Part 2 · Clients, sales and relationships

Website, blog and eLearning

Build and maintain the organization's public website, publish a blog and online courses on it, then measure who reads them.

Symbifox 18.0 (September 2026 catalogue) · Base applications: Website, Blog, eLearning · Revised 2026-09-12

The Website application builds and maintains the organization's public site: pages, navigation menu, search engine optimization, redirects and traffic measurement. The blog and eLearning build on it, the first to publish articles, the second to offer courses and certifications. They serve the people who look after the organization's public face, publish its content and want to know what gets read. The result: a site you edit directly on the page, without another tool, whose visits you read in the same place as the rest of your data.

Overview#

A page is an address on the site, with its content, its publication status and its search engine settings. The site menu is separate from the pages: a menu entry points to a page, or to an outside address, and a page can exist without appearing in the menu. A blog is a stream of posts, organized by tags, which are themselves grouped into tag categories. A course gathers contents (documents, videos, pages), sometimes with a quiz or a certification, and counts its attendees.

You edit the site on the page itself. Open the site, select Edit, drag blocks from the side panel, then save. The top menu in the back office handles what the editor does not: listing pages, setting search engine optimization, adding redirects and reading traffic.

The page list shows the state of the site at a glance: what is published, what is indexed, what is in the sitemap.

The site is connected to the rest of Symbifox. Public forms create leads in CRM or tickets in Helpdesk (tickets). Published job offers come from Recruitment. Shared links are measured in Email Marketing and Link Tracker. Finally, blog post production is managed from the Editorial Workshop, which adds the cadence, languages and publication checks the blog lacks.

Configuration#

Access and permissions#

Three levels, in a user's access rights, Website section. Restricted Editor lets a person change page content without touching the structure. Editor and Designer opens the full editor, page creation and publishing. The administrator level adds configuration: websites, menus, redirects, settings. eLearning has its own levels: Officer manages the courses they are responsible for, and Manager manages all courses and the configuration. Without any right, the public site stays visible: it is a website, and it is meant for everyone.

Settings#

The site settings are in Website › Configuration › Settings. The selector at the top of the screen shows which website the settings apply to, which matters as soon as there are several.

• Domain: the full public address of the site. If you leave it empty, the links Symbifox builds may point elsewhere; fill it in before sharing anything.
• Languages: the languages served to the public. The demo serves Canadian French. Install languages adds one.
• Website Name, Company and Favicon: the identity shown in the browser tab and in shared links.
• Shop and payment: turn these on only if the site sells something.
• Slides: an interface key for importing documents from a cloud service into courses.

eLearning has its own settings screen, under eLearning › Configuration › Settings: certifications, forum, featured courses.

Base data#

• A website. The demo has one, “Symbifox, démonstration”.
• The navigation menu entries: six on the demo, plus six entries that belong to no website.
• At least one blog, if you publish posts. The demo has “Voyager” (travel), with the subtitle “Conseils pour vos vacances” (holiday tips).
• The blog tag categories, which also serve as pillars in the Editorial Workshop. Four on the demo: Conformité (compliance), Découverte métier (career discovery), Productivité (productivity) and Sécurité (security).
• Course groups and content tags, if you publish courses.

Getting started#

This walkthrough publishes a first post on the demo blog, from blank page to live post.

1. Open Website › Site › Content › Blog Posts. The list is empty.
2. Select New. The site opens in the editor on a new post and asks which blog it belongs to: choose “Voyager”.
3. Type the title over the suggested title, then the subtitle.
4. Write the body directly on the page, and drag blocks from the right panel to add an image or a quote.
5. In the side panel, under the post settings, choose the Tags and the publication date.
6. Select Save.
7. Switch the publication toggle, at the top right, from Unpublished to Published.

Result: the post appears on the public blog, at an address built from its title, and now shows in Blog Posts. While the toggle stays on Unpublished, only people with access can see it.

