Omeka Exhibit Tutorial

A tip: Read through the entire tutorial before you begin. Be sure to click save as you make changes and navigate between pages.

 

Create an Exhibit:

After you log in to your Omeka site, click on Plugins in the Toolbar of the dashboard, scroll down to Exhibit Builder and and click on the install button. One the plugin is installed, you’ll see an Exhibits tab in the left menu of your dashboard. Begin by clicking the green “Add an exhibit” button.

This screen asks for summary information about your exhibit and about settings that apply to the exhibit as a whole (not the pages which are its constituent parts)

  • In the Title field, create a title for your project. (This can be changed.)
  • In the Slug field – a slug is the text added to the end of a url that points to this exhibit, ex.: http://yoursite.omeka.net/exhibits/show/slug
  • In the Credits field, acknowledge the contributors (remember that this will be visible to the public)
  • In the Description field, add a brief introduction or overview to your exhibit.
  • You may leave the Tags field blank for now, or you can use keywords or themes that will help users find this exhibit on your site.
  • Using the Theme pull-down menu, select a theme for your exhibit if you want to use a different one from the rest of the site
  • The Use summary page checkbox allows you to decide whether or not to use a summary page. An exhibit summary page displays the exhibit description and navigation options. If this box is unchecked, users navigating to the exhibit will start on the first page of the exhibit.
  • Select an item’s file to use as  a cover image to represent your exhibit on browse pages or elsewhere on your site.
  • On the right-hand menu, click the green Save Changes button (Keep in mind that Omeka does not autosave- as you navigate between pages you will need to manually save your changes or you will lose them.)
    • Note: under the Save Changes button is a Public checkbox. When this box is not checked, your exhibit is not visible to site visitors. When your exhibit is complete, check this box to make it visible

The exhibit you just created will now appear on the Browse Exhibits page.

 

Create Pages and Add Content:

Next we’ll add content. An exhibit is made up of pages, and each page is made up of one or more customizable blocks of content. Each content block can include just text, a combination of texts and items from your collections, a gallery of items, or a file. Content blocks can be added, deleted, and moved around on the page.

    • In the Page Title field, add a title related to an item in your collection.
    • In the Menu Link Title, repeat the title or (if it is long) a shortened version
    • In the Page Slug field, add a word related to the title you just added.
    • Under Content, in the New Block section, click on File with Text
      • Click the green “Add new content block” button that has appeared at the bottom of the screen
      • A block will appear under content labelled “Block 1 (File with Text)” – if you scroll down, you will see underneath this block is the New block tool.
        • Click on the Add Item box – a list of your items will appear. Choose the item you named in the title field.
        • You will then be given the option of providing a caption for your item.
        • Click the green “Apply” button – this will return you to the Add Page page, where the item you added is now part of Block 1.
          • Note: you can edit an item in a content block, and you can reuse items as many times as you want in a page and an exhibit.
      • In the Text box under Item, add some text about the item. This is the place where you begin to contextualize your sources and create your argument. You may draw on context briefs to describe this source and discuss its relevance, or you can introduce your argument using this source as evidence.
      • In the Layout Options bar at the bottom of Block 1, click on the triangle on the right
        • There are 3 layout options for this content block – where the file (Item) appears, what size the file appears, and where the caption associated with the item (when you have added one) appears
          • Select an option from each of the 3 pulldown menus
          • Click the green “Save Changes” button on the right.
    • Under Content, in the New Block section, click on Gallery
      • Click the green “Add new content block” button that has appeared at the bottom of the screen
      • A block will appear under content labelled “Block 2 (Gallery)” – if you scroll down, you will see underneath this block is the New block tool.

 

  • Click on the Add Item box – a list of your items will appear. Click to add an item to the Gallery. Add at least two items to see how the gallery is disaplyed

 

      • You will then be given the option of providing a caption for your item. If your item has more than one image file, you may also select which file to be displayed.
      • Click the green “Apply” button – this will return you to the Add Page page, where the item you added is now part of Block 2.
    • In the Text box under Items, add some text about the item. This is the place where you begin to contextualize your sources and create your argument. You may draw on context briefs to describe this source and discuss its relevance, or you can introduce your argument using this source as evidence.
    • In the Layout Options bar at the bottom of Block 1, click on the triangle on the right
      • There are four layout options for this content block – where one item is showcased, the position of the gallery on the page, what size the file appears, and where the caption associated with the item (when you have added one) appears.
        • Select an option from each of the 3 pulldown menus
        • Click the green “Save Changes” button on the right.
  • Under Content, in the New Block section, click on Text
    • Click the green “Add new content block” button that has appeared at the bottom of the screen
    • A block will appear under content labelled “Block 3 (Text)” – if you scroll down, you will see underneath this block is the New block tool.
    • In the Text box add some text about the item. This is the place where you start to contextualize your sources and create your argument. You may draw on context briefs to describe this source and discuss its relevance, or you can introduce your argument using this source as evidence. Keep in mind that reading online is most effective when the text is broken up into shorter paragraphs.
      • Click the green “Save Changes” button on the right.
  • Under Content, in the New Block section, click on File
    • Click the green “Add new content block” button that has appeared at the bottom of the screen
    • A block will appear under content labelled “Block 4 (Text)” – if you scroll down, you will see underneath this block is the New block tool.
      • Click on the Add Item box – a list of your items will appear. Choose an item. And click Select Item.
      • You will then be given the option of providing a caption for your item. If you have more than one image file, select a file to display.
      • Click the green “Apply” button – this will return you to the Add Page page, where the item you added is now part of Block 4.
        • Note: you can edit an item in a content block, and you can reuse items as many times as you want in a page and an exhibit.
    • In the Layout Options bar at the bottom of Block 4, click on the triangle on the right.
      • There are 3 layout options for this content block – where the file (Item) appears, what size the file appears, and where the caption associated with the item (when you have added one) appears
        • Select an option from each of the 3 pulldown menus
        • Click the green “Save Changes” button on the right.

 

After you have successfully saved each content page, a blue “View Public Page” button will appear on the right of the screen. Click on the blue “View Public Page” button to view your site from the “front end” (the view that is seen by visitors to your site). Click on the “Omeka Admin” link on the top right of your screen to return to the dashboard.

In your dashboard, click on Exhibits in the right menu, and on the Browse Exhibits page click on Edit under your exhibit. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you will see the page you just created. Clicking on the page opens it and allows you to edit it. Clicking on the X on the right of the page title deletes the page – but not until you click Save Changes. If you click on the arrow that appears once you have clicked the X, the instruction to delete the page is cancelled.

  • Note: You can change the order of the pages in your exhibit: Edit your exhibit, scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on one of your pages and drag it to where you would like it to appear in your exhibit.

Now that you’ve seen the four basic block types for Omeka Exhibits, think about which work best for your argument. Using a mix is generally more effective than reusing a single block type.

 

Adding Secondary Source Material as Items:

You may also want to add some of your secondary sources as items in an Exhibit. To do so, first add a new item to your collection by clicking on Items in the left menu and then click to add a new item.

  • Complete the metadata elements that provide the information that would be included in a citation (Creator, Title, Date, Publisher)
  • Add a file – or not. In most cases, this could not be the source itself, as that would be under copyright or licensing. For instance, you might choose to add a thumbnail image of the cover, or an image of a quote from that source. You could also not attach a file – when you add an item with no file to a page, the title of an item appears instead.
  • Include the items on the pages which contain information drawn from them.