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Desire2Learn > Tools > Course Home Overview > Managing Widgets on a Course Home Page in D2L

Managing Widgets on a Course Home Page in D2L

 

Certain widgets can be modified to control how much or what content is displayed. The style and look of some or all of the widgets can be changed, or widgets can be created to give a Course Homepage a distinct look.

Modify Widget Display Settings

Some widgets, including News, Calendar, Updates, and Picture Library, have specific display settings that can be modified. These settings allow instructors to control how much content is displayed in the widget.

However, widget display settings can only be modified if a custom Course Homepage is created and set to active. For more information, see Designing a Course Home Page.

  1. Go to the course and select Edit Course.
  2. Select Course Administration from the dropdown menu.
  3. As a result the Course Administration page will open. Select Homepages.
  4. Select the custom Homepage that contains the widget.
  5. Select the widget to be customized.
  6. Choose the customizations
    • Display a title: check this box to display the title as set in the widget's settings
    • Prohibit minimizing a widget: check this box to prevent student's from hiding the widget
    • Default widget name: instructors can keep the default name or set a custom name
  7. Select Save.

Create Custom Widgets

Instructors can create custom widgets from scratch that will display on the Course Home page.

  1. Go to the course and select Edit Course.
  2. Select Course Administration from the dropdown menu.
  3. Select Widgets under the "Site Setup" section.
  4. Select the Create Widget button to create a new widget.
  5. Enter a title for the new widget in the Name field.
  6. (Optional) Enter a description in the Description field.
  7. Select the Content tab.
  8. Enter the content to be displayed in the widget. This can be text, images, links, or embedded content from an external website. See the HTML Editor guide for more information on creating content in D2L.
  9. Select Save and Close.

Edit Custom Widgets

  1. Go to the course and select Edit Course.
  2. Choose Course Administration from the dropdown menu.
  3. Select Widgets under "Site Setup."
  4. Select the pencil icon next to the widget to be edited.
  5. Make changes to the widget in the Properties and Content tabs, as applicable.
  6. Select Save and Close when finished making changes.

NEXT STEPS

For more information on creating News events and populating a course calendar see Updating the News Widget as well as Viewing the Calendar and Adding Calendar Events.