A clear structure helps new members see at a glance what your community is about and where to post. Your community's structure, sometimes called its layout or sidebar, is the set of spaces you create and the categories that group them in the sidebar. The recommendations below work for most communities.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins. · Where: Web (the community sidebar and Admin → Community). · Plan: Available on every platform plan. Some space types, and how many spaces you can have, depend on your plan.
Start with three to five core spaces
When a community has too many spaces, each one gets only a few members and posts, and the whole community looks quiet. Start with the three to five spaces you need most, such as a main discussion space, an announcements space, and a space for new members.
Add a space later, when a topic keeps coming up in an existing space and has enough activity of its own. To pick the type of each space, see Choose a space type.
If you created your community from a template, it came with starter spaces and categories. Rename the ones you keep so they fit your community, and archive the ones you don't need. See Apply a community template.
Give every space a short description
A space's description tells members what the space is for and what to post there. Without one, members can't tell whether their post belongs in that space. Members see the description on the space's page and when they browse spaces.
To add or change a space's description:
- Open the space's Manage panel: click the gear icon (Manage) on the space's page, or open the space's ⋯ menu in the sidebar and click Manage space.
- Click Basics & branding.
- Enter a Description of up to 254 characters.
- Click Save Changes.
One sentence is usually enough, for example "Share what you're reading this month and discuss it with other members."
Add an announcements space and a space for new members
Two spaces help almost every community:
- An announcements space for your important news. Use a Feed Space, and in its Manage panel go to Access Policy → Advanced and set Who can post to Admins and moderators. Members can still read and reply. See Control who can post, reply, and react in a space.
- A space for new members, where they introduce themselves and ask where to start. A Feed Space works well. To send new members there, add a Visit Link step that points to the space in your new-member checklist. See Set up new-member onboarding.
Where to put questions, events, and live sessions
- Questions: if members ask a lot of questions, give them a Q&A Space. Answers there can be upvoted and accepted, so they're easier to find later than in a feed. See Run a Q&A space.
- Events and live sessions: these are features of a space, not separate spaces, so you don't need an "events space". Turn them on in the space where the related conversation already happens: in its Manage panel, open Features and turn on Enable events or Enable live & interactive rooms. Chat Spaces don't support events or live sessions. See Turn on events and live streaming in a space.
Keep sidebar categories few and short
Space categories group your spaces in the sidebar. Keep to no more than 6 categories, with no more than 10 spaces in each one. Beyond that, the sidebar gets long and members have trouble finding spaces. Name categories by what members are looking for, such as "Start here", "Discussions", or "Members only".
Check that every space shows up where you expect:
- A category with Display in sidebar turned off (Show in Sidebar in the admin console) is hidden from the sidebar, and so are its spaces.
- A space that isn't in any category doesn't appear in the sidebar either. This happens when you move spaces to Uncategorized in the admin console, or delete a category and choose Leave uncategorized. Move these spaces into a category.
To create, rename, hide, or reorder categories, see Organize spaces in the sidebar with categories.
Review your community's structure regularly
Every few months, look at which spaces are still active:
- Archive spaces that have gone quiet. Archived spaces disappear from the sidebar, search, and feeds, so members see only active spaces. The content is kept, and you can restore the space later. See Archive, restore, or delete a space.
- Fold a quiet space into a similar one. There's no tool to merge two spaces. Tell members where to post instead, for example with an announcement, then archive the quiet space.
- Split a busy space. If one topic takes over a space, give that topic its own space.
- Recheck your categories when you add spaces, so none of them grows past 10 spaces.
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