Common tasks#

Edit a site page#

Everything happens on the page: what you see while editing is what the public will see.

1. Open Website › Site › Homepage, then browse to the page you want.
2. Select Edit.
3. Drag a block from the right panel to where you want it, or select an existing element to replace it.
4. Adjust the look of the selected block in the right panel (columns, margins, colours).
5. Select Save.

Result: the page is changed online. To go back, reopen the editor and use undo before saving.

Create a page#

A new page starts from a layout template, then you fill it in like the others.

1. Open Website › Site › Content › Pages and select New.
2. Enter the page name: it produces the address.
3. Choose a starting layout.
4. Write the content, then select Save.
5. Publish the page with the toggle, if it is ready.

Result: the page appears in the list with its address, indexing status and publication status. It appears in the menu only if you add it there.

Organize the site menu#

The menu is a separate structure; you arrange it without touching the pages.

1. Open Website › Site › Menu Editor.
2. Drag entries to order them, or drag one under another to create a submenu.
3. Add an entry, then enter its label and the target address.
4. Select Save.

Result: the site navigation follows the order you chose. The full list, with the target website, the parent menu and the groups that see each entry, is under Website › Configuration › Menus.

Set a page's search engine optimization#

The title and description that search engines display are set page by page.

1. Open the page on the site.
2. Open Website › Site › This page › Optimize SEO.
3. Enter the title and description that will appear in search results.
4. Add the target keywords and check the preview.
5. Select Save.

Result: the SEO optimized column is checked in the page list. The Is Indexed column and sitemap membership are set in the page properties.

Redirect an address that has changed#

An address abandoned without a redirect becomes an error page, and the links that pointed to it die with it.

1. Open Website › Configuration › Redirects and select New.
2. Enter the original address, the one that no longer exists.
3. Enter the destination address.
4. Choose the redirect type: permanent for a final move, temporary for a short detour.
5. Select Save.

Result: visits to the old address arrive at the new one. The demo has no redirect.

Organize the blog by tags and categories#

Tags organize posts for the reader; categories organize the tags.

1. Open Website › Configuration › Blog › Tag Categories.
2. Select New, enter the category name, then save.
3. Open Website › Configuration › Blog › Tags and create the tags, linking each to its category.
4. Go back to your posts and add the tags you want.

Result: the public site shows filters by category above the list of posts. The four demo categories also serve as pillars in the editorial calendar.

Create an online course#

You create a course in the back office, then fill it from the website.

1. Open eLearning › Courses › Courses and select New.
2. Enter the title, the Responsible person and the description shown in the catalogue.
3. Under the options, choose who can enrol: everyone, by invitation, or on payment.
4. Choose how visible the course is in the public catalogue.
5. Select Save, then publish the course with the toggle.

Result: the course appears in the eLearning catalogue, empty, ready for its contents.

Add content and a quiz to a course#

A course's content is a series of sections and lessons that the attendee goes through in order.

1. Open the course on the public site and select Add Content.
2. Choose the type of content: document, video, image or written page.
3. Upload the file or enter the video address, then name the lesson.
4. Optional: add a quiz to the lesson and enter the questions with their correct answers.
5. Save, then publish the lesson.

Result: the lesson appears in the course outline. Quiz answers are under eLearning › Reporting › Quizzes, and each person's progress under Attendees.

Award a certification#

A certification is a questionnaire that you pass or fail, and passing produces a document given to the attendee.

1. Open eLearning › Courses › Certifications and select New.
2. Write the questions and set the passing score.
3. Set the number of attempts allowed and the validity period.
4. Save, then attach the certification to the final lesson of the course.

Result: an attendee who passes receives their certificate by email. You write the questions with the tool described in Surveys. The list of certifications is empty on the demo.

Track site traffic#

Three screens, three levels of detail: the overview, the person, the page.

