eHelpDifferent sites have different requirements for navigation and for content, and there are templates to deal with most of these.
Every template includes the footer navigation. It is intended for items that should be present on every page, but that are "extras" that users won't always visit. "Contact information" is a classic link for a footer. (Because developers were leaving the footer menu unchanged, and because two of the links don't point anywhere—their URLs need to be customized—the current version of the template has the menu "commented out").
Four templates include horizontal top navigation. This navigation is traditionally used for audience groups (such as the "Alumni & Friends", "Current Students", "Faculty & Staff", "Future Students", and "Visitors" of the Cal Poly Pomona home page). It may be used elsewise, but a consistent use lets your audience learn from other web experiences at Cal Poly Pomona.
Four templates include left vertical navigation, which is divided into two parts. The top part, with a green background, is intended for the primary navigation in a site. We call it the main nav. Every page linked from that navigation should have the same navigation itself; none of them should link to a page that is not part of your site. The lower portion, with a yellow-tan background, consists of "away links", links to web pages in other sites. We call it the away nav. Distinguishing between site links and away links is an important way to avoid confusing your visitors.
Four templates include right vertical navigation. The navigation area is more free-form, so that the template customizer must maintain the distinction between site links and away links.
Combining all the possibilities gives eight templates:
| Top navigation present | Top navigation absent | |
|---|---|---|
| Left navigation only | cpp_tm_wide_right.dwt | cpp_dw_wide_right.dwt |
| Right navigation only | cpp_tm_wide_content.dwt | cpp_dw_wide_content.dwt |
| Left and right navigation | cpp_tm_narrow.dwt | cpp_dw_narrow.dwt |
| Neither left nor right navigation | cpp_tm_fullwidth.dwt | cpp_dw_fullwidth.dwt |
Some of these are less useful than others. cpp_tm_narrow.dwt has four different navigation areas that occupy a lot of the screen; if your site is that complex, you might want to consider simplifying the information architecture to make it easier on the user. At the other extreme, cpp_dw_fullwidth.dwt has no navigation area other than the footer. It is used here in eHelp with a top breadcrumb navigation, and it is used for some pages that need the full width, but with a return link.
In practice, cpp_dw_wide_right.dwt and cpp_dw_narrow.dwt have been the most useful templates. You can see examples of the ways others have used the templates at "CPP Templates in the Wild".
Because the current templates are fixed-width, each area on a template accomodates images and other fixed-width items only up to a certain maximum width. If an item exceeds that width, the layout will break, in different ways for different browsers. Here are some maximum widths:
| Template | Region | Maximum width |
|---|---|---|
| fullwidth | main | 660 pixels |
| narrow | main | 342 pixels |
| right navigation | 150 pixels | |
| wide_content | main | 480 pixels |
| right navigation | 150 pixels | |
| wide_right | main | 500 pixels |
(The left navigation region ordinarily will not contain images.)
Next stop, customizing the templates.
