Managing Branded Gateways and Customized User Experiences Presented By Jon Hope Blackboard Training April 12, 2005

Introductions Jon Hope Senior Consultant, Blackboard Training Professional Experience –Instructional Designer/Trainer, Manugistics Inc. –Seventh Grade Social Studies Teacher, Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD

Branding

Branding allows for the “look and feel” of the Community System to change for different sets of users The following features can vary by brand: –The Top Frame image –Tab color, shape, and alignment –Sponsorship or Hotlinks –Set Frame Size –Direct Access Tab and Module Content

Branding There are two different types of Branding, Role Based and Hostname Branding When Direct Access is enabled a brand can be presented to users before logging in

Branding Examples

Login Information USERNAME: brand101 brand102 brand103 PASSWORD*: baseball * case-sensitive

Who Can Manage a Brand? System Administrator Community System Administrator System Support

System Administrator Typically assigned to a very small number of individuals Administers all Blackboard applications (Courses, Organizations, Content System, and Community System) Provides full access to the System Control Panel

System Role: System Administrator Access to all administrative functions on the System Admin tab as well as every individual Course Control Panel

Community System Administrator Typically assigned to a small number of individuals Performs functions that pertain specifically to the institution’s Community System (Branding, Module creation/management, Tab creation/management) Provides limited access to the System Control Panel

System Role: Community Administrator Access to the Portal System - Management area and Gateway Options Access to Manage Institution Roles and List/Modify Users No access to Course Control Panels

System Role: System Support Access to all administrative functions but NOT to individual Course Control Panels.

Institution Roles and Branding

Institution Roles Institution Roles provide access to information and services in the Community System Institution Roles also control access to the various Brands on the system The Community System allows for the creation of unlimited Institution Roles and unlimited Brands Users that do not have the Community System have the ability to modify a brand but they cannot create new brands.

Institution Roles System default roles include: –Student, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, Prospective Student, Guest, Observer –These default roles may be renamed and reused Each role may be used to display an unlimited number of Tabs or Modules Each Role may also be assigned to a Brand

Primary Institution Roles Each user must be assigned a Primary Institution Role Primary Institution Roles can be used to control what Brand a users sees after logging in

Secondary Institution Roles Users may be assigned an unlimited number of Secondary Roles Tabs and modules are presented to users based on the combination of Primary and Secondary Institution Roles that have been assigned

Manage Institution Roles

Create a Brand

Manage Brands The Manage Brands page lists the brands on the system Each brand is listed along with the hostname and required primary institution role for the brand

Add Brand

Brand Name – the name of the brand. This name will not be seen by users Host Name – Select an existing hostname for this brand. If Host Name branding is not being used select DEFAULT Specify a new host name – enter a unique URL that will be used to access the system. If this feature is used be sure that the hostname is resolved on the DNS server Institution Role – Specify the Primary Institution role for this brand. If no role is selected, the brand will display to all users that use the brand's hostname to access the system

Customize a Brand After a brand has been created it can be customized The Manage button will allow for the customization of a specific brand A brand may contain a unique Banner Image, Background Image, tab color, tab style, tab position, support links and icons, and top frame size

Managing a Brand

Settings

Manage Hot Links Hot Links can appear in the top right corner of the header frame Hot Links can allow access to Tools or External Links from the header frame Hot Link content is defined at the system level but enabled on a brand by brand basis Hot Links will not appear on the header frame if the Administrator selects to display Hot Spots

Manage Hot Spot A Hot Spot is an image that appears on the right side of the top frame Hot Spot content is defined at the system level but enabled on a brand by brand basis e The Hot Spot image can also be a link to a specific URL Hot Spots will not appear on the header frame if the Administrator selects to display Hot Links

Manage Hot Spots Hot Spots can be used to display a system image in place of Hot Links Hot Spot content is defined at the system level but enabled on a brand by brand basis Hot Spot images can be loaded directly into the Community System as a local image or as outsourced HTML code that is provided by the sponsor A Hot Spot can include an image link

Customize Module Theme Module Themes determine the colors of modules When a module theme is customized here it is available for the administrator to select from the Default Layout page The customized theme will also be available for users to select when they change the layout of a tab

Customize Module Theme

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