Modifying Your Content Files

 A PDF version of the instructions: Modifying Your Content Files (Acrobat Icon 42 KB)

Now that you have created both your folders and files, you can begin customizing your files with your course content.

Step 1. To begin customizing your course content files, return to your File Manager while in the Build mode (Build tab selected).

 
Step 2. In the File Manager frame, Click on the
content folder
Step 3.

Next, click on the folder that contains the file(s) that you would like to modify (i.e. “module_01” folder).
Step 4. Select the ActionLinks icon
next to the desired file. You should now see a dropdown menu containing more options.
Step 5.

From the dropdown menu, select the Edit option
The Edit File screen now appears.
Step 6. Press the Enable HTML Creator button
to enable the WYSIWYG editor application. This editor will allow you to make modifications to your file without using or editing the html code directly.

NOTE: If the HTML creator appears to hang or does not load, you may not have the correct Java version installed on your computer. Please try running the Check Browser function located at the top right hand portion of your my Blackboard screen.
Step 7. After the HTML Creator has initialized, you may now begin editing the contents of this file. This file is subscribed to a cascading style sheet (css) file that is provided and maintained at the institution level. The css document is provided to give continuity to the look and feel of courses provided by MSCD.

The contents of this file provide you the basic structure for presenting course or lecture information to your students. You will need to edit and customize this document to fit the needs of your course.
Step 8. IMPORTANT: Before you begin editing the content in your document, you will need to change both the file name and title.

To change the file name, edit the text in the File Name text box Remember to use an underscores “_” instead of spaces when creating file names.
Step 9. Next, you will need to change the title information of this document. The title information is used by Vista and your web browser to display a title for the document within your course. This change must be done in the HTML code in order for it to take effect.

To change the title information, click on the Source View tab located at the bottom of the WYSIWYG editor.



The Source View will start at the first element of content in your document. You will need to scroll up to locate the <title> tags.
Step 10. Replace the text in between the <title> and </title>:
with the title for your document. You do not need to use underscores “_” with the title.
Step 11. Return to the WYSIWYG view by clicking on the WYSIWYG tab
located at the bottom of the editor frame.
Step 12. You are now ready to customize the content in this document. The following steps will provide you with the basic process for editing this document:
  1. Begin by editing the text “Module name/lecture name/unit name” and adding your own course content.

  2. You can copy and paste your text information from another text document directly into the WYSIWYG editor. This allows you the opportunity to develop your text content in a different word processing program such as MS Word and paste it into your course.

  3. Continue customizing your file by Editing, replacing, or creating all headings and their subsequent text with your own information and instructions.

Additional headings can be created and modified using the Paragraph Format drop-down list For more information on this and additional instructions on how to use the WYSIWYG tool, please reference the “Using the HTML Creator Tool” section of this document.
Step 13. Finally, once you have made all of your desired changes, press the Save button
located in the bottom left-hand portion of the Edit File frame. The folder content menu now appears.
Step 14. To ensure that your changes have taken effect,  select the ActionLinks icon next to the customized file. You should now see a dropdown menu containing more options
Step 15. From the dropdown menu, select the Preview option A popup window appears with a preview of your file. You may close this window at any time.

NOTE: You cannot make changes to your document in the preview window. To make further changes, return to the Edit File screen (see steps 1-15 of this section).
Step 16. Repeat the process outlined above until you have modified all of your course content files.