1. Open Website › Reporting › Visitors to see who came, when, and on which page.
2. Remove the Last 7 Days filter to go further back.
3. Open Website › Reporting › Page Views for the raw list of pages visited.
4. Open Website › Reporting › Analytics for detailed measurement, provided by an outside service that must be connected.

Result: a reading of the site's traffic. A recognized visitor carries their name, like Camille Tremblay on the demo; the others remain numbers.

Publish a job offer#

Open positions are published from the website, but their content lives in the recruitment application.

1. Open Website › Site › Content › Job Positions.
2. Open the position you want and check its description and public address.
3. Switch the publication toggle.

Result: the position appears on the careers page and receives applications. On the demo, ten positions exist and only one is published, the business analyst, with two applications already received. Tracking applications is described in Recruitment.

The menus, one by one#

Website › Site: grouping menu.

Website › Site › Homepage: opens the public site in the editor, on the home page. This is the entry point for any content change.

Website › Site › Menu Editor: the dialog for reorganizing the navigation menu by dragging.

Website › Site › Content: grouping menu.

Website › Site › Content › Pages: the list of pages, with the columns Page Title, Page URL, Is Indexed, sitemap membership, SEO optimized, Is Published and Website. Five pages on the demo: the home page, the contact form and three thank-you pages.

Website › Site › Content › Blog Posts: the list of posts, as a list or a kanban, with their blog, author and publication status. Empty on the demo.

Website › Site › Content › Courses: the eLearning courses, opened here because they are also site pages. Empty on the demo.

Website › Site › Content › Job Positions: the job offers that can be published, with their department, hiring target, applications and publication status. Ten positions on the demo, one published.

Website › Site › This page: grouping menu, active only when a site page is open.

Website › Site › This page › Properties: the settings panel of the current page: name, address, indexing, sitemap membership, publication date, visibility.

Website › Site › This page › Optimize SEO: the search engine panel of the current page: title and description shown in search results, target keywords, preview.

Website › Site › This page › Link Tracker: produces a tracked link to the current page, with its campaign, medium and source. Click tracking is described in Email Marketing and Link Tracker.

Website › Site › This page › HTML / CSS Editor: direct editing of the page code, reserved for people who know what they are doing and have a backup copy.

Website › Site › This page › Edit Menu: opens the menu editor on the entry that points to the current page.

Website › Reporting: grouping menu.

Website › Reporting › Analytics: opens the detailed audience measurement from the outside service connected to the site. Without a connected service, the screen points you to the configuration.

Website › Reporting › Visitors: the visitor cards, as a kanban, filtered on Last 7 Days, with the last action, number of visits, last page viewed and leads generated. List, form and graph views are also available. Nearly eight thousand visitors over the last seven days of the demo.

Website › Reporting › Page Views: the raw list of pages visited, one line per view, with the date, the page and the visitor. Nearly twenty-nine thousand lines on the demo.

Website › Configuration: grouping menu.

Website › Configuration › Settings: the settings screen described earlier.

Website › Configuration › Websites: the list of websites served by this database, with their domain, company and language. Only one on the demo.

Website › Configuration › Apps: the list of installable modules, opened here to add a function the site lacks. Keep it for administrators.

Website › Configuration › Redirects: address redirects, with their type. Empty on the demo.

Website › Configuration › Menus: the full list of menu entries, grouped by website, with the columns Menu, Url, mega menu, opening in a new window, Parent Menu and Visible Groups. Six entries for the demo site, six with no website assigned.

Website › Configuration › Blog: grouping menu.

Website › Configuration › Blog › Blogs: the list of blogs, with their name, subtitle and the website that serves them. Only one on the demo, “Voyager”.

Website › Configuration › Blog › Tags: the tags placed on posts, with their category. Empty on the demo.

