A SharePoint Guide for Your Personal Website

Table of Contents

Introduction - What is the Purpose of your Site?

How to Log In

How to Edit and Publish a Page

How to Add a Picture

How to Make a Link

How to Properly use Headings

How to Copy Over Text from Word, email, etc.

How to Create a New Page

How to Move a Link in the Navigation

How to Change Page Layouts

How to Restore a Previous Version of your Page

How to Restore a File from the Recycle Bin

Introduction - What is the Purpose of your Site?

The purpose of most faculty websites contains three parts:

  1. Detailed information on publicly showcasing research and teaching
  2. Research, Special Projects, or Service initiatives
  3. Marketing YOURSELF and reputation management

The purpose of most organizational websites contains three parts:

  1. Publicly showcasing the distinctiveness of your program/project
  2. Marketing your site - Getting people interested in your Organization, Research, Special Projects, Service initiatives, etc.
  3. Aligning your site with the goals of Illinois State University

We have structured this skeleton of a site in a way that it is conducive to matching these three purposes.

The initial address of your site will look like this:

or organization name

Your website page will also look like this:

How to Log In

  1. In the footer/bottom of the page there is a link for Site Admin
  2. Click on that and enter your ULID and password
  3. Depending on your browser, you may not need to enter your ULID and password to log in; your browser will already have done that for you.

How to Edit and Publish a Page

  1. Once you have logged in, you will see “Site Actions” located at the top right-hand corner of the page.
  2. After clicking on Site Actions a list of options will appear, choose “Edit Page”
  1. Several tabs and a ribbon will appear at the top of the page.
  1. By default the “Format Text” tab will be active, which houses familiar tools on the ribbon bar such as bold, italics, bulleted lists, etc.
  2. In the “Content” area of the page, type in the desired text.
  1. Click on the “Save & Close” icon in the ribbon.
  2. Once you want it to go live, click on the “Publish” tab thenclick on the icon that appears right after.
  3. It will ask you if you want to add comments to this version of the page (such as updated for FY16). You do not need to add anything here.
  4. Click “Continue”.
  5. Congrats! Your page is now live!

How to Add a Picture

  1. Resize your image in an image editing program BEFORE you add it to the webpage.
  2. Click “Site Actions” in the top right-hand corner of the page, and choose “Edit Page”
  3. At the top of the screen under the “Insert” tab. In the ribbon, you will see a picture icon.
  1. If you click on the icon it assumes you have already uploaded the picture before and it is already part of your site. The first time you upload a picture you will click on the little black arrow below the picture and select “From Computer”.
  2. Click “Choose File” to select your image.
  3. After selecting your image, click “OK”.
  4. A description box will then open. Here you can rename your picture, give it a title, add a description, etc. This is not necessary.
  5. Click “Save” when you are done.
  6. At the top of your screen you now have a “PictureTools” tab with a ribbon full of tools.
  1. Next to the “Alt Text” you will see a box. Enter a description for screen readers for those who arevisually impaired. If the image has any text on it (such as Apply for Program X) you will want to type in the text in this box.
  2. Play with the position and size to get the desired effect.
  3. Save keep editing or SaveClose/Publish.

How to Make a Link

  1. Click “Site Actions” in the top right-hand corner of the page, and choose “Edit Page”.
  2. In a different window/tab, go to the website you want to link to and copy the web address.
  3. Type in the text for the link
  4. In order to make the website more accessible to those who are visually impaired, do not type your links as “click here” or “more…” A better way to go about this is to type “Apply to X”.
  5. Highlight the text you are going to make a link.
  6. Under the “Insert” tab, click on the black arrow below the “Link” icon and select “From Address”

  1. Paste the URL into the address field
  1. Click “OK”

How to Properly use Headings

Avoid creating your own styles of text (making text bold, size font, etc.) Instead of formatting text on your own use a Heading. Every heading is separate and should be used sequentially (Don’t go from Heading One to Heading Six)

  1. To create a heading, highlight the text you want to be a heading
  2. In “Format Text” tab you will see a Markup Styles icon
  3. Select the heading style you want. Here you can also format text in formats other than Headings.

How to Copy Over Text from Word, email, etc.

Copy and pasting directly from Microsoft Word or other programs can bring extra codes into the page and mess up the formatting. In order to properly copy and paste…

  1. First copy the text from the original source.
  2. Back on your website page, in the “Format Text” tab, click the black arrow under “Paste” andchoose “Paste plaintext”.
  3. You can then add your headings as needed.

How to Create a New Page

  1. Click “Site Actions” in the upper-right hand corner of the page and choose “New Page”.
  2. Give the page a name, then click “Create”.
  3. Choose a template for the page and add content.

How to Move a Link in the Navigation

  1. Click “Site Actions” and choose “Site Settings”.
  2. Under “Look and Feel” click “Navigation”.

  1. Scroll down to the section labeled “Navigation Editing and Sorting”
  2. Select the page you created (or whatever page you want to move)
  3. Use the “Move Up” and “Move Down” functions to move the link in the navigation list.
  4. To hide a page from the Navigation, select the page and click “Hide”

  1. Click Ok

How to Change Page Layouts

Note: In case sections of your original page are lost or distorted, copy your content to notepad in case just in case

  1. Click “Site Actions” and choose “Edit Page”
  2. Select the “Page” tab
  3. Click on the page layout icon and choose the layout you would prefer

How to Restore a Previous Version of your Page

In the inevitable event that something has gone wrong after you have saved the file…maybe even after you have saved it a few times (or another editor has changed it), we have it set so that you can go back to restore a previous version.

  1. Click “Site Actions” and choose “Edit Page”
  2. Choose the page tab and select “Page History” from the ribbon
  1. On the left you will see a list of versions, dates, and times. Click a version to see a preview of the page. You can also compare other versions together.

  2. Click “Restore this Version” at the top center of the page to restore the page currently being previewed.
  3. Click “OK”

How to Restore a File from the Recycle Bin

If you would like to restore a file that you have previously deleted, we have it set so that you can retrieve the file from your recycle bin.

  1. Click “Site Actions” and choose “View all Site Content”
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Recycle Bin”

  1. A list of all files that were deleted will then appear. Select the one you want and click on “Restore Selection” at the top of the screen.
  1. Click “OK”

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