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Using the Incubator Sample Pages to start your web site

What do you want your site to say?

The most important part of designing your web site is deciding what you want your web site to say. The Community Connections sample pages come with 5 ready-made sections:

• About Us
• Events
• Membership
• Site Map
• Home

The Virtual Business Incubator example pages have different sections, but the concepts are the same.

The sections at the top and bottom of your sample index.html file are referred to as "top navigation" and "bottom navigation". "Bottom navigation" may also be referred to as a footer. Both navigations should contain links to the other pages in your site.

Top navigation

Bottom navigation/footer

Editing the current navigation:

If you would like different sections than the 5 sections that have been provided for you, you can change one of the current sections to match the section you choose. For example, if you don't want a section called "Site Map", but would like to replace it with a section called "Board Members", you would follow these steps:

1. In the top navigation bar, highlight the words "Site Map" like you would in a word processing program.


2. Type in "Board Members". Notice that the boxes resize based on the length of the words you type in. Also, the words should still be underlined, indicating that they are linked to another page.


3. Double click on the words "Board Members" to bring up the Link Properties box.


4. In the "Link Location" box, type in board.html.


5. Make sure the "URL is relative to page location" box is checked.


6. Click OK.

You have now changed the top navigation bar to match your new navigation scheme. Now you can follow the same steps as above to change the bottom navigation, or footer.

Adding another box to the navigation bar:

You can add more sections to your navigation bar. For example, to add a section called "Meeting Minutes" in between "Board Members" and "Home":

1. Click in the box containing the word "Home". An outline around the box and some arrows will appear.


2. Click on the left arrow in the set at the top of the Home box. This will add a new box in between "Board Members" and "Home".


3. Type in the words "Meeting Minutes". Note that the box will get larger, and the text is aligned to the left.


4. With the cursor still in the box, in the top menu choose Format >> Align >> Center to center the text.


5. With the cursor still in the box, click the Table button (see below) in the top menu to bring up the Table Properties box.


6. Check the box for "Background Color", and click the color box to the right.


7. Choose the color that matches the rest of the boxes by clicking on it.


8. Click OK, and then click OK again.


9. Highlight the words "Meeting Minutes"


10. Click on the Link button in the top menu to bring up the Link Properties box.


11. Type in "minutes.html" and click OK.

Composer menu bar

You have now added a new section to your top navigation bar!

For more ideas about how to edit your web pages, refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.

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This site was developed as part of a U.S. Department of Commerce TOP grant awarded to the Blacksburg Electronic Village and the Virginia Cooperative Extension. Comments or questions about this site should be sent to Cumberland Comments. Comments or questions about BEV in a Box should be sent to BEV Comments.