Using Sites

With sites, you can provide your users with a customized and focused experience that allows them to quickly access the pages, tasks, and information that they need. You can create sites with business-oriented pages specific to your users' roles and responsibilities.

screenshot of an example site

Each site can be branded to match your corporate identity and may contain up to five pages of content.

Users can access sites in a few ways:

  • Directly by URL. Either the site or a specific site page can be targeted.
  • Via the navigation menu in Tempo or another site. This will open the site in a new window and display the first page.
  • As a start page for users logging into Appian. To learn more about how to do this, see User Start Pages.

The navigation bar is the main way in which users navigate a site. It allows users to easily access all pages within the site, as well as the navigation and user menus.

You can configure the site navigation bar to match your use case and branding.

You can choose from two navigation bar styles designed for different use cases and experiences. Try out each to decide which works best for your site and users.

You can also choose from a variety of custom colors and predefined color schemes to match your company branding. Carry your custom colors and predefined color schemes throughout your site for a cohesive and polished user experience.

For more information on configuring the navigation bar for sites, see our guidance on configuring site branding.

screenshot of a navigation bar in the Mercury navigation bar style

Using the site navigation menu, users can easily access other sites, Tempo, and other workspaces they have access to. You can also configure the menu to appear as the site name or as an icon. If the Tempo link has been configured to appear on the site navigation menu, it will always display at the top of the available sites. If the user only has access to their current site, the site navigation menu will not be shown.

For more information on configuring the navigation menu for sites, see our guidance on configuring site properties.

screenshot of the navigation menu

User menu

The site user menu provides users easy access to their profile, their user settings, or to sign out. Selecting PROFILE will take the user to their user record. Selecting SETTINGS will open a dialog where they can update their user settings.

/screenshot of the user menu

Page types

Pages display and organize the content in a site. Users can navigate between site pages by clicking on the site page name in the navigation bar or navigating via keyboard. A site page can be one of four types: action, interface, record type, or report.

Actions

This page type allow users to initiate a process like submitting a new service request.

screenshot of a sites page that has an action as its page type

Interfaces

This page type displays a specific interface to the user. Designers can select any interface as a sites page, except for interfaces that include rule inputs. When designing interfaces to be used as sites pages, use local variables and queries instead of rule inputs.

screenshot of a sites page that has an interface as its page type

Appian for Mobile Device users will need to update their app to the latest version to see interface page types.

Record types

This page type provides access to the record list of a specific record type. For example, showing the list of customer records from the customer record type.

screenshot of a sites page that has a record as its page type

Reports

This page type displays a specific report to the user. Designers can select any report as a sites page, except for reports that rely on interfaces that use rule inputs.

screenshot of a sites page that has a report as its page type

Task notifications

When users with site start pages open a task link in a task notification, their start page will be task-specific. Once they complete the task, they'll be directed to their normal start page.

screenshot of task specific start page

Disabling Task Notifications

Task notifications can be turned off for an entire environment, a specific task, or each individual user.

Level of Effect Who can disable Where to disable
The entire environment Administrators In the custom.properties file within the <APPIAN_HOME>/conf/ directory.
Just one task Designers In each process nodes' assignment tab.
The individual user Users In user settings, under Email Notifications.

Mobile

To access your site on a mobile device, add an account to the Appian for Mobile Devices application with the full site URL as the server address.

screenshot of the server address on mobile

Once you have added your account successfully, you will see the site.

screenshot of a site page on mobile

Open in Github Built: Tue, May 23, 2023 (06:12:33 PM)

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