Overview
The Page Customization feature in the Self Service Portal allows you to:
- Customize some of the "system generated" pages, such as the login page or area-specific home pages
- Create your own custom content pages
Customization is done using a drag-and-drop visual designer, which allows you to select from a number of different predefined layouts, and includes support for a number of built-in widgets, including:
- Data widgets such as ticket / article lists
- Layout widgets like text or HTML blocks
- Functional widgets like login forms
Some examples of customized pages are shown below:
Getting Started
Navigate to the Admin Area > Self Service > Appearance > Page Customization
Customizing Existing Pages
To customize an existing page:
- Select the page in the grid
- Click the edit button
- Choose from one of the predefined layouts using the drop down in the top section of the page
- Drag and drop widgets from the list on the left to the layout cells on the right
Once you have added a widget to a layout cell, click the Properties button to configure the widget. The available widgets are listed below, along with their properties.
| Widget Type | Description | Configurable Properties |
|---|---|---|
| Login Form | A form displaying options for the user to log in to your SSP. You will typically only use this when customizing the system "Login" page | No configurable properties |
| Text Block | Allows you to put text onto a page using a Rich Text Editor | No configurable properties |
| HTML Block | Allows you to put HTML content onto a page - including embedded JavaScript | No configurable properties |
| Iframe | Allows you to add an inline frame (iframe) to a page, to embed content from another site into your SSP |
|
| Jumbotron | A UI widget allowing you to easily display a formatted page title / introductory paragraph |
|
| Data Lists | Available for each of the configured system areas, List widgets allow you to display lists of data. You can choose whether the items will be displayed as a list, or as a grid. The options available vary based upon which display mode you choose. |
|
| Global Search | A search widget which can be used to allow your end users to search across all system areas |
|
Adding New Pages
Adding new pages works in the same way as customizing an existing page - just click the "Add" button in the menu bar, and build your page using the page builder. However, some additional options are available for custom pages:
- Page Title - the title that will be used in the browser
- Allow Public Access - check this box to make the page accessible to unauthenticated users (bypassing any role restrictions you may apply below)
- Page Description - a description of the page (for your internal use only - this isn't visible to the end user)
- Roles - the roles who can access this page
Customizing The Menu
By default, a navigation menu will be rendered on the left side of the portal, with menu options shown for all the pages the user has access to, organized by system area.
To change the menu, click Customize Menu:
You can then configure your menu using the tree control; only 2 levels in the tree are supported at the moment. When adding a menu item, you can enter the test to use for the menu item, then choose from the following menu item types:
- Page - link to one of the system or custom pages in your SSP
- Queue - link to a specific queue configured in your SSP
- URL - link to a custom URL - inside or outside of your SSP
Regardless of which page type you choose, the menu item will only be shown if the user has permission to see that page.
Reviewed: 30 March 2023