Portal Administrator Guide

A portal is a branded UI theme on top of the NetX platform that leverages your existing assets to promote your organization’s identity. As a brand manager, creative director, or marketer, you can create content pages to present brand guidelines and detail your vision around color, typography, patterns, logos, links, and more.

Creating a portal

1. Log on as an Administrator or Director-level user, navigate to the Systems area of your instance and click the Portals tab.
2. When prompted, name your new portal which will in turn determine your portal's URL. This name and URL can be changed later. As you type your portal's name, you will see a preview of the URL.
3. Click Save to create your new portal.

Settings

After creation, your portal's Settings page provides additional configuration options.

General

Name

View or edit the name you gave your portal upon creation here. 

URL

The URL (internet address) of your portal. This can be customized and does not need to match your portal's name. 

Home page

This page is loaded when visiting your portal's base URL. The default is home, but can be changed as more pages are added.

Contact message

This field allows you to customize the Contact form's message, if enabled. Configure the recipient's email address using the designated property to enable the contact feature.

User access

Public access

Determines whether your portal can be viewed publicly without a user account. This toggle is disabled by default and requires a public user configuration. Public user access and permissions depend on the public user's user level and permissions.

Enable sign-in

Only available when public access is enabled. This option controls whether to display a sign-in button in the user menu even for portals allowing public access.

User level

This setting determines the user level for self-registered users; this only applies when new accounts do not require administrator approval. Note if self-registration does not require administrator approval, it is important to permit the portal's top-level folder for new users to accommodate this workflow or new users will not be able to view your portal's content. 

Enable SSO login

Adds the option for users to log in via SAML Single Sign-On.

SSO label

The label used for the SSO login button, e.g. SSO users log in here.

SSO URL

Enter the URL of your SAML server in this field.

Logout URL

Enter a URL to redirect users after logout. Leave this blank to send users to the main login page.

Content

Folder

Choose the folder structure for your portal. The Assets link will show all assets in the selected folder and its subfolders. For easier permissions, use a separate parent folder for all portal assets.

Note: Users (including the public user) need explicit permissions to view content. Grant access to the parent folder and check "recursive" to include subfolders.

Display folder descriptions

Allow your users to read any folder descriptions saved in NetX.

Search placeholder

Customizes the search field placeholder text.

Enable advanced search 

When advanced search is enabled, users get full search tools. If not, only keyword and visual search are available.

Manage attributes

Choose which NetX attributes to show in your portal using the Manage attributes dropdown. Remove unwanted attributes with the trash button, and drag to reorder them. Only selected attributes will appear in the portal, in the order you set.

Each attribute has two options:

• Asset detail: Shows the attribute on asset detail pages
• Sort: Makes the attribute available for gallery sorting

The first attribute in the list will appear under gallery thumbnails. Even without these options checked, all attributes will remain available for exporting attribute values and PDF contact sheets.

By default, all attributes are sortable, and four attributes (Name, File size, File type, and Dimensions) appear on asset detail pages.

While the File attribute cannot be completely removed, unchecking both options hides them from asset details and sort menus. Note: Asset names will still show at the top of detail pages and in some portal content.

Manage search filters

Choose search filters to let portal users filter the asset gallery by those attributes. These selections don’t affect which attributes appear in galleries or asset details.

Analytics

Enable Google Analytics

Toggling this on will enable Google Analytics 4 tracking. 

Tag ID

Use this input line to enter your tag ID. To sign up for a Google Analytics 4 tag ID, see Google's documentation.

Brand

Logo

Select a logo for your portal by typing the file name of the asset to be used as a logo and preview it here. Reset will remove the logo; this cannot be undone. 

Search and select a logo asset to display in the upper-left corner of your portal header. A preview will appear in the Logo block after selection.

Color

Set your portal's primary color by entering a hex code or using the color picker.

Text

• Font: Select a font for your portal by typing the file name of the desired font-type asset.
• Copyright: Applies a custom copyright message to the foot of your portal. 
• Disable web fonts: Check this box to enable only local font files.

Favicon

Select a favicon for your portal by typing the file name of the desired asset and preview it here. This image appears as an icon in your browser tab, along with your portal's title. Reset will remove the favicon; this reset cannot be undone. 

Note: A pixel dimension of 16x16 or 32x32 is recommended and only PNG, GIF, or ICO files are supported.

Watermark

Select a watermark for your portal by typing the file name of the desired asset and preview it here. This watermark will appear on all portal assets, including banners. The watermark's opacity must be set before uploading to NetX.

Select one of the following options for watermark location:

• Bottom left
• Bottom right
• Center (overlay)
• Top left
• Top right

Pages

The Pages tab shows all existing pages and lets you create, edit, or delete pages. To create a new page:

1. Open the action menu, and click Add page.
2. Name your new page. The name of your page will automatically populate the page's slug (i.e. URL suffix), which can be edited if desired.
3. Choose whether your title appears on the page using the Show page title checkbox. This setting does not affect menu links and can be changed later.
4. Click Create. 
5. Select a template layout; you can edit this choice later.
6. After selecting a template, you'll see your new page with a title, a template-specific content block, and an action menu.

Each content block will be labeled with its type, display a content preview, and provide options to delete or edit the block. Upon creation, blocks will default to an HTML type; this can be changed from the drop-down menu to the left of each block's Cancel and Save buttons. Choices include Asset, Carousel, Collection, Folder, Folder Assets, HTML, and Divider, described in more detail below.

Action menu

The action menu in the upper-left corner of the page editor offers the following actions:

• Add block: Adds a new block that will conform to your chosen template selection.
• Page options: Modify the page's title, URL slug, and whether to display the title on the page.
• Choose template: Changes the template format of the current page.
• Preview: Shows the live portal page.

