While all exhibits use the same custom visual styling, vetted by CUL-IT for accessibility, curators may be able to request a custom visual theme for their exhibit. Visual themes allow exhibits to differ in color, font, spacing, and etc. Behind the scenes, CUL-IT creates a custom Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) per custom theme, so themes allow exhibits to differ in any way that can be adjusted with CSS only (and still meet WCAG guidelines).
If you have feedback on the default theme applied to all exhibits, e.g. using alternative fonts, background colors, layout, image viewer functionality, or etc, please reach out to CUL-IT at help-exhibits-library@cornell.edu, as your suggestion may be able to help all exhibits, rather than be constrained to a single custom theme.
Example
Example Theme (available for all exhibits):
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Admin users can test out how themes work by selecting the "Example" theme in their Configuration > Appearance tab of their Exhibit Dashboard (see below: Applying or Removing a Custom Theme).
The Example theme helps demonstrate how themes can style your exhibit:
- In general: themes allow exhibits to customize their fonts, font color, background color, spacing between elements, etc.
- Applying style to any given element will apply that same style to that element on all pages in your exhibit:
- For example, the custom page title styling applied with the Example theme exists on all page titles, including page titles in your Exhibit Dashboard!
- The custom border and background on the text widget display will apply to every text widget on all editable exhibit pages (e.g. Home, Curated Feature, About).
Custom Theme for Dr. Joyce Brothers exhibit:
Default Theme | Custom Theme |
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Requesting a Custom Theme
Because custom themes are created by CUL-IT, in collaboration with exhibit curators, sufficient advance notice must be provided to coordinate developer support. If you are considering a custom theme, we recommend indicating this when filling out the CUL Online Exhibition Request Form. If your exhibit request has already been approved, please reach out to help-exhibits-library@cornell.edu as soon as possible to determine if your exhibit is a good fit for custom theming.
Custom themes are contingent on exhibit acceptance by the CUL Online Exhibitions Committee as well as developer availability and approval.
While curators are responsible for any custom theme choices (e.g. color hex codes, fonts, and any background graphics), as well as all content and layout in their exhibit, design consultation with Carla DeMello, Visual Design Specialist in Library Communications, may be available — if interested, please reach out to Carla at cd58@cornell.edu to find out availability. Reminder that curators are also ultimately responsible for ensuring their exhibits are accessible (see: Accessibility):
Any images added as background graphics will need to be approved by copyright first.
Applying or Removing a Custom Theme
If a custom theme has been made available to your exhibit, exhibit admins can enable or disable the custom theme from their Exhibit Dashboard > Configuration: Appearance > Visual Theme:
