Widgets

The XperienCentral Workspace is where you manage the content for your website. The Workspace consists of the Editor in the main part of the workspace and two expandable sidebars, one on the left and one on the right. Along the top of the Workspace is the XperienCentral Configuration menu in the upper left part of the title bar, the Quick Search field, and at the top right the User menu.

The middle part of the Workspace, the Editor, is where you directly interact with your website. Here you can add content elements (images, paragraphs, separators, etc.), rich text and so forth to fill in the content of your website. The Editor is a WYSIWYG representation of the content of your website which means that the appearance of a content item in the Editor is exactly the same as what visitors see on the frontend of your website. This allows you to always see how your web pages, articles, page sections, and so forth look without having to take any further action.

In This Topic

Workspace Overview

The parts of the Workspace are shown in the figure below:

Customizing the Sidebars

The sidebars in the Workspace can be fully customized according to your personal preferences. You can resize the sidebars, add or remove widgets, and arrange the widgets exactly how you want them. The left and right sidebars of the Workspace work exactly the same: Each has a tab containing icons that allow you to minimize and maximize the sidebar, drag and resize the sidebar to your desired width, pin the sidebar to the Workspace, and add widgets. Widgets can also be dragged up and down in the same sidebar in order to rearrange the order in which they appear from top to bottom or you can drag a widget from the left to the right sidebar and vice versa.

Adding Widgets

Using widgets, you interact with the structure of your website, preview content, modify the properties of content items, and can see references between content items. XperienCentral contains seven default widgets that you can add to the Workspace sidebars. Your application manager and developers can develop their own widgets and easily add them to XperienCentral. Contact them for information on using widgets which are custom to your project.

Click one of the following for information on the default XperienCentral widgets:

• Site Structure Widget
• Properties Widget
• Language Widget
• Content Item Widget
• Is Used In Widget
• Context Widget
• Page Sections Widget

To add a widget to a sidebar, follow these steps:

1. Expand the sidebar to which you want to add a widget by clicking the expand button if it is collapsed:
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Click the Add icon at the edge of the Sidebar:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The "Add widgets to sidebar" dialog box appears.
   
   
   
3. Click the [Add] button next to the widget you want to add. For example:
   
   
   
   
   
   The widget is added to the sidebar.

Moving Widgets

The widgets in the sidebars of your Workspace can be dragged and moved around to suit your preferences at any time. You can arrange the widgets any way you like from top to bottom and you can also drag a widget from one sidebar to the other.

To rearrange within a sidebar, follow these steps:

1. Expand the sidebar so that the widgets are visible.
2. Hover the mouse over the title bar of the widget until a four-sided arrow indicator appears.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Click and hold the left mouse button in the title bar of the widget you want to move.
4. Drag the widget up or down to the desired location. While dragging the widget, an indicator will appear at the top left corner of the widget being dragged that tells you when it is in a position where it can be dropped. When it can be dropped, an outline box will appear showing the location where it will be placed.
5. When the widget is at the desired location, release the left mouse button. The widget is dropped in that place and the other widgets rearrange themselves accordingly (move up or down a slot).

To move a widget from one sidebar to the other, follow these steps:

1. Expand the sidebar containing the widget you want to move.
2. Hover the mouse over the title bar of the widget until a four-sided arrow indicator appears.
3. Click and hold the left mouse button in the title bar of the widget you want to move.
4. Drag the widget to the desired location on the other sidebar. While dragging the widget, an indicator will appear at the top left corner of the widget being dragged that tells you when it is in a position where it can be dropped. When it can be dropped, an outline box will appear showing the location where it will be placed.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. When the widget is at the desired location, release the left mouse button. The widget is dropped in that place and the other widgets rearrange themselves accordingly (move up or down a slot).

Manually Resizing the Sidebars

The sidebars can be resized to any desired width. This is done by clicking and dragging the Resizer. To resize a sidebar using the Resizer:

1. Hover the mouse over the resizer until the Resizer indicator appears.
   
   
   
   
    
   
   
2. Point the mouse at the resize icon, click and hold the left mouse button and then drag the Resizer to the left or right until the sidebar is the desired width.
3. Release the left mouse button.

Expanding and Collapsing the Sidebars

The sidebars can be expanded and collapsed with the single click of the mouse. To collapse a sidebar, click the Collapse button in the sidebar's anchor. The sidebar collapses. To expand a sidebar, click the expand button in the sidebar's anchor. The sidebar expands.

Navigating in the Sidebars

When the sidebar contains more widgets than can be displayed in one view vertically, a scrollbar appears (on the left side of the right sidebar and on the right side of the left sidebar). Drag the scrollbar and down to access the widgets that are out of view.

Floating Versus Docked

The sidebars have two modes: floating and docked. In floating mode, content can appear behind the sidebars — the sidebar is partially transparent and the content behind it can be seen. In docked mode, a sidebar claims the part of the screen where it is and content in the content item is adjusted so that all of it remains visible. To switch to docked mode, hover the mouse over the sidebar's tab (right of the left sidebar and left of the right sidebar) and click the pin icon. The tab disappears and the edge of the sidebar is flush to the content. To switch to floating mode, hover the mouse over the sidebar's tab (right of the left sidebar and left of the right sidebar) and click the pin icon. The sidebar tab appears and the content adjusts so that part of it appears behind the sidebar.

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Configuration Menu

In the top bar of the Workspace there is a link to the XperienCentral Configuration menu. When you Click Configuration, a menu appears which contains all the XperienCentral functionality categorized into functional groups. Help for each functionality is available by selecting it from the Help navigation tree.

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User Menu

The User menu, located at the top right part of the Workspace, can be accessed by clicking your username. The drop-down list consists of the following options:

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