33 Customizing WebCenter Spaces

This chapter describes how to customize WebCenter Spaces for your target audience. You must login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges to set any of the application-wide properties described here.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Audience

The content of this chapter is intended for WebCenter Spaces administrators. Users granted the WebCenter Spaces Administrator role or a custom role that grants the Application-Manage permission).

33.1 Naming Your WebCenter

Out-of-the-box, the application name WebCenter Spaces appears in the banner (see Figure 33-1). If you prefer, you can change the name to better suit your target audience. For example, you might want to display your company name here or the name of a department within your company.

Figure 33-1 Naming Your WebCenter

Customizing the Help Link

Note:

You can change the logo that displays next to the application name too. See Section 33.4, "Changing the WebCenter Logo".

To change the name of your WebCenter Spaces application:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. In the Application Name field, enter the new name.

    Alphanumeric characters are allowed and also spaces, underscores (_) and dashes (-). For example, Finance Department - My Corporation.

  5. Click Apply.

33.2 Customizing the Online Help Link

Online help for WebCenter Spaces displays when you click the Help link located at the top of the application (see Figure 33-2). Out-of-the-box, this Help link opens Oracle's built-in help. If you want, you can write online help specifically aimed at your end-users and redirect the Help link to a different help location.

Figure 33-2 Customizing the Help Link

Customizing the Help Link

When you customize the Help link, built-in help for WebCenter Spaces is still available through help buttons, help icons, and so on.

To customize the main Help link for WebCenter Spaces:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. In the Global Help URL field, enter the location of your help (Figure 33-2).

    Ensure that you enter a fully qualified URL in the format:

    http://host:port/helplocation 
    

    For example:

    http://myhost:8888/myhelp 
    

    The default Global Help URL is /webcenterhelp/spaces. This URL opens Oracle Help for the Web (OHW) and displays Oracle's built-in help for WebCenter Spaces.

    Note:

    If you leave the Global Help URL field blank, the Help link is not displayed.
  5. Click Apply.

Click Help at the top of the application to check the custom help opens correctly.

33.3 Customizing the Sidebar

The Sidebar in WebCenter Spaces offers users quick access to personal services such mail, worklist assignments, personal contacts, and more. Out-of-the-box, the Sidebar will offer the full range of WebCenter services that are available and WebCenter users can hide any services they do not use or require.

Figure 33-3 The Sidebar

Customizing the sidebar

The Sidebar is configurable. WebCenter Spaces administrators can customize the default sidebar for all users as follows:

33.3.1 Hiding and Showing Task Flows in the Sidebar

Administrators can choose which services are available through the sidebar and the order they are displayed. If some services are not in use or not yet configured you can hide them.

If you want to hide the entire sidebar, hide all available services.

To hide or show services on the sidebar:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the Personal Space tab.

  4. Click the Sidebar tab.

  5. Set the Display option (Figure 33-4):

    • Click the gray cross to show an item on the sidebar (cross changes to check mark).

    • Click the green check mark to hide an item on the sidebar (check mark changes to cross).

    Figure 33-4 Customizing the Sidebar

    Customizing the sidebar
  6. Use the Move Up and Move Down arrows to change the display order.

Any changes you make immediately impact everyone's personal sidebar.

33.3.2 Locking Sidebar Content

Users can personalize their sidebar, that is, display sidebar panes when they require them and hide sidebar panes that they do not need or use. Sidebar personalization is useful for hiding non-essential services but might prove less desirable for sidebar content that is critical for user productivity. By locking individual panes on the sidebar, WebCenter Spaces administrators can control which resources always display and which resources never display.

To lock sidebar content:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the Personal Space tab.

  4. Click the Sidebar tab.

  5. Set Allow Personalization (Figure 33-5):

    • Click the gray cross to allow user personalization (cross changes to check mark).

    • Click the green check mark to prevent user personalization (check mark changes to cross).

    Figure 33-5 Controlling Sidebar Personalization

    Customizing the sidebar

Any changes you make immediately impact everyone's personal sidebar.

33.4 Changing the WebCenter Logo

One way to apply corporate branding to WebCenter Spaces, is to add your company logo to the top left corner of the application (Figure 33-6). If your company's logo is not suitable, any graphic that brings visual interest can be used.

