Three Column Display Configuration Options

About this task

To use the three column display, create a new custom display that is based on the three-column-display master display:

Procedure

  1. To create a custom display, select the Add icon () beside the Watson™ Explorer Engine administration tool's Display menu item.
  2. Enter a unique name for your display, and then select three-column-display from the Master Display drop down.
  3. Click Add to save the display.

    Next, you will need to add the display to your project:

  4. Select the project that you want to add the display to.
  5. Change the Display option on the Components tab to the name of the new display.

Results

You are now ready to begin configuring your three column display.

The three column display options are configured in the Layout sub-section of the Theme section in the Display configuration tab. The available options in this sub-section are:

Note: When using the three-column-display theme, the comments box may extend beyond the middle column if non-default column widths are used.
  • Page Width - The total pixel width that all columns in the three columns will span. The default of -1 indicates that the columns will fill the width of the browser window.
  • Left Column Width - The width in pixels of the left side column. To remove this column, set this value to 0. The default size for this column is 220.
  • Right Column Width - The width in pixels of the right side column. To remove this column, set this value to 0. The default size for this column is 220.
  • Left Column Components - A list of Watson Explorer Engine components that are defined as being located in the left column. The components located in the left column by default are clusters and search-history.
  • Middle Column Components - A list of Watson Explorer Engine components that are defined as being located in the middle column. The components located in the middle column by default are spelling-corrections, spotlights, boosts, and results.
  • Right Column Components - A list of Watson Explorer Engine components that are defined as being located in the right column. The components located in the right column by default are folders, and refinements

The following Watson Explorer Engine components are valid for use in three column display columns:

  • boosts - Manual boosting of specific results.
  • clusters - Logical word-trees that group results into meaningful areas
  • folders - Query and result saving portion of the Collaborative Search
  • refinements - Meta-data based query restriction parameters.
    Note: All groups of refinements are displayed in the same column. You cannot display different refinement groups in different columns
  • results - The results of the queried sources
    Note: These results do not include documents from special sources such as spelling-corrections, spotlights, and boosts.
  • search-history - A drop-down list of earlier queries
  • spelling-corrections - Suggested spelling corrections from any defined spelling corrections sources
  • spotlights - Special results that are displayed in an eye-catching manner. You can create spotlights manually or by using Results Module.

The next two sections have been provided to help you get the most out of the three column display.