Scenes give you more control over how your students are using their Chromebooks. You can use Scenes to filter websites during your classroom sessions. This article will specifically cover the filtering component of Scenes. 

You can also send websites to students and limit the number of open tabs at a given time. For more information about what Scenes has to offer, please read Components of a Scene. 

Filter Mode

Scenes can be created in Block Mode or Allow Mode. 

Block Mode, by definition, is extremely restrictive. A Block Mode Scene will block any web page except for URLs added to the allow list. The Allowed Sites for a Block Mode Scene is a list of URLs to allow. Adding general URLs, such as domains, will allow the entirety of the site, whereas more specific folder or page URLs will allow content in only in those sections. A Block Mode Scene must have at least one site allowance added before any content will be blocked.  

Allow Mode, by definition, is extremely open and unrestrictive (the opposite of Block Mode). In a Scene set to Allow Mode, the Blocked Sites is your list of websites to block. Adding general URLs, such as domains (such as: facebook.com), will block the entirety of the site, whereas a more specific folder or page URL (such as: https://www.facebook.com/funnyordie) will block content on just that page.

Exclusions and URL types

There are a few types of URLs that you can add to your Allowed/Blocked Sites list. Adding the website URL will exclude it from the selected filtering mode. Below are a few examples of how the filtering rules are applied.

In case you aren't familiar with URLs, you can find the parts of a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) broken down in the image below.

Base URL

Adding a Base URL will allow or block the entirety of a website. 

Example: google.com

When added to a Scene in Block Mode, this would block all websites, but allow all Google-related services at google.com including Gmail (mail.google.com), Docs (docs.google.com), Drive (drive.google.com), and Google Search (google.com/search). That is because these services all stem from the google.com main domain.

When added to a Scene in Allow Mode, this would block all Google-related services at google.com including Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Google Search. This is because each of these services are all a part of the main domain of google.com.

Subdomain URL

Adding a subdomain URL will allow or block a subsection of a website. 

Example:  docs.google.com 

When added to a Scene in Block Mode, this would block all websites, but allow only docs.google.com and any pages starting with docs.google.com/.

When added to a Scene in Allow Mode, this would block any pages starting with docs.google.com/.

Folder URL

Adding a folder URL would allow or block content within a specific section of a site. 

Example:  docs.google.com/a/goguardian.com/

When added to a Scene in Block Mode, this would block all websites, but allow only Google Docs that are in the goguardian.com domain.  

When added to a Scene in Allow Mode, this would block any pages starting with docs.google.com/a/goguardian.com/.

Page URL

Adding a specific URL would allow or block only that page. 

Example: docs.google.com/a/goguardian.com/document/d/123456edit?usp=sharing

When added to a Scene in Block Mode, this would block all websites, but allow only this specific Google Document.  

When added to a Scene in Allow Mode, this would block this specific Google Document.

Block or Allow sites with *Wildcards*

Depending on which Scene mode is selected, websites can be blocked or allowed using *wildcards*, another term for * (asterisks). 

Depending on which Scene mode is selected, websites can be blocked or allowed using *wildcards, another term for * (asterisks). To block by keyword, add a word with an * immediately before or after the word to your exceptions list. This feature is more useful for blocking sites that contain the keyword in its domain.

Example: *games or games*   

When added to a Scene set to Block Mode, this would block all websites, but allow all URLs that contain the word games in its domain or subdomain. 

When added to a Scene set to Allow Mode, this would block all URLs that contain the word games in its domain or subdomain. 

When adding a URL, asterisks can be added on both sides for sites with subdomains to avoid blocking theoretical subdomains. Or just at the end if there are no subdomains expected.

Example: *edgenuity.com* allows subdomain.edgenuity.com/homepage

Wildcards are supported in any part of a filter site.

Example: In the site https://www.w3schools.com/ you can target a specific part of the site, such as:

w3schools.com/*css*

Targeting this specific URL path can either block everything except the CSS pages (if your Scene is in Block Mode) or allow everything except the CSS pages (if your Scene is in Allow Mode). See the example below.