29 Working with Polls

This chapter is for designers and provides a quick reference for creating and managing polls and the corresponding poll results.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 29.1, "Overview"
Section 29.2, "Working with the 'All Polls' Screen"
Section 29.3, "Creating a New Poll"

29.1 Overview

Figure 29-1 Polls Menu

Description of "Figure 29-1 Polls Menu"

Polls allow you to survey the visitors of your website about a certain topic. The Polls menu (shown in Figure 29-1) is used to create Poll widgets and related Results widgets. The Polls menu provides you with options to moderate and reconfigure existing polls, and create new polls widgets which you can then deploy to a web page.

The instructions in this section are written as a quick reference and it is assumed you are already logged in to the Community interface. If you need instructions for logging in, see Section 24.1, "Logging In".

29.2 Working with the 'All Polls' Screen

The "All Polls" screen (shown in Figure 29-2) can be accessed by selecting Polls, All Polls in the menu bar. The All Polls screen is used to view existing polls and their results as well as to reconfigure, preview, and deploy poll widgets by using the quick action menu associated with each poll listed in the screen.

Figure 29-2 'All Polls' Screen

Description of "Figure 29-2 'All Polls' Screen"

Table 29-1 Working with the "All Polls" screen

Action	Instructions
View the results of a deployed poll	Navigate to the poll whose results you wish to view. In the poll's quick action menu, click Results. A pop-up window opens displaying the results of the poll.
Deploy the polls widget tags	Navigate to the poll you wish to deploy. In the poll's quick action menu, click Deploy. The "Deploy Poll Name Poll" screen opens. This screen allows you to deploy the following tags: Poll Tag – The main polls widget tag which contains all configured options for a particular poll. Deploying this tag on a web page displays the poll to visitors, who can then participate in voting. If the "Show Results" field is set to Yes (Section 29.3, "Creating a New Poll"), the widget displays a summary of the poll's results to visitors after they submit their vote for that poll. Results Tag – The polls summary widget tag which displays only a summary of the main poll's results. When this widget tag is deployed, the results it displays dynamically change with each poll vote. Copy (Ctrl+C) the code in the "Poll Tag" and/or the "Results Tag" fields. Insert the widget tag into the desired asset's template, preview the asset, and publish the template to the website. For detailed instructions, see steps 3 – 7 in the Section 24.2, "How Do I Deploy Community Widget Tags?."
Delete a poll	Navigate to the poll you wish to delete. In the poll's quick actions menu, click Delete. In the confirmation box, click OK. The poll is removed from the Community interface. Note: If the poll you deleted is currently deployed on a page, the poll widget will display a message stating that the poll is currently unavailable. To remove the poll widget from the page, you must remove the poll's widget tag from the template used to render that web page's content.
Preview a poll	Navigate to the poll you wish to preview. In the poll's quick action menu, click Preview. A pop-up window opens and displays a preview of the poll.
Modify an existing poll	Navigate to the poll you wish to modify. In the poll's quick action menu, click Edit. The "Edit Poll" screen is displayed. Make the desired changes. For field definitions, see Table 29-2. Click Save. The modified poll is displayed in the "All Polls" screen and on the web page on which it is deployed.

29.3 Creating a New Poll

Designers can create a new poll by selecting Polls, and then Create a New Poll from the menu bar, which opens the "Create a New Poll" screen (shown in Figure 29-3). Once you save the poll, it is listed in the "All Polls" screen (select Polls, and then select All Polls).

Figure 29-3 'Create a New Poll' Screen

Description of "Figure 29-3 'Create a New Poll' Screen"

Table 29-2 Creating a Poll

Section	Field	Description
Questions/Answers	Poll Title	Enter a title for the poll.
Questions/Answers	Poll Question	Enter the question you want to ask site visitors.
Questions/Answers	Answer n	Enter the answer options from which you want visitors to choose. To include additional choices, click Add Answer. To remove an answer, click the X icon next to the answer you wish to remove. To change the color of an answer option when it is shown in the poll's results summary, enter the hex number of the desired color into the Hex # field, located next to the desired answer.
Configure Results	Show Results	Select Yes to display a summary of the poll's results after a user submits an answer to the main poll. Select No to display only the main poll and its answer options.
Configure Results	Graph Type	If you selected Yes in the "Show Results" field, specify the type of graphical representation in which the poll's results summary will be displayed. Select one of the following: Pie Chart – Displays the poll results in a pie chart format. Bar Chart – Displays the poll results in a bar chart format. Flat Results – Displays the poll results in a list, as flat text without any graphics. The percentage of visitors who voted for each answer is displayed next to the corresponding answer.
Configure Results	Results View	Specify whether poll results will be displayed in a pop-up window (Popup) or alongside the poll widget (In-Site). Note: This field is available only if you selected Yes in the "Show Results" field.
Configure Results	Results Popup Width, px	Specify the width of the results pop-up window. The width must be at least `300 px`. Note: This field is available only if you selected Yes in the Show Results field and Popup in the "Results View" field.
Configure Results	Thank You Note	If you selected Yes in the "Show Results" field, enter a thank you note that will be displayed to site visitors when they participate in the poll.
Configure Results	Include Disclaimer	Select either Yes or No to specify whether a disclaimer will be displayed to visitors. Note: This field is available only if you selected Yes in the "Show Results" field.
Configure Results	Disclaimer	If you selected Yes in the "Include Disclaimer" field, enter the disclaimer text you wish to display to visitors. When the polls widget is deployed, the disclaimer is displayed beneath the poll's question and answers. Note: This field supports plain text and basic HTML tags. You can use HTML tags to control the appearance of your disclaimer
Common	Poll Status	This field allows you to manually open and close the poll. Select either: Open – visitors can participate in the poll. Closed – visitors cannot submit votes.
Common	Poll Closure Date	Click in this field to render the date picker. Specify the date the poll will close (votes can no longer be submitted). If you do not wish to specify a closure date for the poll, leave this field blank. Note: If you do not wish to use the date picker, you can enter a date using the format dd-mm-yyyy (for example, 02-04-2011).
Common	Theme	Specify the appearance of the polls widget as it will be displayed on the web page. You can select one of the following: Basic – Displays the poll title at the top of the widget. The question is displayed below the title and the available answers are displayed below the question. Advanced – Displays the poll title in a grey two-toned title bar at the top of the widget. The question is displayed below the title in a blue background, and the available answers are displayed below the question. No Design – Displays only the poll question and its available answers, without a frame or border around them. Open Design – Displays the poll question and its available answers in an open source style design.