====== Channels ======

:!: This feature was introduced in VuFind 4.0.

VuFind's "channels" interface allows users to explore your collection in a non-linear, multi-dimensional way. It is designed to encourage browsing and serendipity. You have a high degree of control over how channels of content are populated.

===== Basic Concept =====

The "channels" interface provides multiple lists of records organized into categories.

There is a channels home page which can be configured to provide interesting content to start an exploration of the collection. Additionally, any user search and any record within VuFind can be used as the seed for a custom page of related channels.

The mechanism that makes this possible is a collection of [[development:plugins:channel_providers|channel provider]] classes which take a search or record as input and produce a list of related records as output.

===== Configuration =====

See the [[https://github.com/vufind-org/vufind/blob/dev/config/vufind/channels.ini|channels.ini]] file for a complete list of channel providers and their configuration options, as well as for comments on how to select which channels are displayed in each possible context.

If you want to display links to related channels, you can turn on the Channels [[development:plugins:recommendation_modules|recommendation module]] in [[configuration:files:searches.ini|searches.ini]] (or other backend-specific config files) and/or the Channels [[development:plugins:related_records_modules|related record module]] in the [Record] section of [[configuration:files:config.ini|config.ini]].

If you want to make the channels interface the default homepage for your VuFind instance, simply set defaultModule to "Channels" in [[configuration:files:config.ini|config.ini]].

To build a custom channel provider, see [[development:plugins:channel_providers|this page]] for details.