MTU Tech Alive Support: Creating a Module


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Creating a Module - Graduate Faculty Series

Start Page

Your start page is called "index.htm" inside of a folder with your MTU username inside of the "gradfaculty" folder on the Tech Alive webserver. This is based on the template "Grad Faculty Index Page". It has already been created for you.

The page "index.htm" is structured to look like a starting contact page. It's intended to have your contact information, photo, and professional biography on the front. This information can be copied and pasted from other sources.

Navigation

On the left of "index.htm" is a Main Menu. To simplify authoring, this menu is designed to be located only on the start page. Secondary pages linked from the Main Menu are created from the "Grad Faculty Web Page" template. This template does not contain a copy of the menu, only a large "RETURN TO INDEX" button under the Faculty Name subtitle. A submenu may be created on the secondary pages.

Templates for This Series

Grad Faculty Index Page (for the start page)
Grad Faculty Web Page (for secondary pages)
Grad Faculty Grad Student Page (for profiles of advisees)

Concept

Conceptualize your website by thinking about your main menu and branching out submenus from there. The main menu should be kept general and changed infrequently. Draw a flowchart if necessary. Usually 2-3 levels are sufficient for a navigational hierarchy.

Authoring the Main Menu

Menu item "Home" is not editable. It always points to "index.htm". This is redundant; however, secondary pages created using this template will always have a link back to the start page.
Other menu items point at the temporary name "page.htm", which does not exist.
Menu items are editable. You can rename them or delete them.
To create a new page off the menu, Edit the page "index.htm".
Select the text of one of the menu items and do Link > Create New Page...
Select the template "Grad Faculty Web Page". If the Templates folder is empty, look for the Refresh button and click that.
Type in a "New page title:", such as "MTU Graduate Faculty: <<faculty name>> Classes". OK.
Your new page will be created in Edit mode.
Edit the page and Publish when ready. You may be required to Publish multiple linked drafts that are open, for navigational consistency. Contribute will do that for you.
When Publishing, you will be prompted for a filename. Contribute nominates a filename based on the page title, but you can change it to something shorter.

Extending the Main Menu

Note: Each secondary page, such as the Research page, can have its own submenu (see below). The Main Menu can be kept general. It does not have to list every page.

If you require more than 7 Main Menu items, there is a hidden menu option.

Edit "index.htm".
Do Format > Template Properties...
Select "Extra Menu Items".
Check the box "Show Extra Menu Items". OK.
A new menu table appears below the Main Menu. It is a repeatable field. Click the "+" box next to "Repeat: Add Item" to add another menu item. The menu will grow vertically as needed.
To delete an item in the Extra Menu, place your cursor inside the editable text and click the "-" box.
To reorder menu items, place your cursor inside the editable text and click the up and down arrows.

If you require fewer than 7 Main Menu items, just delete the ones that aren't needed. Move items by cutting and pasting them into other menu cells.

Creating a Submenu

The secondary pages can have a submenu for branching out the content. This submenu is only in the "Grad Faculty Web Page" template. For example, the secondary page Research can have a submenu with: Projects, Facilities, Publications, Conference Presentations. It can also be divided by project, year, model, grant, and so on.

Edit the secondary page.
Do Format > Template Properties...
Select "Submenu".
Check the box "Show Submenu". OK.
A new menu table appears below the Page Title. It is a repeatable field. Click the "+" box next to "Repeat: Add Sub Item" to add another menu item. The menu will grow horizontally as needed.
To delete an item in the Submenu, place your cursor inside the editable text and click the "-" box.
To reorder menu items, place your cursor inside the editable text and click the up and down arrows. The items will move left and right.
Create links to new pages as you did with the Main Menu.

Note: You do not need to use menus to link to other pages. Create navigation by linking from pieces of text or from images inside the main content. You can create a link back to Research from Projects inside the Projects Submenu or anywhere else on the Projects page. Always test your navigation (links) by clicking on them in Preview (F12) mode. Test your entire site navigation and make sure users can access every page.

Visibility

You can enhance the visibility of your website to users and search engines by creating meaningful page titles and by adding keywords to the HTML header information.

Page Title: Change the display title for any page by doing Format > Page Properties... and typing in a new title. This is the title that displays at the topmost portion of the web browser window. The name is just for display and can have spaces, such as "MTU Tech Alive Graduate Faculty: <<faculty name>> Home Page". A page title for the secondary Research page might be "MTU Graduate Faculty: <<faculty name>> Research". Since this is the information which is displayed when users bookmark that page, it is a good idea to be accurate and to identify MTU as the host institution.
Keywords and Description: Enhance the search visibility of each page by doing Format > Keywords and Description.... Add keywords that include your name and additional keywords that are specific to that page. Tailor the description to include your name and page information. None of this information displays for visitors. It is scripted within "meta" tags in the header of the HTML code, and can be read by external search engines.

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