Sites allow you to create a custom, well-tailored experience for your users that provides them with quick access to the pages, tasks, and information that they need in a professional and polished way.
This page provides you with detailed information on how to create and configure a site object. To learn more about how to use sites, see Using Sites. To learn more about how to create functional and beautiful sites, see our Sites Branding design guidance.
To create a site object:
Configure the following properties:
Property | Description |
---|---|
Name | Enter a name that follows the recommended naming standard. |
Display Name | Enter a name that will be displayed in the site navigation menu and the browser tab to identify the site. |
Description | (Optional) Enter a description of the object to display to developers only. |
Web Address Identifier | Specify a web address identifier to use as the site's URL. The identifier must be unique in the Appian environment. By default, Appian constructs this property using the Name property you entered, but you can modify the identifier as needed. |
To edit the site Name and Description, click Properties in the settings menu .
The Configurations section allows designers to modify the primary site configurations that determine how users experience the site.
The following table describes these primary site configurations.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Display Name |
The name that is displayed in the site navigation menu and the browser tab. You can create a Static display name, or create a dynamic display name using an Expression.
|
Web Address | The section of the site's URL that identifies it. The web address id appears in the URL and in log files. |
Show Tempo link in Navigation Menu | Option to show or hide the Tempo link in the navigation menu. You can select to always show it, never show it, or for one or more selected groups. |
Show Record News | Option to show or hide the news view on records. When enabled, all records displayed in the site will include the news view. In addition, the latest news will be displayed on the summary view when viewing user records. |
Show Task List on Mobile |
Option to enable a mobile site task list.
|
The pages section allows designers to add, remove, modify, or re-order the pages that are displayed in a site. Designers can configure up to 5 pages per site.
Each page within a site can be configured with an action, an interface, a report (task report or Tempo report), or a record list.
To add and configure a site page:
The following are the options available when adding or modifying a page.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Title | The page title displayed to users in the navigation bar. This parameter is required and can be configured as a static string or as an expression. |
Web Address Identifier | The section of the URL that identifies the page. It appears in the URL and in log files for network devices and servers. By default, Appian constructs this field using the Title you entered. |
Width | Determines the width of the content area for the page. The width options are Narrow, Medium, Wide, and Full. Default is Wide. |
Icon | The icon displayed to users in the navigation bar. |
Type | Indicates the type of content available on the page. The type options are Action, Interface, Record List, and Report. |
Content | Specifies which design object is available on the page. In the dropdown list, select an existing object of the Type you selected. For the Interface type, instead of selecting an existing object, you can create a new one by clicking the + icon next to the selection box. |
Visibility | Which users and groups can view the page. When conditionally shown, the page is only visible when the expression evaluates to true. |
Once you add at least one page to a site, the hierarchy diagram appears. This diagram is a visual representation of what powers your site and its pages, with each related object appearing as a node. For site pages that use a process model or a report, the diagram also shows the interface behind the corresponding start form or report.
The diagram dynamically reflects changes as you add, reorder, or delete pages. And more than just a visual representation, it is also interactive. Simply click a node in the diagram to instantly open the underlying object.
The branding section allows designers to customize the look and feel of a site. These configurations can be set as static or dynamic values.
Use the branding section of the site to configure the following:
Check out the Preview to get a better idea of what your site configurations and branding will look like. To see these configurations applied to an entire page, review the site.
For further information on configuring your site branding, see our site branding design guidance.
The following three tables explain the branding configuration options in the Logos, Border Shapes, and Styles subsections.
Field | Description | More Information | Default |
---|---|---|---|
Logo Image | The logo appears in the navigation bar of the site. The placement of the logo depends on the navigation bar style:
|
File requirements:
|
Appian logo. |
Logo Alternative Text | The alt text should describe the logo and any text in it and will be announced by screen readers for visually impaired users. | The alternative text can be set by a logo, web address, or expression. To use either a document or web address, select Static. | Logo |
Favicon Image | The favicon (or "favorite icon") is the icon that appears in the browser tab or URL bar. | File requirements:
|
Appian "a" icon. |
Each of the image fields have four configuration options for you to choose from:
Field | Description | Shapes | Default |
---|---|---|---|
Input Shape | The shape applied to all input fields, selection fields, and picker components on all pages in a site. | There are two options for input shape: squared and semi-rounded. | Squared |
Button Shape | The shape applied to all buttons on all pages in a site. This includes all buttons for:
|
There are three options for button shape: squared, semi-rounded, and rounded. | Squared |
Field | Description | Default | More Info |
---|---|---|---|
Navigation Bar Style |
The style of the site's navigation bar determines if icons are displayed with page titles in tabs, which side the
logo is on, and the selected highlight color's style. There are two styles: Helium and Mercury.
