University at Buffalo (UB)
Transforming UB’s digital communications.
Emergency Alert Banner Component
Displays UB Alert banner during campus emergencies.
Example of the Emergency Alert Banner in use.
On this page:
Last reviewed: May 16, 2022
Using This Component
The component as first displayed on the page.
This banner is normally added to your site during the site creation process.
If you need to add it later, it is placed on your site's Header page, which requires Specialist permissions. You must also set a cache flush trigger in your home page's Properties for it to stay in synch with the master version.
Remember to set a 'Flush Trigger' for your homepage (details below) and re-activate your header and home pages.
Technical Restrictions
- Place the component directly under the main header component.
- Be sure to adjust your main home page's Page Properties as noted above.
1. Add the Component to Your Site's Header
Place the component on your site's Header page, which is located in your Site-Wide Configuration folder (/content/site/config).
The location where it is displayed on your live site is fixed. For consistency, we encourage you to place it immediately under the main Header component in Author, and also above the Issues Advisory Banner (if you have one), but the placement in Author does not actually matter.
There are no settings to configure.
2. Set a Flush Trigger on Your Homepage
Add a flush trigger to your home page's Properties.
To ensure that the banner will display on your site as soon as it is loaded on the master emergency.buffalo.edu site, you will need to set a Flush Trigger on your site's home page.
In Properties, in the Advanced tab, under Server Caching, add a new Flush Trigger with this path and reactivate the page: /content/shared/www/emergency
- Top Level Sites (/content/site)
- e.g. nursing.buffalo.edu
- Adjust Page Properties for the site’s home-page-dispatcher-trigger page
- /content/site/home-page-dispatcher-trigger.html
- e.g. /content/nursing/home-page-dispatcher-trigger.html
- This page is NOT displayed in the admin console or File Tree. You will have to load it manually into your browser.
- Flush triggers added to your actual home page’s Properties are ignored.
- ubcms-author.buffalo.edu/content/site.html
- e.g. ubcms-author.buffalo.edu/content/nursing.html
- Second Level Sites (/content/*/site)
- e.g. www.buffalo.edu/president
- e.g. medicine.buffalo.edu/biochemistry)
- Adjust Properties for the site’s home page
- ubcms-author.buffalo.edu/content/*/site.html
- e.g. ubcms-author.buffalo.edu/content/www/president.html
- e.g. www.buffalo.edu/president
Do not be alarmed. Unless there is a campus crisis, the banner will NOT be visible on your home page even in the Author environment. It will, however, always be displayed on your Header page in Author.
How Will the Banner Function?
When a UB Alert is posted during a campus emergency, this component will display as a red banner on select websites, such as the UB home page , the Administrative Services Gateway, the Student Life Gateway, our news sites (UB Now, News Center,) and the main UB Alert website.
Opting out from the Emergency Banner
We encourage every site at UB to participate in critical emergency communications; however, we do understand in select circumstances this might not be a fit for your site's purpose or target audience. If this is the case, simply reverse the steps to remove this component from your header.
- Edit your site’s Header page to remove the component and republish the page.
- Edit the home page Properties to remove the flush trigger and republish the page.