Defer Channel Preview Load

Info: Available in Bloomreach Content 17.1.0 and later.

Overview

By default, when you open a channel in the Experience manager, the home page loads immediately in the preview area. For most channels, this is suitable. However, in some cases, the home page may render slowly or may not be the preferred starting point for editors who typically work on other pages.

You can configure a channel to defer this initial load. When enabled, opening the channel does not render the home page. Instead, the preview remains empty and displays a hint. The Sitemap panel opens automatically, allowing editors to select the page they want to work on. After a page is selected, the channel preview and editing features behave as usual.

This feature is opt-in, configured per channel, and is disabled by default. Existing channels are not affected unless you enable this setting.

Editor Experience

When deferred preview load is enabled for a channel:

• The preview area displays: "No page loaded. Use the Sitemap on the left to open a page."
• The Sitemap panel opens automatically on the left.
• The Channel and Page menus in the toolbar are visible but disabled, since no page is loaded.

After the editor selects a page from the Sitemap, the selected page renders in the preview. The toolbar menus become active, and editing proceeds as normal.

If an editor opens a specific page directly (for example, via a deep link or by selecting "View in channel" from a document), the requested page loads immediately. Deferred loading does not apply in these cases.

Configuration

Control deferred preview load using the hst:deferpreviewload boolean property on the channel's hst:channel node. Set this property to true to enable deferred loading for the channel:

/hst:hst:
  /hst:configurations:
    /example:
      /hst:channel:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:channel
        hst:name: Example
        hst:deferpreviewload: true
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You can also set this property directly on the hst:channel node using the console.

To revert to the default behavior (loading the home page on open), set the property to false or remove it from the channel configuration.