Channels
Channels are content containers in vBulletin 5 Connect. They are specialized nodes that allow you to build structure on the site. Channels can be several different types. These are Forums, Blogs, Social Groups and Special. If you have used vBulletin in the past, you can view Channels as an extension of the forums used in those versions. When you install vBulletin 5 Connect, there are a number of channels created. The Special channel holds things like private messages, albums, and other user content. You can control access to the different channels via permissions.
Pages
When using Site Builder, a page is where you build the display of your content. There are two types of pages in vBulletin 5 Connect. The first type are System Pages. These are the pages that are created during installation and provide the basic anatomy of a new website. Also each channel that you create will generate one or more pages to show its content. Some system pages can be heavily modified. Some like the registration page are faily static. The second type of page is the Custom Page. Custom Pages are any page that the Site Admins create to enhance functionality of the system.
Content
This is the actual content of your site whether it is Forum Topics, Blog Entries, or Group Discussions. This content is display in the various modules based on the options you set. You can display topics in a variety of Modules but the primary ones that will be used are the Activity Stream Module and the Search Module.
Anatomy of a Page
Each Page is made of of various elements to present the user with an interface to the site. Some elements are global to all pages. These include the Header, Navigation Bar, Breadcrumb, Notices and Footer. The rest of the Page is determine by the options you choose and the modules you configure.
Here is the basic layout of a vBulletin 5 Connect Page:
pagemockup.png
When you build pages, you will be primarily focusing on the Content area image above. Content is divided into up to three sections and we provide layouts with one or two columns at this time. Each section can contain multiple Modules and you control their positioning via drag and drop.
Page Layouts
The basic building block of a page is a Page Layout. Currently we provide three. These are:
- One Column (100%)
- Two Column with Left Sidebar (30/70%)
- Two Column with Right Sidebar (70/30%)
Modules
Modules are similar to Widgets in the vBulletin 4 Publishing Suite and Forum Blocks in the vBulletin 4 Forums. The main difference here is you can use the available modules on any page and in almost any section of the page. While the default system only ships with 12 modules currently, more will be added over time. The 12 modules it ships with are enough to build custom pages though.
Custom Modules
Several types of Modules (Search, Ad, Static HTML and Video) can be stored as Custom Modules. This allows you to customize them once and then use them on multiple pages.
Page Templates
The content area of each page is controlled by a Page Template. You can reuse page template or create a custom one for each page on the site. The Page Template is the stored value of your Screen Layout (1 or 2 columns) and the Modules that you have placed.
The Page is going to be the primary focus of Admins using Site Builder. Over the next few weeks, I'll cover the different aspects of creating pages, building navigation and using other tools in the Site Builder in order to create a custom community.
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