Effective in-app guidance delivers the right message to the right users at the right time. To help you create Guides more efficiently, Impact provides a library of Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) Shared Layouts. These layouts are designed around common education use cases and can be imported in your Impact Dashboard to support scenarios such as onboarding, feature adoption, announcements, and change management.
📽️ Watch the video below to learn how to import and customize an OOTB shared layout before applying the best practices in this article.
If you're new to creating Guides, we recommend reviewing the Impact Guides documentation before building your own Guides.
Start with an OOTB Shared Layout
Each Shared Layout comes with a preview with implementation recommendations to simplify customization, including:
- Ready-to-use guide content
- Recommended placement for each guide step
- Suggested button actions and automations, where applicable
- Implementation notes and customization guidance
Much of the planning has already been done, allowing you to focus on adapting the guide to your institution’s goals and workflows.
Customize your layout
Before publishing your guide, tailor the Shared Layout to your institution and your users.
We recommend the following best practices:
- Target the right audience by using Segments (for example, instructors, students, administrators, or first-time users).
- Personalize the content to match your institution's terminology, branding, and workflows.
- Configure the location of each guide step so guidance appears on the appropriate page or UI element within your application.
- Configure button actions or automations if your workflow requires users to navigate to another page, open a feature, or complete a specific action. Our Shared Layout previews identify where these configurations should be applied.
Enhance your Guide with Building Blocks
Building Blocks make it easy to customize Shared Layouts while maintaining a consistent user experience. They allow you to enrich your guides with content and interactive elements without redesigning the layout from scratch.
As you customize your guide, consider using Building Blocks to:
- Add headings, formatted text, and dividers to improve readability.
- Include images or videos to provide visual context or demonstrate a workflow.
- Configure buttons that direct users to another page, launch a workflow, or trigger an automation.
- Organize content into clear, easy-to-follow sections that focus on a single task.
When using Building Blocks, keep accessibility and usability in mind. Use concise content, meaningful button labels, descriptive alternative text for images, and a consistent layout throughout your guides.
Before you publish
As you customize your guide:
- Keep messaging concise and focused.
- Preview and test your guide before publishing it to all users.
- Review guides and regularly to ensure they still align with your application's interface after updates.
If you choose to build your own guide from scratch, select the guide type that best supports your goal, whether it's a walkthrough, announcement, tooltip, onboarding tour, or critical communication.
For more guidance on building and managing guides, explore the Impact Community resources:
