Site Pages vs Site Page Library and Linking to Subfolders in the Manage Home Page Menu

UPDATE:

For example:

• I have a site page named Become a Member Join Rotary Today. It is listed in the Site Page Library and the Manage Home Page Menu.
• If I click on view in both locations, the page that shows up is empty except for the page name
• If I click on the edit button to add content - the site page I built is there in front of me.

This is just one of the inconsistencies I'm having.
Thanks for any help
Barb

 

Hi Barb,

Great questions! Let me do my best to help clear up any confusion.

The Navigation menu allows you to build a navigation directory for visitors of your website that is show on the top of every page on the website. It does not create new content, but allows you to link to any type of content in ClubRunner, and link to external pages that are not on ClubRunner. If you're ready to add new content, or pages, to your site, those will be done through their respective areas. Please note that all menu changes are saved in a draft, make sure you click publish to push your changes live!

There should be no difference between creating a Site Page, or a Site Page for the homepage when you are in the Site Page libraries. If you choose to create a Site Page from the Site Pages for homepage in the library, it will automatically add the Site Page to the Site Pages for Homepage widget. You can also remove it from the homepage widget, and it will still be in the library.

In addition to Site Pages, which are highly structured, we also have custom pages which are free form and allow a much greater amount of control. They work much more like the homepage designer. You can create them by going into the Custom Page library.

Looking at your site as of today, it appears that you were able to get your site page content published, and menu published as well.

Please let us know if you're still having issues.

 

Hi Zach, Your time helping is really appreciated. Thank you!

1. You began the reply using the term Navigation menu...I am assuming this is the exact same as the "Manage Home Page Menu" Please correct me if I'm wrong, otherwise I'll assume I'm correct.
2. I clicked on the Edit Menu in the Manage Home Page Menu (Navigation Page) and many of my existing pages are there under the navigation folders. However - there is still a difference creating a page from here vs creating a page from the Site Page. (Steps I get there Website Content, Pages, Site Page Library.) And, they do not talk to each other.
3. I am understanding your reasoning between using Site Pages vs Custom Pages. I have used both.
4. You viewed my progress as noted in your last paragraph. However, it is only because I tried buttons 5-10 times and something finally took. But the same steps don't work every time. AND, my original problems exist, plus more.
5. More problems. I want to have one page that I can use in different menus. I had to go in and correct an article today and manually had to change it in 4 different locations.
6. Also, the Subpages under folders are not working correctly.

I'm trying hard to read the tutorials and make things happen. I know it is 99% operator error and I'm learning as fast as possible. In my mind, if I make a page in the Site Page Library, I should be able to use it anywhere. Is this correct or not?

I have developed our site and 1/2 is using one method and 1/2 is using another. The 2 1/2's don't talk to each other. And the 2 1/2's don't seem to be navigation the same way.

Is there a tutorial I can read?

Is there a person in tech support that can trouble shoot over the phone?

Thank you,
Barb

 

Hi Barb,

Great follow-up questions, let me do my best to help us continue to move forward.

Yes, the "Manage Home Page Menu" is the Navigation menu. It is used across the entire Club website.

You cannot create new pages when editing the Home Page Menu. The Home Page Menu only allows you create and manage links to content that is already in ClubRunner, or hosted external to ClubRunner.

You can link to a single site page so you do not need to re-created it in each site page collection. When you want to link to a completely different page than the one you are working on, you'll need to go identify the URL of the page first and then enter it as a link in the menu editor. When you click Add New Link, you'll want to change the Link Type option to Link and then enter the URL of the page. This issue is specific to site pages as they're intended as a bit of stand alone area where a lot of related content is entered.

I feel like this is where you may be getting stuck with the website designer and site pages. The Site Page workflow is really to help you create more pages in this site page to add more content.

Instead of continuing to create more site pages, I would suggest you take a look at using custom pages to do the same thing. You can get a large majority of the site page functionality with custom pages by using a custom page and a links widget. Custom page link widgets are able to link to any content in the system just like the Home Page Navigation menu builder. Moving all of your pages to custom pages instead of site pages may help reduce the possible complications you're running into..

Can you let me know what you mean by this? A specific example would be useful!

You can link to that site page in almost every part of the application. For almost anywhere that is not the Site Page Menu system, you should be able to see related content types in the link type drop down. It is only in the Site Page menu builder that you cannot easily cross link to non-site page content.

Yes, you can start a support ticket or leave us a voice mail, should we reach a point where we cannot make progress or resolve the issue over email we will reach out and call to work towards a resolution.

 

Thank you for the answers to my questions. I'm working through your recommendations one at a time. When I started learning Clubrunner, it had me start with site pages and I really like the way a site page manages the 'similar topic stuff'. I'm not seeing the same results on custom pages, but we can go over that another time.

I have some of my links working now. Will let it settle in my mind and ask additional questions later. Thanks again!