Orbius User Support - Knowledge Center

Create pages not shown on menu

Samantha Sim — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:35:28 GMT

There are times when you would like to create pages in your community which you do not want to show on menu. There are two ways to do it.

First method:

1. Go to manage community then click on content space on the left.

2. Then select add a content page.

3. An url linking to a content page that is not shown on the menu will be created. Click on this link to go into the content page and you are free to add the content you want.

4. With the url that you have noted, you can now hyperlink it from any community content.

Second method (using this method, you can hide other type of features):

1. Add a new feature, such as a 1 column content page and make sure you note down the url of the page.

2. Then, go into manage community and select 'Features and menu items'.

3. Click on the name of the page that you have just created on the left.

4. Select 'Don't show this item in menu'

5. Now you have avoided showing this page in the menu.

6. With the url that you have noted, you can now hyperlink it from any community content.

Comment

john lukac — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:00:34 GMT

Okay... but how do I view the results of the survey?

Comment

john lukac — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:09:06 GMT

This doesn't match up with the new admin layout that you now have... you have content space and google tools

Getting started

CH Low — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:52:11 GMT

Now that you’ve successfully created your Orbius account, let’s start exploring how you can interact with other Orbius Communities!

Orbius houses many different types of communities that you may join. Our communities allow you to share ideas, keep members informed and organize information and knowledge.

If you have an idea for a community, you may also create a community and invite your own friends or colleagues.

You can maintain your personal connections and categorize them using your Orbius Profiles.

Joining a Community

Browse More Communities to find communities that may interest you. If there is a specific topic in mind, you may also Search using keywords. If you find a community you particularly like, try joining it and sharing your own ideas.

While in a community, you will also be able to create your own specific identity. This allows you as an Orbius member to be able to express your own individuality only to that community. There is no limit to how many communities you can participate in!

Please note that in some communities, the administrator may have chosen to make the community private or require users to request membership to join.

Creating a Community

If you have your own idea for a community, creating your own community in Orbius is simple!

You can kick things off by joining orbs powered by Orbius, meeting new people and understanding what an orb administrator's role is inside an orb. Once you're comfortable, you can create your own community in a few simple steps.

Start by deciding what you want to call it and choosing your own unique orl address. From there, you'll be taken through a few more pages to customize your new community and you are good to go.

To create your own community...

(a) From the Menu Bar, click the dropdown for “My Orbius” and then click the link for “Create a Community”, or
(b) simply click on the “Create a Community!” button on the Homepage.
Fill out the 4 step form and click on “Create my Community!”.
Our unique administrative features allow you as the community administrator to be able to fine tune many options in your community ranging from the look and feel of your community to individual member permissions.
You can manage all your community characteristics and members by clicking on "Manage Community" in your user panel on the right.

Try creating a community today and start sharing your ideas with other Orbius members!

Text Block( Video )

Xiang Li — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:07:21 GMT

1. Open Text Editor, click on "upload video" icon

2. Click on any source of video you want to upload. Here for example we choose Youtube

3. Put in Video URL

4. Confirm video

Text Block( Images )

Xiang Li — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:37:09 GMT

1. Open Text Editor, click on upload image icon

2. Choose the file you wish to upload (max 5Mb size)

3. Adjust the size before inserting the image

Calendar of events

Xiang Li — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:56:58 GMT

You need to be an administrator to add a Calendar of events.

Click on
1. Add new feature
2. Select calendar of events
3. Title your calendar
4. select member interaction permissions
5. position your calendar link in the navigation bar

Blog

Xiang Li — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:27:53 GMT

The blog feature on Orbius is very much like the other blogging tools available on the web. However, you can add categories to organize your blogposts as well as change the date that the post is published.
Members of the orb would be able to add comments to the blog posts.

1. Begin by creating a new blog entry. You can also add a new widget on the page.

2. You can enter the post title, determine the post date and simply post your content.

3. You can add the category that the post should be posted under and then click on 'publish'. Note that other members in the orb will not be able to view the post if it is left as a draft.

4. After publishing the post, you can make it featured by clicking on 'feature this entry.

Page Group

Xiang Li — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:18:34 GMT

A page group looks like a library without the folders but it is essentially a group of pages with it's own navigation. It is preferred over a content page when you would like information to be displayed in a more organized manner, and when folders are not needed.

1. Add a new page and select if you want to add a textpage or an image gallery

2. After entering the details, simply add item to save the new page
To arrange the pages in the order you want, go to manage pages.

