We’ve just rolled out some great new features onto Edublogs Campus – which will make it considerably easier for your community to find content on your site!

Displaying these features on your homepage is as simple as:

1. Go to Pages > Edit in your main blog’s dashboard

2.  You should see three new pages – Blogs, Site Search and Tags

3.  Now check out your Campus homepage and presto! The pages should now be displaying on your homepage.

4.  And, on the off chance the pages don’t auto created all you need to do is quickly open up the Blogs page in Edit Page mode and click Update Page

Here’s a quick overview of each.

Blogs Directory

One of the things we’ve been asked a lot for of late has been a simple, attractive way of locating blogs on your site!

Well, you asked, and we answered – introducing the Blogs Directory.

The Blogs Directory displays all the blogs on your entire Campus site alphabetically and in a paginated form on its own Blogs page on your homepage.

Now your community can quickly locate a specific blog and then click on the link to check out that blog!

Alternatively you can search for a blog URL using the search option!

Check it out in action on Edublogs @ Caroline Chisholm Catholic College!

Please note:

• To display avatars your blog users will need to upload their blog avatar via Settings > Blog Avatar.

Global Site Search

So you want a tool that that allows anyone to search across your site – without the need to Google etc?

Here it is!

On your Site Search page, you simply need to whack in your search terms and you’ll get a beautiful paginated listing of latest posts containing that term… with avatars attached!

Check it out in action on Literacy 44!

Please note:

• This feature only searches posts on public blogs — any posts on private blogs (only visible to logged in users) isn’t searchable.
• To display avatars your users will need to upload their avatar via Users  > Your Avatar.

Global Site Tags

And the best for last — Global Site Tags!

This powerful and elegant tool allows you to do three things.

First up it provides you with a global tags widget so that you can simply show a beautiful tag cloud on your homepage or your users can add it to their blog!

Just go to Appearance > Widgets and add Global Site Tags widget to your blog sidebar.

And it auto creates a page called “Tags” on your Campus homepage which gives you a full size page view of them too.

Check it out in action on Literacy 44!

Please note:

• Tags on private posts display on the Global Site tags page but if you click on the link and no posts are listed this means they are all posts on private blogs (only visible to logged in users).
• To display avatars your users will need to upload their avatar via Users  > Your Avatar.

Other Info That’s Good To Know

To get the most out of these features you need to either:

1. Use a blog theme on your Campus homepage that includes navigation links at the top of the blog to pages
2. Or add the Pages widget to the sidebar of your Campus homepage via Appearance > Widgets

Here’s our Top 3 Tips For Designing Your Homepage to help you get the most out of your Homepage!

And on the off chance you don’t want to use one or more of these features on your homepage — just go to Pages > Edit and un-publish the page you want to remove.

For WordPress MU users you can download these features from WPMU DEV Premium:

1. Blogs Directory
2. Global Site Search
3. Global Site Tags

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

http://thecampus.edublogs.org/

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We’ve just rolled out some great new features onto Edublogs Campus – which will make it considerably easier for your community to find content on your site!

Displaying these features on your homepage is as simple as:

1. Go to Pages > Edit in your main blog’s dashboard

2.  You should see three new pages – Blogs, Site Search and Tags

3.  Now check out your Campus homepage and presto! The pages should now be displaying on your homepage.

4.  And, on the off chance the pages don’t auto created all you need to do is quickly open up the Blogs page in Edit Page mode and click Update Page

Here’s a quick overview of each.

Blogs Directory

One of the things we’ve been asked a lot for of late has been a simple, attractive way of locating blogs on your site!

Well, you asked, and we answered – introducing the Blogs Directory.

The Blogs Directory displays all the blogs on your entire Campus site alphabetically and in a paginated form on its own Blogs page on your homepage.

Now your community can quickly locate a specific blog and then click on the link to check out that blog!

Alternatively you can search for a blog URL using the search option!

Check it out in action on Edublogs @ Caroline Chisholm Catholic College!

Please note:

• To display avatars your blog users will need to upload their blog avatar via Settings > Blog Avatar.

Global Site Search

So you want a tool that that allows anyone to search across your site – without the need to Google etc?

Here it is!

On your Site Search page, you simply need to whack in your search terms and you’ll get a beautiful paginated listing of latest posts containing that term… with avatars attached!

Check it out in action on Literacy 44!

Please note:

• This feature only searches posts on public blogs — any posts on private blogs (only visible to logged in users) isn’t searchable.
• To display avatars your users will need to upload their avatar via Users  > Your Avatar.

Global Site Tags

And the best for last — Global Site Tags!

This powerful and elegant tool allows you to do three things.

First up it provides you with a global tags widget so that you can simply show a beautiful tag cloud on your homepage or your users can add it to their blog!

Just go to Appearance > Widgets and add Global Site Tags widget to your blog sidebar.

And it auto creates a page called “Tags” on your Campus homepage which gives you a full size page view of them too.

Check it out in action on Literacy 44!

Please note:

• Tags on private posts display on the Global Site tags page but if you click on the link and no posts are listed this means they are all posts on private blogs (only visible to logged in users).
• To display avatars your users will need to upload their avatar via Users  > Your Avatar.

Other Info That’s Good To Know

To get the most out of these features you need to either:

1. Use a blog theme on your Campus homepage that includes navigation links at the top of the blog to pages
2. Or add the Pages widget to the sidebar of your Campus homepage via Appearance > Widgets

Here’s our Top 3 Tips For Designing Your Homepage to help you get the most out of your Homepage!

And on the off chance you don’t want to use one or more of these features on your homepage — just go to Pages > Edit and un-publish the page you want to remove.

For WordPress MU users you can download these features from WPMU DEV Premium:

1. Blogs Directory
2. Global Site Search
3. Global Site Tags

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

http://thecampus.edublogs.org/

Report This Post

Your homepage is the hub of your site and the first page people see when they visit your site.

It is exactly the same as any other blog on your site. This means you can write posts, add pages, change themes, add widgets etc that provide information and tips to help your users.

The key to designing a good homepage is to think how you can use it to support your blog users while making your WordPress MU site more effective to manage.

Here are my top 3 tips for designing your homepage:

#1 Choose A Good theme

Popular themes for homepages on Campus sites are WPMU-Nelo, WPMU-Dixi and WPMU-Triden because they are the most customisable themes:

1. WPMU-Dixi includes optional RSS feed for up to 4 feeds on the front page.
2. WPMU-nelo: see this theme in use on Sample Academic blog
3. WPMU-triden includes the option of a custom image gallery – see this theme in use on Sample Student portfolio

These themes are included in all Edublogs Campus sites and can be downloaded from WPMU DEV Premium.

Any of these themes will make your homepage look considerably more attractive than the default theme.

Read how National University of Singapore customised their homepage using WPMU-Nelo!

For more information on working with themes see:

1. What to consider when choosing your blog’s theme
2. Changing themes site wide
3. Changing themes on a per blog basis
4. Changing your blog’s theme
5. Uploading your Custom Image Header

#2  Include A Link for Users to Create their own blogs or usernames

Creating blogs and usernames is time consuming.  Where possible it’s always best to get your community to create their own.

This is achieved by:

1. Selecting ‘ Enabled. Blogs and user accounts can be created’ under Allow new registrations in Site Admin > Options so that anyone can create blogs using your signup page
2. Restricting who can sign ups to specific email domains to limit who registers on your site by adding domains to the ‘limit email registrations’ section in Site Admin > Options 
   
3. Creating a link to your sign up page with HTML code using a text widget in your homepage sidebar.

The URL of your signup page is your site location with wp-signup.php on the end.  For example,  this is the location http://blog.nus.edu.sg/wp-signup.php of National University of Singapore signup page

It is possible to make your homepage public so users can create their own account while making the rest of the blogs private.  This is done using the Privacy option in Site Admin > Options.

The privacy option is included in all Edublogs Campus sites and can be downloaded from WPMU DEV Premium.

# 3 Add a FAQ and how to get support page

Make it as easy as possible for your users to find the information they need to solve their own problems while also providing them instructions on what to do if they need assistance.

For examples on how you can achieve this check out:

1. National University of Singapore’s FAQ page
2. Global Student’s Help & Support page

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

http://thecampus.edublogs.org/

Report This Post

Your homepage is the hub of your site and the first page people see when they visit your site.

It is exactly the same as any other blog on your site. This means you can write posts, add pages, change themes, add widgets etc that provide information and tips to help your users.

The key to designing a good homepage is to think how you can use it to support your blog users while making your WordPress MU site more effective to manage.

Here are my top 3 tips for designing your homepage:

#1 Choose A Good theme

Popular themes for homepages on Campus sites are WPMU-Nelo, WPMU-Dixi and WPMU-Triden because they are the most customisable themes:

1. WPMU-Dixi includes optional RSS feed for up to 4 feeds on the front page.
2. WPMU-nelo: see this theme in use on Sample Academic blog
3. WPMU-triden includes the option of a custom image gallery – see this theme in use on Sample Student portfolio

These themes are included in all Edublogs Campus sites and can be downloaded from WPMU DEV Premium.

Any of these themes will make your homepage look considerably more attractive than the default theme.

Read how National University of Singapore customised their homepage using WPMU-Nelo!

For more information on working with themes see:

1. What to consider when choosing your blog’s theme
2. Changing themes site wide
3. Changing themes on a per blog basis
4. Changing your blog’s theme
5. Uploading your Custom Image Header

#2  Include A Link for Users to Create their own blogs or usernames

Creating blogs and usernames is time consuming.  Where possible it’s always best to get your community to create their own.

This is achieved by:

1. Selecting ‘ Enabled. Blogs and user accounts can be created’ under Allow new registrations in Site Admin > Options so that anyone can create blogs using your signup page
2. Restricting who can sign ups to specific email domains to limit who registers on your site by adding domains to the ‘limit email registrations’ section in Site Admin > Options 
   
3. Creating a link to your sign up page with HTML code using a text widget in your homepage sidebar.

The URL of your signup page is your site location with wp-signup.php on the end.  For example,  this is the location http://blog.nus.edu.sg/wp-signup.php of National University of Singapore signup page

It is possible to make your homepage public so users can create their own account while making the rest of the blogs private.  This is done using the Privacy option in Site Admin > Options.

The privacy option is included in all Edublogs Campus sites and can be downloaded from WPMU DEV Premium.

# 3 Add a FAQ and how to get support page

Make it as easy as possible for your users to find the information they need to solve their own problems while also providing them instructions on what to do if they need assistance.

For examples on how you can achieve this check out:

1. National University of Singapore’s FAQ page
2. Global Student’s Help & Support page

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

http://thecampus.edublogs.org/

Report This Post