Have one member of your group sign up for a Weebly account and create your site. They will invite everyone else later. The first thing you will be asked is to select the focus of your site:
Selecting "Site" will highlight the themes that will work best for your project in the next stage of the process:
Pick a theme for now; you can (and probably will) change your theme later on. Feel free to experiment with different looks, but once you start laying out your site in earnest, you should have settled on a theme.
Enter your team name in the "Subdomain" box. Please do not purchase a new domain for this project. You can change your subdomain at any time.
There will be some existing elements on your site. These vary depending on the theme you select. However, most of the time they include a site title, a page or two, images, header/footer, and a button.
You should be able to click and edit most of these elements. Some editing options may be limited; similarly, some of these elements cannot be deleted from your site. Check the Pages tab for a few layout options. Remember that you can always change to a different theme if you are unhappy with any un-changable elements.
Beyond the existing elements, you should be able to add content to your site. The main things to know about adding content:
Important Note: Any element with a star in the upper left of the box is not available in the free version of Weebly. There are plenty of workaround options - ask Amanda or Franny what's possible.
Below are the elements that we anticipate you using most. Be sure to explore the other options as well (though we don't think you'd want to worry about any of the commerce options) and ask us if you have any questions.
TITLE
TEXT
IMAGE, GALLERY, SLIDESHOW
EMBED
DIVIDER & SPACER
BUTTON
YOUTUBE
BLOCK QUOTE
Weebly has tons of themes available for you to use; from the "Design" menu, you can select your theme, fonts, and a background for your site.
Think about the kinds of content you're going to include when you're selecting a theme--your pages are going to have lots of text and images, so you may not want a background image to to distract from the images you select. Some themes are optimized for people who want to create online stores, but these may not look as good when they're full of your content instead of items for sale.
When selecting a font for your webpage, think about legibility. It's really hard to read large quantities of Handwritten or Decorative font-types online. These are best used sparingly. Think about your audience; what looks authoritative? What looks professional? How are other scholarly sites that you've visited designed? Similarly, when you're selecting colors, make sure there's enough contrast for text to be easily read.
Also, please note that you cannot use a search box -- this is a premium feature.
You can have a maximum of five pages, so think carefully about how you'd like to organize your site. You probably cannot give everyone in your group their own page.
The pages you create will be added to your site's main navigation. The name you give each page should clearly reflect its content. If you want to reorganize your pages in the navigation or ceate a drop-down menu, the pages can be dragged and dropped.
Whichever page is in the top-most position will be considered the homepage for the site, no matter what name you give it.
You will set the name of your page here, as well as selecting a page layout. You will only want one of your pages (if any) to have the "Landing Page" layout.
Tall or short headers will help liven up your pages, but are not required.
All of your pages should be included in the navigation so users of the site can easily access each page and will have an idea about the contents of your site. Please do not password protect your pages at this stage.
You can change your site address at any time.
You want your site title to be short, descriptive, and punchy.
A mobile-optimized site makes your site more accessible to people who can only access the Internet via a cellphone.
At the end of your project, you will be asked to send a .zip archive of your site to your professor and your librarians.
Now, let's get you guys set up and added to your sites.
If you have questions or need support throughout this project, you have options!
Create a clear plan for organizing your topic and your site - from the beginning!
Step 1: What pages, subpages, and sections are you going to need?
Step 2: What order should your content be in?
Other Tips:
Library Hours
Study Rooms
My Library Account
Library Website