Creating an engaging Atlas page. Best practices

Atlas provides plenty of web parts and visual options to help you create engaging pages for your content. In this article we give some general best practice tips to help get the best out of your pages. 

1. Prioritize content: Determine the most important content and features for your users and place them higher up on the page or in more prominent positions. This can include news, announcements, external insights and commonly accessed documents.
   
   

2. Use clear and logical navigation: Ensure that your site's navigation is easy to understand and follow, with a clear hierarchy and descriptive labels. This will help users quickly find the information they need. Less is more and we recommend considering the "Mega Menu" layout for Atlas global navigation - it is limited to three levels depth but is often simpler for users.
   
   

3. Limit distractions: Avoid cluttering your page with too many elements. Focus on essential content and features and remove any unnecessary items that may distract users from their primary tasks.
   For example, do you need to show the Useful Links web part on your home page when your users already have access to the Launchpad and My Links from the header? Carefully consider each feature to determine what is required by your users.
   
   

4. Balance content and engagement: While it's essential to keep users engaged with your content, it's also important to facilitate communication and collaboration. Integrating tools like Viva Engage (aka Yammer) can help with this but consider how they fit into the overall page flow. If you find that users are not engaging with Viva Engage as expected, you might want to experiment with its placement or presentation.
   
   

5. Utilize visual hierarchy: Organise your page layout using visual hierarchy principles to guide users' attention to the most important content and features. This can include using headings, font size, and colour to emphasize key elements.
   E.g. In Atlas you can optionally apply a Title to every single web part, but you need to consider whether a title is required to emphasise each web part or piece of content.
   
   

6. Make use of white space: Don't be afraid to use white space effectively in your design. This can help improve readability, reduce clutter, and create a more visually appealing layout. Create different sections using different layouts (One Column, Two Columns...) to ensure your content is distributed in a way that is easy to follow. You can also use the Divider web part to add some spacing in between elements, or add branded images to create that space while incorporating some brand presence to the page.
   
   

7. Test and iterate: Continuously gather feedback from users to identify areas for improvement. Conduct usability tests to understand how users interact with your intranet and adjust based on the insights gathered. Regularly analyse usage data and user feedback to refine the design and functionality of your intranet. Whether using analytics engines like tyGraph or conducting usability tests with groups of users or reviewing feature usage in Pendo with your Atlas Customer Success team, gathering data and evidence is the best way to understand which web parts or features have a significant impact in your user base.
   
   

8. Personalisation: Offer personalised content and features based on individual user roles or preferences. This can help increase user engagement and ensure that the most relevant information is readily accessible. Examples of personalization include displaying content relevant to a user's department or showing personalized content in web parts using the My Preferences feature.
   
   

9. Consistent branding: Maintain a consistent look and feel across all intranet pages to create a cohesive user experience. Align the intranet design with your organization's branding, including colours, font styles such as headings, and logos.
   
   

10. Responsive design: Ensure that your intranet is accessible and functional on a variety of devices, including desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. A responsive design will ensure that content and features are easy to use regardless of the device being used. All Atlas components are built on a responsive design foundation; however this is still relevant when placing content in page sections, and you can use browser tools to emulate how your page will look on different screen sizes so you can determine which components are worth placing at the top of each section depending on how they will show on smaller screens.
    
    

11. Provide clear calls-to-action (CTAs): Make it easy for users to take the desired action, whether it's downloading a document, joining a discussion, or submitting a request. Use clear and concise CTAs to guide users through the process. You can use HoverPoint, buttons, calls to action and links within text content to create action points that guide the user towards relevant content.
    
    

12. Encourage user-generated content: Foster a sense of community and ownership by allowing users to contribute content, such as articles, tips or best practices. This can increase engagement and help create a more dynamic and valuable knowledge base. In areas where you do not allow users to contribute content, consider allowing users to interact via comments etc. as per point 4 above.
    
    

13. Regularly review and update content: Assign content owners who are responsible for maintaining their respective workspaces or areas of the intranet. Establish a regular review schedule to ensure that all content remains current, accurate and relevant.