Advanced Sitefinity Blog Module Guide

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Ultimate Guide to Advanced Sitefinity Blogging

Sitefinity Blog Publishing and Management

Whether it's your layout or the widgets you're using, you have specific needs as a blog developer. And finding a CMS to meet them is quite challenging. But at Sitefinity, we know what you want. And this is why we have extensive widget options for your Sitefinity Module. As a Sitefinity developer, you can choose what content you want to display. You can also decide how to list it collectively and then individually. And all this happens with the Blogs widget settings.

But before you can add any widget, you need to have at least one blog item. If you don't have one yet, click here to learn how you can get one. Once you have a blog item, you can start getting widgets.

What is Sitefinity Website Personalization?

Article modules are a big part of blogging. After all, if users and readers aren’t comfortable with your layout, they aren’t going to be pushed to explore. And as a blogger, you need to be able to build relationships. But if your design and module are turning people away, you can’t really do that.

But what does a module entail? And what does it impact? Your module affects what people see and where they see it. For example, how your blog posts are listed in the blog section and how they see them. And depending on your content, your preferences will change. Maybe you want your blogs listed chronologically. Or perhaps you want them listed alphabetically.

Whatever choices you make will affect what content your viewers have access to. Therefore, you need to make the best decisions for you. As a Sitefinity developer, you have access to a wide range of settings. You can use these to customize your content to your needs.

Deep Dive into the Many Settings and Configurations for the Sitefinty Blog Module

The Many Ways to Customize Your Blog

The first thing you have to do is choose what content you want to display. The process is simple and easy to follow. First, go to the upper-right corner for the Blogs widget and click on 'Edit.'. Pick the blogs you want to show in the 'Content tab' page. There are a couple of options:

  • 'All published blogs'
    All the blogs you've created will be displayed.
  • ‘Selected blogs’
    You can choose some of your content to display. Click the 'Select' button and pick one or more.
  • 'Blogs with more than...posts'
    This option only displays the posts with a specific amount of posts
  • 'Only blogs that have posts, not older than..months'
    Only the blogs with precisely timed posts are displayed

Once you've finished choosing the pages, click on 'Done selecting'. Then you can choose your list settings There are various settings available for your 'Blogs widget.' You can choose one of the following for your Sitefinity Module. Below are some of the settings you can edit:

  • 'Use paging'
    With this option,
  • the blog is divided into pages, and you can decide how many pages to display per page.
  • 'Use limit'
    Only some of your blogs are displayed. And you decide how many blogs to show.
  • 'No limit and paging'
    You set some specifications, and all the pages that meet them are displayed.
  • 'Sort blogs'
    A specific criterion sets the blogs. By default, the last published item is put at the top. However, you can choose some other criteria too. For example, last modified, by title (A-Z) or (Z-A), last published, as set in advanced mode, or as set manually.
  • 'List template'
    Pick the template you want to use.
  • 'CSS classes'
    Expand 'More options' and specify the names for your CSS files. Also, apply additional CSS classes to the Blogs widget.
Additional Settings to Better Customize Your Blog

Single Item, Advanced, and Module Settings

The single item settings determine how each individual blog is displayed in a Sitefinity Module.

1. Pick 'Open single item in…' Then, choose one of the following:

  • Auto-generated page: A blog will open in the same layout as the list page when you click on it.
  • Selected existing page: Pick the specific page from a list of existing pages.
  • Default page for blog: It will use the default page set in the backend when making or editing a blog

2. 'Detail template' Choose the template you want for the blogs on the webpage

3. 'CSS classes' Expand 'More options' and specify the names for your CSS files. Also, apply additional CSS classes to the Blogs widget.

Additional Settings to Better Customize Your Blog

 

With advanced settings, you choose the traits for each widget.

1. ‘DetailPageMode’
This specific setting decides where a user from your website is directed after clicking on a blog title.

  • ‘PerItem’
    This is the default option for all Sitefinity Developers, and it uses the individual settings of the blog item. You may set separate pages when you make or edit the blog post.
  • ‘SamePage’
    The details of the blog are displayed on the same page when you click on the blog title.
  • ‘SelectedExistingPage’
    The details open up in a page with ID 'DetailsPageId' when a Blogs widget is dropped there.

2. ‘DetailsPageId’
You get the ID of the page selected in the 'Selected existing page...' in the tab page for 'item settings' with this setting.

3. ‘DetailTemplateName’
You will receive the template you picked in the dropdown menu 'Detail template.' This setting is found in the 'Single item settings' tab page.

4. ‘ListTemplateName’
Remember the template you picked in the 'List template' dropdown menu? That's the one you get here.

Model settings refer to all the traits tied to the 'Blogs widget model.' All you need to do to get to open them is to click the 'Model/button' in the 'Advanced settings.' Within this category, there are a few settings you can control. Let's go over each of them.

1. ‘ContentViewDisplayMode’': The default settings for any Sitefinity Module display an item in the 'Detail' view. It lets you pick if you want the content shown in 'Detail' or 'List.'

2. ‘DetailCssClass': It gives and sets an extra CSS class to the detail view of a blog item.

Sitefinity Blog Module Setting Customization

3. ‘DisplayMode': Gets the value you picked in the 'Simple List settings' tabs page:

  • Paging (default)
  • Limit
  • All

4. ‘FilteredSelectionMode': Filters content by the set metric. You can choose one of:

  • MinPostsCount
  • MaxPostsAge

5. 'ItemsPerPage': This setting determines the number of blogs per page to be shown when you enable paging.

6. ‘ListCssClass': It gives and sets an extra CSS class to the list view.

7. ‘MaxPostsAge': Defines the period for when a post should be made. And it depends on you choosing 'Only blogs that have posts not older than… months' in the settings.

8. ‘MinPostsCount': Defines the minimum number of posts a blog should have when you choose the setting 'Blogs with more than … posts'.

9. 'ProviderName': You can use blog providers different from the one set to default for Sitefinity Developers. And all you need to do is give its name.

10. ‘SelectionMode': Gets you the option that you chose in the 'Content tab page.' You can choose from these values:

  • Allterms
  • Selectedterms
  • Filteredterms

11. ‘SerializedSelectedItemsIds': If you choose a particular blog, its ID is serialized and populated.

12. 'SortExpression': This setting adds more additional sporting expressions for a blog.

How can we help

Clarity Sitefinity Experts

With the Sitefinity CMS, you can adapt your content to your needs. And this way, you can make the most out of it. A customized blog page means more clicks, more readers, and a greater reach. With a Sitefinity blogging module you have a lot of options to take your website to the next level. To choose between the many settings, you need to do two things: understand what each option entails and know your business’ needs.

Clarity Sitefinity CMS Experts

Additional Features & Resources