Asset

Asset blocks show exactly one asset at a time, presented according to your block configuration.

Asset

Type and select the name of the chosen asset. Note that similar to carousels, asset originals are used here, so only web-ready formats such as JPG or PNG are supported for display in browsers.

To avoid distorted or cropped images, see the max/recommended image sizes below. Each image is center-aligned vertically. If your image is too large, the top and bottom may be cropped to fit the width limits.

• Full-width: 1100 x 500px
• Two column = 528 x 500px
• Three column = 341 x 500px
• Four column = 253 x 500px

Target

An asset block can load an original, preview, or thumbnail, depending on file type and available proxies. Some assets, like audio, may only support original as a preview.

Display asset name

Choose whether to display the asset name above or below your image, or not at all.

Action buttons

Enable the Download button to let users download and share assets, or the Collection button to let them add assets to collections. When either option is enabled, users can access these features and view the asset's detail page by hovering over the asset.

Link

Add a URL to create a link below the asset. You can customize the link's display text with a title.

Carousel

Carousel content will pull all assets from a selected folder and present each one across a single template block in five-second intervals. Users can manually cycle through these images with navigational arrows. Note: since Carousels use original assets, only web-ready image formats (JPG, PNG) can be displayed in the browser.

To set up a carousel:

1. Type the desired folder name into the input block. Only one folder is accepted, but assets located in child folders will also be displayed in the carousel.
2. Content will automatically appear according to the template block sizing it is inserted into. Once your folder has been selected, the page's preview will be updated and the carousel will appear in your portal. 
3. Click Save when finished.

Collection

Collection blocks present a gallery of assets from a chosen collection. To create a collection block:

1. Type the name of the desired collection and select it from the drop-down list.
2. Once you have selected your collection, the page's preview will update to display the collection as a series of thumbnails according to your chosen block's sizing.
3. Click Save when finished.

Folders

Folder blocks show clickable folders and subfolders, not individual assets. Clicking loads the folder’s contents in the gallery. If only assets are inside, they’ll appear; if there are folders (or folders and assets), only folders show. Main folders don’t display a preview image, and if there are no subfolders, the block will be empty.

1. Choose the parent folder of your block.
2. When you select a folder, its subfolders appear as clickable objects sized to match your template. These show either basic placeholder icons or custom folder images, depending on your configuration. If enabled, folder descriptions appear when users hover over them. Clicking any folder opens its contents in the gallery view.
3. Click Save when finished.

Folder assets

Folder asset blocks create a gallery of the folder's contents, fitting within your template. Display options vary by file type:

• All assets show thumbnails (using placeholders if needed)
• Preview size works only for compatible files (image, video)
• Original size works only for images

Note: Incompatible files will create gaps in the gallery layout.

To create a folder asset block:

1. Search to select your folder.
2. Configure your folder gallery by choosing the asset size (thumbnail, preview, or original), and decide whether to enable hover actions, show the gallery title, and display asset names beneath each item. Subfolders won't be displayed, and if your chosen folder is empty, the block will show no content.
3. Click Save when finished.

HTML

HTML blocks let you add custom text to your portal. Content displays based on your template and block size, and uses your portal’s custom font, if set.

To create an HTML block, type and format your text in the HTML editor and click Save when finished.

Divider

Adds a grey horizontal bar to divide content on the page.

Assets page

The default Assets link appears in your portal's header menu and shows content based on top-level visibility settings. Unlike folder asset or collection blocks, this page offers:

• Navigation between all subfolders
• Search facets
• Gallery customization (sorting and thumbnail size adjustment)
• Hover actions for all assets

Note: While you can't edit this page through the Pages tab, you can remove it via the Links tab.

Links

Create links to add to your portal's header menu. External links or direct links to assets and folders in NetX are supported.

To add a link:

1. Click on the action menu and select Add link.
2. Select the link type, then configure a target and a label (the link text that appears in the header menu). See below for a list of link types.
3. Click Save to create the link.

Use the link's menu to edit or delete the link. Note: Action type links are not deletable. Any new links will appear as options in the Menu tab where you can add them to your portal's header navigation.

Link types

Action: actions are specialized links to internal portal functions, such as the Contact form or the Assets page. Available options include:

• app:contact : Sets up a link to a contact form for communication with a portal manager.
• cms:route:category:roots : Creates a link to the Assets page.

Asset: Asset link types create a direct link to a specific asset. Type the name of the asset into the Asset field, then select the relevant asset from the drop-down menu. You can customize the link's label, which is the text visible in the portal's header.  

Folder: Folder links navigate to specific folders, which are displayed similarly to the Assets page. Type the name of the folder into the Folder field and select the correct folder from the drop-down menu. You can customize the link's label, which is the text visible in the portal's header.

URL: You can link to other sites directly from your portal header using a URL type link. Type the address of the desired site and then give it a label to display in the portal header. Make sure to include http:// or https:// as the link's prefix or your link will not work.

Menus

The menus tab has two sections: links shown in your portal header (left) and all created links (right).

• Create your header navigation by dragging items from the right list to the left list. You can organize links into submenus by adding child links under a header link, and customize the names of your submenu items.
• Create a submenu by dragging a Submenu item from right to left, then place desired links underneath it. Indent these links to show they belong to the submenu. Note that nested submenus (submenus within submenus) are not allowed.
• Your links will appear in the navigation bar from left to right, matching the order of items from top to bottom in your list.
• To rearrange your menu items, use the drag icon and drag your menu items. To remove menu items, use the Delete button.

Advanced settings

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