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Modifying the Template

There are three areas of the SMU template that you control directly in creating and maintaining pages on your site: the content area (Zone 8), sitewide navigation (Zone 2A), and local navigation (Zone 2B). The content for Zones 8, 2A, and 2B is contained in three separate files. The template and browser do the hard work of putting them all together to display a page like you see at right.

Two very simple modifications must be made directly to the HTML code of each of your pages in order for them to display properly, as well as some advanced modifications you can make if necessary.

If you can't find the help you need here, please contact us – do not be left in the dark and on your own.

Required Modifications

On all of your Web pages, there are two modifications that you will need to make directly to your HTML code. Important: If your site has been converted from the old template, the "profile name" modification has been taken care of by the conversion process.

When creating a new page in your site, you will need to do the following:

1. Go to the HTML view of your page.

2. Look for this text near the top:
   profile = "yourProfileName"
   ' put options below this comment
   
   ' put options above this comment
   initialExecution

3. Substitute the name of your site's profile for the word yourProfileName (keep the quote marks).

4. Between the two "put options" comments, type the following:
   pageName="yourPageName" (Keep the quote marks, and substitute the name of your page for the word yourPageName.) This serves as the title of your page.

Optional Modifications

An optional modification for your Web pages allows you to specify a different Zone 2B file (local navigation) instead of the one that is set up by default in your site profile. This is useful if you have different local navigation files for distinct regions of your site. You can specify this on a per-page basis. It is also possible for the Webmaster's Office to set up multiple profiles for large sites that use different Zone 2B files.

To specify a different Zone 2B file on a per-page basis:

1. Go to the HTML view of your page.

2. Look for this text near the top:
   profile = "yourProfileName"
   ' put options below this comment
   
   ' put options above this comment
   initialExecution

3. Between the two "put options" comments, type the following:
   location2B="yourFileName" (Keep the quote marks, and substitute the name of your 2B file for the word yourFileName.) Be sure to use the correct path to the file -- the path name must be relative to the page that you are currently on.