Managing websites

Website appearance and structure definition is the process of defining the look and feel, and the navigation of your RiSE websites.

The initial look and feel of a RiSE website is chosen when the administrator first defines the websites:

1. Selectively choose a website theme from a user-friendly window that displays a preview of what the theme looks like.
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2. Enable or disable the breadcrumb navigation on the site.
3. Use the Navigation areas section of the website's definition to select the navigation areas that are used on the site, which can change the links that appear on the website according to the definition of each navigation area.

To customize master pages, see Creating RiSE-built website templates.

To customize navigation areas, see Using sitemaps.

These fields control the properties of websites that are defined in your system.

From the Staff site, go to RiSE > Site Builder > Manage websites. Do one of the following:

• Select New > Website.
• Select an existing website.

Note: The Access Settings security options are the same throughout iMIS. For best performance, use Preconfigured security sets.

Note: Some of the file locations described in this section are expressed as root-relative URLs based on the root (~) of the physical path for the IIS application or IIS website that hosts the iMIS RiSE website you are creating. For example, ~/App_Themes, which in a default installation of an iMIS application server would be C:\Program Files\ASI\iMIS\Net\App_Themes.

Specifies whether this definition object is in a Working, PublishPending, Submitted, Published, Inactive, or Active state. Click the Click to collapse/expand icon to view further details, including who created the record, who modified it last, and dates of these changes.

• Content records in a Working state have been saved within the iMIS database, but the latest changes have not been made active on the associated iMIS RiSE websites by the associated publishing servers, and their corresponding publishing service.
• The Publish command on the toolbar queues the content record to the associated publishing servers, during which the content record is in a PublishPending state and can be viewed in the Pending Requests detail for the associated publishing servers. After each publishing server has successfully processed the publishing request, the latest changes become visible on the associated websites and become active within iMIS, both of which are denoted by the Published state.
• For all other definition objects, the publishing process is less complex and does not involve content authority group permissions, publishing servers, or the iMIS publishing service. When the object is in a Working state, the latest changes have been saved within the iMIS database, but they have not yet been made active within iMIS. The Publish command makes the latest changes active within iMIS.
• Websites in an Inactive state are offline so that browsers cannot view the website content, and instead see a 503 error (Service Unavailable) from IIS. Selecting the Is this website active? checkbox in the Status section of the website's definition puts the website in an Active state, enabling browsers to view the website content. Clearing the checkbox puts the website in an Inactive state.

• Name/Title of this website - Specifies the name of this website within iMIS and iMIS RiSE windows and reports. This value also appears as the default browser window title when viewing the home page of the website, but you can override this default browser-facing website name in the root navigation item of the website's associated sitemap (by using the Override Content Title field).
• URL name of this website - Specifies the unique site ID of this website as a hierarchical part of the complete URL to this website when the IIS application or IIS website used for iMIS RiSE is hosting more than one iMIS RiSE website.

This value is automatically generated when you enter the Name/Title of this Website to ensure that it will parse as a valid hierarchical part of a URL. For example, if there are spaces in the value that you specified in the Name/Title of this Website field, they are automatically converted to underscore characters in this field.

If you manually change this value, you must use a value that web browsers will correctly parse as a valid hierarchical part of the URI scheme used in URL syntax. You must also ensure that this value is unique among all iMIS RiSE websites.

• Advanced Options – The following configuration options are found in the Advanced Options pop-up window of the Properties tab:
  • Google Analytics script - If you are using Google Analytics to track website activity, paste the script provided by Google Analytics. For more information, refer to Tracking your site with Google Analytics.
  • Access Denied error message - You can define a more user-friendly error message to be displayed on the default 404 (404NotFound) and 500 (500InternalError) error messages when a user tries to access content for which they do not have access.

  Note: This section includes options for the integration of third-party APIs.

• Website base URL(s) - Specifies one or more URLs that resolve to IIS applications or IIS websites that host your iMIS RiSE websites. The staff or consultants who install iMIS RiSE on your organization's web servers should provide you with a list of URLs that correspond to each web server. These websites must begin with https and it is recommended that you include “www” in each website URL over a naked domain.

Use commas to delimit each URL after the first one. For example, if you want this website to be hosted on three external web servers in different geographic locations, you would specify the three URLs that resolve to the IIS application or IIS website used for hosting iMIS RiSE websites on each of the three servers. This requires that iMIS RiSE has already been installed on each server.

Important! If adding a new URL or domain name, you must contact ASI Hosting to assist with getting the website live.

• The base URL(s) above are used on more than one RiSE website - Appends the URL Name of this Website to each of the Website base URL(s) field. For example, if the Website base URL(s) is https://www.mywebsite.com/, and the URL Name of this Website is events, then the full URL to this website would be https://www.mywebsite.com/events.

When cleared, the Website base URL(s) cannot be used for any other iMIS RiSE website except this one.

• Make this website the default - Makes this iMIS RiSE website the website that is displayed when a browser requests only the URLs specified in Website base URL(s) without also appending the segment corresponding to the value specified in the URL Name of this Website. You cannot clear this box directly, because there must always be one such iMIS RiSE website that is specified as the default to display if a URL does not include the URL Name of the website. To clear this box you must edit the definition of another website that shares the same website root URL and select this checkbox in the other website's definition.

This checkbox does not need to be selected if the iMIS RiSE website is the only one being hosted by the IIS application or IIS website that is (indirectly) specified by the Website base URL(s) field. Saving a single instance of a secure website will automatically select this checkbox and mark it as Default. If multiple instances point to the same website root and the default is deleted you must set another secure website as Default for security reasons. At least one secure website must always be selected as the Default.

