Departments

Departments are an advanced feature typically utilized by larger web sites with multiple site administrators. Departments are a means of grouping pages and forms in distinct sections within a single web site.

Departments are used to accomplish several things:

1. Organization
   Large web sites (with hundreds or even thousands of pages) are easier to maintain when pages, forms, FAQ lists, and calendars are organized into departments. Folders can also be used to organize pages—either in place of, or in conjunction with departments.

2. Navigation Menus
   In addition to organizing information, sites with multiple departments gain an additional navigation menu—a "departmental menu." Departmental menus are navigation menus very similar to site-wide menus except that they are only displayed when a site visitor is viewing a page from within the appropriate department. For larger sites, this secondary menu level allows for effective organization of large numbers of pages.

3. Permissions-Based Editing
   Departments can also be used to determine which site editors have access to edit which site content. For example, a college may have one student volunteer maintain the fine arts pages and another student maintain the athletic pages. The use of multiple departments allow the fine arts student to edit the fine arts department pages without having access to the athletic department pages, and vice versa. These kind of specific user access restrictions are highly customizable.

4. Visual Design Variations
   Finally, each department on a web site can have its own distinct visual design apart from the other departments. Of course, it is also possible for multiple departments to share the same visual design, making the presence of multiple departments invisible to site visitors.

How do I know if my site has multiple departments?

1. All sites have two buttons at the top of the Page List screen: New Folder and Show Deleted Pages. If your site utilizes multiple departments, you will see a third button at the top of the Page List screen named Switch Departments. (See below.)

2. If your site utilizes multiple departments, the department name will also be included in the header of the Page List screen, such as Pages for "Our Team" as shown in the example below. Sites with a single department will simply say Pages at the top of the screen.
   
   

Note: Multiple departments are an advanced feature. If your site does not utilize multiple departments and you would like to discuss upgrading, give us a call (888-484-6843), email your account manager, or just click the "Request Help" button at the top of the screen. Additional design and/or hosting fees may apply.