Creating pages

Pages which are not 'special' are delivered from the Editor. That is, you are able to create pages and assign them to any URL you choose. Each page belongs to a website. You can have more than one website for the same onCourse database. Each page can also be given a theme which defines which blocks appear on the page. Themes are then linked to layouts which defines the html and stylesheets used. The following graph shows the relationship between the onCourse database, websites, pages, themes and layouts.

The database

Starting from the top of the diagram we have the onCourse database itself. This is the application which contains courses, classes, tags, students, tutors, and so on. The data in the onCourse database is entered completely within the onCourse client/server applications and is automatically synchronised with the website.

The website

Each onCourse database can drive one or many websites. Each website will have one or more domains which are used to access them. So Acme Training might have the general leisure learning site at http://www.acme.edu.au
and the corporate training at http://corporate.acme.edu.au and also http://www.acme-corporate.com. The leisure and corporate sites can have completely different content (pages), different graphic design (layouts) and even display different sets of courses.

The pages

The website is made up of pages entered through the Editor. For full details on how to write and build web pages, consult the onCourse website and Editor handbook. Each page has content (text, pictures, etc) and will be linked to a theme.

The theme

Themes are a way of grouping pages and giving them their own character, and are applied per URL path.

You can place blocks on a theme, so you might create a theme for policies, another theme for news, and one for general pages. The policy theme could then include a block on the right side with information for students about lodging complaints and contacting the principal. The news theme might contain a block down the left with a random 'hot' course and a block across the top with a rotating banner ad. Finally, the general theme contains a block on one side with navigation elements and assorted other blocks of special offers.

The layout

The final piece of this structure is the layout. This is where you as a designer will weave your magic. The layout is represented by a folder in the layouts folder you access in WebDAV. You can place templates inside that folder where each template overrides a certain piece of html on the page. In this way you have full control over the entire layout and design of the site, right down to every line of html sent to the browser.

There is always a layout called 'default' which is used by the system for the special pages outlined above.
You can create as many layouts you like and link them to themes you create in the Editor.