You can learn more about profiles in our general description of Saga. Detailed tips on how to make Saga profiles follow below.

Making a Profile

1. Prepare profile image: See notes on profile image below. If you do not have an appropriate image ready for your profile, you can use a default campus image. However, we recommend you do not publish your profile until it has its own appropriately distinctive image.
2. Author profile copy: See notes on specific profile fields below.
3. Assign owning topic: Your profile should be owned by whatever Saga topic area should have direct control over its content. For example, a profile for a Biology faculty member should be owned by PSU > Academics & Research > College of Liberal Arts & Sciences > Biology. If you do not complete the step to assign an owning topic, your profile will be lost.
4. Relate additional topics: Associate your profile with any Saga topics it might also relate to in addition to its owning topic. For example, a profile of a community partnership jointly managed by Civil & Environmental Engineering and Urban Studies & Planning might be owned by and related to the topic PSU > Academics & Research > Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science > Civil & Environmental Engineering and also be related to the topic PSU > Academics & Research > College of Urban & Public Affairs > Toulan School of Urban Studies & Planning. Relating the profile to both topics will enable it to show up in profile windlets and browse views for both areas.
5. Publish profile: Changing the profile's status to "approved" will immediately publish it on the main Portland State website and other Saga sites that include the profiles channel. Do not publish a profile until it is ready for public consumption.

Profile Content Fields

Title

Provide a short descriptive title of who or what is being profiled that also suggests what type of profile it is. For a faculty member, "Meet Professor Firstname Lastname" makes a good title. For a community partnership, "Our Community Partner: Partner Organization Name" makes a good title. Look at existing profiles to see good examples.

Type

Choose the appropriate profile type to indicate who or what is being profiled. Currently, Saga profile types include:

• Alumnus
• Community Partnership
• Faculty Member
• Gift (eg, a donation or gift to Portland State)
• Graduate Student
• Location (eg, a Portland State building, office, statue, etc)
• Organization (eg, a Portland State department, office, organization, group, etc)
• Publication
• Research
• Resource (eg, an informational resource or service at Portland State)
• Staff Member
• Student Project
• Undergraduate Student
• Website

Image

Provide a decent picture of who or what is being profiled that looks good in the relatively small size of the Saga profiles windlet. For profiles of people, relatively tight headshot pictures work well. For other profile types, a detail picture may be the best choice. Just as with other images in Saga, you will need to crop, resize and optimize the image for website use using an image manipulation application (eg, Adobe Photoshop).

In the current standard Portland State website design, the Saga profiles windlet displays each profile image 160 pixels wide. Accordingly, you should make your profile images at least 160 pixels wide (images smaller than 160 pixels wide will be expanded and may look pixelated in the profiles windlet). If you make pictures larger than 160 pixels wide, they will be displayed full-size in the profile detail view, but will be displayed only 160 pixels wide in the standard profiles windlet. However, you should not make any Saga image too large, or it will take a long time to display for users with slow Internet connections and take up too much space in your profile detail view (the current standard Portland State design looks good with images no wider than 500 pixels, but even that is too wide for a profile image). Square images (160px by 160px) work especially well in the current standard profiles windlet design but are not required.

Synopsis

Provide a brief (one-sentence) description of who or what is being profiled to be shown in profile windlet and browse views. Ideally, the synopsis will be a compelling reason for users to want to view the full profile in detail view. Look at existing profiles to see good examples.

Body

Provide an overview of whoever or whatever you are profiling to be displayed in the profile detail view. Good profiles should be concise and compelling. Provide links to further online resources and/or contact information. You can include pictures in addition to the profile image (above), but note that the profile image will be displayed in the profile detail view.