Site Navigation HOWTO
Chapter index
- Page layout
- Login
- Logoff
- Forgotten Password
- Change Language
- Searchtools
- Find Project
- Find Partner
- View Profile
- Send a message
- Find Resource
- Sitemap
- Freetext search on Google
- Breadcrumb trail
- Print page
- Email page
- RSS
- Watch
- Contact
Page Layout
Each page on the eLanguages system can be divided into three sections:
Page header
The elements contained within the page header are consistent on all eLanguages pages. These elements are concerned with the user's site experience and the location of content and site assistance. The header contains the following elements:
- Change interface language
- Login/Logoff
- Site registration
- Mypage
- Site search tools
- Site help
- Edit view/Normal view
Content area
The content area displays the main text of the page (e.g. project pages created by member teachers or information pages created by the eLanguages team). This area of the screen deals with the route by which you arrived at the content, the content itself, alternative methods for viewing the content and for tracking changes made to the content.
The elements within this section are:
Page Footer
Each page also has a footer area containing permanent navigation to pages related to website policy and site sponsorship. It contains the following links:
Back to top
Login
The login process identifies an individual user to the system. This allows for personalisation of the interface to the user's individual settings and enables editing rights over system resources to which the user has membership.
The login process requires two values associated with the user to be entered. These values must match the values held on the system to permit access. These values are:
Fields
- account name
- A name that you selected when you signed up for the account.
- password
- The system password automatically assigned to your account when the account was approved, or a value that you have subsequently changed this value to.
Enter values in the two fields and click the "OK" button. Please note that both the account name and password fields are case-sensitive. If, after a number of attempts, you are still unable to login follow the reissue password link and follow the prompts on that page and a new password will be emailed to you.
Back to top
Logoff
The logoff process should be run at the end of every user session. This operation will delete the session variables associated with your account. This will help protect your account from being used by other people who share the same computer. Should you change your mind you can always go straight back to the login page using the link on this page.
Back to top
Forgotten password
Have a new password issued and sent to you by email.
account name
Type in your system account name making sure you spell it correctly and enter the characters in the proper case. The account name field is case-sensitive.
A new system-generated password will be emailed to the address you specified when the account was created.
If you have forgotten you system account namecontact the site administrator.
Remember to change the new password to something that will be easy to remember in future.
Back to top
Change interface language
The eLanguages system supports a number of different interface languages. The version of the site presented to the user is determined by the language settings of their browser or, for users who are logged in to the system, by the language preference set when they subscribed to the system.
Users can change the version presented by means of a drop-down menu. For users who are not logged into the system, the change will last for the current session only. The change will persist between sessions for users who are logged in.
The language selection applies only to site navigation elements and forms and some permanent site content, like the help files and explanatory pages. User supplied content, such as eLanguages projects, will appear in the language in which it was created.
Back to top
Site search tools
The purpose of the eLanguages site is to assist teachers in creating reusable classroom projects in collaboration with partners from other countries. The site search mechanisms are, therefore, designed to make it easy to find suitable projects and a suitable partner for that collaboration. There are four different search mechanisms:
Back to top
Site help
The site help system consists of a series of HOWTO documents that provide in-depth explanations of the different site features. You are looking at one of these HOWTOs right now.
Back to top
Find Project
Search criteria
Data that is collected when a project is created can be used to assist other teachers looking for suitable project to join or to use within their classroom. This tool uses the data collected for country of origin, language and target age group to narrow down the list of projects to one that best meets the user's criteria.
There are three drop-down lists for specifying search criteria. When a change is made to one selection the options in the other two drop-down lists are automatically adjusted to reflect the choices that are actually available within the system. The list of matching projects is also updated automatically. The self-adjusting search mechanism ensures that only valid selections are presented to the user which makes searching for suitable projects simpler and quicker.
Search Results
As the search criteria are adjusted the lists of search results is updated to reflect the changes. The listing shows information about the projects including:
- Project name (acts as a link to the project).
- Optional "Join!" link indicating that the project is looking for additional participants
- Project owner (i.e. the person who started the project)
- Institution type represented by an icon
- Specific target age range
- The countries represented by project participants
- Brief project description
The column headers can be used for sorting the listing. Clicking once will order the results in ascending alphabetical or numerical order, clicking twice will reverse the ordering.
Back to top
Find Partner
Search criteria
The criteria for this search are based on data collected when users register for membership of the site. This tool uses the data collected for country of origin, language and the classification of the organisation to which they belong.