• (iMIS Translation license required) Always display this website in a specific language – When enabled, the website will always display in the selected language and users do not have the option to switch to a different language. This is setting is recommended for those who have separate websites for each language they support. Any active language defined at Settings > Language translation > Translation cultures will display in the Language to display drop-down. See Language translation for more information.
• Website-specific parent content folder - Specifies the site-specific folder that contains the content that is included when the website is copied.  When a new website is created, the field is hidden until you save the website and then the path is auto-populated with the website name (@/website name). On existing websites, the field defaults to blank. If you choose to copy this website later, only the content within this site-specific folder will be copied.

To get to a website's Look and feel tab, go to RiSE > Manage websites. Select the desired website, then click the Look and feel tab. The following configuration options appear:

• Use breadcrumbs on this website - Enables breadcrumbs (the hierarchical path of links to the current content) that appear directly between the global navigation and the page contents.
• Hide the keyword search field - The keyword search field is typically found at the top of the website, next to the Sign In, Create Account, and Cart links. Enable this option to hide the keyword search field. This includes websites using RiSE's Theme Builder.
• Advanced Options - The following configuration options are found in the Advanced Optionssections pop-up window of the Look and Feel tab:
  • Theme - Specifies the ASP.NET theme to use for the visual look and feel of the website. You can use this field to reuse a customized theme among several different websites, rather than needing to maintain multiple sets of the same customized theme files. See Creating custom themes for more information.
  • Template (master page) - Specifies the ASP.NET master page to use for the layout of the entire website or special types of website pages as indicated by the field name. You can use this site's layout field to reuse a customized master page among several different websites, rather than maintain multiple versions of the same customized master page. The master pages shown in the list are the contents of the ~/Templates/MasterPages folder.
  • Template (master page) to use for "Print this page" - Specifies the layout to use to render print-friendly page views.
  • Template (master page) to use for text only - Specifies the layout to use to render text-only page views.
  • Template (master page) to use for pop-ups - Specifies the layout to use to render pop-up windows.
• Custom CSS - Allows you to add custom CSS classes in order to further customize the look and feel of the website. The maximum character limit for the Custom CSS field is 30,000 characters.
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  For example, the CSS classes applied here result in the button borders being red, and a dark orange On Behalf Of bar.

  Note: Changes are applied once the website is saved and published.

• Folder containing template content - Specifies the relative Document system path to the folder that contains the websites content. Use the format @/etc/etc. You can use this field to reuse customizations you might have made to the content area files for another website that shares the same template design, which spares you maintaining multiple sets of the same customized content records.
• Website theme - Specifies the theme that will be used as the visual look and feel of the selected site. If the theme you select does not have an associated MasterPage, you will need to select one from the Advanced section.

Note: If the theme you are looking for does not appear here, you can select it from the drop-down in the Advanced section.

• Favicon - Specifies the image that will be used as the favicon for browsers. Images used for the site favicon should be square, at least 48 x 48 pixels, and if larger, must be a multiple of 48 (e.g., 96 x 96, 144 x 144). The following image file formats are allowed:
• ICO
• PNG
• JPG
• JPEG

Note: Using any file formats outside of those specified will yield an error message. SVG file formats are not supported.

• Mobile favicon - Specifies the image that will be used as the favicon for mobile devices. Your site visitors will see the mobile favicon when they bookmark a page, or add it to their homescreen on their mobile device.

Images used for your mobile site favicon should be square, at least 48 x 48 pixels, and if larger, must be a multiple of 48 (e.g., 96 x 96, 144 x 144). The allowed file format for the mobile favicon is PNG.

Note: Using any file formats outside of those specified will yield an error message. SVG file formats are not supported.

• Page title suffix - Allows users to create a browser tab title to identify the site on their browser and bookmarks. In most cases, this is the name of the site or organization. The maximum number of characters allowed for this option is 150, including special characters.
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Note: If you do not specify both the Learn more link text and the Content or URL to link to, the Learn more link text will not display.

• Show a cookie warning - In some European countries, it is required by law for websites to ask for permission to use cookies. Enable this option to show a message to website users about cookies on your website. See Website cookies for more information.

When enabled, the following configuration options appear:

• Cookie warning message - Enter warning message to be displayed in the banner. The default message is This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
• Learn more link text - Enter introductory phrase that precedes link to content informing your website visitors about how the site uses cookies. The default text is Learn more.
• Content or URL to link to - Select content or URL that links to your site’s cookie policy.

Note: If you do not specify both the Learn more link text and the Content or URL to link to, the Learn more link text will not display.

• Accept text - Specifies text that accompanies the Accept button. The default text is Accept Cookies.
• Reject text - Specifies text that accompanies the Reject button. The default text is Reject Cookies. If there is no text set, the website will still display Reject Cookies.
• Warning location - Specifies where the warning banner will display on the website. Select a position from the drop-down. The default banner location is Bottom.
• Consent type - The GDPR rules for consent specifically state that users must signify consent; therefore, silence, pre-ticked boxes, or inactivity is not considered consent. If you must comply with GDPR, choose Explicit.
  • Explicit (opt-in): This option is GDPR compliant. Only strictly necessary cookies may be placed until cookies are accepted.
  • Implicit (Opt-out): This option is not GDPR complaint. All cookies may be placed until the user rejects cookies.

This area lists all of the navigation areas that are defined for use in the iMIS RiSE environment.

The specific navigation areas that you select here determine which navigation areas are available for use by the navigation items that you define in the sitemap for this website. You must ensure that the template used by this website contains elements that support all of the navigation areas that you select.

For more information, see Navigation areas.