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We didn't modify the templates much, but I did do a few things with them to make them feel like our own, plus experiment with some ideas for the main library website which is due for a slight update. 

Here's an example of a guide: http://libguides.luc.edu/anthropology1.

The major thing I changed was to modify the header to exactly mirror the university website main header. This is different from the library website, which I did on purpose. I also had hoped to move to left nav to mirror other sites on the university and library site, but everyone wanted to stick with tab navigation. As an attempt to aid navigation and mirror the university's use of tabs, I used a built-in Bootstrap function to float the tabs above the content after scrolling down past them. I set a few media queries so this doesn't happen on a phone size, as well as modifying a few other elements for tablet and phone size. I accomplished most of what I wanted to do with CSS (soooo much display:none for things I didn't like...) and changing the header, only had to modify a few items in the template itself. Mostly this was adding in new divs I needed for styling and so on. I didn't modify the structure of the columns at all. If you have the higher end version (LibGuides CMS I think) you have a lot more options for templates, though I still don't think this would address Will's issue. 

As a side note, I am working on a piece for ACRL TechConnect on this topic right now and looking for examples, so if anyone would be interested in featuring their guides in that, please get in touch with me.

Best,

Margaret Heller
Digital Services Librarian
Loyola University Chicago
773-508-2686

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Will Martin
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 2:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides v2 - Templates and Nav

My impression of the LibGuides v2 template system is that it's decent within strict boundaries.  We just launched LibGuides v2 about 6 weeks ago.  We took a look at the templates, and opted not to do anything with them, because they didn't do what we needed them to.

Our instance of LibGuides is shared between the main campus library and the health sciences library.  Students navigating the system are often confused if they accidentally wind up looking at a guide produced for the other set of patrons.  So the one thing we really wanted to do was customize the header of a guide based on whether it was produced at the health sciences library or at the main campus library, to hopefully help students keep track of where they are.

Unfortunately, LibGuides' template system can't do that.  It only applies to the content areas of the guide.  Within that area, it affords a great degree of flexibility as regards the HTML markup of the guides.  
Outside of that area, it's useless.

So we're running with the defaults.  I may revisit those at some point, but for now we're reasonably happy with them.

Oh, and here's a link to the documentation for the template system:

http://support.springshare.com/libguides/guidetemplates/intro

It does require you to be logged into your LibApps account, because apparently the details of their templating system is a deep, dark secret.

Will



On 2014-09-16 10:48, Graham, Jeannie wrote:
> Our library is also just getting ready to delve into LibGuides v2 so 
> I'm also interested in hearing what others are doing!
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> -- Jeannie Graham
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Jeannie Graham
> 
> California State University, Chico
> 
> Meriam Library - Library Technology Specialist
> 
> Chico, CA 95929-0295
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> 530-898-4311
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf 
> Of Brad Coffield
> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2014 12:19 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] LibGuides v2 - Templates and Nav
> 
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> 
> 
> I'm finally diving into our Libguides v2 migration and I'm wondering 
> if anyone would be willing to share their experience/choices regarding 
> templating. (Or even some code!)
> 
> 
> 
> I'm thinking left-nav is the way to go. Has anyone split the main 
> content column into two smaller columns? Done that with a 
> column-width-spanning box atop the main content area? Any other neato 
> templates ideas?
> 
> 
> 
> We are in the process of building a "style guide" for all libguides 
> authors to use. And also some sort of peer-review process to help 
> enforce the style guide. I'm thinking we are going to want to restrict 
> all authors to left-nav templates but perhaps the ideal solution would 
> be to require left-nav of all but to have a variety of custom left-nav 
> templates to choose from.
> 
> 
> 
> Any thoughts are much appreciated!
> 
> 
> 
> Warm regards,
> 
> 
> 
> Brad
> 
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Brad Coffield, MLIS
> 
> Assistant Information and Web Services Librarian Saint Francis 
> University
> 
> 814-472-3315
> 
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>