There are three drop-down lists for adjusting the search criteria. When a change is made to one selection the options in the other two drop-down lists are automatically adjusted to reflect the choices that are actually available within the system. The list of matching projects is also updated automatically. The self-adjusting search mechanism ensures that only valid selections are presented to the user which makes searching for suitable project partners simpler and quicker. Only those teachers that have indicated their willingness to enter into a project collaboration are included within the search results.
Search Results
As the search criteria are adjusted the list of search results is updated to reflect the changes. The listing shows the following information about the :
- Institution type represented by an icon
- Name
- Country
- Link to the member's hello page
- Link to send an email to the member
The column headers can be used for sorting the listing. Clicking once will order the results in ascending alphabetical or numerical order, clicking twice will reverse the ordering.
Back to top
View Profile
The view profile utility displays a site member's personalised profile details to other users of the eLanguages platform. This includes a number of standard elements such as the member's name and educational establishment as well as a listing of any projects they own or have contributed to. Site members may optionally add additional details to this page to say a bit about their school or college and their interests.
Standard elements
The following items are included in the profile page:
- Lits of projects
- Send a message link
- Organisation details
- Position
- Availablity for partnerships
- Languages spoken
- Preferred partnership countries
Back to top
Send a message
The send a message utility is accessed from a member's hello page. It is only available to users who are logged in to the system. This utility allows site members to send an email message via the system to other site members without displaying the recipient's email address. The return email address will, however, be included with the message.
Fields
- subject
- A brief descriptive subject for your message.
- message
- The main body of the message.
- store message
- Checking this control saves a copy of the message for later retrieval via the user's Mypage activity tab. This feature is only available to users who are logged in to the system.
Back to top
Find Resource
Search criteria
The find resource utility allows users to perform keyword searches on the name and description data associated with every resource that is added to the eLanguages system. The "search for" input field is used to enter the keyword you are looking for, this can be in either UPPER or lowercase characters and may also contain accented characters.
There are three drop-down lists for restricting the scope of the search. When a change is made to any one selection the options in the other two drop-down lists are automatically adjusted to reflect the choices that are actually available within the system. The list of matching projects is also updated automatically. The self-adjusting search mechanism ensures that only valid selections are presented to the user which makes searching for suitable projects simpler and quicker.
Search Results
As the search criteria are adjusted the lists of search results is updated to reflect the changes. The listing shows information about the resources:
- Resource type
- Resource name
- Category, the suggested age range or project type for the resource
- Author or creator of the resource
- Resource language
- Country of origin of the author
The column headers can be used for sorting the listing. Clicking once will order the results in ascending alphabetical or numerical order, clicking twice will reverse the ordering.
Back to top
Sitemap
The sitemap displays a hierarchical listing of all the site pages to which the user has access. Whether a particular page appears on this listing for a specific user is determined the access permissions set on the page, different users may therefore see different versions of the sitemap.
Page names act as links directly to the page itself.
Back to top
Back to top
Breadcrumb trail
A "breadcrumb" trail indicates the user's current location within the system in relation to the homepage. It provides links to the different pages through which the user would normally travel to get to that location, giving an indication of the depth the user is at within the site hierarchy. The breadcrumb trail is shown at both the top and the bottom of the content area.
Back to top
Print Page
This link formats the current page to remove unnecessary page formatting to make it more suitable for printing.
Back to top
Email webpage
This utility allows you to send a link to the current page to a friend together with a short message without the need to use a separate email programme.
Fields
- send to
- The email address you wish to send the link to
- message
- A short message to the recipient.
- your name
- The message will be sent by the eLanguages system and will not have the normal email headers sent by your normal email programme. Add your own name so that the recipient knows who sent the link.
- your email
- A return email address should the recipient wish to comment on the link.
- store message
- Checking this control saves a copy of the message for later retrieval via the user's Mypage activity tab. This feature is only available to users who are logged in to the system.
Back to top
RSS
This link generates a summary of the page in RSS format suitable for use within an RSS news reader tool.
Back to top
Watch
The "watch" tool allows site members to receive information about changes to pages via email. Notification of changes is set on a page-by-page basis and is administered from the "Watched resources" tab which is part ofMypage.
There is only one setting necessary to set up a watch - the frequency to check for changes. The frequency can be set to hourly, daily, weekly or monthly. The option "Don't notify me of changes" can be used to temporarily suspend notification messages without deleting the watch record entirely.
Back to top
Contact
The contact form provides a mechanism for sending messages to the eLanguages Team.
Message
- your name
- Enter your name.
- subject
- A brief descriptive subject for your message.
- message
- The main body of the message.
- email address
- A return email address should we need to reply to you.
- store message
- Checking this control saves a copy of the message for later retrieval via the user's Mypage activity tab. This feature is only available to users who are logged in to the system.
Back to top