DocumentationAEM 6.5Communities Guide

Blog Feature blog-feature

Last update: Wed Oct 18 2023 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

CREATED FOR:

  • User

Introduction introduction

The blog feature for AEM Communities has transformed from an authoring activity to a true community activity that takes place in the Publish environment.

The blog feature supports providing community information in a journaling format. Blog entries are made in the Publish environment by authorized members (registered, signed-in users).

The blog feature provides :

  • Publish-side creation of blog articles and comments
  • Rich text editing
  • Inline images (with support for drag and drop)
  • Embedded social networking content (oEmbed support)
  • Draft mode
  • Scheduled publishing
  • Compose on-behalf (a privileged member can create content on behalf of a different community member)
  • In-context and bulk moderation of blog articles and comments

This section of the documentation describes:

  • Adding the blog feature to an AEM site
  • Configuration settings for blog components
NOTE
The components Journal and Journal Sidebar are titled Blog and Blog Sidebar.
The blog feature found in AEM 6.0 and earlier releases is now removed. It was based on a template and only allowed authors to create content in the author environment.

Adding Blog Components to a Page adding-blog-components-to-a-page

If it is desired to add a blog to a page in author mode, use the component browser to locate

  • Communities / Blog
  • Communities / Blog Sidebar

And drag them into place on a page where the blog should appear.

For necessary information, visit Communities Components Basics.

When the required client-side libraries are included, the Blog component appears follows:

add-blog-component

Configuring Blog configuring-blog

Select the placed Blog component so you can access and select the Configure icon which opens the edit dialog box.

configure

Blog settings

Settings tab settings-tab

Under the Settings tab, specify the basic features of the blog :

  • Allow Attachment Thumbnail

    If checked, a thumbnail of the attached image is created.

  • Max Attach Thumbnail Size

    Maximum size (in pixels) of the attachment thumbnail image. The default value is 800 x 800.

  • Min Image Size for Thumbnail

    Minimum size (in bytes) of image for generating thumbnail for inline images. The default value is 100000 bytes (100 kb).

  • Max Thumbnail Size

    Maximum size (in pixels) of the thumbnail image for inline image. The default value is 800 x 800.

  • Allow Privileged Members

    If checked, only Privileged members are allowed to create content.

  • Allowed Privileged Members

    Add the privileged members allowed to create content.

  • Block User-Generated Content in Author Edit Mode

    If enabled, blocks User-Generated Content while editing in Author Mode.

  • Journal Title

    The blog title to display on the page.

NOTE
The Journal Title is used to automatically create URL for the blog.
Maximum 50 characters (with 5 characters additional for uniqueness) are used from the journal title you specify here to create URL for the blog.

  • Journal Description

    The blog description.

  • Topics Per Page

    Defines the number of blog entries/comments shown per page. The default is 10.

  • Moderated

    If checked, posting of blog entries and comments must be approved before they appear on a published site. The default is unchecked.

  • Closed

    If checked, the blog is closed to new blog entries and comments. Default is unchecked.

  • Rich Text Editor

    If checked, blog entries and comments may be entered with markup. Default is checked.

  • Allow Tagging

    If checked, allow members to add tag labels to their posts (see Tag field tab). Default is unchecked.

  • Allow File Uploads

    If checked, allow file attachments to be added to a blog entry or comment. Default is unchecked.

  • Max File Size

    Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked. This field limits the size (in bytes) of an uploaded file. Default is 104857600 (10 Mb).

  • Allowed File Types

    Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked. A comma-separated list of file extensions with the “dot” separator. For example: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .doc, .docx, .pdf. If any file types are specified, then those file types that are not specified cannot be uploaded. Default is none specified such that all file types are allowed.

  • Max Attach Image File Size

    Relevant only if Allow File Uploads is checked. Maximum number of bytes an uploaded image file may have. Default is 2097152 (2 Mb).

  • Allow Replies

    If checked, allow replies to comments posted to the blog entry. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Voting

    If checked, include the Voting feature with a blog entry. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Users to Delete Comments and Topics

    If checked, allow members to delete the comments and blog entries that they posted. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Following

    If checked, include the following feature for blog articles, which allows members to be notified of new posts. Default is unchecked.

  • Allow Email Subscriptions

    If checked, allow members to be notified of new posts by email (subscription). Requires Allow Following to be checked and email configured. Default is unchecked.

  • Display Badges

    If checked, display earned and assigned badges with a member’s blog entry. Default is unchecked.

  • Do Not Get Replies on Listing Page

  • Allow Featured Content

    If checked, the idea is identified as featured content. Default is unchecked.

  • Enable Mention

    If enabled, allows registered community users to identify other registered members (using first name, last name, user name) and tag them using the common @user-name syntax. The tagged users receive notifications about their own mentions.

