The Opigno community feature allows users to create communities, invite other users to join, and share discussions on topics specific to these communities.

It is an exciting way to facilitate user interactions, initiate discussions that drive knowledge sharing, and develop creative thinking as part of the social learning process.

1. New block on the dashboard interface

A "Social" block on the dashboard interface contains the following:

• a button leading to the "Manage your connections" page

• three communities with the most recent activity (message posts or comments)

• a link "See your communities," allowing you to see the list of all your communities

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2. List of communities interface

This interface gives an overview of all the communities.

On the top right, the "Create a community" button opens a popup where you can create a new community.

In the left column, you will find the following:

• the "Join communities" button that leads to an interface for searching and joining new communities (see the dedicated section below)

• the "Communities you manage" section with the list of communities managed by the user, sorted by name

• the "Communities you follow" section with the list of communities that the user joined, sorted by name

When the user clicks on a managed or followed community, the feed with the messages of the related community will appear in the middle column, and the third column will display the community's description.

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2.1 The community feed

The user can post a message via the posting form in the top block of the middle column.

The feed displays all messages posted by the community members in chronological order (the newest ones on top).

Users can delete their own messages.

Users can like or comment on the messages.

2.2 The community information block

The right column displays information about the community:

• The community name

• Three dots menu button that leads to:

  • Edit (for the owner only)

  • Leave the community (for all members except the owner)

  • Members → allows seeing the sent invitations and the list of the current members

    • When a user leaves a community, the same visibility rule will apply to them as to non-members: if the community is private, the user will no longer be able to see the community's feed. But the messages written by this user in the community will remain.

• Number of members

• Public, private, or restricted status

  • Public: visible to all users

  • Private: only visible upon invitation

  • Restricted: only the title and description are visible initially; for full access, approval of the request to join needed

• Description

• The name of the owner (the user who created the community)

• Community creation date

• An "Invite" button for inviting users to join the community displayed only to the community members. It uses the same permission as for private messages and social connections to determine whether the member can invite a new member.

  • Clicking the button opens the default user selection tool in a popup.

     

2.3 Community you follow VS Community you do not follow

2.3.1 In a community you follow (you are a member of the community):

• the community is listed in the left column

• you can write messages in the block on top of the middle column

• you can invite other users with the "Invite" button in the right column

2.3.2 In a community you don't follow:

• the community isn't listed in the left column

• if it's a restricted community, you can't read the feed

• if it's a public community, you can't post new messages, but you can read the feed

• you can join the community with the "Join" button in the right column or send a request to join a restricted community with the related button

2.4 Pin messages feature

This feature is similar to the one available in the social feed:

• ability to pin messages will be only available to the owner of the community

• pinned messages will be the same for all community members

3. Managing community members

The user can access this interface via the three dots menu in the information block (on the right column) on a community page.

3.1 Members

From the Members interface, it's possible to access current community members and invitations sent.

The list of current members is displayed and sorted alphabetically by last name. Clicking on one of the users will redirect to this user's profile page.

The panel initially displays seven users. To display the next seven users, click the "Load more" button.

By clicking on the three dots menu next to the user, it's possible to:

• send a private message to this user

• remove the user from the community (available to the owner)

The "Back" button leads back to the community page.

3.2 Invitations sent

On the "Invitation sent" tab, the user can see the invited users sorted by the invitation date from the newest to the oldest.

Here, the user can click on the block to see the user profile or click the "Invited" button to cancel the invitation.

When canceling an invitation, the user remains visible, and the button changes from "Invited" to "Invite" until the user refreshes the page. After the refresh, the block is no longer visible.

The owner can see all the invitations from all users.

The other users can see only their own invitations.

The "Back" button leads back to the community page.

The panel initially displays seven users. To display the next seven users, click the "Load more" button.

3.3 Pending requests

This interface applies to restricted communities and is visible to the community owner only. From this interface, the community owner can view the list of users requesting to join the community and accept or deny the requests.

In case of approval, the user joins the list of members. In case of denial, the user is removed from the list of pending requests. The user will be notified when the request is approved.

4. Join Communities

The "Join communities" button from the Communities interface will redirect you to the interface below.

By default, it displays all the public and restricted communities the current user has not joined yet, sorted alphabetically. The panel initially shows six first communities. To display the next six, click the "Load more" button.

The user can sort communities by alphabetical order and reverse, by the most lately created and reverse, by the latest activity (message or comment) date and reverse.

Users can also find their pending invitations in the right column. They can accept or decline each of them. After clicking on "Accept" or "Decline," the block related to the invitation will disappear.

Users can return to the previous page (considering browser back navigation) via the "Back" button.

After clicking on the "Join" button for a public community, the user will be added to members of the community, and the button will change to "See," allowing the user to visit the community page.

After clicking on the "Request to join" button for a restricted community, the button will change to "Pending approval," and the request will be waiting for the community owner to review it.

5. Create and edit a Community

When clicking on the "Create a community" button, a popup will open where you can:

• Name the community

• Add the description of the community (WYSIWYG text field)

• Upload a cover picture via the image upload widget

• Set it as a public, private, or restricted community

• Invite users to become a member of the community via the default user search module

After clicking the "Create the community" button at the bottom, the community will be created, and the invitation notifications to users will be sent.

5.1 Edit a community

To edit a community, the owner of the community must click on the three dots menu in the community's information block.

They can change the name, the description, and the status.

6. Delete a community

In the three dots popup menu in the information block of a community page, you can click on the "Delete the community" entry.

The confirmation popup below will appear.

Deleting the community deletes all the messages as well.

7. Inviting other users to a community

When user A invites user B to join a community, user B receives a notification "You received an invitation for the community [community name]."

Users can only invite other users as per their social settings (the same people as the ones they can invite to become connections).

User B can click on the notification and be redirected to the "Join communities" interface to see all the pending invitations.

User B can accept or decline the invitation. If declined, nothing happens. If accepted, user A who has sent the invitation, receives a confirmation notification. Clicking on the notification will open user B's profile page.

For public communities any member of the community can invite another user. For private and restricted communities only the community owner can invite other users.

8. Post page

When a user clicks on the date of a post, it will redirect to this post's dedicated page with comments.

The user can also access this page by clicking on the link in the related notification.

The "Back" button will redirect the user to the community related to this post.