KB User's Guide - General Info - Internal and External Live Sites

This document will discuss the differences in the appearance of live KnowledgeBase sites.

To create or edit your KB site menus, navigate to the Settings tab > Menus.

Menu Options

The image below shows a blank menu waiting to be customized. The options for menus are described below:

Menu location

The location you choose has a significant impact on the layout of your KB site. Below are descriptions of each location option. 

• Top Left and/or Top Right

  Top Left and Top Right Links appear in a bar at the very top of the page in their respective corners. When multiple links are added to a Top Left or Top Right menu, they will be displayed horizontally, with the first link appearing the further left and progressing to the right. Please note that the top link bar will only appear if there is at least one active top left or top right menu item on the site.

• Link Bar - Between Logo and Search

  When this location is selected, the search bar will be moved out from alongside the site logo and will instead display in a separate section below, with the Link Bar appearing between the logo and new search areas. When multiple links are added to a Link Bar, they will be displayed horizontally, with the first link appearing the further left and progressing to the right.

  The image below shows a Link Bar between the logo and the search bar.

• Link Bar - Under Logo and Search

  When this location is selected, the Link Bar will appear below the combined logo and search area. When multiple links are added to a Link Bar, they will be displayed horizontally, with the first link appearing the further left and progressing to the right.

  The image below shows a link bar under the logo and search field.

• Menu Bar Dropdown - Under Search

  When this location is selected, the Menu Bar will appear below the combined logo and search area. Each menu added with this location represents its own dropdown menu in the Menu Bar area, ordered left to right, with the name of each menu displaying in the Menu Bar. When a user hovers over the dropdown name in the menu bar, the links will be displayed in a vertical list.

  The image below shows the Menu Bar. Under the "Learn More" menu item, you will see three links to choose from in the dropdown menu.

• Side Left and/or Side Right

  When one of these locations is selected, a column will be created to the right and/or left of the main content area. Each menu added with this location will be a separate grouping of links in the column, ordered top to bottom. The menu name will be displayed at the top of the link grouping, and an expand/collapse arrow will appear next to the menu name.

  If a user collapses a menu, their selection will be stored in a browser cookie, and this will be retained if the user goes back to your site in the same browser session. Additionally, UW-Madison sites configured with the new UW Theme layout will have menus auto-collapse at smaller screen widths.

Menu name

The name of your menu. The name you enter here will only be displayed to users if the menu location is "Menu Bar Dropdown - Under Search", "Side Left" or "Side Right".

For the other menu locations ("Top Left", "Top Right", and the two "Link Bar" locations), the Menu name will only be referenced by admins working on this page in the KB Admin Tools. For these menus, it is recommended you set the name to something simple (e.g. "Link Bar") for easy reference.

Visibility Settings

• Internal - Makes the menu visible on your internal site.

• External - Makes the menu visible on your external site.

• Full view - Makes the menu visible on desktop / laptop browsers.

• Mobile view - Makes the menu visible on mobile device browsers.

• Homepage - Makes the menu appear on your site homepage(s). (recommended)

• Doc page - Makes the menu appear on all other pages within your KB. You may specifically consider unchecking this for "Side left" and "Side right" menus, as these share screen space with your content.

Menu Order

Select what order the menus will appear on your site. Please note that the order is only relevant when you have multiple menus in the same location. For horizontally-displayed menus (e.g. dropdowns), order is left to right. For vertically-displayed menus (e.g. side left menus), order is top to bottom.

How to Create a Menu

1. Navigation: Settings tab > Menus.

2. Enter a name for your menu in the Menu name field.

3. Choose the desired location in the Menu location drop down menu.

4. Check the appropriate checkboxes based on the desired visibility of the menu.

5. In the Menu order field, enter a number if needed. If left blank, the number will default to "0".

6. Click the Add menu button to save the menu you just created.

Menu Items

The image below shows a blank Menu Item waiting to be customized. Note the red circle on the Menu name dropdown; this is the name of a pre-existing menu (named "UW MADISON KB").

• Link name - Name of your new menu Item (required field).

• Link URL - Enter link URL here (required field). If linking to a KB document, you need only enter the document ID number.

• Menu name - Specifies the menu in which you'd like the link to appear.

• Internal - Makes the menu item visible on your internal site (provided the menu it was added to is also visible on the internal site).

• External - Makes the menu item visible on your external site (provided the menu it was added to is also visible on the external site).

• Popup - Makes the link open in a new window/tab when a user clicks on it.

• Order - Specifies the order in which the items are displayed in the menu. For horizontally-displayed menus (e.g. dropdowns), order is left to right. For vertically-displayed menus (e.g. side left menus), order is top to bottom.