You can click on the up and down buttons to move the items, the edit button to edit the name of the item and the delete button to remove the item.

Content Page

Xiang Li — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:59:46 GMT

The Content Page gives users the most flexibility in terms of what they can do with the webpage. It is basically a blank content page to which you can add a variety of available widgets.
There are two options available when you add a content page, which are a one column and a two column page.

1. A one column page

2. A two column page-- allows orb owners to place widgets side by side.

Customization

CH Low — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:00:43 GMT

When you create a community on Orbius, you have many ways to customize your community during the initial setup process. Here are a few!

Add a Description, Web Page Title and Search Engine Keywords for your new community. These will be key information for search engines to find your website or community.
Choose the features you want on your community. You can mix and match your choice of features from videos to photos, forums and blogs. Simply click on 'add widget" on the page that you are customizing. In addition, we're committed to adding new features for you to choose every few weeks. Learn more about the features on Orbius
Customize your community's appearance. You can choose from a number of different themes and customize each of them to make your community uniquely yours in the "Manage Community".
Decide whether you want your new community to be open to anyone or by invitation only. We typically refer to this as public or private.
Customize your community's member profile questions. In the community administration section, you can devise a list of survey like questions to ask your member when they join your community. Anyone accessing the profile page of your member will then be able to see the answers to the public questions.

Creating a Poll

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:08:32 GMT

A poll in which users can vote for one of the specified options. In Orbius, you can embed a poll almost everywhere, on the homepage of a blog, library, forum, on content page etc.
If you add a poll to the right side of any page, the poll will be shown on all pages of the community (as would any other widget that you add).

1. To add a poll, select poll after click on 'Add a new widget'

2. You will be shown the following:

3. Simply fill in the fields and click on create poll.

4. Note that the poll cannot be edited once it is created.

Featuring a Group

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:07:26 GMT

Featuring a group is a useful widget that allows you to highlight a particular committee or group of people inside your community. You can feature a group anywhere on your community pages as long as there is the 'add a new widget' button.

Before you can feature a group, a group must already be created.

1. Go to the page that you want to feature a group and click on ''add a new widget' button.

2. Fill in the details as required in the dialog.

Selecting a Large/medium/small thumbnai/list viewl will display the picture of members inside the group in the respective sizes.
Selecting Group Details view will display the name of the group, the number of members in the group and the group description.

3. Click 'save'.

What is Contentspace?

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:05:18 GMT

Content Space

The access to Content space is limited to the community administrators as it is found in the Manage Community section.

It is basically the place where you can add content like a page or a file that is NOT Linked directly from a menu item. The content located in the Content space are either kept private or can be linked from within the content of other widgets/applications.

With this, orb administrators can now avoid cluttering the menu with too many items and hence cause thing to get 'lost”. You can embed the files uploaded to Contentspace in any textblock. Note that the public files refer to those that can be accessed by anyone in Orbius while private files are only accessible by your community members.
You can also hyperlink the page you created in contentspace anywhere in the community, like in a textblock, forum post, calendar post, blog or library page.

Deploy a list widget

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:51:32 GMT

A list here refers an editable list of items or links. It is useful as a table of contents on the homepage or for display of different related weblinks.

1. Click on 'add a new widget' on the desired page of the community and select 'list'.

2. Enter the relevant information.

3. Click on 'add new item' to start entering the information to be arranged on a list.

4. Follow the steps below and repeat the process for the next item on the list.

Ideas Factory

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:47:18 GMT

The Orbius Idea Factory™ is a place where members can submit ideas and vote for the ones they would like to see implemented.
This would be an ideal tool for an organization which values the inflow of ideas from their members, for example for a new project.

Members can add up to 20 ideas in the Ideas Factory under the free version.

1. Any member of a community would be able to submit a new idea and rate the idea.
An administrator can change the setting of how the new ideas are displayed by going to 'display settings' and choose the ideas to show and the order in which the ideas are displayed.

2. Each idea may have to go through the approval process ( or not if the administrator has selected the settings to be all submitted ideas can be reviewed by others immediately under 'Feature settings')
It is only after the idea is approved that the idea can be viewed by the community members.

3. The administrator can also choose to feature the idea or give comments under the implementer's comment section. Other members can input their comments in the general comments section.

4. The administrator can change the status of the ideas as the idea is reviewed and eventually close it after it gained a permanent status (implemented/close/rejected).