|
Helium | The navigation bar style only applies to desktop and mobile browsers. It won't appear in the Appian Mobile application. |
Show site display name on navigation bar | Determines whether or not the site display name will display on the naviagation bar. | Unchecked | For web browsers only. |
Navigation Bar Background Color |
|
#46708c | - |
Selected Highlight Color | The color of the selected tab or selected tab's underline in web and iOS. | #083d5c | - |
Accent Color | Affects the color of many elements in all interfaces, such as buttons, links, active field border colors, milestone bars, and section titles. | #1d659c | Avoid grayscale colors (black, white, and gray) that are similar to colors used for interface elements. Avoid green/red colors that are used to indicate positive/negative values. |
Loading Bar Color | The color of the bar at the top of the page that indicates when the system is processing. | The accent color. | Select a loading bar color with sufficient contrast against the navigation bar color to ensure users notice it. |
Each of the four color fields have three color configuration options for you to choose from:
If you select a predefined dark color scheme, the values for the navigation bar color, selected highlight color, accent color, and loading bar color are all provided for you.
For more information on sites color schemes and color configurations, see our sites color schemes design guidance.
As you edit your site you may encounter design guidance. Appian design guidance reinforces best practice design patterns that should be implemented in your objects. Guidance is calculated while editing expressions within the site or when a precedent of the site is updated.
When a recommendation or warning is triggered you'll see an indicator icon in the header (A) and next to the corresponding line in the expression editor (B).
Click on the icon in the header to learn more about the suggested guidance (C) and how it can be addressed.
If a recommendation is not applicable to your use case, you can Dismiss (D) that individual recommendation for that site. Learn more about recommendation dismissal. Warnings cannot be dismissed and should always be addressed to avoid complications when the logic in the object is executed.
Site design guidance is also visible outside of the object on the Health Dashboard.
See design guidance for the full list of possible guidance.
To save and test your site:
Tip: Once you preview the site, you can easily navigate back to an object's configuration using the Show Objects button available on any site page as long as you belong to the Designers system group.
This section provides you with guidance and tips to keep in mind while you're creating and configuring your site.
Configuring sites to show record news can help improve the collaboration around records. Users can collaborate on existing record news entries in sites, but not create new entries. However, records can be designed to include related actions that can generate new record entries via process.
You can configure a custom typeface for sites from the Admin Console. Typefaces are universally applied to all sites on the environment.
Input rounding cannot be applied to the following UI elements:
The security and monitoring of your site is important. Configure site security to control who can see and edit your site. Monitor your site by checking out site usage and metrics in your environment's logs.
Note: A user must have at least Viewer permissions to a site to access it. In addition, a user must have visibility to site pages and at least Viewer permissions to each interface, report, record type, or process model configured as a site page's content.
The security role map of a site controls which users can see or modify the site and its properties.
If default security groups are configured for your application, the default security groups pre-populate the role map when you create a site. If default security groups are not configured for your application, you are automatically assigned Administrator permissions for any site object you create. System administrators can always access a site object, regardless of object-level permissions.
See Editing Object Security to modify a site's security.
The following table outlines the actions that can be completed for each permission level in a site's security role map:
Actions | Administrator | Editor | Viewer |
---|---|---|---|
View the site | Yes | Yes | Yes |
View the definition | Yes | Yes | Yes |
View the security | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Update the definition | Yes | Yes | No |
Update the security | Yes | No | No |
Delete the site | Yes | No | No |
Site usage is logged in <APPIAN_HOME>/logs/audit/sites_usage.csv
. See Sites Usage Audit for details.
Sites metrics are logged in <APPIAN_HOME>/logs/data-metrics/sites.csv
. See Sites Metrics Log for details.
Site Object