Note:

You can change the application name that displays next to the logo too. See Section 33.1, "Naming Your WebCenter".

The logo you specify will resize automatically, according to the application skin.

Figure 33-6 Changing the WebCenter Logo

Changing the WebCenter Logo

To change the WebCenter logo:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. Click Browse for the Application Logo property.

    The File Upload dialog box opens.

  5. Select the logo you want to use.

  6. Click Apply to save.

The logo is uploaded to the WebCenter Spaces image directory (/webcenter/images) and the new logo immediately appears in the top left corner of the application banner.

33.5 Applying Look and Feel Using Skins

As WebCenter Spaces Administrator, you may customize the appearance of WebCenter Spaces for all users by changing its skin. A skin changes the way the user interface appears, but does not change the application's behavior. A selection of built-in skins are provided with WebCenter Spaces. Alternatively, create skins of your own and brand the application according to your corporate image.

This section includes the following subsections:

33.5.1 What You Should Know About Application Skins

The look and feel of WebCenter Spaces is driven by an ADF Faces skin. A skin in ADF Faces is a global style sheet for the entire application. Every component in WebCenter Spaces will automatically use the styles described by this skin. ADF Faces skins are based on the Cascading Style Sheet specification, and use CSS 3.0 syntax.

Out-of-the-box, WebCenter Spaces uses the Deep Sea skin. In addition, WebCenter Spaces provides several built-in skins, with names such as Storm and Midnight, so that you can experiment with some different look and feels. For details, see Section 33.5.2, "Selecting a Skin".

If none of the built-in skins suit your requirements or you want to apply a look and feel that reflects your corporate brand, you may provide your own ADF Faces skin and apply it to WebCenter Spaces. For details, see Section 33.5.3, "Making New Skins Available to WebCenter Spaces".

33.5.2 Selecting a Skin

To apply a different skin to your WebCenter Spaces application:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. Choose an Application Skin from the list provided.

    The skin list provided is generated from a file called trinidad-skins.xml. To add skins to this file, read Section 33.5.3, "Making New Skins Available to WebCenter Spaces".

  5. Click Apply.

The selected skin is immediately applied to WebCenter Spaces.

33.5.3 Making New Skins Available to WebCenter Spaces

If none of the built-in skins suit your requirements or you want to apply a look and feel that reflects your corporate brand, you may provide your own ADF Faces skin and apply it to WebCenter Spaces.

Custom skin deployment typically takes place before the WebCenter Spaces application goes live or during scheduled maintenance periods. As well as providing the skin file (.css) and all supporting images, you must register the skin in a trinidad-skins.xml file, build and deploy a customized WebCenter Spaces .WAR file, and restart WebCenter Spaces. For more information, refer to the white paper "Extending WebCenter Spaces" available on the Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/webcenter/pdf/owcs_r11_extend_spaces_wp.pdf).

33.6 Applying Site Templates

In WebCenter Spaces, site templates define the structure of WebCenter pages, and also the content. Every page, whether displayed in a personal space or a group space, is displayed within a site template.

For example, a typical site template might define areas such as the global tool bar, the sidebar, the footer, and so on (Figure 33-7).

Out-of-the-box site templates include:

  • Default - Normal WebCenter Spaces view with global tool bar, the sidebar, the footer, and so on.

  • Maximized - Displays personal spaces and group spaces in full-screen mode to occupy the entire screen; all other WebCenter Spaces components are hidden.

Figure 33-7 Out-of-the-Box Site Templates

Application Templates - chromeLevel Options

Administrators can define the site template that is applied to:

  • Everyone's personal space

  • New group spaces, by default

Group space moderators can override the default selection in their group space but users cannot override the site template applied to their personal space. See Section 33.6.1, "Choosing the Default Site Templates for Personal Spaces and Group Spaces".

Users can view any page with any one of these site templates by appending a URL parameter called wc.chromeLevel to the page's URL.