Creating Groups

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:45:16 GMT

A group is a simplified version of a community but it has most of the essential elements as an orb. It has the following features:

Discussion forum
Content Library
Image gallery
Calendar of Events
Blog
Ask an expert

The Group feature is a very useful feature as one can be created for the following purposes:
1. Allow information to be organized as some of it may only be useful for a particular group of people.

2. To classify groups of people and assigning them certain permissions

3. While most members have limited permissions in a community, they can create their own groups to cater to a particular interest group within the community.

To use the Group feature:

1. Go to 'Group' on the navigation menu. It is a feature that will be added to your community by default.

2. Click on 'Create a new group'.

3. Then fill in the details as prompted.

4. A group will be created and you are now free to use it the way you would use a community

What can I do with a calendar feature?

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:41:17 GMT

Create a new event informing community members of details like the date, time and venue
Provide the URL of the map
Allow other members to RSVP
To view the guestlist and even export it to an excel file
For members to post comments
You can also feature the event

Discussion Forum

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:35:25 GMT

The discussion forum allows members in a community to post questions or thoughts to engage in conversations, thus allowing them to leverage on the collective intelligence of their community. This is a feature that is added by default whenever a new community is created as it is so useful. To start a conversation, you can do the following:

1. If you are an administrator, you can start by adding a new discussion forum category.

2. Then start a new discussion by clicking on 'start a new thread'!

3. Remember to select the category to which the thread should belong or create a new category.

4. The other member who wants to engage in the same discussion can just click on 'reply to this thread'.

Orbius Features

Xiang Li — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:28:23 GMT

In this Folder, you will find helptext and tips on using the various features in Orbius.

Feel free to provide us with clarification questions and feedback in the comment wall under the relevant section.

To add a new feature, you will need to be an adminstrator.
Simply go to the right side of each page, click on 'Add new feature' to select the feature you would like to add to your community.

The instructions on how to use the above features can be found within this library folder.

Inviting new members

Xiang Li — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:04:46 GMT

After you have created an orb, you can invite members to join by clicking on 'Invite Friends' on the right hand corner of any page.

You will have the option of inviting them by typing in their email addresses;

You will find this feature especially useful when you have a by request orb and already have a list of preapproved members in mind. If you invite them using this feature, you would not have to approve their requests to join community one by one.

Name, Icon & Description

Xiang Li — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:44:58 GMT

1. Go to "Manage Community" on the right menu bar
2. Choose "Name, Icon & Description " on the top

Guide on Mapping Domains

Xiang Li — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:42:57 GMT

Introduction

This document is a short guide on how to configure a custom domain to be mapped to a Community on the Orbius platform. For example, consider a user (“the client”) that wishes to use Orbius for their website and instead of using the default community Url of “http://mydomain.orbius.com”, they would like to use http://www.mydomain.com or http://community.mydomain.com.

Configuration

When a domain name is translated to a physical IP address (e.g. “www.mydomain.com” is actually resolved to the address of 123.45.234), there are two steps involved. First, the domain name is located by the “Nameservers”. The Nameservers or “DNS” (Domain Name System) then will translate a given name to the IP address.

After creating an Orbius account and appropriate community, the client needs to make sure that their domain hosting company (the company that they purchased their domain name from) is configured correctly. Usually—but not always—the domain hosting company will provide the DNS service for you. All you need to do is change the IP address for your domain to point to the Orbius platform (76.12.195.78). If your hosting company does not provide DNS services for you, then you will need to either purchase this service or use one of the existing free services available such as www.dnspark.net.

Manually Configuring DNS Setting

In the simplest case, the client will just configure all traffic for a website by creating an “A” or web record. To route all traffic to the Orbius platform, you’d configure:

*.mydomain.com points to 76.12.195.78

If the client wishes, they can also configure just a portion of their traffic to be routed to Orbius. This is sometimes done if the client wishes to host part of their site and have Orbius host the community.

orb.mydomain.com points to 76.12.195.78

community.mydomain.com points to 76.12.195.78

NOTE: that if the client has dedicated email, the email pointer (the “MX” record) does not need to be changed.

Orbius Configuration

The client needs to communicate which names have been configured to point to the Orbius platform. The Orbius staff will make the appropriate configuration changes.

It is best of both Orbius and the client coordinate a time to make the change at about the same time. Also note that it takes about 4-12 hours for the DNS to fully propagate through the Internet. During this period, the URL might be slow to return or might even appear to be unavailable (this depends on the DNS server used by the ISP of the person accessing using the new URL).