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    User Authentication: Administration Console -- Branding Options

    • Product: 360 Core Client Center

    How do I change the branding of the User Authentication interface in the Administration Console?

    This page is part of a larger set of documentation about using the Administration Console to configure your User Authentication service.

    The Branding Options page in the User Authentication tab in the Administration Console allows you to configure the appearance of your User Authentication interface to match your institution's theme. You may include your web page header and footer as well as local Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) settings.
    This option is primarily for libraries using ILS-based or username/password authentication; because these are the only two cases in which Serials Solutions offers a login page. (The other credential-based options are offered pages by the authentication service.) However, error messages could appear when the service is used with a different method of user authentication (such as IP address); therefore, you may want to localize, brand, and customizethe interface. At this time, the only error page that can be checked in Preview mode (when not using ILS-based or username/password authentication) is the Single Sign-On Error page; later in 2011, the Access Denied error page will also be available for preview.
    The Branding Options page accepts standard HTML, XHMTL, and CSS syntaxes, and a quick validation will occur for each element you add upon clicking Save. Illegal characters will be flagged for correction.
    You may want to match the branding of your User Authentication pages with the branding of your E-Journal Portal and, if you subscribe to it, your 360 Link pages and 360 Search Pages.
    Here is the initial Branding Options page in the Administration Console:
    User Authentication - Admin Console - Branding Options
    When you are ready to start configuring your Branding Options, click Edit in the upper-right corner of the page. After you make changes, click Save, or click Cancel to discard your changes.
    Changes to the branding of your User Authentication pages will not be visible to patrons until the next day; to see how your changes will look without having to wait, click Preview.

    Cascading Style Sheet

    The first section of the Branding options allows you to enter your Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) settings, which will control the HTML elements you enter in the Header and Footer sections of this page below it. Style sheet references can be in the form of links to external style sheets or CSS statements entered directly into the form.
    Links to external style sheets should be in the standard format: <link type="text/css" href="your stylesheet URL here" /> where the portion your stylesheet URL here is replaced by the URL for your stylesheet. You may include multiple style sheets if your library web site uses them, or you may create your own style sheet specifically for User Authentication, hosting it on your own web servers and referring to it here by its URL.
    CSS statements may be entered to control specific elements within your branding or to override the default styles within User Authentication. They should be entered using the standard syntax. For example:
    <style type="text/css">
    body { width: XX;
    background-color: #FFFFFF;
    }
    </style>
    For more on the specific HTML classes and their associated default CSS tags, please see this document. If you want to clear the CSS information you've entered, press Reset to Default.
    User Authentication assumes that the text on your web site reads left-to-right by default, but you may wish to offer your patrons support in languages that read right-to-left (Arabic, for example). If you have chosen right-to-left language support for your User Authentication, you will see a second CSS input box into which you may enter the style sheet or CSS statements that will support that display choice. Again, standard syntaxes should be used.

    Header

    You may enter the HTML for your library's header in the Header section of the Branding page. Your header may include library logos, banner images, and perhaps navigation bars either as horizontal elements directly above the User Authentication functionality or as vertical navigation to the left of the User Authentication functionality.
    For best results, use HTML 4.0 or higher, or XHTML 1.0 Transitional syntax. You may wish to check your HTML before entering it by using the W3C's HTML validator to be sure that it does not contain syntax errors or violations.
    Serials Solutions does not host your images on our servers. For proper display, please include fully qualified image URLs in the HTML you use in the Branding Options. For example, use <img src="http://www.yourlibrary.edu/images/logo.jpg" /> instead of <img src="/images/logo.jpg" />.
    Many clients have asked whether there is a recommended size for images in the header. The User Authentication design templates are quite flexible and will take virtually any size image you need to use. However, please use your own design sensibility to determine what works best for your interface.
    To clear the Header HTML you've entered, click Reset to Default.

    Footer

    You may enter the HTML for your library's footer in the Footer section of the Branding page. Footers often include logos, contact information, and perhaps navigation bars either as horizontal elements directly below the User Authentication functionality or as vertical navigation to the right of the User Authentication functionality.
    As it is with the Header (above), it is best to use HTML 4.0 or higher, or XHMTL 1.0 Transitional for Footer elements, and you must use include fully qualified image URLs so that images display properly.
    To clear the Footer HTML you've entered, click Reset to Default.

    Remember Me

    If the Remember Me box is checked, users will have the option to tell the User Authentication system to remember their login credentials on that device. The credentials will be remembered for nine months.


    • Date Created: 9-Feb-2014
    • Last Edited Date: 3-Nov-2014
    • Old Article Number: 8952