Every so often, our Vice President of Product shares an email with the company that tells the background story on why Brightspot’s features are the way they are. Not one to keep secrets, we’re sharing her insights with you here, in a series called “Inside Brightspot.” From creating users and permissions to knowing the difference between different dashboard widgets, this series will answer the questions anyone who publishes digital content has likely pondered.
Next up in our series covering Brightspot's wide array of dashboard widgets is Resources. This dashboard widget is precisely what it sounds like: a collection of Resources.
The types of Resources that can be included within this widget are:
- Resource Files: This is a file that a user uploads directly into Brightspot. That file will then display in the widget as a link that other CMS users can download directly. Resource Files can be a PDF, a Word Doc, an Excel doc, a video (.mov), and so on. We typically see customers leverage Resource Files to store things like editorial styleguides, brand styleguides, production guides, or any other type of helpful reference documentation — although that list is by no means exhaustive.
- Resource Links: This option acts as a dashboard-level shortcut to an external tool or site that your business uses frequently. For example, oftentimes teams will create a lot of data visualizations in an external tool; a CMS admin can add a Resource Link to that tool and have it be part of the Brightspot dashboard for all users. Resource Links can be set to open inline or in new tabs, though we generally recommend opening in a new tab as the best option
Configuring Brightspot's Resources Widget
Let’s also review how the settings work, because the Resources that display will vary based on how you configure your settings, giving you ultimate flexibility.
Much like other Brightspot dashboard widgets, Resources can be configured at a number of levels, including globally and on a per-site and per-dashboard level. To configure Resources, look in Admin > Sites & Settings > Global (or Site) > Dashboard > Resources.
Global Resources: Any Resources set globally will appear on the global dashboard, as well as on all site dashboards.
Site-Specific Resources: Any Resources set on a specific site will appear on that specific site's dashboard. (These will also replace the globally-set Resources, if any exist, so if the use case calls for the Global Resources plus the Site-Specific Resources, you'll need to add the global ones as well as the ones that are specific that that given site.)
Dashboard-Specific Resources: Brightspot users can also set Resources that are specific to a given dashboard. The driving use case for this method is if a team wants to create a dashboard specifically for a given role, such as reporters. There may be a unique set of Resources applicable to just that set of users, so an admin can customize the links that are available specifically on that dashboard.
