PARSONS LEARNING PORTFOLIO: TUTORIAL

Click an image to view full size...

  1. To edit your drop-down menu: First go to "posts" at the left hand side of your dashboard, then click "categories," and delete any categories you don't wish to have there (you may think of categories as menu items on the learning portfolio). Then add the ones you'd like to have (these will be all of the actual menu items as well as their submenu drop-downs...you're able to create submenus within submenus too, if you're looking to do that). So if you'd like your menu item to be "FIRST YEAR CLASSES," you'll position that under/into the menu later, but in categories you'd add "FIRST YEAR CLASSES," "INTEGRATIVE STUDIO," and "INTEGRATIVE SEMINAR," and "CORE: TIME" (and anything else you'd like to have there). You'd do the same for any other drop-downs you'll need.






  2. THEN, for the menu itself, you'll need to position the categories you just made onto the actual menu. You may go back and forth in case you missed some categories (see: menu items/drop-downs) that you'd like to have. Whatever you do, however, make sure you hit "SAVE" if you're leaving a page with a save button on it.

    To position your categories: Click on the menu settings (you'll find it on the left hand side, under "appearance")...






  3. Then: Click on categories at the left, then "View All," then click the items you'd like to add to your drop-down list on the menu. Click "Add to Menu."






  4. You can then move it up under the header that you'd like, and move it up or down within the subheaders to change the order—simply click and drag. If you drag and hover to the right a little under a menu item, it'll tab the item to the right slightly to make it a sub-menu link under that category:






  5. Always hit SAVE MENU after all changes!!! If you'd like to add an entirely new menu item, just click links at the left instead, add a # sign after the http:// text, and add the text below. That will be the menu header (which you won't be able to click on—you're trying to link to what you're putting under/inside that category). In the case below, I wanted a new menu item called "My Favorite Foods":






  6. Again, always hit SAVE MENU after all changes!!!






  7. If you'd like to add submenus to a menu item, all you have to do is add the categories that will go under it, just like you did before, under "Categories," then do the same process again, and add them to that menu item under "Appearance" --> "Menu." You're just repeating the steps from before:






  8. And finally, after hitting SAVE MENU, I can view my portfolio and it will look great!





  9. Et Voila!




A FEW IMPORTANT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

  1. If you're using a different theme than what is provided by default, you may not see your drop-down menus after creating them. In order to ensure that your site is working with the drop-down menus (hint: you may decide to have more than one menu, as certain themes allow you to do so), simply click "APPEARANCE" and then "MENU." Inside there (you're already quite familiar with it), near the top, next to "EDIT MENUS," you'll find "MANAGE LOCATIONS." In there you'll choose your menu from the drop-down list and hit save.

    *** NOTE: On themes that allow for more than one menu, you can create an additional menu on the "EDIT MENU" tab. Once you've clicked there, you'll see something that says, "Edit your menu below, or create a new menu." Click "Create a new menu" and you may add your alternate menu there. Then go to "MANAGE LOCATIONS" as you did before and select where your two menus should go (IE: "Primary Menu" goes to "Menu 1" and "Footer Menu" goes to "Menu 2," or whatever they're called in that theme.

  2. Some of your learning portfolios may show that others don't have permission to see them. All you have to do to ensure that your peers/professors have access is to click on "Settings" (in the side menu), then "reading," and then specify if you'd like for your portfolio to be public, or just for the Newschool community.

  3. To edit your ABOUT page (please do so—you should even add a photo of yourself, or of something else that you'd like to have up there as an avatar), simply click "Pages," then "about" --> "edit."

  4. TAGS: Finally, to delete tags, just go under "Posts" --> "Tags." They gave you a bunch of sample tags and I suspect you don't need all of them. Just delete the ones you don't need. You should be adding tags to all of your posts. Please add the tags "INTEGRATIVE STUDIO HOMEWORK" and "INTEGRATIVE STUDIO FINAL PROJECTS" (and the same for seminar). That way I can click your tags to find specific assignments very easily.