ARCHIVED: In OneStart, what are roles, channels, and tabs, and how do I use them?

On this page:

• Roles
• Channels
• Tabs
• Subtabs

In OneStart, information and services are organized by roles (or tabsets), channels, tabs, and subtabs.

Roles

Roles are sets of tabs that group together related services. You can select the relevant role from the drop-down menu at the top of the screen. Selecting a role will display the tabset for the role at the top of the main portal frame; select a tab to access that page. You will have at least three roles from which to choose:

• A role reflecting your status at Indiana University (e.g., Faculty, Staff, or Student): These roles allow you to access OneStart services relevant to your status. For example, if you are both a student and a staff member, you will be able to select Staff or Student roles from the menu.
  
  
• Personal: This role stores your customizable tabs and channels. All tabs that you add to the OneStart portal will be available under your Personal role; these are yours to customize using the Personalize tool. You can add, edit, and delete these tabs as well as the content or channels on them. However, you cannot delete your last personal tab; there will always be one custom tab under this role.
  
  
• All Roles: This role allows you to access the tabs from all of your different roles (your custom tabs as well as the tabs from your other roles). If you have several different roles or many customized tabs, you might see a smaller tab labeled more; click this tab to access any tabs not displayed.

Determining roles and groups

The Enterprise Directory Service (EDS), populated from the central Human Resource Management and Student Information Systems, determines your roles in OneStart.

You can also belong to one or more groups, created and maintained for more specific university affiliations (e.g., Department of English, IMU staff, international student). Active Directory Services (ADS) determines OneStart groups.

OneStart assigns your default roles based on your status at IU. Opting into a role not assigned to you does not give you access to services restricted to that role. For instance, a non-student opting in as an enrolled student cannot register for classes. However, you can opt into or opt out of other roles to view all the tabs associated with roles other than your own.

Opting into or out of OneStart roles

To opt into or out of roles in OneStart, follow these steps:

1. Log into OneStart at: https://onestart.iu.edu/
2. At the top of the screen, click Personalize.
   
   
3. Select Opt in/out of roles.
   
   
4. Select or deselect roles by checking or unchecking the checkboxes.
   
   
5. To go back to your original default OneStart roles, click Reset.
   
   
6. To save your selected roles, click Save.

Any changes you make to your roles will be available every time you log into OneStart.

Role previewing for OneStart publishers

OneStart publishers can be granted "role viewer" access. This allows publishers to view roles other than those they've been assigned.

Channels

Channels are the smaller "windows" located within each tab that provide services or information. Your campus tab, for example, will have channels for campus events, classified ads, and local weather, among other services. If you change the appearance of a channel, clicking its title will restore its original appearance.

You can find channels within the channel content section of the portal (the main frame, below the tabset). They provide the services and content delivered by OneStart.

To print a channel, you must first detach it from the tab. To detach a channel, in the channel title bar, click the detach icon (i.e., the icon with two boxes). Proceed to print as usual.

The new window icon will open the channel in a new browser window at 800x600 resolution. From this new window, you can use your browser's print command to print the contents of the channel. For more information about channel options in OneStart, see OneStart channel icons, below.

Creating custom channels

In OneStart, you can use custom channels to add your favorite web pages as channels.

To create a custom channel, follow the steps below:

1. From the top of the OneStart page, click Personalize, and then click Create Custom Channels.
   
   
2. Fill in the required information for the web page you want to add as a custom channel. Click Save.

   This will add the web page to a folder called My Custom Channels, which you can access through the Explore option at the top of the page. To view the custom channel within a OneStart page, you will have to add it to that page, as detailed below.

   Note: You can add channels only to the customizable pages viewable in your Personal role.

3. To add more web pages as custom channels, repeat step 2 for each web page you want to add. When you are finished, exit by selecting any link on the page.

