Migrate from SimpleSite to CommonView

If you used SimpleSite to create a Web site, follow these steps to migrate your Web site content to a Catalyst CommonView workspace.

Get Acquainted with CommonView

CommonView enables you to quickly and easily put information, files, links, and tools online for your class or project group in one location. CommonView replaces SimpleSite for creating and maintaining class or project Web sites, and it has different and richer functionality. Be sure to get familiar with CommonView, so that you can take advantage of all the features it has to offer.
View an example workspace | CommonView Help Center

Consider How to Organize Your Content

Now that you are familiar with CommonView workspaces, review the content of your existing Web site, and think about how to best arrange the material in a workspace.

CommonView organizes the workspace with views and content items. Views are analogous to pages in a Web site, and each view has a link in the left navigation area. Content items -- a block of text, a file, a link, a tool, or a calendar -- are added to the center of the page, and can appear on multiple views.

Two special views, the Catalyst Tools and Files views, provide an automatically generated list of all tools or files that you add to the workspace.

Any view or content item can be hidden from participants and then shown at another time.

Take a few minutes to plan how you will organize your content in a CommonView workspace. What views will you need to create? Class Web sites are commonly organized in two different ways: by week or by topic. Will one of these schemes work well for your materials?

While it is helpful to spend some time planning, don't overdo it -- it is also very easy to rearrange the content in a workspace!

Download Files from your Web Site

If you have files on your existing Web site that you want to move to CommonView, download them to your local computer.

Moving Files to Your Web Directory

Create a CommonView Workspace

Now you have gathered information, planned how to organize your content, and gathered files you will need. You're ready to go! Create a CommonView workspace for your class.

1. Log in to your Catalyst account.
2. On the Catalyst tools account page, roll your mouse over the graphic tools menu in the upper right corner. A menu appears as you hover over each tool icon.
3. Select the CommonView icon, and then click Create a CommonView workspace. You will move to the "Create a workspace" page.
4. Type the name of your workspace in the space provided and click Create, or click Cancel if you do not want to create a workspace. You will move to the new workspace, and can being adding your views and content.

Copy and Paste Content

Follow these steps to copy and paste content from a SimpleSite Web page into a CommonView workspace:

1. In SimpleSite, edit the content of the Web page that you want to transfer.
2. Select the content to copy, and then select Edit>Copy or use a keyboard short cut.
3. In another browser window or tab, navigate to the CommonView workspace you want to move the content to, select the view, and click Add content>Add rich text.
4. Paste the content into the text editor by selecting Edit>Paste or using a keyboard short cut.
5. Repeat steps 2 - 4 until you have moved all of the content to CommonView.

Visit the CommonView Help Center

For information on creating and managing your CommonView workspace, visit the CommonView Help Center.