Website › Configuration › Blog › Tag Categories: the tag groups, which form the filters of the public blog. Four on the demo.

eLearning: the course catalogue, as a kanban, one card per course with its progress, attendees and average rating. Empty on the demo, like all the screens that follow.

eLearning › Courses: grouping menu.

eLearning › Courses › Courses: the same catalogue, opened for management rather than browsing.

eLearning › Courses › Contents: all lessons across all courses, with their type and the course they belong to.

eLearning › Courses › Certifications: the certification questionnaires, with their passing score and attempts. The empty screen offers to create one to assess attendees.

eLearning › Reporting: grouping menu.

eLearning › Reporting › Courses: courses as a graph and a pivot table, to compare enrolments and completions.

eLearning › Reporting › Contents: lessons as a graph, to spot the ones people abandon.

eLearning › Reporting › Attendees: the progress of each enrolled person, by course.

eLearning › Reporting › Reviews: the ratings left by attendees.

eLearning › Reporting › Quizzes: quiz questions and the answers received.

eLearning › Configuration: grouping menu.

eLearning › Configuration › Settings: the eLearning settings: certifications, forum, featured courses.

eLearning › Configuration › Course Groups: the families that serve as filters in the public catalogue. Two on the demo.

eLearning › Configuration › Content Tags: the tags placed on lessons. Empty on the demo.

Reference#

Fields of the Page form#

Fields of the Blog Post form#

Fields of the Course form#

Reports and exports#

eLearning offers five reporting screens, as graphs and pivot tables: courses, contents, attendees, reviews and quizzes. The website provides visitors and page views, which you can also use as graphs. Any list exports to a spreadsheet with Actions › Export. Detailed audience measurement goes through the Analytics screen, which relays an outside service: without that service, no data appears there.

Automations#

The sitemap regenerates on its own, so a newly published page ends up offered to search engines without any action. Inactive visitor records are purged daily: this is why visitor lists do not go back indefinitely. When an attendee finishes a lesson, their progress is recalculated immediately, and passing a certification triggers sending the certificate.

Public pages and portal#

This whole chapter is about public pages: the site itself, the blog at its stream address, the course catalogue, the careers page and the contact forms. Each page has a publication toggle, and the Visible Groups of a menu entry let you reserve a section for signed-in people. The client portal is described in the chapters of the applications that feed it.

Modules that extend this application#

The Editorial workshop application is described in its own chapter. Remember here that a blog post can carry an editorial entry, visible from the post form. Delayed publication of that post then goes through the entry rather than through the page toggle.

Understanding#

Why you edit the site on the page. The editor works on the real rendering, with your fonts, your colours and your real data. This avoids the usual gap between a layout preview and a live page. The trade-off: saving publishes, and there is no parallel working version. For a redesign, unpublish or duplicate.

A published page and an indexed page are two different things. An unpublished page is visible to nobody. A published but unindexed page is visible to anyone who has its address, without appearing in search engine results. The demo's thank-you pages illustrate the second case: they exist, they are published, and it would make no sense for a search engine to offer them.

The menu is not the list of pages. A well-kept site has more pages than menu entries. Keeping the two apart lets you publish a campaign page without cluttering the navigation, and point a menu entry to an outside address.

The blog is a publishing application, not a production one. Odoo knows whether a post is published, and nothing else: not its topic, not the cadence of the stream, not whether the translation is keeping up. This is exactly the gap the Editorial workshop fills, and why the two chapters go together when you run a blog seriously.

Traffic counters count everything. A visit is a page view, crawlers included. Visitor records are already cleaned of some crawlers, those that identify themselves as such. Neither figure is a number of people, and the gap between the two is often large.

eLearning serves internal and external audiences alike. Nothing requires you to open a course to the public: an invitation-only enrolment policy makes it an internal training tool, with progress tracked per person. Security awareness has its own chapter and its own campaigns.

Troubleshooting#

See also#

• Editorial Workshop
• Email Marketing and Link Tracker
• Recruitment
• Surveys
• Security awareness
• Settings and brand identity