Adding custom channels

You can add your custom channels to a OneStart page through the drag-and-drop method or through the accessible method, as described below:

• Drag-and-drop method

  1. From the main page in OneStart, click Personalize, and then click Arrange channels (drag & drop).

     Note: If you receive the following message, select the tab you want to personalize from the Select a tab: drop-down menu:

     "The OneStart tab you are trying to personalize is a default tab. Default tabs in OneStart cannot be personalized."

  2. From the Select a tab: drop-down menu, select the page you want to modify.
     
     
  3. From the Choose columns: drop-down menu, choose the number of columns you want on the page.
     
     
  4. You can find custom channels in the My Custom Channels folder on the left side of the screen. To browse for a channel, click Open folders. You can also type a keyword in the "Search:" field and then click Go.
     
     
  5. To add a custom channel, click the desired channel from the list of channels on the left. This channel will be added to the page preview on the right side of the Personalize screen. To remove a channel, drag the channel from the page preview side of the Personalize screen to the trash icon.

     Note: If you chose to have more than one column, you can drag and drop the channel you selected into the column where you want it to appear. You can also drag channels into the subtabs area; channels in this area will not appear in the page frame, but will be accessible from a bar at the top of the frame.

  6. When you are finished adding custom channels, click Save, and then close the window.

• Accessible method

  1. From the main page in OneStart, click Personalize, and then click Arrange channels (ADA compliant).

     Note: If you receive the following message, select the tab you want to personalize from the Select a tab: drop-down menu:

     "The OneStart tab you are trying to personalize is a default tab. Default tabs in OneStart cannot be personalized."

  2. From the Select a tab: drop-down menu, select the page you want to modify.
     
     
  3. From the Choose columns: drop-down menu, choose the number of columns you want on the page.
     
     
  4. You can find custom channels in the My Custom Channels folder on the left side of the screen. To add channels to your page, from the list on the left, click the channel(s) you want to add. You can move channels within the columns and subtabs by using the red arrow icons; to delete a channel, select it, and then click the red X icon.
     
     
  5. When you are finished, click Save, and then close the window.

OneStart channel icons

The icons in OneStart represent options for particular channels. To refresh a channel and restore it to its initial content, click the channel title. Information about the other channel icons appears below:

Help	Opens the help page for a particular channel
New window	Opens the channel in a new browser window at 800x600 resolution
Maximize	Expands the channel to its full permitted size. The channel publisher determines the vertical dimension of the channel. The horizontal size depends on the type of column (narrow or wide) the channel resides in and the size and resolution of your display.
Minimize	Collapses the channel to just the title bar to save screen space. Leaving a channel minimized improves the portal's overall loading time.
Back to my current tab	Returns you to the tab you were on before you clicked a link on that tab
Remove channel	Allows you to remove the channel from your personalized tab without having to go through the Personalize screen. If you accidentally select this icon, in the alert box, click Cancel. You can always access any channel from the portal's Explorer without adding it to the personalized tab. Once you have removed a channel, you may add it again using the "Personalize" option.

Tabs

Tabs display related channels; the main frame of the OneStart portal presents all of the channels within a single tab. If you are a student, for example, within your Student role you will have tabs for your campus, IU libraries, email, and other student services. You can switch to another tab by clicking the appropriate tab from the row at the top of the main frame.

The tabsets you can access have been assigned automatically, based on your status as faculty, staff, and/or student, as well as on any official groups to which you belong, such as departments, schools, or organizations. You cannot personalize tabs assigned to your group roles; these pages are owned and maintained by specific academic, administrative, or student groups on the various IU campuses. However, you can customize tabs listed under your personal role.

Not all tabs in OneStart are specific to each campus. To facilitate cost savings, continuity, and content management, some OneStart tabs contain collections of services available on all IU campuses. These tabs may also contain some campus-specific services based on your IU role. However, each campus will have at least one dedicated tab for campus-specific content, with the option of adding more tabs for specific campus or role/campus combinations.

Adding a channel to a tab

To add a channel to a tab in OneStart, in the upper right corner, click the Personalize link. You can add channels only to personal tabs.

