Understanding Topics in AnswerHub

Although you can use spaces to keep content organized in an AnswerHub community, Topics add an additional layer of organization to your community by relating posts to one another across all spaces. This lets users find more relevant content easily. Users can create new Topics as well, to help continuously organize their community’s content. Topics also help users ensure a Question has not already been asked before they post one.

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NOTE:

Adding Topics to new content (such as a Question) helps other users find it more easily and helps keep like-topics organized together. By searching Topics related to a Question a user may want to post, they might find that a user has already posted a similar Question, preventing them from reposting it.

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NOTE:

Topic-specific landing pages, still respect permissions. Therefore, if a user is searching for a Topic, they are still only allowed to view the content they have permissions to view.

Topics are also used for Smart Spaces. Smart Spaces pull together content based on filters related to different Topics, users, content types, and search queries, to display on a single page of the AnswerHub User Interface (UI). You can use them as an additional form of organization within an AnswerHub community and are especially useful for browsing a mixture of content from multiple spaces.

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NOTE:

Users are not able to post content in a Smart Space, all content that appears in a Smart Space gets populated from other Spaces in the community and based on pre-set filters.

What You Can Do With Topics

From the AnswerHub User Interface, you can do the following:

  • Create a New Topic
  • Edit a Node Topic
  • Follow or Unfollow a Topic
  • Sort the Topics List

Create A New Topic

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NOTE:

Some communities do not allow users to create their own Topics. If you cannot create your own Topics, the system will suggest ones for you to choose from.

To create a new Topic, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your AnswerHub site.
    Result: The AnswerHub User Interface (UI) displays.
  2. Select the Create drop-down menu, and select a new content type (Question, Article, Idea) to create.
    Result: The [content type] UI displays.
  3. Enter the required information in the fields.
  4. In the Topics field, begin typing a new topic.
  5. Press Enter or Return on your keyboard to add the new topic.
    Result: The new topic gets added to the Topics field in a grey box, and to your AnswerHub site.

Edit A Node Topic

To edit a node Topic, follow these steps:

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NOTE:

Some communities do not allow users to create their own Topics. If you cannot create your own topics, the system will suggest ones for you to choose from.

  1. Log in to your AnswerHub site.
    Result: The AnswerHub User Interface (UI) displays.
  2. Locate and select the content to edit a Topic.
    Result: The [content type] UI displays.
  3. To edit Topics from the Edit Node UI, do the following:
    a. Select the gear icon and select Edit from the drop-down.
    Result: The Edit Node UI displays.
    b. To add a Topic, in the Topics field, begin typing a new Topic.
    c. Press Enter or Return on your keyboard to add the new topic.
    Result: The new Topic gets added to the Topics field in a grey box.

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NOTE:

If this is a new Topic, it will also get added to your AnswerHub site's Topics list.

d. To remove a Topic, click the x button on the left of the Topic's grey box.
e. Click the SAVE button.
Result: The Node UI displays with a yellow bar that reads, "You have successfully edited this [content type]," at the top of the screen.
4. To edit Topics directly from the Node UI, follow these steps:
a. Select the Content Types drop-down (vertical tree diagram) and select Topics.
Result: The Topic UI displays.
b. Select the Topic you wish to edit.
c. Select the pencil icon to edit the Topic name and change accordingly.
Result: The Topic gets edited in the Topics page.
d. Click the UPDATE button.
Result: The Topic UI displays with the edited name.

Follow Or Unfollow A Topic

To follow a Topic, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your AnswerHub site.
    Result: The AnswerHub User Interface (UI) displays.
  2. Select the Content drop-down menu (vertical tree diagram), and select Topics.
    Result: The Topics UI displays.
  3. Locate and select the required Topic.
    Result: The Topic-specific landing screen displays.
  4. To follow the Topic, click the FOLLOWING button.
    Result: The FOLLOW button displays as the FOLLOWING button.
  5. To unfollow the topic, click the FOLLOWING button.

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NOTE:

When you hover over the FOLLOWING button, it displays as the UNFOLLOW button.

Result: The FOLLOWING button displays as the FOLLOW button.

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NOTE:

When you navigate to another page on your AnswerHub site, a yellow bar displays either "You are now following this topic" or "You have stopped following this topic" at the top of the screen.

Sort The Topics List

To sort the Topics list, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your AnswerHub site.
    Result: The AnswerHub User Interface (UI) displays.
  2. Select the Content drop-down menu, and select Topics.
    Result: The Topics UI displays with the Popular tab pre-selected.
  3. To sort the Topics list by alphabetical order, click the Alphabetical tab.
    Result: The Topics UI displays in alphabetical order.

What’s Next