Choosing a Portlet Type

Modified on Tue, 4 Aug, 2015 at 3:22 PM

There are many different types of portlets, each with a specific intended purpose.

Portlet Type:	When to use it:
Calendar	Displays a calendar on the side of your page. Dates with events on them will display information about those events when you hover your cursor over them, and you can click on any date with an event to go to that event's details.
Collection	Shows search results from an existing Collection. This can be used to create custom-filtered lists of other content from around your site that update automatically when new items that match the filters are created. For instance, you could have a Collection portlet that shows information about upcoming events for kids at your library, or with a list of the most recently acquired books at your library.
Events	Shows an "Upcoming Events" list that can be used to show when the next events at your library will be. If no events are scheduled, this portlet won't show up.
Login	Adds a "Log In" field to either side of your page. This is not necessary (there is a "Stafff Login" button at the bottom of the page) but can be added if desired to make the Login field easier to find. Doing this may confuse library patrons, so it is not recommended.
Navigation	Displays a list of folders, pages, links, and other content arranged in a hierarchy to help you navigate through your site. Generally this portlet is placed at the top left of the Home folder, causing it to show prominently on every page.
News	Displays a list of recently added News Items in descending order of publication.
Recent Items	Displays a list of recently created content items in descending order of creation. This can be used to show site administrators what their staff have been adding or changing on the site at a glance, or can show visitors to the site what's changed recently.
Review List	Displays a list of content items that are awaiting publication (i.e. that have been created but are still in "Private" state).
RSS Feed	Allows you to add an RSS feed from an external site that displays new content from that site. These are often used to display things like news feeds and bestseller lists.
Search	Adds a search box. This search will only search content that is a part of your Ploud site, and cannot be configured to search other sites such as eCatalogs.
Static Text	This is a generic text box that can be filled with anything that you could put into a standard Page - images, links, and text are all allowed. These portlets are used to create "Location & Hours" sections as well as add links to external sites.