Navbars

The Navbars area allows you to edit a course's navigation bar. You can specify which links are located on the top and bottom areas of the navigation bar.

Navbars allow you to:

  • Set the space between the links
  • Choose if you would like text between links ( |, etc.)
  • Assign and un-assign links.
  • Choose from a series of templates (created by administrators)

    • To access and edit your course's Navbars, click on the Navbars icon on the editing navigation bar as shown in Figure 1.


    Figure 1

     

    Click the name of the navigation bar you would like to change the settings for. You will be taken to the Edit Navigation Bar screen shown in Figure 2.


    Figure 2

    The Links section allows you to choose the links that will appear in your navbars. For example: dropbox, discuss, chat, grades, quizzes, MavDisk, etc. These are the tools available for your course. There are also some system links that appear in all courses: Course Home, My Home, Help, Welcome, MavDisk, and MavMail.
    Adding links to your course's Navbar
    1. Click on the tab corresponding with the area of the navbar you would like to edit.
    2. Choose a link in the Inactive Links area and then click the arrow button to move it to the Current Active Links area.
    3. Once a link is in the Current Active Links area, you can arrange the order of the links by clicking on the up and down arrows.  This will change the location of the link in the navbar.
    4. If you would like to preview your changes click the Preview button. You may also change the resolution in accordance to your needs.
    5. Click the Save button.
    Removing links from your course's Navbar
    1. Click on a tab corresponding with the area of the navbar you would like to edit.
    2. Choose a link in the Current Active Links area and then click the arrow button to move it to the Inactive Links area.
    3. If you would like to preview your changes, click the Preview button. You may also change the resolution in accordance to your needs.
    4. Click the Save button.
    Adding a custom link to your course's Navbar

    You may also add links to external sites, for example textbook websites, glossary, etc.  To add a link, simply click on the New Link button.

    1. In the popup window, enter in the display name of your new link.  This is the name that will appear in the navbars.
    2. Enter the URL of the link. For example: http://www.mnsu.edu
    3. Enter a path for the image you would like to represent the link. (Optional)
    4. Choose the target of the link. By default, the link will open in the content frame leaving the top navigation bar in place. You may also choose to have the link open in the entire window or a separate new window.
    5. Click Save.
    6. Once your new link has been added, you can move it into place on the Navbar by following the instructions above.
    Note: Make changes to the navbar carefully.  Be sure not to delete things accidentally! Also, adding more links will make the navbars will make them longer and students/instructors may not be able to view the entire navbar.
    Customizing the space between links

    You can specify how many pixels there are between links on your navbar along with any HTML would like to appear between your links.

    1. Under the Pixels Between Links section, choose the box next to Custom and specify a value to control how much space occurs between links on your navbar.
      Note: The higher the number the more space there will be between the links.
    2. Under the HTML Between Links section, choose custom and specify a value in the text box to control what HTML will occur between links on your Navbars.
    3. Click Save.
     
    Copyright 2005  © Office of Instructional Technologies,
    Minnesota State University,
    Mankato, MN 56001
    All rights reserved.