Instructions for Faculty Website Template

I NSTRUCTIONS FOR FACULTY WEBSITE TEMPLATE

I. General Information

Faculty Website Template was developed by IT Web Application Group, which allows faculty to easily build a basic web site. This tool does NOT require FTP or HTML skills, but instead uses pull-down menus and fill-in boxes. With this tool, faculty can post information and announcements, also being able to upload documents (such as their syllabi) which will link to the site effortlessly. Faculty can preview and make as many edits as they choose before publishing them on www.montgomerycollege.edu. Web pages generated by this application will automatically meet MC Web Standards.

The web address of your web site generated with this application will be:

http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/facultywebsite.php?userID=xxxxxxx

A sample address is as following if your user ID is "sample"
http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/facultywebsite.php?userID=sample

II. Policy

All full time and part time faculty of Montgomery College are eligible for requesting an account to use this tool.

Simply fill Web Accounts Requests Form (at http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/webinfo/webaccountapp.html), check the Type of account(s) requesting as Faculty Website Template, have your Dean approve it, and submit it to:

     IT Web Application Group
     c/o Phong Banh
     OITB
     7362 Calhoun Place, Rockville MD 20855

The IT Web Application Group (WAG) will issue the account within two weeks upon receiving your request form.

Once you finish building up your site, please contact IT Helpdesk at 240-567-7222 to request adding your site to
the Faculty Index (at http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/faculty/),
the Online Phone Directory (at http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/contact_us/PeopleSearch.html),
and other pages of the site you would like your site linked from.

At the beginning of each school year, IT Web Application Group will work with Deans on updating the employment status of part time faculty holding accounts for this application. IT Web Application Group will delete accounts of those faculty who are separated with the College.

III. Location of The Template

Faculty Website Template is located at http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/FacultyWebsiteTemplate/

You can access it by logging in to My MC, click My Courses tag, and click "Faculty Website Template" on the left column under Classroom Support.

When you finish working with the Template, especially when using a shared PC, you should always log out from this application by clicking the "Logout" icon on the top-left conor of the pages.

IV. Test Accounts

Five test accounts has been created for faculty to experience this template and decide if it can fit your needs or not as following:

user ID Password

test1 test1

test2 test2

test3 test3

test4 test4

test5 test5

Please remember to change the passwords back to their original value as above before you log out, so others can log in to experience the template.

Please also remember to log out from this application by clicking the "Logout" icon on the top-left coner of the pages.

V. Account Information

We include your user ID, password, and Department Chair as your Account Information.

If you could not found your Department Chair in the drop-down list, please contact IT Helpdesk at 240-567-7222 to request updating the list.

VI. Some Background of The Template

This application can store two sets information of your web site - Preview and Published.

The first time you use this application to create your web site and click "Submit for Preview" button, all information you submitted will be stored as Preview Site. You can modify your Preview Site as many times as you want by clicking "Re-Edit" button, modifying the site, and clicking "Submit for Preview" button.

The system will copy your Preview Site to your Published Site when you click the "Publish" button.

The Published Site is what the public view at

http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/facultywebsite.php?userID=xxxxxxx

After the first time you submit information to your Preview Site (and Published Site), you can choose to "Edit My Published Web Site" or "Edit My Preview Web Site" when you log in to the application. You can save your work as Preview Site without publishing it and continue to work on it later by choosing "Edit My Preview Web Site".

It is recommended that you save your work as Preview Site by clicking "Submit for Preview" button frequently, since there is a 90 minutes timeout for security reason.

VII. Detail Instructions for Each Field

A. Required Fields

The following are required fields which you can't leave them blank:

last name, first name, department, phone number, and e-mail address

B. The Title of Your Website

1. Title: Seclect your title from the drop-down menu. If you don't want any title displayed before your name, select "None".

2. First Name: Enter your first name in the second box

3. Last Name: Enter your last name in the third box

4. Suffix: Enter your suffix in the last box if you have it, otherwise, leave it blank.

C. Link with Text of Your Choice

1. Enter the text for the link (eg. "Personal Information", "Biography") in the very top box on the left column. If you left this box empty, nothing will be displayed.