  • Default Site Template - http://host.com/webcenter/spaces/mygroup/page/Contacts?wc.chromeLevel=default

  • Maximized Site Template - http://host.com/webcenter/spaces/mygroup/page/Contacts?wc.chromeLevel=gsDefault

Site templates are defined in XML files. If you want to exclude certain content or display different content within these template areas you can modify any of the out-of-the-box site templates through JDeveloper or you can create new site templates of your own. You can also customize the site template list, such that your users only see site templates that you want them to use. See Section 33.6.2, "Making New Site Templates Available to WebCenter Spaces".

33.6.1 Choosing the Default Site Templates for Personal Spaces and Group Spaces

To select the site template that is used to display personal spaces and a default site template for group spaces:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. Choose a Site Template for Personal Space from the list provided.

    The site template you select is applied to everyone's personal space.

    Note:

    If you choose the Maximized option, users will not have access to My Group Spaces, user preference settings, favorites, or the Sidebar.

    To add your own site templates to this list, read Section 33.6.2, "Making New Site Templates Available to WebCenter Spaces".

  5. Choose a Default Site Template for Group Spaces from the list provided.

    The site template you select is applied to all new group spaces. Group space moderators choose a different site template for their group space if required.

    To add your own site templates to this list, read Section 33.6.2, "Making New Site Templates Available to WebCenter Spaces".

  6. Click Apply.

33.6.2 Making New Site Templates Available to WebCenter Spaces

If the out-of-the-box site template set does not suit your requirements, you may provide your own template set for WebCenter Spaces. You can modify any of the out-of-the-box site templates through JDeveloper, you can create new site templates of your own, and you can customize the list of templates on offer inside WebCenter Spaces.

Site template customization typically takes place before the WebCenter Spaces application goes live or during scheduled maintenance periods as you must build and deploy a customized WebCenter Spaces .WAR file that contains your site templates, and restart WebCenter Spaces. For more information, refer to the white paper "Extending WebCenter Spaces" available on the Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/webcenter/pdf/owcs_r11_extend_spaces_wp.pdf).

33.7 Customizing Copyright and Privacy Statements

Administrators can customize or hide copyright and privacy statements for WebCenter Spaces. If displayed, the copyright and privacy URL appear in the application's page footer (Figure 33-8):

  • Copyright - Displays a copyright statement for the entire application.

  • Privacy URL - Links to a document that contains a privacy policy for the entire application.

Figure 33-8 Customizing the Copyright and Privacy URL

Customizing the Copyright and Privacy URL

Individual group spaces may provide their own copyright and privacy statements. See "Customizing Copyright and Privacy Statements" in the Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

To customize or hide copyright and privacy statements:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. Do one of the following:

    • Select Display Page Footer to display copyright and privacy information at the bottom of the application.

    • Deselect Display Page Footer to hide the page footer. No legal notices will display.

  5. If you have chosen to display legal notices:

    • Copyright - Enter a suitable copyright statement for the WebCenter Spaces application. If no copyright information is required, leave this field blank.

    • Privacy URL - Specify the location of the application's privacy policy. Enter a fully qualified URL. If no privacy information is required, leave this field blank.

  6. Click Apply to save.

New settings immediately display in the page footer.

33.8 Choosing the Default Display Language

WebCenter Spaces provides run-time translations for 27 languages and 100 different locales.

Table 33-1 Languages Available for WebCenter Spaces

A to Fi Fr to No P to T

Arabic

French

Polish

Brazilian Portuguese

German

Portuguese

Chinese (Simplified)

Greek

Romanian

Chinese (Traditional)

Hebrew

Russian

Czech

Hungarian

Slovak

Danish

Italian

Spanish

Dutch

Japanese

Swedish

English

Korean

Thai

Finnish

Norwegian

Turkish


Table 33-1 lists all the languages available to WebCenter Spaces out-of-the-box. Your WebCenter Spaces administrator can reduce the number of available languages exposed in WebCenter Spaces by modifying the supported-languages.xml file, as described in the white paper "Extending WebCenter Spaces" available on the Oracle Technology Network (http://webcenter.oracle.com).

When a new language setting is specified, application content is translated, including links, field labels, display text, message text, and dialog boxes. However, information that users add to WebCenter Spaces such as announcements, documents, discussion forum content, and the like, is not translated. All user supplied content displays only in the language used by its author.

