A portal site can include many pages. Staff connect those pages with menus, links, and buttons in the page content. When you choose one, the portal usually opens the next page without reloading the whole site, so moving around often feels faster than a standard web page.
How Clicking a Link or Button Works
When you click a link or button inside a portal page, the portal checks where the link goes:
- A link to another page in the same portal opens that page right away, without a full page reload. If the address includes extra information, such as which item to show, the portal carries that information to the new page. Some pages use that extra information to show a filtered view. For example, a schedule page can filter by event type, session type, or function type, and each filter uses its own identifier in the web address.
- A link that starts with
http://,https://, ormailto:, or a link with no address, is handled by your browser in the usual way. For example, it might open another website or your email program. If an outside address is missinghttp://orhttps://, such as an organization's website address shown in a directory entry, the portal treats it as an address inside the portal. That usually does not open the page you expect. - Your portal sign-in does not carry over when a link takes you to an outside website. That website controls its own access, so you may need to sign in there even though you are already signed in to the portal.
Tip
When you move between portal pages without a full reload, the browser’s address bar still changes to the new page address. You just may not see the same “flash” you expect from a standard website.
Links to a specific section of a page, often called anchor links, are not reliable in portal page content. They have been seen opening a fragment address at the site’s root instead of staying on the current page, and clicking one may not scroll to the target section. Avoid relying on an anchor link inside a page until this is confirmed to work.
Staff set up most links and buttons you see, and a few patterns are helpful when you manage a site. To send visitors to an external form's web address, use a page link instead of a button. If you need to send members from a membership portal straight to one specific conference's registration or abstract pages, the most reliable option is often a menu item that uses that event's own full portal address rather than a generic link, especially while only one event is open at a time. You can also build a menu item that sends visitors to an outside website, using the same external-address handling described above.
Support has occasionally seen a portal menu seem to disappear on an event microsite, even when the microsite was set up correctly. If that happens, clear your browser cache and refresh the page, or try a private or incognito window before assuming the site setup is wrong. The same steps can help when a microsite appears to show the wrong event's content. Portal pages are tested most thoroughly in Google Chrome. Other browsers, such as Microsoft Edge, are generally expected to work too, but you may occasionally see something that does not look or act quite right. If a page works on one device or browser but not another, update your browser and clear its cached data. Use a supported browser when you have a choice.
Why the Menu Shows Only Some Items to You
The portal menu is not the same for every visitor. When your visit starts, Rhythm downloads the site’s published menu once, then removes any item you do not qualify to see based on the access rules staff set for that item. The portal keeps that filtered menu for the rest of your visit instead of checking it again after every click.
The menu refreshes when you sign in, sign out, or complete an order. If your access changes for another reason during your visit, the menu will not show that change until one of those three events happens, or until you reload the page.
Warning
If Rhythm cannot confirm whether you pass an item’s access rules, the item stays hidden so it is not shown by mistake.
A microsite that is not linked from any menu is simply hard to stumble onto. It is not hidden or protected for that reason alone. If someone has, or guesses, its direct address, and the microsite itself does not require sign-in, they can still open it. Do not rely on "not linked anywhere" to keep a microsite private.
Signing in to the portal also does not always show right away if the next page you land on is a public page of an event microsite. You may not see your profile bar or signed-in state the moment that page loads, even though you are signed in. A page that requires sign-in shows your signed-in state normally.
Links That Open Your Password Change Page
Some pages include a link or button, set up by the association, that lets you change your password without leaving the portal. When you use it while signed in, Rhythm opens its password change page in a new browser tab.
This works only when you signed in with a password Rhythm manages directly. If you signed in through a social network account, you cannot change your password from this link. Change it on the social network’s own site instead.
The profile bar's sign-out link works differently. When you choose it, you always return to the portal's own address. There is currently no setting that sends you to a different website after you sign out.
A member's account menu also includes standard actions that are built into the portal, such as updating a profile, returning home, opting out of communications or a directory listing, and setting up auto-renewal. These are not menu items an association configures one by one, so you cannot remove or reconfigure them individually the way you can with an ordinary menu item.
How Scripts on a Page Can Move You Around
Some pages include small scripts, added by staff, that move you to another page automatically. For example, a script might send you to another page after you complete an action. This works like clicking a link because the destination page’s access rules still apply when you arrive. A script cannot send you somewhere you are not otherwise allowed to see.
The same rule applies when you type or bookmark a page's address directly. A public microsite page opens right away, while a page that requires sign-in sends you to sign in first, just as it would if you had reached it from a menu.
A button built from a script, rather than a standard link, still needs a destination web address set in its code. Without one, clicking it can open a blank browser tab instead of taking you anywhere.
If Something Goes Wrong
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