Overview
Pendo uses CSS Selectors as feature rules to identify specific elements within your application. However, there may be situations where you want to choose an alternative CSS Selector - such as sibling selectors or accessibility attributes - for feature tagging.
Feature tagging works by selecting user activity data using CSS selectors. These events are captured as hierarchical representations of each page element that an event is logged against. Due to the way in which Pendo collects and stores activity, this does limit the selectors Pendo can utilize.
To overcome the challenge of identifying elements, Adopt users have the option of enabling sibling selectors and accessibility attributes through their Pendo representative for their subscription or for specific applications. Enabling the collection of sibling selectors and accessibility attributes allows Adopt users to better identify elements, such as features or pages, which otherwise cannot be tagged. Sibling selectors and accessibility attributes are not collected retroactively due to the complexity and sensitivity of the possible data.
The information provided by sibling selectors and accessibility attributes is valuable for better understanding user behavior. By default Pendo does not collect sibling selectors or accessibility attributes.
To learn more about how Adopt secures your information and data, review Pendo Adopt’s privacy statement.
Sibling Selector Collection
Sibling selectors allows the user to tie one feature rule to another feature on the page. This type of data collection helps enable strong feature tag rules for applications that have customizable ui for end-users, as well as applications that have shadow-dom. Adopt users can turn on sibling selectors at the time of installing an application by working directly with their Pendo representative.
Adopt users can also turn off sibling selectors after it has been enabled by reaching out to Pendo. However, turning off sibling selectors may make it difficult to tag some features and will also stop the collection of any new data on features that are passed down to your application.
Sibling Selectors Resources:
Accessibility Attribute Collection
Accessibility attributes make web content and web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. By collecting these attributes, Adopt Administrators are able to tag features or pages they otherwise couldn’t.
The collection of Accessibility Attributes is similar to the collection of Sibling Selectors. When Accessibility Attribute collection is enabled, Pendo receives does receive additional information about the user’s UI. This information, however, enables the Adopt user to tag pages and features they couldn’t before. Accessibility Attributes can also be enabled on a per-application basis. By default Pendo does not collect Accessibility Attributes.
If accessibility attributes are turned off prior to installation and initially opting into accessibility attribute data collection, then it may make it difficult to tag some features and will also stop the collection of any new data on features that are passed down to your application via Pendo that use those attributes.
Accessibility Attributes Resources:
HTML Attribute Collection
Pendo is unable to capture every attribute on an element on a page. Customers are, however, able to add in custom attributes that can potentially capture this information. The standard attributes Pendo collects are:
- The type of element that was clicked (<div>, <p>, <button> etc.)
- The text inside of elements such as <a>, <span>, <div>
- The id and/or class(es) of the element
- Other attributes of the element if they exist, including title, href, and tabindex.
- For <button>, we collect value (the text of the button) and name
- For <img>, we collect src and alt
- For <select>, we collect type and selectedIndex
- For <textarea> and <input>, we collect name
- For privacy reasons, we do not collect user-entered text inside of <input> or <textarea> fields, or the document <title> in load events.
- We collect the same data for all parents of the clicked element up through the HTML hierarchy to the <body> tag.
Note: You can configure the Pendo agent to not collect accessibility attributes, or sibling selectors but this will make it extremely difficult for you to tag Features.
FAQ
What is an inherited page or feature?
An inherited page or inherited feature are pages and features that are tags made by Pendo we are passing on to you, our customer. Every time a customer creates a Salesforce extension application for Adopt, Pendo sends their application those pages and features we’ve already tagged. These pages are known as inherited pages and features.
How can I identify an inherited page?
In the Features and Pages section of Adopt, the “Inherited” label is used in a separate column on the page and feature list view to differentiate inherited pages or features from Custom ones. Besides these labels, there is not another way to identify inherited pages or features in the Adopt UI.
Why are inherited features or pages not editable?
All Adopt users receive the inherited features and pages, therefore they cannot be modified without impacting their experiences.
What are the benefits of receiving inherited pages and features?
Pendo Adopt is actively working to create as many pre-configured Adopt applications that work seamlessly upon installation. What this means is that once users add a pre-configured Adopt Application, they receive pre-tagged pages and features as well as have optimal tagging settings auto-created for custom tagging. As of right now, Salesforce Lightning is a Pendo Adopt pre-configured application. When an Adopt user creates an SFDC extension application, they receive a set of pre-tagged pages and features as well as having optimal tagging settings for their own custom tagging.