See Also: Live Class - Winning Proposals Webinar

 

Table of Contents

Choosing a layout

Add content to custom sections 

Formatting your custom section

Video Learning:

1. Sales Mode Customization
2. Intro to Creating Custom Sections
3. Using Placeholders for Personalization
4. Adding Interactive, Charts, Graphs, and Explainers 

Admins can create custom sections and add them anywhere in the proposal template. For the best experience when customizing your proposal follow the below process: 

1. Determine first how you want your section to look and what content you'd like added
2. Then, choose a layout that best suits your vision
3. Add content to your custom sections
4. Use the preview button to see how you're section will look
5. Fine-tune adjustments with additional formatting 

What can you add into custom sections? 

Admins can add a variety of information into their custom sections. With custom sections you can add: 

• Images, text, video
• Interactive charts
• Explainers that help educate your customer on solar topics such as batteries and Net Metering. 
• Placeholders

 

Choosing a layout 

To get started

1. Click on the + Add section dropdown, then select the layout that would work best for the custom section you want to create.
2. Give your custom section a name. This name will appear in Sales Mode and web proposal menus. 

Tip: It's helpful to determine the content and layout of your section before starting as you cannot switch section layout after the section has been created.

Sales Mode Customization Video

Adding content to custom sections

Once you've decided on your section's layout, it's time to add content. To do this, drag and drop a widget from the Content menu located on the left into a cell. Ensure all widgets you want to have the same alignment, padding, or background are in the same cell to ensure that content is kept together. Also, use Preview to check your progress often.

Tip: We recommend formatting your grid before adding content see (section link) for more details. 

Aspect Ratio for Full-Screen Image

Choosing an aspect ratio that showcase most of your image on most devices is key. A 3:2 aspect ratio is a versatile option that scales well for many landscape tablets while maintaining great presentation on desktop and mobile devices. Please note that there is a 1MB file size limit for uploaded images to allow for rapid loading and presentation of your sales mode and web proposals.

Intro to Creating Custom Sections Video

 

Text

To add text, click and hold on the Text can and drag it to your desired cell. Purple indicates that you can place text and red means you aren't able to place text in that space. Once you've placed your text box in the cell, you're able to start adding text (see image above.)

1. To edit text such as adding bold, italicized, underlined, font color, and font sizes, hover over the text box to see your options.
2. Click the gear icon to add padding (spacing) around the text. We recommend doing this only after all your widgets are placed including images, videos, and interactive charts and graphs.
3. To see a preview of what your padding will look like on your newly created section, click Preview located on the top right. To exit the preview, click the preview icon again.
4. To go back to editing more widgets, select the back button on the left. 

Tip: Aurora recommends adding all of the content you wish to include on your section before starting on any formatting such as adding padding around a widget. 

With a textbox, you have the ability to add placeholders. To do this, hover over the textbox and the toolbar will appear. Select "Placeholder" on the right and you can choose between a variety of information that will automatically populate from your project. You can either use the search box or scroll through the available list manually. 

Tip: To change a placeholder, make sure to first delete your prior placeholder text 

Using Placeholders for Personalization Video

If you'd like to re-order where your textbox is placed in the cell, hover over the textbox, click and hold the vertical dot column, and move it to your desired location. 

To delete a textbox, hover over the textbox, and in the toolbar that pop up, click on the trash can located on the right. 

Images 

Once you've added an image widget to your cell, you'll have the option to choose the image either by dragging and dropping or uploading one from your computer. Please note that there is a 1MB file size limit for uploaded images to allow for rapid loading and presentation of your sales mode and web proposals.

To edit padding and the width and height of your image,

1. Select the gear icon
2. Enter in your desired measurements on the left.
3. You can select a parent to adjust multiple items together by clicking on the "Select parent" button and then selecting your desired parent such as another widget, cell, grid, or section. 

To delete an image, hover over your image, and in the pop-up menu click on the trash icon. 

Videos 

To add a video to your section, select the video widget on the left-hand side and drag it to your desired cell. 

Once the widget is placed,

1.  Hover over the video and select the gear icon from the toolbar
2. Enter the YouTube URL on the left of the screen. 

Tip: Currently, you're only able to add videos via YouTube. 

Interactive Charts and Graphs

Aurora has a robust offering of interactive charts and graphs to choose from to add to your proposal to engage and wow your customers. 

To add an interactive chart or graph, select a widget from the left located under the "Interactive" section. Select the chart or graph widget you'd like to use and drop it in a cell. 

