Sunday, October 27, 2013

LibGuides is more than a platform for publishing subject guides and tutorials. With a little understanding of CSS, jQuery, and JavaScript, this platform can be extended into a full-blown web content management system, capable of supporting several critical library needs such as a backend content management system, public website, or even library intranet. Libraries can also incorporate content from other systems using PHP, ASPX, HTML, or other dynamic scripting languages to create an even richer platform. In this hands-on workshop, participants learn how to use the built-in, advanced customization tools of LibGuides and LibGuides CMS (formerly Campus Guides) to remake the interface and extend this platform. Live examples of extending LibGuides are provided. Participants explore how to use CSS, experiment with placing jQuery UI features into their content boxes; bring in external content from other web platforms, including databasedriven content; and learn best practices for dealing with mobile content and in creating admin, test, and production groups to keep public sites polished, code-safe, and the experiments rolling. Learn about best practices and pitfalls to avoid when developing within a hosted system, including developing a sandbox environment and errorchecking techniques. Participants should be comfortable with basic CSS. A brief introduction of jQuery is provided to get users started with sample code. Please bring a laptop with either Firefox or Chrome web browsers installed to participate in the hands-on sections.