Customizing Your Home Files

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A PDF version of the instructions: Customizing Your Home Files ( 57 KB)

Your new course template has many files that you will need to customize to fit the specific needs and information in your course. This section will provide you with the steps necessary to unsubscribe the sample files provided by your course template and modify their content.

Step 1.	To begin the customization of your home files, the following instructions detail how to modify your “Start Here” page. Once you have completed your modifications to this document, you will repeat the following steps for the “You Instructor” and “Syllabus” pages. Press the Build tab The build screen now appears.
Step 2.	Under the Designer Tools Menu, select the File Manager option The File Manager screen now appears.
Step 3.	Select the home folder from the right hand menu. The home folder files appear.
Step 4.	Each of the files listed will initially start as subscribed file indicated by a subscription icon subscribed files cannot be modified until they are unsubscribed by a course designer. In order to customize your Start Here page, you will need to unsubscribe it from the course template associated with your course. To unsubscribe your file, click on the ActionLinks icon next to the file name (01_start_here_.htm)
Step 5.	From the dropdown menu, select the Unsubscribe option .
Step 6.	A warning window will appear asking you to verify that you would like to unsubscribe the selected file. Press the OK button to continue and unsubscribe the selected file. The file should now appear without the subscription icon next to the file name. NOTE: Unsubscribing a file is a permanent choice. Once a file has been unsubscribed from a template, it can not be re-subscribed. However, a new subscription can be made to a file in the Repository at a later time. Instructions for subscribing to repository files can be found later in this document.
Step 7.	Next, select the ActionLinks icon next to the file. You should now see a dropdown menu containing more options since the file has been unsubscribed.
Step 8.	From the dropdown menu, select the Edit option . The Edit File screen now appears.
Step 9.	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. If the Check Browser application indicates that you need to upgrade your Java version, please contact the Help Desk for additional support.
Step 10.	After the HTML Creator has initialized, you may now begin editing the content 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 MSUD. Begin by deleting the text “Enter your welcome message” under the “Welcome” heading and adding your own course content. 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. Continue customizing your Start Here page by replacing all “Enter content” text with your own information and instructions. Additional features and tips about using the WYSIWYG tool can be found in the “Using the HTML Creator Tool” section of this document.
Step 11.	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 home files menu now appears.
Step 12.	To ensure that your changes have taken effect, switch your role to the “student view” by pressing the Student View tab The Home Page menu now appears. This view is an exact replica of what your students will see in your course.
Step 13.	Click on the file that you previously modified to view its contents.
Step 14.	Return to the build mode by pressing on the Build tab Repeat this process for the “02_instructor” and “03_syllabus” pages to complete the customization of your home files.