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Oracle® Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal: Spaces
11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0)
E10149-11
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5 Configuring Global Defaults

Out-of-the-box, the Spaces application is pre-configured with various default settings which administrators may customize to suit their audience. This chapter includes the following sections:

See also, Chapter 6, "Configuring Services, Portlet Producers, and External Applications"

Audience

This chapter is intended for Spaces administrators with the Manage Configuration permissions.

5.1 Customizing the Name and Logo

Out-of-the-box, the application name WebCenter Portal: Spaces appears in the banner (see Figure 5-1). 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.

Another way to apply corporate branding to the Spaces application, is to add your company logo (Figure 5-1). If your company's logo is not suitable, any graphic that brings visual interest can be used.

The logo you specify will resize according to the application's page template. If you want to adjust the logo size, you can modify the page template. See, Section 12.3, "Editing a Page Template".

If you want, you can reference your application name and logo in EL expressions. For details, see Section B.4.2, "EL Expressions Relevant to the Spaces Application".

Figure 5-1 Naming Your Spaces Application and Changing the Logo

Naming your Spaces application and changing the logo

To change the name or logo for the Spaces application:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration, then General.

  3. 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.

  4. Click Browse for the Application Logo property.

    The File Upload dialog box opens.

  5. Select the logo you want to use.

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

  6. Click Apply.

5.2 Customizing Copyright and Privacy Statements

Administrators can customize or hide copyright and privacy statements for the Spaces application:

In the default page template, the copyright and privacy URL appear in the application's page footer (Figure 5-2).

If you want, you can reference your copyright message and privacy document in EL expressions. For details, see Section B.4.2, "EL Expressions Relevant to the Spaces Application".

Figure 5-2 Customizing the Copyright and Privacy URL

Customizing the Copyright and Privacy URL

Individual spaces may provide their own copyright and privacy statements. For details, see Section 51.4.14, "Customizing the Copyright Statement and Privacy URL".

To customize or hide copyright and privacy statements:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration, then General.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Select Display Page Footer to display copyright and privacy information.

    • Deselect Display Page Footer to hide the page footer. No legal notices or other information that normally displays in the footer will display.

  4. If you have chosen to display legal notices:

    • Copyright - Enter a suitable copyright statement for the 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.

  5. Click Apply to save.

5.3 Customizing the Online Help Link

Online help for Spaces displays when you click the Help link for the application (see Figure 5-3). 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.

If you want, you can reference the Help location in EL expressions. For details, see Section B.4.2, "EL Expressions Relevant to the Spaces Application".

Figure 5-3 Customizing the Online Help Link

Customizing the online Help link

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

To customize the main Help link:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration, then General.

  3. In the Global Help URL field, enter the location of your help.

    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?topic=welcome_main. This URL opens Oracle Help for the Web (OHW) and displays Oracle's built-in help for Spaces. Enter this URL if you want to return to the default setting.


    Note:

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


  4. Click Apply.

Click Help in your application to check whether your custom help opens correctly.

5.4 Choosing a Default Display Language

Out-of-the-box, the Spaces application supports 27 languages and 100 different locales. It is the administrator's job to choose a default application display language for the Spaces application. When picking the default language, consider which language suits the majority of people using the application. Alternatively, enter an EL expression that determines the default language dynamically based on certain criteria. For example, you may prefer the default display language to change according to the location or organization of the user that is logged in.

The first time a user logs in to Spaces the default language displays but individuals can personalize their display language through user preferences. See, Section 35.2, "Choosing Your Preferred Display Language".

The default display language only applies when users log in to Spaces. Public pages, such as the welcome page and the login page, display in the browser language. If no default language is provided, the browser language is used. See also, Section 24.1.1, "Display Language Precedence".


Note:

Moderators can nominate a display language for a particular Space. When defined, the Space language overrides both the default language and any user language preference. See also, Section 51.4.15, "Setting a Space Display Language".


To select the default display language for the Spaces application:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration tab, then General.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Choose a Default Language from the list available.

      If the language you want is not available in the dropdown list, click Customize, select the check box for the language you require, and click Save.

      To add a completely new language, your localization team must translate WebCenter Spaces resource bundles into the new language, and then these translations must be deployed to the managed server on which the Spaces application is deployed. For details, see "Adding Support for a New Language" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebCenter Portal.

    • Click the Expression Builder icon, and enter an EL expression that determines the default language dynamically based on certain criteria.

  4. Click Apply.

The display languages that are available for selection here are also offered to users and space moderators through user preferences. As the administrator, you can reduce the range of languages available to users. For details, see Section 5.5, "Customizing the Language List".

5.5 Customizing the Language List

Out-of-the-box, the Spaces application offers 27 languages and 100 different locales and all these languages are available to users by default. As an administrator, you can tailor the languages that are on offer to suit your audience. For example, you may prefer to remove all the territory language variants in favor of a more simplified language list or only offer European languages if your portal is specifically aimed at a European audience.

To customize the languages available to users:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration tab, then General.

  3. Click Customize (below Default Language).

  4. Choose which languages to offer by selecting (or deselecting) each language check box.

    Figure 5-4 Choosing Which Languages Are Available

    Choosing Which Languages are Available
  5. Click Save.

5.6 Choosing a Default Start (or Landing) Page

By default, users see the Home space when they log in but you can configure the initial landing page to be a specific space or page.

To select the landing page for Spaces:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration tab, then General.

  3. In the Login section, choose what users see first when they login--the Home space, or a specific space or page.

    • To specify that a particular space displays, select Open a Specific Space and enter the space name or click Browse to select from a list of spaces.

