OWL-Space

The OWL-Space Guide

Navigating OWL-Space

Navigating through OWL-Space is accomplished via a hierarchy of menus, often appearing as a set of tabs. At the outer level is a menu of all the different OWL-Space sites that you have membership to. Each site then has a menu of all the different tools available within that site. Finally, each tool has a menu within itself of all its different parts and functions.

These menus, along with other important facts of OWL-Space navigation, are described below.

The Back Button

OWL-Info

Integration between OWL-Space and the "Back Button" is being worked on for future versions of OWL-Space.

One of the most important things to note when using OWL-Space is that you should avoid using the "Back Button" of your browser. OWL-Space keeps track of state - where you are, what you have done, changes that have been made, etc. - for all the different users that might be accessing a site at once. Your web browser does not have this information, so when it tries to go back it will either fail or show you a snapshot of OWL-Space that is out of date. At this point what the browser shows and where OWL-Space thinks you are have fallen out of sync, and problems can result.

Helpful Hint

Using the site tabs, left hand tool tabs, or the "reload/top" button within a tool can often perform the desired "Back Button" function.

To move through OWL-Space, always use only the navigation tabs, links, and buttons within OWL-Space itself.

Bread Crumbs

Helpful Hint

The bread crumbs displayed in OWL-Space are often links, so you can click on a crumb to go to that location.

Many tools in OWL-Space display bread crumbs to let you know where you are within the tool. Bread crumbs describe a folder hierarchy or series of menu choices. "Resources > Photos > Houston" means the Houston directory, in the Photos directory, in the Resources tool. "My Workspace > Account > Modify Details" means "go to My Workspace, go to the Account tool, and press the Modify Details button."

The Header

The header at the top of every OWL-Space page shows the login control on the right-hand side. This will either be login links, or a logout link, depending on whether or not you are currently logged in. You can log in or out from any page where the appropriate link appears.

The Site Menu

Helpful Hint

You can stop sites from showing up in your site tabs by going to My Workspace > Preferences > Customize Tabs. This way you can reduce clutter, but still have the ability to make those sites visible again later. You can also change the order of your visible tabs.

Just below the header is a row of tabs that we will call the site menu, or site tabs, in this guide. Clicking on a tab will take you to that OWL-Space site. If you haven't yet visited the site during this OWL-Space session, you will be taken to the OWL-Space Site Home Page. If you have already visited the site, you will usually arrive at the last page you were at in that site. If you are a member of more than a few sites, only about six tabs will be shown, and the rest of your sites will be available from a selection box on the right.

The Tool Menu

The tool menu, or left-hand menu bar, is located to the left of the content area, and just below the site menu. This menu shows one tab for every tool available in the current OWL-Space site. Clicking on a tab opens that tool in the content area. Usually you will be taken to the main page for that tool, but some tools keep track of where you are and will return to the last page you were on in that tool during the current OWL-Space session.

The Content Area

The content area appears just below the site menu, and to the right of the tool menu. Whatever tool is currently selected in the left-hand tool menu is displayed here. Each tool has a title bar with its name displayed on a grey background. Usually there is only one tool per page, but the OWL-Space Site Home Page shows several mini-tools.

Tabs, Menus, and Navigation within a Tool

Within each tool are several navigation features. In the tool's title bar, to the left of the tool name, is a symbol of two arrows going in a circle. This is the "reload" or "top" button. Clicking on it "reloads" the tool, meaning that it returns you to the main, or top, page of the tool.

On the right end of the tool title bar is a question-mark button. Clicking on this opens OWL-Space's help file in a new window. Usually it opens with information on the current tool or action already displayed.

Directly below the title bar is the tool's menu bar, containing links to all the different parts and functions of the tool. In this guide, we usually call these links "tabs" as well, since they work in a similar manner. When we say "The Schedule tool has four tabs: Add, Merge, Fields, and Permissions," or "the Add tab in the Schedule tool," we are referring to Schedule's menu bar, rather than the left-hand menu bar or the site menu.

Some tools also use bread crumbs for navigation, while others use buttons such as "Return to List," or open links in new windows. The specifics of each tool are discussed in the individual tool sections of this guide.