2. Click the "Browse..." button under the box to choose the file from your local drives, which you want to upload to the server and link the text you entered in the above box to. If you left this box empty, the text you entered in the above box will be displayed without linking to any file.

3. When you edit the website:

a. Click the "Browse..." button to choose the file you want to link the text to.

b. If you left the box beside the "Browse..." button emply, you can choose to link to the original file by checking "Use the same file" or unlink it by checking "Unlink this link".

c. Whenever you upload a new file for this link to the server, the original file will be deleted, therefore, you should always keep a copy of the file in your local drives.

d. Web Browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape) can’t display any document without an extension. You should save the files as documents with an extension before you use Faculty Website Template to upload them to the server. For example, .doc for Word, .xls for Excel, .pdf for PDF documents, .pps for Power Point.

D. Department

1. Enter the name of your department (eg. "Computer Applications") in first box. This is a required field, you can't leave it blank. Please do NOT include Campus in this box.

2. Enter the web address of the website of your department (eg. "http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/CA/") in the second box. If you left this box empty, the name of your department will be displayed without linking to any page.

E. Courses

You can link your courses to either files or web pages.

1. Link courses to files:

a. Enter the course number or/and course title in the left box (eg. "MA 180", "MA180 Precalculus")

b. Click the "Browse..." button under the box to choose the file from your local drives, which you want to upload to the server and link the course you entered in the left box to. If you left this box empty, the course you entry in the left box will be displayed without linking to any file.

c. When you edit the website:

i. Click the "Browse..." button to choose the file you want to link the course to.

ii. If you left the box beside the "Browse..." button emply, you can choose to link to the original file by checking "Use the same file" or unlink it by checking "Unlink this link".

iii. Whenever you upload a new file for each course to the server, the original file for that course will be deleted, therefore, you should always keep a copy of the file in your local drives.

d. Web Browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape) can’t display any document without an extension. You should save the files as documents with an extension before you use Faculty Website Template to upload them to the server. For example, .doc for Word, .xls for Excel, .pdf for PDF documents, .pps for Power Point.

2. Link courses to web pges:

a. Enter the course number or/and course title (eg. "CA160", "CA160 Computer Presentations") in the left box

b. Enter the web address of the web page you want to link the course to (eg. "http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/ca/courses/160.html") in the right box. If you left the right box empty, the course will be displayed without linking to any page.

F. Useful Links

1. Enter the the text for the link (eg. "Montgomery County") in left box.

2. Enter the web address of the website (eg. "http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/") in the right box. If you left this box empty, the text for the link will be displayed without linking to any website.

G. Your Picture

1. Select "YES" or "NO" from the drop-down list. If you selected "NO", an MC seal will be displayed in the top of the center column of your website.

2. Click the "Browse..." button to choose an image file from your local drives, which you want to upload to the server and display in the top of the center column of your website. If you left this box empty, an MC seal will be displayed even if you selected "YES" in the above drop-down list.

3. The recommended size of the image is around 120-250 pixels in width and 150-300 in height.

4. The most common formats for images which can be displayed on the web are GIF, JPG, and JPEG.

H. Campus

Select your campus from the drop-down menu. This is a required field, you can't leave it blank.

I. Personal Web Site

1. Select "YES" or "NO" from the drop-down menu. If you selected "NO", nothing will be displayed.

2. Enter the web address of your personal website (eg. "http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/~sample") in the bottom box. If you left the box empty, nothing will be displyed even if you selected "YES" in the above drop-down menu.

J. Office Location

Enter the building and room number where your office is located in the box. If you left this box empty, nothing will be displayed.

K. Office Hours

1. Enter your office hours in boxes.

2. If you left all five boxes empty, "By appointment" will be displayed.

3. If you fill one or more of those five boxes, "or by appointment" will be displayed below those hours you entered.

L. Phone

Enter you contact phone number in the box. This is a required field, you can't leave it blank.

M. Fax

Enter your fax number in the box. If you left this box empty, nothing will be displayed.

N. E-mail

Enter you complete e-mail address (including "@montgomerycollege.edu", if it is a College e-mail) in the box. This is a required field, you can't leave it blank.

O. Notes

You can enter whatever text in the box. If you left this box empty, nothing will be displayed.