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University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Omeka: A User's Guide: Pages

An introductory guide to building online exhibits with Omeka.net, the web-based version of Omeka

Support

If you have questions after reading this guide, please contact Dan Tracy (dtracy@illinois.edu), head of Scholarly Communication and Publishing.

If you are considering starting a journal or digital publication, the Illinois Open Publishing Network is here to help with consultations on digital publishing, open access, scholarly communication, and copyright.

Subject Guide

How to Create Pages

 

To add pages, click on the Exhibit tab in My Dashboard OR click the number above "exhibits" on the dashboard to access your created exhibits. Then click Edit for the exhibit in which you want to add pages.  

The exhibits page shows both public and private exhibits with the option to edit or delete each.

 

At the bottom of the Edit Exhibit metadata page, your created pages will be listed under Pages. To add a page, click on the green Add Page button at the bottom of the box:

The “Add Page” button is at the bottom of the Exhibit Metadata page, below the list of pages already created for the exhibit.

 

In the Add Page section, you must enter the page metadata and select a layout. The page metadata is similar to the exhibit and section metadata: The Page Title is the title of the page. The Page Slug is the identifier for the page at the end of the URL.

The “Add Page” screen.

Click on the green "Save Changes" button to create the page.

Adding Content to Pages

The "Content" section of the page editor is where you can create and edit content blocks.  You can create a new block by selecting a layout and clicking the green "Add New Content Block" button. Omeka offers a variety of layouts, but the basic options are File with Text, Gallery, and just Text. Adding new plugins may allow you to access additional layouts.

The user selects a layout for the content block on the “Add a Page” screen. Each layout is accompanied with descriptive text.

Each page that you create may contain multiple content blocks.  Throughout the process of adding blocks and content, you can click and drag Items and blocks to change their order.

To attach an image, click on the "Attach an Item" button to select from your uploaded Items. Click on the Item you want to insert, and then click on the gray Attach Selected Item button:

Note that if you have a large amount of Items, you can click on "Show Search Form" to search through your Items. After you have inserted an Item, type the accompanying text in the text box underneath it.

You can either click Save and Return to Section if you're finished or want to work on another section; or click on Save and Add Another Page to keep on adding pages.  And with this page, you now have the beginnings of an exhibit!

Adding Text

To add a text-only block to your exhibit page, select the "Text" layout option and click the green "Add new content block" button.

The user selects the “Text” layout featuring a block of text without files.

 

This will take you to the basic text editor provided by Omeka, where you can add and format the text for your exhibit.  When you are finished adding text to the content block, remember to click the green "Save Changes" button.

A text editor.

 

When adding text to any content block you may use the basic text editor (shown above) or the HTML Source Editor, a more advanced option that will allow you to write and edit the code directly.  To open the HTML Source Editor, click "HTML" in the basic text editor.  When you are finished, click the "Update" button to save your changes.

An HTML editor.

Adding a File with Text

After selecting the "File with Text" block layout, Omeka will take you to a page where you can add content in the form of Items, captions, and text.  To add an Item, simply click the "+ Add Item" box. You can also use the text editor below the item field to add text, such as written commentary about your exhibit.

The “File with Text” editor.

 

Next you should see the "Attach an Item" window, where you can browse the Items that have been uploaded to your Omeka site. If you have a large quantity of Items available on your site, you may prefer to use the Search Form to locate the Item you are interested in adding to your exhibit. To access these search options, click the blue "Show Search Form" button.

The “Attach an Item” window shows both public and private items.

 

This option allows you to search by keyword and/or to narrow your search by Dublin Core metadata, ID numbers, collection, exhibit, item type, tags, and user. To return to the browsable list, simply click the blue "Hide Search Form" button. 

The “Attach an Item” search form.

 

Once you have located the Item you would like to add, select the item line and click the brown "Select Item" button.

The “select item” button appears at the far right of the item line when the item has been clicked once.

 

This will take you to a page where you may supply a caption.  When you have completed this process, simply click the green "Apply" button to finish adding the item to your exhibit.

Prompt to provide a caption.

 

Click the arrow next to "Layout Options" to expand the list of formatting options. This will allow you to select the File position, File size, and Caption position for the content block. 

Drop-down lists of layout options for the newly attached item.

The layout options are as follows:

File position: Left or Right

File size: Fullsize, Thumbnail, or Square Thumbnail

Caption position: Center, Left, or Right

 

As you add content and make changes to a page, remember to save your work by clicking the green "Save Changes" button.