In this article, you'll learn how to apply legacy layouts (think of these as default layouts) and custom layouts to one or more of your community pages.
Access your layouts
Legacy and custom layouts are available in the Dashboard, via the Appearance tab > LAYOUTS section.
Layouts are grouped by community area, in the sections highlighted below:
- Home Pages
- Post List Pages
- Category Pages
- Post Pages
- Knowledge Base Pages
Expand a section to access its layout settings (where you choose whether to use a Legacy or Custom layout for that community area), as well as create and manage custom layouts specific to that community area.
Layouts overview
For more information about the visual look of the layouts discussed in this article, and the community pages they apply to, check out the article below.
Components of a layout
The building blocks of a layout are:
- sections, which dictate the page's available "real-estate,"
- and widgets, which are added to sections to control the page's content.
Choose between legacy and custom layouts
Because there are two types of layouts (legacy and custom), you need to instruct the system which type to use for each area of your community:
As shown below, each of these main areas has a Layout Settings page. Click to expand an area (and sub-area as needed) to access its associated Layout Settings page.
Layout Settings overview
On each of these pages, you'll notice the Layout Version section highlighted below. This is where you choose whether this area of your community will use a legacy or custom layout.
In the example below, we're managing the Home Layout Settings page, and so we're deciding whether our community's Home page will use a legacy or custom layout.
- Custom Layouts option: Select this to tell the system you're going to use a custom layout for this area of your community. When selected, you'll then need to edit one of your available custom layouts and apply it (more on this below).
- Legacy Layouts option: Select this to tell the system you're going to use a legacy layout for this area of your community. When this option is selected, the available legacy layouts are enabled below. Check out this article to learn more about the various legacy layouts.
Once you've made your selection, click Save at the top right of the page to apply the change.
Apply a custom layout
Once a custom layout has been created and saved, it can be applied in several ways. To apply a custom layout:
- Locate and select the layout you want to apply.
- Click the ellipsis (...) menu at the top right, followed by Apply.
- At this point, a dialog will display offering you a few choices on how to apply the layout. Refer to the sections below for more information.
Home Page layouts
You can apply custom Home page layouts at the Site and Subcommunity Home level.
- Site Homepage layouts apply to just the "main site" (no subcommunities).
- Subcommunity Home layouts can be applied as the:
- default for ALL subcommunity home pages,
- granularly to one or more specific subcommunities,
- or as the default layout for specific knowledge bases.
📝 NOTE: Subcommunity layouts are only available if your Vanilla community uses the Subcommunity feature. See Subcommunities to learn more.
Post List Pages layouts
Your community's Post List page is what your users see when navigating to Discussions on your community's navigation bar.
You can apply custom Post List page layouts:
- as the default for ALL Post List pages,
- to all Post List pages within specific subcommunities (if applicable),
- to all Post List pages within specific knowledge bases.
Category page layouts
There are a few types of Categories. Check out this article to learn more about each type.
For the purpose of custom layouts, you can apply them for the Category List page (your community's Categories landing page, accessible via the navigation bar) as well as the Discussion and Nested Category Types.
- Category List layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Category List pages,
- to all Category List pages within subcommunities,
- to all Category List pages within specific knowledge bases.
- Posting Category layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Categories of the type, Discussion,
- to all Discussion Categories within specific subcommunities,
- to all Discussion Categories within specific Categories.
- Nested Categories layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Categories of the type, Nested,
- to all Nested Categories within specific subcommunities,
- to all Nested Categories within specific Categories.
Post page layouts
Above, you learned that the Post List page refers to your community's main landing page hosting its posts (discussions, questions, and ideas); these Post Page layouts, on the other hand, refer to the individual post pages users view when clicking a discussion, idea, or question from the post list.
- Discussion layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Discussion posts,
- to all Discussion posts within specific subcommunities,
- to all Discussion posts within specific Categories.
- Idea layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Idea posts,
- to all Idea posts within specific subcommunities,
- to all Idea posts within specific Categories.
- Question layouts can be applied as the:
- as the default for ALL Question posts,
- to all Question posts within specific subcommunities,
- to all Question posts within specific Categories.
Knowledge Base layouts
In addition to a layout dedicated to your Knowledge Base landing page, several layouts are available for each type of knowledge base: Guide and Help Center. For a refresher on both types of knowledge bases, check out this article.
- Knowledge Base Home Page layouts can be applied:
- as the default for all Knowledge Base Home Pages,
- to all Knowledge Base Home Pages within specific subcommunities.
- Help Center Home Page layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Help Center Home pages,
- to all Help Center Home Pages within specific subcommunities,
- to all Help Center Home Pages within specific Help Center knowledge bases.
- Help Center Category Page layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Help Center Category pages,
- to all Help Center Category pages within specific subcommunities,
- to all Help Center Category pages within specific Help Center knowledge bases.
- Help Center Article Page layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Help Center Article pages,
- to all Help Center Article pages within specific subcommunities,
- to all Help Center Article pages within specific Help Center knowledge bases.
- Guide Article Page layouts can be applied:
- as the default for ALL Guide Article pages,
- to all Guide Article pages within specific subcommunities,
- to all Guide Article pages within specific Guide knowledge bases.
Custom layout tips
- You can apply a custom layout to multiple pages at once. In addition, you can apply a layout to your global site home page and to subcommunity home pages (if enabled). This allows you to uniquely customize each of your subcommunities, if needed.
- When a custom layout is applied, a visual indicator is displayed when it's selected (to the right of the title) and in the dropdown menu, as shown below. In addition, details let you know when the layout was created, who created it, the last update date, and where it's applied. This info is helpful for Vanilla communities that have multiple layouts applied to different home pages (or Category pages in the future).
- You cannot delete custom layouts that are currently applied: the Delete option in ellipsis (...) menu will be greyed out and there will be an alert to indicate why.
