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Understanding Page Design and Layout

Depending on whether you use your site primarily for academic or public purposes can determine how you organize your site and how you present content in your site:

• For public purposes, specific content is featured and linked, and the site tends to have a deep architecture.

• For academic purposes, the content is presented dynamically to users based on the permissions you define, and the site tends to have a flat architecture.

To address these differences, Apple provides you with different predefined root pages, in addition to predefined Course pages. Use these pages as a starting point when designing your iTunes U site:

• Welcome page. iTunes U uses the root Welcome page for both public and non-public content. You can organize Welcome pages in a top down, hierarchical structure based on departments, courses, tracks, and so on. Apple provides you with this predefined root page during site creation.

• Public Feature page. iTunes U uses the root Public Feature page exclusively for public content. You can organize Public Feature pages in a free-form, linking structure based on the content you want to feature. Apple provides you with this predefined root page during site creation, you cannot create a Public Feature page within iTunes U. The Public Feature page is designed to facilitate sites with dozens or hundreds of Course pages and thousands of tracks. Request a Public Feature page during site creation only if you have a large quantity of public content (more than one thousand tracks) that would benefit from a deeper structure.

• Course page. iTunes U uses Course pages to display public and non-public audio, video, and PDF content files you and your instructors, staff, or students add to your site. You can organize Course pages into groups, displayed as tabs, to help manage your content.

The following illustration shows the Welcome page design and layout.

When editing a Welcome page, keep the following in mind:

• Create a banner image no more than 600 pixels wide. Creating a 600 x 300 pixel banner image is recommended. Banner images must be JPEG, PNG, or GIF with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif). If your banner image is larger (for example, the image fades out to your background color), iTunes U overlaps the image with the other elements on the page. In order for your users to be able to view all image details, you should be sure to keep all messaging, graphical elements, and text within the size requirements.

• iTunes U dynamically generates descendant page thumbnails from banner and course images and displays the thumbnails in your site’s root Welcome page.

• If you want to change a banner and thumbnail image, upload a new banner image first, then upload a new thumbnail image. For more information, see “Editing Welcome Pages.”

• Select web-safe colors for your section heading background color.

• Select background and regular text colors that complement your banner image.

• If you create a Links box with no links, iTunes U hides the box and only displays the empty Links box when you are editing the Welcome page.

• If you create a public course with no tracks, or a public section with no courses, iTunes U only displays the empty course or section when you are editing the Welcome page.

• iTunes U displays multiple Links boxes down the right side of your Welcome page. To accommodate the multiple Links boxes, use the Section Layout pop-up menu to change to a narrow layout for section content. In a narrow layout, iTunes U displays two thumbnails per section row. If you have no Links boxes, or a single Links box with few links, use the Section Layout pop-up menu to change to a wide layout for section content. In a wide layout, iTunes U uses the full width of your page and displays three thumbnails per section row.

The following illustration shows the Public Feature page design and layout.

When editing a Public Feature page, keep the following in mind:

• Create a banner image no more than 750 pixels wide. Creating a 750 x 250 pixel banner image is recommended. Banner images must be JPEG, PNG, or GIF with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif).

• iTunes U dynamically generates descendant Course page and track thumbnails from course images or track artwork images and displays thumbnails in featured sections in your site’s root Public Feature page.

• Select web-safe colors for your section heading background color.

• Select background and regular text colors that complement your banner image.

• If you create a Links box with no links, iTunes U hides the box and only displays the empty Links box when you are editing the Public Feature page.

• If you create a public course with no tracks, or a public section with no courses, iTunes U only displays the empty course or section when you are editing the Public Feature page.

The following illustration shows the Course page design and layout.

When editing a Course page, keep the following in mind:

• For optimal display within iTunes and iPod, the course image should be a minimum of 300 pixels square, or 300 pixels tall by 300 pixels wide. Course images must be JPEG, PNG, or GIF with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif). For more information, see Creating Your iTunes U Site (PDF) located at http://images.apple.com/support/itunes_u/docs/iTunes_Create_U_Guide.pdf.

• Course pages inherit the theme, including background, regular text, and Links box colors, you specify in the Edit Themes page.

• iTunes U updates the Last Modified date when you edit a Course page and make any substantive changes to page or group information, including automatic updates to smart groups or feed groups within the Course page.

• If you create a Links box with no links, iTunes U hides the box and only displays the empty Links box when you are editing the Course page.