    • To specify that a particular page displays, select Open a Specific Page URL and enter the page location.

      Typically this is an internal page. You can enter a full or relative page URL as shown in these examples:

      http://mywebcenter.com:8888/webcenter/spaces/page/landingpage

      http://mywebcenter.com:8888/webcenter/spaces/myspace/page/landingpage

      /spaces/myspace/page/landingpage

      If you specify an external page, ensure that you specify the full URL.

  4. Click Apply.

5.7 Choosing a Default Skin

As administrator, you may customize the default appearance of the Spaces application for all users by changing the default skin. A skin changes the way the user interface appears, but does not change the application's behavior. See Section 14.5.1, "Applying a Skin to the Spaces Application".

If you want, you can reference the default skin in EL expressions. For details, see Section B.4.2, "EL Expressions Relevant to the Spaces Application".

Individual users can change the skin applied to their Home space view through user preferences if they do not like the default skin that you specify. See Section 14.5.3, "Applying a Skin to the Home Space".

5.8 Choosing a Default Page Template

In the Spaces application, page templates define how individual pages and groups of pages display on a user's screen. Every page displays within a page template. Administrators can define the default page template used to display pages in:

Space moderators can override the default selection within their space but users cannot override the page template applied to the Home space.

See also, Chapter 12, "Working with Page Templates".

To select the default page template for the whole Spaces application:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration tab, then General.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Choose a Default Page Template from the list available.

      To learn how to add page templates to this list, read Section 12.5.1, "Showing and Hiding a Page Template".

    • Click the Expression Builder icon, and enter an EL expression that determines the default page template dynamically based on certain criteria.

      For example, you may like the default page template to change depending on which department or organization the logged in user belongs to.

  4. Click Apply.

5.9 Choosing a Default Navigation

In the Spaces application, navigation models enable users to see and navigate to information quickly and easily. Administrators can specify which navigation is used to present Home space information.

Alternatively, you can enter an EL expression that determines the navigation dynamically based on certain criteria. For example, you may like to display different navigations depending on which department or organization the logged in user belongs to.

See also, Chapter 11, "Working with Navigation".

To select a navigation model for the Home space:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration tab, then General.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • Choose a Navigation for Home Space from the list available.

      To learn how to add navigations to this list, read Section 10.4.3, "Showing and Hiding Resources".

    • Click the Expression Builder icon, and enter an EL expression that determines the navigation dynamically based on certain criteria.

  4. Click Apply.

5.10 Choosing Default Resource Catalogs

In the Spaces application, a series of Resource Catalogs display when you edit a page or a page template in Composer and click Add Content. Each 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 and the permissions of the person who is editing the page or page template. Available resources include task flows, portlets, and page layout components, such as images, content boxes, hyperlinks, and the like.Spaces provides several default catalogs out-of-the-box but you can add new task flows, remove task flows, or reorganize the folder hierarchy to better suit your audience or create brand new ones of your own. For details, see Chapter 16, "Working with Resource Catalogs".

Administrators can specify default page catalogs for:

As well as, default page template catalogs for:

It is entirely up to you whether you specify a different catalog for each scenario or use the same catalog throughout.

To select default resource catalogs for the application:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Configuration tab, then General.

  3. Choose default resource catalogs for the following:

    • Resource Catalog for Spaces

    • Resource Catalog for Home Space

    • Resource Catalog for Business Role Pages

    • Resource Catalog for Page Templates in Space

    • Resource Catalog for Page Templates in Home Space

    To learn how to add resource catalogs to this list, read Section 16.4, "Showing and Hiding a Resource Catalog".

    Click the Expression Builder icon, and enter an EL expression that determines the default resource catalog dynamically based on certain criteria. For example, you may like the default resource catalog to change depending on the which role the logged in user belongs to.

  4. Click Apply.

5.11 Choosing a Default Look and Feel for New Pages

Administrators can set up a default look and feel for personal and business role pages. Use this feature to simplify page creation for first-time users or to steer users toward a particular page scheme and style. See Chapter 7, "Preparing Your Initial Portal Pages ".

Individuals may personalize the default settings in their Home space view. See Section 38.1.1, "Setting Page Creation Defaults for Personal Pages".

5.12 Enabling and Disabling Access to the Home Space

Access to the Home space is optional—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 collaborative projects without access to the Home space.

Users who do not have access to the Home space, cannot use personal productivity tools (such as favorites), create personal pages, or see personal pages that other users might share.

The View Application permission controls whether users have access to the Home space. Administrators can disable access to everyone using the Spaces application or specific users only. Use the table shown in Step 3 to determine which permission settings you require.

To enable or disable access to the Home space:

  1. Open Spaces Administration.

    For details, see Chapter 4, "Accessing Spaces Administration Pages.".

  2. Click Security, then Roles.

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

    Role Select View Application Clear View Application

    Authenticated-User

    Everyone can access the Home space.

    Users cannot access the Home space unless you grant them another role that specifies otherwise.

    Any Custom Role

    Users assigned the custom role have access to the Home space.

    Users with the custom role cannot access the Home space. Foot 1 

    Public-User

    Unauthenticated users can see personal pages and content marked public.

    Unauthenticated users only see the login page.

    Administrator

    Users assigned this role can always access the Home space.

    Not applicable for administrators.


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

  4. Click Apply to save.

New permissions are effective immediately.

5.13 Setting up Defaults for WebCenter Services

The Spaces administrator is responsible for setting up default service options for the entire application. For more information, read: