2.5 Styles Tool Help

Styles: Overview

Styles are sets of fonts, colors, and graphics. Site organizers use styles to control the look of matrix cells, wizards, and wizard pages. Site participants use them to control the look of templates they design themselves.

Guidelines for Using Styles In order to maintain consistency within a matrix or wizard, we recommend that you, the site organizer, apply the same style to all cells in the matrix or all pages of the wizard. Portfolios do not necessarily require this consistency. Site participants who design their own portfolios may want to use more than one style. These users find it most helpful to have a variety of styles available for their work.

If you are a site organizer, you use the Styles tool to "create" a style by uploading a cascading style sheet (that is, a .css file) from Resources, giving it a meaningful name, and (if desired) providing a description of it. This tool also allows you to change the name and description of an existing style, delete a style you no longer need, and change usage permissions of all users in any role.

Once a style has been created in a site or globally using the Portfolio Admin site, the style is available for all members of the site to use.

The Styles tool is usually located in the Design & Publish category of a Portfolo site. To access the tool, click the Launch button for Styles. The CLE displays the Styles home page.

This page contains a list of all styles on the site that you have created and that have been published for others to use. For each style in the list, you can see a description, the name of the person who created the style, and whether it has been suggested for publication.

If the list is longer than one page, use the buttons under the Styles menu bar to display other pages.

• To display the first page of the list, click First.
• To display the previous page of the list, click Previous.
• To display the next page of the list, click Next.
• To display the last page of the list, click Last.

Adding a Style

If you are a system administrator, be advised that any style that you add to the PortfolioAdmin site automatically becomes available to all sites on your CLE instance.

To add a new style to your site, follow these steps:

1. Add the .css file for this style to Resources.
2. Access the Styles tool.
3. If the Styles home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
4. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click the Add button. Sakai displays the Add Style screen.
5. In the Name box, enter a descriptive name for this style.
6. If desired, enter a longer description of it in the Description box.
7. To the right of the CSS File box, click the Select File link.
8. Select the .css file you need by following the instructions for selecting an item. After you click Finish, Sakai displays the Add Style screen again. The name of the file you selected is shown in the box.
9. To complete your work, click Add Style. Sakai displays the Styles home page again. The new style has been added to the list and is available for your site participants to use. Or, to return to the home page without adding the new style, click Cancel.

Changing a Style

If you are a site organizer, you may change the name and description of any style you have created that has not been published. You may also choose a different .css file for any unpublished style. After a style has been published, only the system administrator can change it.

To change a style, access the Styles tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Styles home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the style you want to change and click the Revise link below its name. Sakai displays the Revise Style screen. The boxes on this screen show your current entries for this style.
3. Change entries as needed.
4. To save your changes, click Save Changes. Sakai saves the changes you have entered and displays the Styles home page. Or, to return to that page without saving your changes, click Cancel.

Deleting a Style

If you are a site organizer, you may delete a style if it meets these conditions:

• It has not yet been published. After a style has been published, only the system administrator can delete it.
• It is not being used in any portfolio or portfolio template on the site. If a style is in use, you must delete all portfolios and templates that use it before deleting the style.

To delete a style, access the Styles tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Styles home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the style you want to remove and click the Delete link below its name. Sakai displays a delete confirmation window.
3. To delete the style, click OK. Sakai deletes the style and displays the Styles home page. Or, to return to the home page without deleting this style, click Cancel.

Requesting that a Style Be Published Globally

If you have created a style that has general applicability, you may want to make it available for use in all sites in your CLE. However, only Sakai system administrator(s) can publish a style globally (that is, across all sites in Sakai).

To request that a style be published globally, access the Styles tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Styles home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the style you want to suggest for global publication.
3. Click the Suggest for global publish link below the name of the style. Sakai submits the style for consideration for global publication and displays the Styles home page again.

Publishing a Style Globally

If you are a system administrator, you may publish a style globally (that is, for all sites in a CLE instance). To do so, log in and follow these steps:

1. Click the Administration folder at the top of the screen.
2. Select the PortfolioAdmin site.
3. Access the Styles tool. Sakai displays the Styles home page.
4. Find the style you want to publish and click the Publish link beneath its name. Sakai makes the style available to all sites.

Changing Permissions

To change permissions for users in one or more roles, access the Styles tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Styles menu bar is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Click the Permissions button on the menu bar. Sakai displays the Permissions screen.
3. Referring to the table below, check boxes to select the appropriate permissions for all users in each role.

4. To save the permissions settings, click the save button Sakai saves the settings and displays the Styles home page. Or, to return to the home page without saving your changes, click cancel.