Create custom links and link groups in the navigation bar

Owned by Jacqueline Kort Mascort (Deactivated)
Mar 12, 2024
4 min read

You can create Custom links and add them to the navigation bar of your course to direct your students to web pages outside myCourses, or link to files and activities within myCourses. You can also link to a Learning Technology Integration (LTI) tool such as Perusall or Ed Discussion.

You can also create Link groups to organize your links in drop-down lists on your Navigation Bar.

In this article:

1 Create a custom link | 2 Create a link to a Learning Technology Integration (LTI) | 3 Create a link group | 4 Add a custom link or link group to your navigation bar | 5 Manage custom links or link groups

Create a custom link

  1. On the Course home page, select Course admin > Navigation & themes.

  2. On the main Navigation Bar page, click the Custom links tab. A list of existing Custom links created by the University will appear on the Custom links page.

  3. Click Create link.

  4. Enter a Name for the link that will appear on your Navigation Bar.

  5. In the URL field, enter the website address of your Custom link OR click Insert quicklink to select a course object to link to.

  6. From the Behaviour drop-down list, specify how you would like your Custom link to open:

    • Same window (recommended for links starting with https://): Link opens below your Navigation Bar within your current myCourses page.

    • Same window no navbar: Link opens in the entire window and takes students outside myCourses. Not recommended.

    • New window/tab: Link opens in a new window or tab. Recommended. If you select this option, additional options become available:

      1. Enter a Width (e.g., 800 pixels) and Height (e.g., 600 pixels) for the new window.

      2. Select the checkbox beside Menubar if you want the new window to display your browser menu bar with the File, Edit, View menus.

      3. Select the checkbox beside Toolbar if you want the new window to display your browser toolbar with the Back and Refresh buttons.

  7. Click Save.

Your new Custom link will now appear in the link list and you can add it to any editable Navigation Bar in your course.

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Create a link to a Learning Technology Integration (LTI)

  1. On the Course home page, select Course admin > Navigation & themes.

  2. On the main Navigation Bar page, click the Custom links tab. A list of existing Custom links created by the University will appear on the Custom links page.

  3. Click Create link.

  4. Enter a Name for the link that will appear on your Navigation Bar.

  5. Select Insert quicklink and then scroll down and select the External learning tools option.

  6. Select the tool to be linked from the list.
    Note: Some tools require activation before you can add them to your course. For a list of tools available, see our Technologies article.

  7. From the Behaviour drop-down list, specify how you would like your Custom link to open:

    • Same window (recommended for links starting with https://): Link opens below your Navigation Bar within your current myCourses page.

    • Same window no NavBar: Link opens in the entire window and takes students outside myCourses. Not recommended.

    • New window/tab: Link opens in a new window or tab. Recommended. If you select this option, additional options become available:

      1. Enter a Width (e.g., 800 pixels) and Height (e.g., 600 pixels) for the new window.

      2. Select the checkbox beside Menubar if you want the new window to display your browser menu bar with the File, Edit, View menus.

      3. Select the checkbox beside Toolbar if you want the new window to display your browser toolbar with the Back and Refresh buttons.

  8. Click Save.

Your new Custom link will now appear in the link list and you can add it to any editable Navigation Bar in your course.

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Create a link group

Link groups allow you to display two or more links in a drop-down list on your navigation bar, as in this example:

  1. On the Course home page, click Course admin > Navigation & themes.

  2. On the main navigation bar page, click the Custom links tab. A list of existing Custom links created by the University will appear on the Custom links page.

  3. Click Create link group.

  4. Enter a Name. For example, the name Assessments can be used for a group that includes grades, quizzes, and surveys.

  5. Add Links to your group:

    1. Click Add existing link.

    2. In the pop-up window that appears, select the checkbox beside each link you want to add to the Link group.

    3. Click Add. Your links will appear in a list at the bottom of the page.

    4.  Click the X beside any links to remove them from the group. Drag the three bars to the left of a link to reorder it within the group.

  6. Click Save.

Your new Link group will now appear in the link list and you can add it to any editable Navigation Bar in your course.

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Add a custom link or link group to your navigation bar

See Edit the navigation bar (NavBar) in myCourses for instructions on how to create an editable Navigation Bar, add links to it, and activate it.

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Manage custom links or link groups

You can edit, copy, and delete Custom links and Link groups from the main Custom Links page.

Edit a custom link or link group

  1. On the main navigation bar page, click Custom links.

  2. Click the name of the link or group you want to edit.

  3. Make your changes.

  4. Click Save.

Copy a custom link or link group

  1. On the main navigation bar page, click Custom links.

  2. Click the arrow beside the name of the link or group you want to copy and select Copy.

Delete a custom link or link group

  1. On the main navigation bar page, click Custom links.

  2. Click the arrow beside the name of the link or group you want to delete and select Delete.

  3. In the pop-up window that appears, click Yes. The link or group will be removed from the list and from any Navigation Bars in your course where it was included.

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