Blocks

What would you like to do with BLOCKS on your site in Cascade?

Copying Blocks- how to make a copy of a block

Your site contains a number of master blocks that you can copy in order to create the specific block that you need. Blocks are found in the _cms/blocks/xhtml folder on your site.

To copy a block: 

  1. Click on the block that you would like to copy
  2. The block is now in View mode.  Click on the More tab and select Copy. Alternatively, you can right click and choose Copy. Enter a new name for the block in the New Block Name box. 
  3. Copying Tip #1: Keep the beginning of the block name the same (e.g. staff listing) and add a descriptor (e.g. staff listing help desk, staff listing main office).  This way all your staff listing blocks will be displayed sequentially in your folder listing and will be much easier to find.
  4. Click Copy to complete the process.  You should now see a green box at the bottom left corner telling you the copying was successful.
  5. Your newly created block will need to be added to the appropriate page.

Editing Blocks- edit blocks directly on the page.

To edit a block used on a particular page, select the page to preview it, then click 'More' then click 'Show Regions.' 

Hover your mouse over the area of the page containing the block. The name of the block will appear as a callout (Right Sidebar). When you click on the call out, the region will expand showing the block name used in that region. Right click the block name and select 'Edit'.

A new window will open to enable you to edit the block. Once you have finished editing, click the ellipses next to the Preview Draft and then click 'Submit.' Your updated block will be updated but now yet show correctly on the page.  Refresh the browser and the update that you made to the block will appear.  Please note that if you click the Save & Preview first and then Submit, you will not stay on the page.  You will be taken to the actual updated block (i.e. as you were before v8.9).

Google Analytics block- how to add Google Analytics to your website.

Outside of Cascade
1) What you need to have available before requesting a GA account
  • Your personal or an organizational Gmail email account or a Western mail account that has been associated with Gmail
  • The Gmail email addresses of the people you would like to include as administrators or viewers of the account - these can be added later
  • The url of your website(s) that you will be tracking
2) Requesting a GA account
  • Email web@uwo.ca with all of the above information and they will help you to setup a GA account.
In Cascade
1) When you receive the Google Analytics script
  • Find the xhtml text block,  /_cms/blocks/xhtml/Google analytics
  • Click Edit
  • Click on the Source Code button <> (A greater than and less than symbol)
  • Paste in your Google analytics script and click Ok and then Submit
  • In most cases, this is all you will have to do because your Google Analytics block is already attached to every page. To confirm that the block is on all your pages, you can view a couple of pages and check Show Regions.

If you are unsure of how to check Show Regions, see Editing Blocks on Blocks.

Left Navigation Optional block- add or remove the left navigation optional block.

You may wish to add or remove the 'left nav optional' block to/from your website. Here's how to do so

  1. If you wish to add the block to your website, you first must edit the block (titled "left nav optional"):
  2. Then, edit each of your Configurations (click on Manage Site Content then Configurations) to link to this block in Left Navigation Optional so that it will appear on your website pages. 
  3. DO NOT EDIT 'Right Sidebar' and 'Right Sidebar with Slide Show' - as you do not want the block to appear on your site index page
  4. If you want to remove the block from your website, remove the block from the Left Navigation optional section in the step above.
  5. If you wish to only add the this block to one or a couple of pages in your website, you can edit each page separately.

Search Box block- how to add a search box to your website.

Western has two options for searchboxes.  The first is the general Google search box which allows you to search all of Western's webpages. The second is the Google search box - department specific which allows you to search within your department's site only.  The general search box appears above the top navigation while the department specific one appears as a right sidebar below the top navigation.

Western-Wide Search box
  1. Within your Cascade site go to /_cms/blocks/xhtml/ and edit the block Google search box. 
  2. Once the edit screen appears, click on the Edit Source Code.
  3. Ensure the value is: "uwo.ca/". Then click "OK" and then "Submit"
  4. Finally, edit each of your Configurations (click on Manage Site and then Configurations) to link to this block in the Google Search Code so that it will appear on your website pages.
Department-Specific Search box
  1.  Within your Cascade site go to /_cms/blocks/xhtml/ and edit the block Google search box - department specific. 
  2. Once the edit screen appears, click on the Edit Source Code
  3. Change the following code: "uwo.ca/" to whatever department URL (i.e. uwo.ca/wts).
  4. Then click "OK" and "Submit"
  5. Edit each of your Configurations (click on Manage Site and then Configurations) to link to this block in the Department Search Code so that it will appear on your website pages.

Social media blocks- how to configure and add social media blocks to your main index page.

Configure Social Media

Social Media

If you wish to add social media icons to your website, please refer to Western Communications Social Media information at https://www.communications.uwo.ca/web_design/social_media/.

YouTube

To configure YouTube, edit the block, /_cms/blocks/xhtml/YouTube block

  • Access the source code view by clicking the HTML icon on the toolbar (third from the right)
  • Replace the 'src' string with the path to your YouTube channel
  • Click Insert and then edit the text as necessary
  • Click Submit
Flickr

To configure Flickr, edit the block, /_cms/blocks/xhtml/photo of the week block

  • Access the source code view by clicking the HTML icon on the toolbar (third from the right)
  • Replace the 'src' string with the path to your Flickr account
  • Click Insert and then edit the text as necessary
  • Click Submit
Twitter

To configure Twitter, edit the block, /_cms/blocks/xhtml/twitter block

  • Access the source code view by clicking the HTML icon on the toolbar (third from the right)
  • Replace the code, <a class="twitter-timeline"....</script> with the code from your twitter widget
    • From Settings in Twitter, click on Widgets, Create new.
    • Configure your widget and click Create widget
    • copy the code and paste it into the twitter block code (as instructed above)
  • Click Insert and then edit the text as necessary
  • Click Submit
Adding the Social Media blocks
  1. First, edit the following blocks: connect, important links block, photo of the week block, twitter block, and YouTube block to the specific information to your website.   Ensure that you have configured the blocks to your website.
  2. Next, edit the index page and click on the Configure tab.  
  3. Scroll down and add the social media blocks to the Social Bar Sections and Social Bar Title.
  4. The social media blocks will look something like this:

Page Title Block- How to add your unique page title block to your website.

Every site will have a page title block which is provided by Communications & Public Affairs.  Your page title block will differ depending on how your web site fits into the overall administration of the university.  

All page title blocks are in the 2012 Design Master site in a block provided by Communications.

To add your page title block to your web site:

  1. You must edit all of the Configurations associated with your site in Cascade.  To access these, click on Manage Sites and choose Configuration from the menu.
  2. The list of your Configurations for your site will appear.
  3. Click on a Configuration in the listing and then click the Edit tab.
  4. Find the Page Title Image region and click on the Search button:
  5. Choose '2012 Design Master' from the dropdown list of sites
  6. Navigate to your specific block (as provided by Communications), click Choose and then Submit

Repeat these steps for EVERY Configuration on your site.


Published on  and maintained in Cascade.