It is the administrator's job to choose a default application display language for WebCenter Spaces. When picking the default language, consider which language suits the majority of people using the application. The first time a user logs in to WebCenter Space the default language displays but individuals can personalize their display language through user preferences.

The default application display language only applies when users log in to WebCenter Spaces. All public pages, such as the welcome page and login page, display in the browser language.

WebCenter Spaces provides a language switcher on the welcome, login, and self registration pages to accommodate anyone whose native language is not the browser language. The language switcher sets the session language cookie which overrides the browser language and any default display language you may define for the application. The session language is retained for the life of the session cookie. When a user clears browser cookies—deliberately—the session language is also cleared and the browser language (unauthenticated) and default display language (authenticated) become active again.

To summarize, the order of precedence for WebCenter Spaces display language settings from weakest to strongest is as follows:

To select the default application display language for WebCenter Spaces:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the General tab.

  4. Choose a Default Language.

  5. Click Apply.

The new language is effective immediately.

33.9 Enabling and Disabling WebCenter Services

In WebCenter Spaces, a series of WebCenter services expose social networking and personal productivity features through various task flows (Table 33-2):

Table 33-2 WebCenter Services

Services A to M Services N to W

AnnouncementsFoot 1 

Notes Footref 2

Blog Footref 1

Page Footref 2

Discussion Footref 1

People Connections Footref 2

Documents Footref 1

RSS Footref 2

Events Footref 1

Recent Activities Footref 2

Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP) Footref 1

Search Footref 1

LinksFoot 2 

Tags Footref 2

Lists Footref 2

Wiki Footref 1

Mail Footref 1

Worklist Footref 1


Footnote 1 Service requires a connection to external back-end server.

Footnote 2 Services, such as notes, links, pages, tags, and so on, use the same WebCenter repository and MDS repository as WebCenter Spaces to store their data.

Some WebCenter servicesFoot 1 , such as Mail, require an external back-end server. The Fusion Middleware Administrator is responsible for managing connections to all external servers and also maintains the WebCenter and MDS repositories where application data, specific to WebCenter SpacesFoot 2 , is stored. See also Chapter 3, "Maintaining WebCenter Spaces".

When a service, such as Mail, is available in WebCenter Spaces:

  • Associated task flows display in the resource catalog.

  • Existing task flows function as expected.

  • (Group space services only) Moderators choose whether to enable or disable the service in their group spaces—using the Group Space Settings - Services page.

When a back-end server is not configured, intentionally or otherwise, WebCenter Spaces cannot offer features or functionality related to that service:

  • Associated task flows are not available in the resource catalog.

  • Existing task flows display a message indicating that the service is currently unavailable.

  • (Group space services only) Service is not listed, as available, to group space moderators —on Group Space Settings - Services page.

Reporting Temporary Issues with WebCenter Services

When a service is temporarily unavailable, report the issue to the Fusion Middleware Administrator. The Fusion Middleware Administrator can use Fusion Middleware Control to investigate, diagnose, and solve issues with WebCenter services. See also, Section 30.2.1, "Monitoring WebCenter Spaces".

Hiding Task Flows Belonging to Disabled Services

Most WebCenter Services are optional. If you decide not to offer a particular service in WebCenter Spaces, temporarily or permanently, consider removing any associated task flows that display, by default, out-of-the-box.

Oracle recommends that you hide disabled services in the sidebar too. See, Section 33.3, "Customizing the Sidebar".

Enabling and Disabling Services for a Single Group Space

Group space moderators can enable or disable available WebCenter services within their group spaces. See, "Enabling and Disabling Services Available to a Group Space" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

33.10 Enabling and Disabling Personal Spaces

Personal spaces are optional in WebCenter Spaces—it is not mandatory to provide users with a private work area where they can store personal content and perform personal tasks. Users can fully participate in group space collaboration projects without a personal space.

Users who do not have a personal space are presented with My Group Spaces when they login. No personal productivity tools are available (such as the personal sidebar, favorites links, and so on) and users cannot create personal pages or see personal pages that other users might share.

The Application-View permission controls which users have their own personal space. Administrators can disable personal spaces for everyone using WebCenter Spaces or specific users only. Use the table in step 5 to determine which permission settings you require.