The steps for adding channels will differ, depending on your preference; follow the instructions below:

• Arrange channels (drag & drop)

  If you prefer to use the drag-and-drop option, click the Arrange channels (drag & drop) link, and then follow these steps:

  1. To navigate to the channel(s) you want to add, click the folders on the left.
     
     
  2. Click the channel(s) you want to add.
     
     
  3. To remove a channel, drag it to the trashcan icon or back to the folder tree. Arrange channels within a column by dragging them to the desired position in the column. If you have more than one column, drag the channel(s) to the desired column.
     
     
  4. When you are finished adding the channel(s), click save.

  Note: If you receive the following message, select the tab you want to personalize from the Select a tab: drop-down menu:

  "The OneStart tab you are trying to personalize is a default tab. Default tabs in OneStart cannot be personalized."

• Arrange channels (ADA compliant)

  If you prefer to use the ADA-compliant option, click the Arrange channels (ADA compliant) link, and then follow these steps:

  1. From the Select a tab: drop-down list, select the tab you want to modify.
     
     
  2. From the Choose columns: drop-down list, select the number of columns you want on your tab.
     
     
  3. Search or browse for channels on the left side of the screen.
     
     
  4. Click the channel(s) you want to add.
     
     
  5. To remove a channel, select it, and then click the red X button. If you have more than one column, use the arrows to move the channel(s) within a column or between columns.
     
     
  6. When you are finished adding the channel(s), click save.

Note: If you receive the following message, select the tab you want to personalize from the Select a tab: drop-down menu:

"The OneStart tab you are trying to personalize is a default tab. Default tabs in OneStart cannot be personalized."

Copying and customizing a group tab

In OneStart, to copy the exact content and layout of a group tab, you must first create a new Personal tab and then customize it to make it look like the desired group tab.

Creating a new Personal tab

To create a new Personal tab, follow these steps:

1. In the upper right corner of the main portal screen, click Personalize.
   
   
2. Select Manage tabs/Set your OneStart Homepage.
   
   
3. In the box next to "Add Tab:", enter the name of the new Personal tab.
   
   
4. Click save.

Customizing a Personal tab to look like the desired group tab

To customize your new Personal tab, follow the steps below:

1. From the main Personalize screen, choose Arrange channels.
   
   
2. Select the newly created Personal tab and choose the number of columns you want on the page.
   
   
3. To copy a desired group tab, from the "View:" drop-down menu, select the option All My Tabs. This will open a list of all the tabs in OneStart with the channels they contain in each column. From this list, locate the group tab you want to copy, and click all the channels under that group tab. This will add all these channels to your new Personal tab. You can rearrange the channels within or between the columns, exactly as they are placed on the group tab.
   
   
4. After you have added and rearranged all the channels, click save.

Now your newly created Personal tab is an exact copy of the desired group tab.

Setting up a tab as your OneStart home page

Your OneStart home page is the first tab you see every time you log into OneStart. Your OneStart home page can be a tab from a group role or your Personal role. To set up your OneStart home page, follow these steps:

1. In the upper right corner of the main portal screen, click Personalize.
   
   
2. Choose Manage tabs/Set your OneStart Homepage.
   
   
3. From the drop-down menu next to "My Role:", select the role you would like set as your default role.
   
   
4. From the drop-down menu next to "My OneStart Homepage:", select a tab you would like to set as your home page.
   
   
5. Click save.

The chosen page will be the first page you see when you log into OneStart.

Subtabs

Like channels, subtabs deliver services and information, and are customizable. They are found within the main frame, below the tabset. However, rather than being windows within the tab frame, subtabs are links, located at the top of the channel content section. Select any of these links to open the service in the channel content section.

The tabs under your group roles are not customizable. However, you can add custom channels and subtabs to the tabs under your Personal role. For more information, see Creating custom channels, above.

Also see:

• For OneStart, how can I get help or ask questions?
• At IU, how do I publish sections and content in OneStart?