To edit a chart's height or select a parent,

1. Hover over the chart and select the gear icon.
2. Make changes on the left. 

Tip: Although certain widgets seem to take over the entire section when placed- once you've clicked on a widget and view the section within your proposal, you'll notice that your desired outcome will be achieved. Although the preview button is a good tool to use to get a general sense of how the section will look, you can see the actual outcome by clicking done in the top right and viewing your section alongside the other sections within your proposal. The widgets this occurs on include the Cashflow table, Net Metering explainer, and Storage explainer. 

Adding Interactive Charts, Graphs, and Explainers Video

Solar models

Aurora allows you to add one or more solar model widgets to your custom pages so users can show multiple views and angles of their design.

To add a solar model, select the widget from the left located under the “Interactive” section, then drop it into the cell.

To edit the solar model’s height,

1. Hover over the widget and select the gear icon.
2. Make changes on the left.

In Sales Mode, users are able to adjust the angle and zoom of the selected solar model, and toggle irradiance and LIDAR on/off. If multiple solar model widgets are shown on a page, each view can be adjusted independent of one another. 

Explainers

In an ongoing effort to help solar professionals educate their customers, we've created stunning explainers that you can incorporate into your proposals. 

Widgets ending in "Explainer" will help your team explain topics like storage and Net metering to your customers who may have a hard time understanding everything going on in the solar industry and why their bills may change in certain situations. To add these widgets, drag and drop them into your desired cell. 

Tip: We recommend using a 1x1 layout section for each individual explainer widget to ensure you get a great-looking explainer section. It's possible to add these explainer section with other information but they look best when they're by themselves. 1x1 layout is also recommended for a title that spans the full section. You can always use the grid to make sub-layouts

Grid

With grids, you can create additional layouts or sub-layouts within an existing layout. 

Imagine you have a space divided into two sections. Using grids, you can take one of those sections and further divide it into smaller sections, allowing you to create even more customizable spaces within that one section. It's like having smaller sections within a larger section, giving you more control over your layout. 

To add a grid you'll first need a cell to add it to. Once you've determined which cell you'd like to add the grid to, drag and drop the grid widget into that cell to begin customizing. 

Hover over the newly created grid and select the gear icon. You'll now be able to edit the column count and the cell count. You'll also have the ability to add padding and gaps around your newly formed grid. 

Formatting your custom section

To ensure the presentation of your proposals is polished and readily accessible to your customers, finish by applying the appropriate formatting to your section. 

To start, it's important to know the definitions of what makes up a blank custom section. 

Cell

A cell is the most granular section on a proposal section. This is where you'll add in your widgets such as text, video, images, and explainer sections. You can add multiple widgets to one cell and arrange them how you'd like. 

Once you've placed your widgets within a cell, you'll then be able to format your cell correctly. 

1. Place all your desired widgets in a cell
2. Hover over the cell and click the gear icon
3. On the left side of your screen is where you'll find the formatting option 

Formatting a cell: 

1.  Left/Right padding - the space on the left and right of the widgets inside a cell
2. Top/Bottom padding - the space from the top and bottom of the widgets inside a cell
3. Gap - the space between widgets
4. Row span - the span of rows a cell takes up
5. Column span - the span of columns a cell takes up
6. Justify - works alongside row span. When a measurement is added to the row span box, you'll be able to decide where the widgets are located within a cell spanning across a row.
7. Align - works alongside column span. When a measurement is added to the align box, you'll be able to decide where the widgets are located within a cell spanning across a column 

Grid 

A grid is made up of one or more cells and can be formatted if you wish to add additional sections to your section. To get even more granular, you can add a grid to a cell. 

Aurora recommends formatting a grid as a first step. After formatting your grid, add your widgets, and then format your cells afterward. 

To make changes to your grid, hover over the grid and select the gear icon You'll see 6 options. 

1. Column Count - where you can add or subtract the number of columns you have 
2. Cell Count - you have the ability to change the number of cells. Note: make sure to change the cell count only before starting to add content and widgets to your custom section. If the cell count is changed after you've added content, the entire section will be deleted. 
3. Row Gap - If your gird is made up of multiple cells, you can change the gap between the cells (top to bottom between cells)
4. Column Gap - if your grid is made up of multiple cells, you can change the gap between the cells (left to right between cells)
5. Left/Right padding - spacing between the grid and the cell from left to right (around the outside of the cell)
6. Top/Bottom padding - spacing between the grid and the cell from top to bottom (around the outside of the cell) 

Section 

A section is another term referring to an entire section. A section is the highest level that is made up of grids and cells. 

Background

Within each section, cell, and widget, you are able to add, edit, or delete a background. 

To add a background, 

1. Select the gear icon
2. Choose between Color and Image
3. If you’ve selected Color, choose the desired color or enter the HEX number
4. If you’ve selected Image, drag and drop the image you’d like to include

 

Tip: For darker backgrounds, consider changing the color of the text or the background of the text widget to make sure the text stays visible.