KB User's Guide - SitePref Tab - Site Header and Site Footer

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You must have full administrative permissions in your space to perform these steps. This means access to the OwnerDocs, GroupDocs, SitePref, and Users tabs.

This document will review how a user with access to the SitePref tab may create and enable site headers and site footers.

Site Headers

The Site Headers page allows you to add custom meta tags to your site, as well as create persistent banners that display across every page of your KB site.

To access the Site Headers page in the KB Admin Tools, go to the Site Pref tab > Site Headers link.

Image of the open Site Headers page under the SitePref tab. The panels for all four fields are collapsed by default.

You will see four expandable panels, each with their own field:

  • Internal Site Header Alert / Banner
  • Internal Site Header Additional Meta Tags
  • External Site Header Alert / Banner
  • External Site Header Additional Meta Tags

Additional Meta Tags

The "Internal Site Header Meta Tags" and "External Site Header Meta Tags" fields allow you to add custom <meta> tags that will load in the HTML header of your site. For more information on <meta> tags and what they can be used to, please see the W3C guide to the HTML <meta> tag.

Alert / Banner

The Internal Site Header Alert / Banner and External Site Header Alert / Banner fields allow you to create a persistent banner that will display across every page of your KB site. This banner can be set to become active (i.e. visible on the live site) and expired (i.e. removed) on particular date and time. This is useful if you have critical information you wish to prominently share with all visitors to your site.

  1. In the field for the site you wish to add a banner to, enter the text that you would like to relay to your users in the box provided. You may optionally use HTML to decorate the text, or to add line breaks, paragraphs, hyperlinks, etc.

    The image below shows the External Site Header Alert / Banner field populated with an alert written in HTML.

    Example of a site banner with information about special holiday hours.
    • Note: If you would like to add this type of content but are unsure of how to format it in HTML, you can open a new doc and use the WYSIWYG editor to format the content as desired. Then, switch to the HTML editor / code view to copy out the HTML that was generated for you.

  2. Enter an Activation time and an Expiration time and click on the Update button to save your changes. You may click on the Expire now link and the Expiration field will auto-populate to the current date/hour/second. Should you click on the Never expire link, the Expiration field will auto-populate to 3000-01-01 00:00:00.

    Example of the activation and expiration timestamp for a banner. In the example, the banner is activated just before the winter holidays and expires after the new year.

Site header alert / banner content will be displayed at the top of the main site header section, which is typically under the logo and search box

For sites using the UW-Madison Theme for KB, the default background color is light gray with a thick red border, and the text is black and centered.

Example of UW Theme red and gray banner

Changing the Background Color of the Banner

Those with full Site Admin rights can change the background color:

  1. In the KB Admin Tools, navigate to SitePref > FullView Layout/CSS.
  2. Determine the site in which you would like to change the banner color (e.g. the Internal Site Layout / CSS section or the External Site Layout / CSS section).
  3. Enter the code snippet below in the appropriate Site custom CSS field. (e.g. Internal site custom CSS Two):

    #header-banner {background: #XXXXXX none repeat scroll 0 0; border: 1px solid #XXXXXX;}

  4. Replace #XXXXXX with the hex colors of your choice.
  5. Click on the Update button to save your changes.
  6. Go to your live site to see the new color applied.

Below is an image of sample alert banner, where #XXXXXX was replaced with #CBDCED, or a blue background

Example of modified banner color

Site Footers

This section allows KB Site Admins the ability to specify what info is included in the footer of their KB site. With the correct permissions, one can specify footer info for the internal and external site separately.

  1. To access the Site Footers page in the KB Admin Tools, go to the Site Pref tab > Site Footers link.

    Image showing the Site Footers page open under the SitePref tab.

  2. You can expand each field to customize the footer for both your internal and external site. This can contain information such as your mailing address, email for questions and feedback, links to related websites, and copyright information. Please note that your footer must be formatted with HTML.

    • Note: If you would like to add this type of content but are unsure of how to format it in HTML, you can open a new doc and use the WYSIWYG editor to format the content as desired. Then, switch to the HTML editor / code view to copy out the HTML that was generated for you.

    The image below shows an External Site Footer field, which as been populated with HTML.

    Example of a site footer, which contains information like a mailing address and copyright,

  3. For each site, you can also select the option to Enable Facebook Plugin which allows users to like your page and share it with friends on Facebook.

  4. Click on the Update button to save your work, or click the Reset button to revert the fields to their last saved state.

See Also:




Keywords:head headers html meta tags alert banner announcement all-call all call message activation expiration main site live site pink box code snippet public announcement outage footers facebook plugin plug-in google analytics tracking id ip masking   Doc ID:18963
Owner:Leah S.Group:KB User's Guide
Created:2011-06-22 19:00 CDTUpdated:2022-10-17 14:46 CDT
Sites:KB User's Guide
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