We recently replaced the old guest section which had some limitations, mostly related to design changes and features that have been added to the GeoPal Web App since the original guest section was developed. One such factor in redeveloping the guest section was the layout and style which was not updated when the rest of the GeoPal Web App we redesigned, this left guest users with a very different experience when using GeoPal. Another factor was the inability of account owners to control which of the guest sections the guest user would see the meaning that different types of guests all had access to the same information, which for some users of GeoPal was seen as a major drawback.

The Old Guest section was a great way for account owners to allow guest users access to jobs, assets, and reports without exposing other sections of the GeoPal Web App. Although these features offered a lot of value for account owners and their guest users, there has since been a lot of new features added to the GeoPal Web App offering new functionality and increased value to the guest users and their parent account.

The new guest section offers more features and flexibility to both the account owner and the guest users. It now uses the same design and menu as the main web app, making it more intuitive and easier to the user. Guest users can now search the menu items, mark specific menu items as favorites and set the landing page (first page after login) for their login. 

The new guest section also comes with a new settings section for parent accounts to enable/disable the various guest sections (jobs, assets, and reports) along with the addition of the ability to configure Guest Modules. The Guest modules work exactly the same as standard modules allowing custom pages/applications to be developed within the GeoPal Web App and distributed to specific guest users using App Configurations in the App Manager. 

A comparison of the features can be seen below

All of these new features make the new guest section very powerful as it can be customised to the needs of both the parent account and the guest users. Account owners now also have the ability to have different guest sections for different guests by enabling/disabling sections and configuring web modules which is a powerful feature on its own. The ability to allow guests to access web modules will greatly benefit both the guests and their parent accounts as guests can now have an application that is tailored to their needs, making the new guest section more useful and easier to use.