Microsites

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated April 29, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Microsites

    The Microsites feature in ServiceNow, introduced in the Yokohama release, enables content managers and administrators to create rich HTML-based content for Employee Center Pro topics and portal pages using a visual drag-and-drop Rich Content Editor. This tool allows non-technical users to build and customize page sections without requiring HTML or CSS expertise or IT assistance. The editor supports creating layouts, adding various components like containers, images, videos, and links, and previewing content across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

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    Content created with the Rich Content Editor integrates seamlessly with the portal's existing theme and colors unless custom styles are applied. The editor respects the portal theme determined by the sncd.preview.portalurlsuffix system property to provide accurate previews.

    Key Features

    • Visual Drag-and-Drop Interface: Easily assemble content using predefined modules (headers, paragraphs, images) or custom layouts with columns and various components.
    • Multi-Device Preview: Design content for desktop first, then adjust for tablet and mobile views to ensure consistency across platforms.
    • Multilingual Support: Optionally select different languages for content creation and request translations, enhancing accessibility for diverse audiences.
    • Publishing Options: Make content available through publish plans or more advanced campaigns for targeted distribution.
    • Component Customization: Each content component includes settings for detailed customization accessible via a toolbar and settings tab.
    • Accessibility Features: Keyboard shortcuts enable efficient content creation and navigation within the editor, supporting users who prefer or require keyboard interaction.
    • Search Integration: Published content is searchable via Employee Center’s global search bar, leveraging AI Search to return relevant results based on user roles and audience configuration.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    ServiceNow customers can use the Microsites feature to rapidly create rich, engaging content for internal portals without needing developers or IT support. The Rich Content Editor simplifies content management by providing a flexible yet user-friendly interface that supports responsive design and multilingual needs. Customers can confidently publish and manage content while maintaining the look and feel of their portal, ensuring a consistent user experience.

    The integration with AI Search enhances content discoverability, while the accessibility and keyboard shortcut features improve usability for diverse teams. Additionally, campaign-based publishing allows customers to tailor content delivery for specific audiences, increasing engagement and relevance.

    Rich Content Editor enables content managers and admins to create HTML-based content for the Employee Center Pro topic and portal pages using a visual drag-and-drop interface.

    You can create a layout, add components (such as containers, images, videos, and links), and adjust the settings of the components with little or no HTML or CSS (cascading style sheets) knowledge. The Rich Content Editor allows non-technical users to build sections of pages without the help of IT or technical users.

    The Rich Content Editor provides a library of components and a canvas area, where you use drag-and-drop method to create your content. The components can be edited individually and you can preview what you are creating on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device before you make your content available to your audience.

    Creating content does not interfere with your portal theme or color. Published content that does not use custom style changes uses the theme of the underlying portal page.
    Note:
    The Rich Content Editor uses the sn_cd.preview.portal_url_suffix sys property to determine the portal theme to use for the content you create. Using the preview portal when creating rich content reflects the portal theme to provide an example of how the content will appear. For more information, see Properties installed with Content Publishing.

    Overview of building microsites

    The Rich Content Editor makes it possible to build HTML content with little or no HTML or CSS (cascading style sheets) knowledge, using the following process:
    1. Create the Rich Content type record: Create rich content
    2. Create the page layout.
    3. Add components such as images, videos, text boxes, and buttons.
    4. Change the canvas size to create content for tablet and mobile.
      Note:
      For best results when creating content for all three platforms, first create your content for desktop, then tablet and mobile.
    5. (Optional) Select a different language to view your session in or request a language translation for the content you are creating. For more information, see Multilingual support in the Content Library.
    6. Make the content available to users via a publish plan: Create a publish plan for your content

      Alternatively, you can build out a more robust publishing configuration using campaigns: Creating campaigns

    Rich Content Editor interface

    The Rich Content Editor interface is comprised of a canvas where you assemble the content, content components that you drag-and-drop into the canvas, and menu bar icons to modify the canvas.
    Note:
    If the Edit Source code icon does not appear, ask an admin to enable the Edit code property. See Properties installed with Content Publishing

    Rich Content Editor components

    When you select a component, a toolbar appears at its top-left corner, allowing you to manipulate the component directly. Each component offers a variety of customization options that are accessed from the Settings tab.

    Rich Content Editor - Settings

    Keyboard shortcuts for accessibility

    You can assemble microsites and news articles in the Rich Content Editor using a keyboard for improved accessibility.

    The Rich Content Editor supports many operating system and text formatting shortcuts, including Save, Bold, and Undo. In Content Publishing versions 33.0.9 and later, users can navigate the top toolbar and style manager using the right, left, up, and down arrow keys. You can use these additional keyboard shortcuts to support your content creation:

    Table 1. Keyboard shortcuts
    Action Mac keyboard shortcut Windows keyboard shortcut
    Paste and match style of selected text box Shift+Option+Command+V Shift+Alt+Windows+V
    Tip:

    With the Rich Content Editor, you can easily use your keyboard to select individual canvas components. You can add text and columns, create text sections within those columns, and update headings within each section to adjust the styling and fonts to your liking; It helps you customize your content in a simple and convenient way.

    See Next Experience keyboard shortcuts for additional information.

    Searching for Rich content

    When employees enter a keyword in the global search bar, Employee Center uses AI Search to return published pages containing that keyword in the content name or body.

    Searching for by keyword "employee" returns pages created with the rich content editor containing the term

    AI Search returns additional results based on user roles:
    • Users with either the system admin or content admin role can see unpublished content.
    • For users with the content manager, content admin, or content approver roles, search results include content for which they are not the audience. However, they cannot view the content unless they are part of the configured audience.