Page Creation & Formatting

Page Basics

How to create a new page

  1. Log into Omni
  2. Navigate to the directory in which you’d like the page to reside
  3. Click the “New” button in the top right
  4. Select “New Page”
  5. Enter the Page Title (preferred naming is Page Title | LSU Unit Name). Page titles are required for accessibility.
  6. Enter a description of the page in the “Description” text field
  7. Edit page layout by checking/unchecking the left column, right column and side navigation
  8. Enter the file name using only lowercase letters, underscores or dashes
  9. Click the “Create” button

How to edit a page title, description or page layout

  1. Log into Omni
  2. Check the page out by clicking on the light bulb, making it yellow
  3. Select “Properties”
  4. Make edits
  5. Save
  6. Publish

How to rename a file

User level 8 has access to this action. Please email wcms@lsu.edu if you are unable to rename files. 

  1. Log into Omni
  2. Navigate to the page you want to rename
  3. Click the three dots icon on the page you would like to rename
  4. Click "File"
  5. Select "Rename"
  6. Rename the file
  7. Press enter

*Do not rename _props.pcf, _nav.inc, or index.pcf files. Doing so will break parts of your website.

Formatting & Styles

How to properly use headings

Nest headings by their rank (or level). The most important heading has the rank 1 (<h1>), the least important heading rank 6 (<h6>). Headings with an equal or higher rank start a new section, headings with a lower rank start new subsections that are part of the higher ranked section.

Skipping heading ranks can be confusing and should be avoided where possible: Make sure that a <h2> is not followed directly by an <h4>, for example. It is ok to skip ranks when closing subsections, for instance, a <h2> beginning a new section, can follow an <h4> as it closes the previous section.

  • H1 - All content pages must have one, and only one, H1 tag. The H1 tag should reflect the main topic of the page. In OU, if the banner graphic is used with the text captioning, the H1 tag is automatically applied and the news release template automatically generates an H1 tag. All other pages must have the H1 tag manually applied.
  • H2 - Used to identify major sections of the page
  • H3 - Subheads within a major section of content
  • H4, H5, H6 - these will rarely be used; remember levels should never be skipped

A heading must contain content. Do not use headings to create larger line breaks.

How to Create Large Introduction Text

If you want a few sentences of intro text on a page to appear large, do not use H2. This text is not a heading. Instead, do the following:

  1. Log into Omni
  2. Navigate to the page you want to edit
  3. Check out the page by clicking on the light bulb, making it yellow
  4. Select the “Edit” tab
  5. Select the “Edit Main Content” button
  6. Highlight the intro text - make sure it’s paragraph
  7. Click “Styles”
  8. Select “Large Intro Text”
  9. Save
  10. Publish

Lists – bullets vs numbers

  • Use bullets for unordered lists. Unordered lists are used when the order of the items is not relevant.
  • Use number/alphabet for ordered lists. Ordered lists are used for sequential information.

Blockquotes

Block quotes should ONLY be used for legitimate block quotes. This style should not be applied to manipulate text that is not a block quote.

How to Layout a Page

Do not use a basic table from the toolbar to layout a page. Instead, use the following:

  • Turn on/off the left and right column in Page Parameters
  • Use snippets - Two Column Layout, Three Column Layout, Four Column Layout. When using the layouts:
    • Do not add rows or columns; the layouts are guides and not actual tables. Instead of adding rows, insert a new instance of the layout. 
    • Do not delete columns, select the an alternate layout option. Columns cannot be added or removed.
    • Do not remove the header rows of the layout grid; the grid will not convert properly when published.
    • Do not attempt to style the layout by adjusting heights or widths or by adding background colors; all of these formats will be ignored when published.