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Customising site appearance in Blackboard

Quick guide for Designers

You can change the appearance of a Blackboard site in several ways, including changing colours, icons and layouts.

Change the icon set
Change the background colour or add a background image
Change the menu colours
Change the layout

Change the icon set

  1. Click on the Build tab.
  2. Click on Manage Course in the Designer Tools menu.
  3. Click on Course Content Icons in the main window.
  4. Click on Select New Content Icon Set.
  5. Click on the circle next to the icon set you wish to use.
  6. Click Select.
  7. Click Apply.

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Change the background colour or add a background image

Note: Ensure any colours or images you choose will provide sufficient contrast so that text readability isn't affected.

  1. Click on the Build tab.
  2. Click on Page Options in the top-right corner of the main window.
  3. Click on Customize Page Display.

    To change the background colour:

    1. Under Background Color near the bottom of the window, click on Select Color.
    2. Click on one of the cells in the colour chart that appears.
    3. Click Select.

To add a background image:

  1. First select a suitable image. This should be around 1280 pixels wide and 172 pixels high to provide a large enough background to fit a standard 17" monitor. Alternatively, you can use a smaller image and 'tile' it (see below). Save the image in JPEG or GIF format on your computer.
  2. Under Background Image, click on Browse...
  3. Click on the My Computer icon at the bottom of the list on the left side in the Get Files window that appears.
  4. Navigate to the image file and click Open.
  5. The file will appear in the Class Files list and the circle next to it should be selected.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click on the box next to Tile the image if you wish to use a smaller image and repeat it across and down the screen.
  1. Click Apply.

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Change the menu colours

  1. Click on the Build tab.
  2. Click on Manage Course in the Designer Tools menu.
  3. Click on Colours in the main window.
  4. Click on the circle next to the colour set you prefer.
  • If you prefer to set your own colours, click on on Custom, then click on either the Edit Course Menu Background Color icon or the Edit Course Tools Link Color icon. Select a colour from the pop-up window and click Apply. Then click Apply in the main window.

Note: Ensure any colours you choose provide sufficient contrast so that text readability isn't affected.

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Change the layout

  1. Click on the Build tab.
  2. Click on Page Options in the top-right corner of the main window.
  3. Click on Customize Page Display.
  4. Click on the circle next to the layout you prefer from the options under Layout Templates, or click on Custom Layout and adjust the settings under Layout Preview on the right side.
  5. Click on the relevant box to choose whether to change the layout for the site as it exists now or to use the new layout only in folders to be created from now on.
  6. Click Apply.