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• Template Publishing System
  • Why Use the UVM Template Publishing System?
  • Explanation of Template Features
  • Beginner's Guide
  • Maintenance Guide
  • Additional Template Features
    • Template Banner Settings
    • Right Column Features (Quick Links et al)
    • Sub-Menus
    • Placing Your Site in the Context
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    • Using a Configuration File
    • Adding Custom Meta Tags
    • Add Electronic Postcards
    • Adding a Site Table of Contents
    • Organizing Complex Sites Using Magicscript
    • Home Page Options
    • Using HTML Templates
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To-do list

• Add Courses to Your Site
• Add a Calendar to Your Site
• Track your site's traffic
• Create a simple URL
• Redesign my homepage using one of the new templates

Navigation and Design Features: Right Column Features (Quick Links et al)

You can add a Quick Links box or other similar features to your departmental pages by simply creating special files and naming them in a certain way. The magicscript then will automatically "create" the box on your page by "reading" the names of the special files you have created.

The special features and the file names you must give them for the magicscript to work are:

1. News & Events: Create a file name of news_&_events.html.
2. Q & A: Create a file name of q_&_a.html.
3. Current Topics: Create a file name of current_topics.html.
4. Quick Links: Create a file name of quick_links.html.
5. Related Links: Create a file name of related_links.html.
6. To-Do List: Create a file name of to-do_list.html.
7. Work With Our Office: Create a file name of work_with_our_office.html.
8. Shortcuts To Forms & Info: Create a file name of shortcuts_to_forms_&_info.html.

It's important that you use the exact file names provided above, including the underscores, so that the magicscript will know what to do. The magicscript will read any of the one to five files that you have created, and combine one or all of them into a special box, similar to what you see on the top-tier UVM pages, such as the Template Guide.

For consistency's sake throughout the UVM site and thus to make it easier for visitors to find their way around, we cannot change the order in which the various categories appear (Q & A is first, followed by Current Topics, Quick Links, To-Do List, News & Events, Work With Our Office, Shortcuts To Forms & Info).

Here's an example of how you can create this feature on your own page:

1. To create Quick Links, create a file and save it as quick_links.html.
2. In the file, create a three-column table, like the one used for defaultmenu.html. Make the number of columns 3; make the number of rows how many quick links you will have (if you want six quick links, then type in 6).
3. In the first column, type in 1 through 6 (if you're creating six quick links). Note that in quick links, you don't need a Row 0, as you do in defaultmenu.html. In the second column, type in theQuick Link Labels (the type that you want to appear on your Web page's Quick Links); in the third column, type in the link for each coresponding Quick Link Label. If you are linking to something off your page, you'll need to use the full URL. If you're linking to something within your site (that is, within the same folder, such as public_html), you'll just need to type in name_of_file.html (that is the name of your file, with a .html extension).
4. As an example, let's say the first Quick Link, corresponding to "1" in the first column, is going to link people to the Bailey/Howe Library Hours. Then the Label could be "Bailey/Howe Hours" and the URL could be "http://bailey.uvm.edu/hours/."
5. When you're done, save the file, then transfer it over to your Zoo account and set permissions, as explained in Step 7.

Page Level Quick Links

You can additionally create Quick Links box for specific pages in your site. Simply append a hyphen and the file name to the name of the quick links file. For example, if you wanted to have a current topics list appear only on a single page in your site that was conferences.html. You would need to name your current topics file: current_topics-conferences.html.

The create a page level Quick Links box for a file that is located in a directory (and not in the same directory as your magicscript.php file), the file should be named as follows: quick_links-directoryname-filename.html. Note: this Quick Link file must be included in the same directory as your magicscript.php file (not in the directory where the page is located).

Custom Quick Links

Sometimes the links you would like to use in the Quick Links box defy categorization under the six categories listed above. While we encourage to use these six categories to provide consistency throughout the UVM Web site, you may create a customized label should the circumstances warrant it. Creating a custom Quick Link category is accomplished in much the same way as you would to create the standard Quick Link boxes, with a three-column table. In this instance, the title for your Quick Links box will be generated from a zero line entry, as follows:

0

My Custom Links

Note: no entry is needed in the third column.

In order to have your custom Quick Links appear in the Quick Links area, your file name special_menu1.html. You can create as many custom categories as you wish by incrementing the number "1" (e.g. special_menu2.html). Custom Quick Links will always appear at the top of your Quick Links box when combined with the standard Quick Links (e.g. Related Links, Current Topis, etc.).

Custom Content in the Right-Hand Column/Quick Links Area

New in 2008, you can add custom HTML content to the quick links box on every page of your site (or at page level, as documented above). This feature allows you to include most any kind of Web content including text, images, forms, or even embedded media, but do be mindful of the fact that the quick links column is normally limited to a width of 160 pixels.

Here's an example of how you can create this feature on your own page:

1. To create custom content in the quick links area to your site, create an HTML file and save it as links_extra.html.
2. When you're done, transfer the file over to your Zoo account and set permissions, if necessary, as explained in Step 7.

Last modified December 10 2007 10:38 AM