  • Max Mentions

    Restrict the maximum number of mentions allowed in a post. Default is 10.

  • UI Mention Pattern

    Specify the allowed pattern string to tag (@mention) the registered user in a post. For example, ~{{familyName}}{{givenName}}.

User Moderation tab user-moderation-tab

Under the User Moderation tab, specify the moderation settings :

  • Deny Posts

    If checked, trusted member moderators are allowed to deny posts and prevent the post from appearing on the public forum. Default is unchecked.

  • Close / Reopen Topics

    If checked, trusted member moderators may close a topic to further edits and comments, and may also reopen a topic. Default is unchecked.

  • Flag Posts

    If checked, allow members to flag others’ topics or comments as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.

  • Flag Reason List

    If checked, allow members to choose, from a drop-down list, their reason for flagging a topic or comment as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.

  • Custom Flag Reason

    If checked, allow members to enter their own reason for flagging a topic or comment as inappropriate. Default is unchecked.

  • Moderation Threshold

    Enter the number of times a topic or comment has to be flagged by members before moderators are notified. Default is 1 ( one time).

  • Flagging Limit

    Enter the number of times a topic or comment has to be flagged before it is hidden from public view. If set to -1, the flagged topic or comment is never hidden from public view. Else, this number must be greater than or equal to the Moderation Threshold. Default is 5.

Tag field tab tag-field-tab

Under the Tag field tab, specify which tags can be applied if Allow Tagging is checked on the Settings tab :

  • Allowed Namespaces

    Relevant if Allow Tagging is checked under the Settings tab. The tags which may be applied are limited to those tags within the namespace categories checked. The list of namespaces includes “Standard Tags” (the default namespace) and “Include All Tags”. Default is none checked, which means all namespaces are allowed.

  • Suggestion Limit

    Enter the number of tags to be displayed as a suggestion to the member posting to the forum. A value of -1 means no limits. Default is 0.

Configuring Blog Sidebar configuring-blog-sidebar

When you double-click the Blog Sidebar component, an edit dialog opens up.

Under the Journal Sidebar Settings tab, specify the date format for archives and what type of entries to display in the sidebar :

blog-component-sidebar

  • Date format

    The format used to display for archives of blog entries. The format uses placeholders following the Java™ convention.

    • yyyy : full year, like ‘2015’
    • yy : short year, like ‘15’
    • MMMMM : full month, like June
    • MMM : short month, like Jun
    • MM : month number, like 06

    Default is “yyyy MMMMM” which would display, for example, “2015 June”

  • View Type

    The Title and type of blog entries to display in the sidebar. The choice is between

    • Authors
    • Categories
    • Archives

  • Blog Component Path

    (Optional) The location of the blog resource from which blog articles are to be listed. If left blank, it uses the component of resourceType social/journal/components/hbs/journal that appears on the same page.

    • For example, /content/sites/engage/en/blog/jcr:content/content/primary/blog

  • Suggestion Limit

    The number of blog articles to be displayed. A value of -1 means no limit. Default is -1.

Site Visitor Experience site-visitor-experience

In the publish environment, the blog feature displays the most recent blog article followed by older blog articles in descending order of creation. Blog sidebars allow site visitors to apply filters to limit the selection of blog articles shown.

The blog article is followed by a link to post or view comments.

When a blog article is selected, the blog article and comments are displayed (if enabled).

Other abilities depend on whether the site visitor is a moderator, administrator, community member, privileged member or anonymous.

Working with Articles working-with-articles

When creating a blog article, there is the choice to do the following:

  1. Publish Immediately
  2. Publish a Draft
  3. Publish at a Scheduled date and time

The blog articles appear under the appropriate tab (Published, Drafts, or Scheduled) to members able to author on publish.

Moderators and Administrators moderators-and-administrators

When the signed in user has moderator or administrator privileges, they are able to perform moderation tasks (as permitted by the configuration of the component) on all blog articles and comments posted to a blog.

moderator-homepage

Members members

When the signed in user is a community member or privileged member (depending on configuration), they are able to select New Article to create and post a new blog article.

Specifically, they may:

  • Create a blog article
  • Post a new blog article on behalf of another member
  • Post a comment to a blog article
  • Edit their own blog article or comment
  • Delete their own blog article or comment
  • Flag others’ blog articles or comments

member-homepage

create-blog

Anonymous anonymous

Site visitors who are not signed in may only read posted blog articles and comments, translate them if supported, but may not add a blog article or comment nor flag others’ articles or comments.

anonymous-user-view

Additional Information additional-information

More information may be found on the Blog Essentials page for developers.

For moderation of blog entries and comments, see Moderating User-Generated Content.

For tagging blog entries and comments, see Tagging User-Generated Content.

For translation of blog entries and comments, see Translating User-Generated Content.

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