KB User's Guide - Training - Tour of a KnowledgeBase (KB) Site

Users who access your published KB content will do so by visiting your "live site". This document describes both the standard and optional elements that appear on your live site, particularly your homepage.

For a high-level overview of how the KB is intended to be used, please see our article: What is the KnowledgeBase?

Site Header

Your site's header will always contain a logo and/or text-based site title, which will display the name of your particular KB site. The header also contains the site search bar, though the location of the search bar can change depending on the site menus you configure.

On the UW Demo & Training site, there is a top link bar with both a top left and top right link. The next element in the header is the UW crest and the site title, followed by the search bar. After the search bar, there is a dropdown menu bar that contains four dropdown menus, named Resources, Contact Us, Learn More, and Administrators.

In most cases, the search bar will appear to the right of your site title on wide screens, and below it on narrow screens. Depending on the searching and sorting options you have configured for your site, you may have additional dropdown menus (used to filter searches) and/or additional links next to the "Search" button.

Your site header can also contain groups of links, referred to as menus. The following menus can be used in your site header as desired to customize your site:

  • Top left menu
  • Top right menu
  • Link bar (either above or below the search bar)
  • Dropdown menu

To learn more about adding and updating menus, please see KB User's Guide - Settings Tab - Menus

Main Content Area

The main content area of your KB site may contain one, two, or three columns, depending on whether you have enabled any side left or side right menus. If you do not have any side menus enabled, you will have a single column layout. Adding a side menu will create a smaller column to the left and/or right of the main column.

On the UW Demo & Training site, there are two side left menus, named Topics Tree and Quick Links, which together make up the first column. The next and largest column is the main content area, which displays the content modules on the homepage. There is also a side right menu named KB Help, which makes up the third column.

On your site's homepage, the main column will display the content modules you have enabled and/or created for your site. Outside of the homepage, the main column is where the relevant page content will be displayed, e.g. your search results after performing a search, or the contents of the document you are actively viewing.

Footer

Your site's footer will be displayed after the main content area on every page. Your site footer can be customized as desired with information relevant to your site. On internal sites, there is an additional line that will always appear, which will show the username of the person viewing the internal site, along with a link to view "favorite" documents and a link to sign out.

The footer is at the very bottom of the site. On the UW Demo & Training internal site, it contains an email link to contact the KB Team, a copyright line, and a line showing that the current user is bbadger@wisc.edu, followed by links to Favorites and Sign Out.

    See Also


    Keywords:
    Tour of KnowledgeBase KB knowledge base parts sections components elements homepage 
    Doc ID:
    15355
    Owned by:
    Leah S. in KB User's Guide
    Created:
    2010-10-21
    Updated:
    2024-07-02
    Sites:
    KB User's Guide