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Welcome to Experience Manager

Navigation Path: Sidebar → Settings → Experience Manager (or click Settings ➔ Organization Settings ➔ Experience Manager)

The Experience Manager is your central design and layout studio in OptimaOrbit. It gives you complete control over how your brand identity, navigation menus, headers, footers, neutral account pages, and public URL landing pages look to your visitors.

[!NOTE] Unlike standard settings pages that only show simple form fields, the Experience Manager is a dedicated visual studio shell. It allows you to manage your entire platform's look and feel from one place.

Experience Manager Overview & Quick Start Studio Interface

[!TIP] New to Experience Manager? Read our Beginner's Survival Guide & Top 10 Struggles to understand the mental model, Chrome vs Content, Save vs Publish rules, and step-by-step page building!

1. Understanding Audience Surfaces​

A surface is a specialized face of your site designed for a specific target audience. Rather than forcing all visitors into a single cluttered menu, OptimaOrbit gives each audience a focused frame while sharing your brand identity:

The 5 Audience Surfaces Explained​

Surface NameTarget AudienceHeader & Footer ToolsExample Use Case
🛒 StorefrontShoppers & buyersSearch bar, cart drawer icon, product category menus, shipping policies footerA customer searching for products, adding items to cart, and checking out.
📰 MarketingBlog readers & campaign leadsArticle search, category dropdowns, resource links, newsletter signup footerA visitor reading a blog post or campaign landing page and subscribing to updates.
🛟 ResolveSupport customersKnowledge base search, "Submit a ticket" button, helpdesk hours footerA customer with a question searching help articles or opening a support request.
📄 PapersDocument portal clientsDocument search, download center links, client portal menuA client accessing shared project contracts, invoices, or technical documents.
🔑 AccountNeutral (all users)Clean brand logo, minimal header links, privacy & terms footerAnyone logging in, resetting a password, or updating profile details.

2. Organization Defaults vs. Project Overrides​

Experience Manager operates on a simple Inheritance Principle:

Organization Defaults (Global Baseline) ──► Project Custom Overrides
  1. Organization Defaults: You configure your global brand identity, navigation menus, and footers once at the Organization level. All projects automatically inherit these defaults.
  2. Project Overrides: If a specific project needs its own unique storefront look or custom menu, you can author a project override that applies exclusively to that project.

Visual Status Badges Explained​

When exploring tabs in the studio, you will see status badges next to each section:

  • Configured — An Organization default has been saved and is actively serving visitors.
  • Not set — No Organization default is set yet; visitors see the standard clean system layout.
  • Custom override — This specific project has its own unique settings that override the Organization defaults.
  • Inherits Org — This project does not have a custom override; it automatically inherits the Organization defaults.

3. Quick Start Workflow​

Next Steps & User Guides​