blog channels
The workflow for moving a channel depends on what type of administrator you are.
Workplace administrators should refer to Site Manager.
Space administrators should refer to Navigation page.
Delete blog channels
While on the channel, select Actions followed by Delete to send the channel and its content to the Trash Can. For more information, see Trash Can.
Create blog articles
For information about adding content to a blog channel, see Blog articles.