How can I make adaptive content based on user?

Question

Hi everyone,

I want to make a homepage on which there are 9 images with links. 6 of these should be shown for every user on the page but the remaining three should be customisable by the users. Currently I have this made with excerpts and excerpt includes but the problem here is that if one user wants to change his/her links, the links are changed for every other user. I have been looking into using personal spaces for each user but how can I load these in the homepage based on which user is logged in?

Mike Bowen · Answer

Hi @Lorenzo Koning

Well yes if you are talking 500+ pages then it won't be practical at all.

Here is another solution.

* From your home page create a new template and on it add a link to the home page at the top or bottom of the page.
* At the top of the body of the page add an info box giving some quick instructions on how to permission the page to one or more owners. 
* Label the page with something (e.g. personal).
* Save the template. 
* On the home page under the content available to everyone, add a Create from a template macro and point it to the template created in step 1. Give the button a title and save.
* Add a heading "Personal pages" and directly under the heading add a Content by Label macro, and add the label used in step 3. 
* Publish your home page.

How it works:

Everyone sees the home page. Anyone can click the button to create a new page off the home page. Inside the page is a set of instructions on how to permission the page that only one or more can edit or view the page.

When the page is published, the page is automatically added as a link to the home page. Anyone can click on the links, but only the person(s) who has/have permission can see the page, where they can edit or add or delete content to their hearts content.

:-)

- Mike

Lorenzo Koning · Answer

Hi @Mike Bowen

This would work on small scales but when you are dealing with 500 users who all need a different homepage in this scenario it becomes less and less useable. also the fact that if the homepage needs to be edited, this needs to then be done for all the individual user homepages as well.

Mike Bowen · Answer

Hi @Lorenzo Koning

Why not have a home page with nine images with links that everyone can see, where the last 3 are images/links to three individual pages, which mirror the home page. Each page has a single user Read and Write permission for the user in question. No one else has access.  That way person who has access to the page can custom their page without fear of someone else mucking their links.

- Mike