Creating a Home Page
by Penny McCulloch, August 2007
This help sheet will show you how to create a start or “home” page that enables learners to make independent activity selections when Clicker 5 is opened. The default “home” page looks something like this:
To create a more accessible start page, you will need to make a full-screen grid with cells that link to the grid sets you want your learner(s) to use and save it as “Home”.
Let’s make a home page that has links to 4 different activities. For the purpose of this tutorial we will use some of the readymade example activities that come with Clicker 5.
- From the Clicker 5 default home page, select Create a new Grid Set.
- Double click Blanks and Blank Grids.
- Click nonsending and select Create.
- To add 4 cells to the page go to Edit Mode to bring up the floating toolbar.
- Click on Cell Palette to bring up a window that gives you access to cells and other buttons.
- Click and drag a cell onto the blank grid page then close the Cell Palette window.
- Resize the cell and place it where you want it on the page.
- To copy the cell, right click over the cell to bring up a menu. Select Copy.
- Right click over the background of the grid and select Paste.
- Position the cell next to the previous cell.
- Paste two more cells in the same way and place them in line across the page.
- To align the cells, select all cells by pressing the Ctrl key on the keyboard and the left mouse click (holding down the Ctrl key) until all cells are highlighted.
- Right click the mouse button over one of the cells to bring up a menu.
- Select Align, then Top. Click on the background to deselect the cells.
- To make a label for the first cell that will link to an activity, press Shift + left mouse click to place a cursor in the cell.
- Type the word “read”, then Enter. If your picture settings are set to display instant pictures in cells, then a picture will appear with the word you typed.
- To link a cell to an activity, press Shift + right click over the cell labelled “read”.
- From the Cell Properties window select Open Grid.
- Select Move to the grid, then from the drop-down arrow, Choose Grid. The current grid in your grid set will be displayed.
- Go to the drop down menu beside Look in: Current Grid Set. Select Browse.
- Double click on Examples, Literacy, At school-Read then Open.
- Click OK, then OK again.
- Save your new home page before you test the cell links by going to File, Save Grid Set As… , Home, Save.
To create labels and links for other cells on your home page to selected grid sets, follow the same procedure.
To make sure each activity links back to the home page, you may want to put a Home page button on the last page of these grid sets.
- Make sure you are in Edit Mode and have the floating toolbar displayed on your screen.
- Go to the last page of one of the activities that is linked to your new home page.
- Click on Cell Palette on your editing toolbar.
- Select a colour from the tabs at the top of the Cell Palette window (red, green, blue or yellow).
- Click on and drag the Home button onto your grid page and close the Cell Palette window.
- Shift + right click over the Home button to bring up the Cell Properties window and go to Open Grid.
- Select Move to the Grid and from the drop down menu My Home Grid. This ensures that when you click on the Home button, you will be taken to your home page.
- Then choose OK.
- Save the changes to the grid set (File, Save Grid Set).