To enable or disable user access to personal spaces:

  1. Login to WebCenter Spaces with administrative privileges.

    See Section 32.1, "Logging into WebCenter Spaces as an Administrator".

  2. Click the Administration link at the top of the application.

  3. Click the Security tab.

  4. Click the Roles tab.

  5. Select or clear the Application-View check box as follows:

    Role Select Application-View Clear Application-View
    Spaces-User Everyone has a personal space. Users do not have a personal space unless you grant them another role that specifies otherwise.
    Any Custom Role Users assigned any custom role have a personal space. Users with this role do not have a personal space. Foot 1 
    Administrator Users assigned this role have a personal space. Users with this role do not have a personal space. Footref 1
    Public-User Unauthenticated users can see personal pages/content marked public. Unauthenticated users only see the login page.

    Footnote 1 Assumes the Application-View permission is disabled for the Spaces-User and the Public-User.

  6. Click Apply to save.

New permissions are effective immediately.

33.11 Publishing the WebDAV URL

WebCenter Spaces uses an Oracle Content Server to store group space and personal space documents. WebDAV (Web-Based Distributed Authoring and Versioning), which allows users to look at their content repository using their Windows Explorer, can be used with Oracle Content Server and hence with WebCenter Spaces content.

Using WebDAV, WebCenter users can seamlessly drag and drop content, files, and folders back and forth between their desktop and their personal and group spaces. Users will not know the WebCenter Spaces WebDAV URL unless you publish this information—maybe in a document or on a business role page that everyone can access.

Contact your Fusion Middleware Administrator to find out the URL for the Oracle Content Server that WebCenter Spaces is using to store group space and personal space documents. If the base URL for that Oracle Content Server is http://<host>:<port>/<relative_web_root>, the WebDAV root URL will be http://<host>:<port>/<relative_web_root>/idcplg/webdav.

33.12 Making New Page Styles Available

WebCenter Spaces offers eight page styles out-of-the-box (Figure 33-9).

Figure 33-9 Standard Page Styles

Standard Page Styles

Some page styles come prepopulated with a selection of useful task flows. Others include properties that suggest a particular use for the page. For example, the Web page style includes a configurable property for specifying a URL. See "WebCenter Seeded Page Styles" in Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter.

If the built-in page styles do not suit your requirements or you want to offer a different set of page styles, you may create page styles of your own (defined in .jspx files) and deploy them to WebCenter Spaces.

Custom page style deployment typically takes place before the WebCenter Spaces application goes live or during scheduled maintenance periods as you must build and deploy a customized WebCenter Spaces .WAR file that contains your new page style files (.jspx), and restart WebCenter Spaces. For more information, refer to the white paper "Extending WebCenter Spaces" available on the Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/webcenter/pdf/owcs_r11_extend_spaces_wp.pdf).

33.13 Customizing the Oracle Composer Catalog and Deploying New Task Flows

In WebCenter Spaces, the Oracle Composer's catalog provides access to page content, such as task flows and portlets, and page layout components, such as images, content boxes, hyperlinks, and the like. The catalog presents available resources in a series of folders and subfolders and the content on offer changes dynamically depending on which services are currently available. For example, in a particular group space, mail-related task flows will display in the group space catalog when mail services are available but will not display if the back-end mail server is not yet configured or the Mail service has been disabled by the group space moderator.

WebCenter Spaces provides two catalogs out-of-the-box—a personal space catalog and a group space catalog. Each catalog contains a default set of task flows. Should you need to add new task flows, remove task flows, or reorganize the folder hierarchy to better suit your audience you can make a copy, and customize each catalog through JDeveloper.

Catalog customizations and new task flow deployment typically take place before the WebCenter Spaces application goes live or during scheduled maintenance periods as you must build and deploy a customized WebCenter Spaces .WAR file that includes your custom catalogs and custom task flows, and restart WebCenter Spaces. For more information, refer to the white paper "Extending WebCenter Spaces" available on the Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/webcenter/pdf/owcs_r11_extend_spaces_wp.pdf.



Footnote Legend

Footnote 1: Service requires a connection to an external back-end server.
Footnote 2: Services, such as notes, links, lists, pages, tags, and so on, use the same WebCenter repository and MDS repository as WebCenter Spaces to store their data.