Note: This is a premium feature or service. This article only applies to your community if your Firstup contract includes this premium functionality. Please contact your Customer Success Manager with any questions about feature availability for your community.

Choose from over a dozen display templates that showcase your company news seamlessly within platforms where work gets done. Content cards appear in-line for workers without the need to read in another browser tab for a focused communications experience that won’t disrupt their workflow.

Self-service options make it easy to keep your microapps on-brand without the need for a designer. Customize color, fonts, and transitions, create compelling in-app layouts, and choose from multiple templates to control the look and feel of your content—creating an easier and more effective way to publish content and engage employees.

Note: Microapps are not supported for digital signage. Please refer to Supported Browsers and System Requirements for details on which browsers microapps are supported in. For a Firstup digital signage solution, see ScreenCloud for Digital Signage.

Example

Check out this microapp experience of COMMunity, embedded directly in this article!

Set Up a Content Microapp

1. Confirm that your destination is supported for Firstup microapps: Supported Browsers and Systems.
2. Sign in to Creator Studio as a Brand Super Admin or an applicable custom role.
3. Navigate to Configure on the menu in the left and then select the Microapps tile. If Microapps is not available, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.
   
   
   
   
4. On the Microapps page, click Create in the top right corner.
   
   
   
   
5. Under Setup:
   1. Click on Untitled Microapp to name your feed (no character limit).
   2. Select a template.
      • Use templates to quickly switch between different looks and user experiences. Preview your changes on the left. 
      • When you choose a new template, this will change settings under Format, Content, and Access tabs. You can click into Format, Content or Access to then customize the template to your own needs.
   3. Select a content source from the available options. Content source determines what content is pulled in, access (see below) will further filter the content.  All content source options display content in the amplifier in chronological order (newest publish date at the top):
      • Content topics - display posts from one or more selected topics. 
      • Featured - display featured posts.
      • Trending - display trending posts, defined by the same rules as the web experience and mobile app's Trending tab.
      • Latest - display the logged in user's personalized feed (defined by the same rules as the mobile app's Latest tab) if they are logged in, registered, and following topics. All other users (not signed in, not following topics, or not fully registered) see a mixture of posts published directly to the My Feed topic and topics available to All Users that have been "Recommended".
      • Initiative(s) - display content based on associated Initiatives.
   4. Set the desired size - by default we will start at 900 x 600 pixels.
   5. Set how content will open:
      • Web Experience - redirect users to your community's web experience.
      • Within the Microapp - keep users on the same page, open links in the embedded frame.
      • In an Independent Tab - users navigate away to a new tab or window. 
      • Direct Links - enable this setting so users are taken directly to target websites, bypassing the community's web experience.
   6. Enable Hide mouse cursor when idle
6. Switch to the Format tab to configure the look and feel of the microapp. Adjust how the cards are laid out, the font style and size, colors, and number of posts. You can also configure the transition style and delay between posts. Padding adjusts the space around the content cards, not the microapp itself.
7. Switch to the Content tab to configure the details of how the content is presented. Choose what information is displayed and how videos are presented.
   • Show tags means display "featured" content banners.
   • Show engagement icons will always display share or translate (if enabled for the post). If the microapp authentication allows the user to sign in, then additional engagement such as likes and comments will appear. The bookmark engagement icon is not displayed in microapps.
   • Show captions (for videos) will control whether any available captions are automatically displayed. If disabled, individual users can still turn on captions by clicking the CC icon on the video.
8. Switch to the Access tab to set up the authentication options.
   
   Note: If a microapp is set to either Admin or Trusted mode, it is possible for content to be viewed without authentication. If a user forwards the microapp or its content to an outside party, the outside party would be able to view private content.
   
   
   • Public - great for lobby displays
     • No login prompt.
     • Sharable content from all user topics.
     • Share and translate only on engagement icons.
     • Anonymous user metrics - share and translate engagement icons.
   • Restricted - good for kiosks
     • Login prompt at top of feed and configurable login card placed between content.
     • Sharable content then personalized if user logs in.
     • Anonymous and user metrics - all engagement icons.
   • Trusted - useful for company intranet, when you can require a sign in to unlock targeted content.
     • Login prompt at top of feed and configurable login card placed between content.
     • Shareable and non-shareable content from public topics (untargeted). Personalized topics if user logs in.
     • Anonymous and user metrics - all engagement icons.
   • Admin - for a more carefully curated experience.
     • No login prompt.
     • All content from any topic - even hidden topics.
     • Anonymous user metrics - share and translate engagement icons.

9. Choose how SSO sign-in is presented, whether users are required to sign in or not, and how to present the login card.

   • Login (button) or Login Card is enabled:

     • The user can click on a login button or login card and sign in.

   • Login (button) or Login Card is not enabled:

     • The login screen will open in a pop-up or a new tab without user interaction.

     • If SSO auto-login is enabled for the community, the pop-up will automatically sign in and close itself.

     • The microapp may need to be added to Trusted Sites to allow the pop-up.

10. Click the Save button to save your feed and prepare the iframe and script code.
11. On the Setup tab, select between direct link, iframe, or script code.
    • iframe and script (i.e. javascript) are different methods for embedding the same content into a webpage. Some sites may prohibit the use of iframe, in which case you would want to see if you can use the script instead. Please check with your IT team.
12. Click Copy Code to copy the embed code. The code can now be shared with your IT team or pasted directly into the destination webpage.
13. Click the back arrow to return to the Microapps page.

User Experience

Content that is newly published in Creator Studio will appear in the microapp after the users refresh the host webpage. More recent content will always appear at the top/beginning of the microapp.

Which content appears will depend on the combination of the user state (logged in or not) and the configured authentication: