Adding a Banner to Your Course

Banners and course cards can be a great way to personalize or add flair to your Blackboard course. They can also help you and your students easily differentiate one course from another. The same image is used as both your course card and your course banner, which creates a visual brand for your course.

To set a banner, you need to have an image prepared in advance.


Banners in Original Course View

Banners are displayed at the top of the Course Entry Point. Banners should be no larger than 1000 pixels wide, by 150 pixels tall and should be uploaded as a .gif or .jpg file. Banners larger than 1000x150 pixels take up too much space at the top of a page.

example of a Blackboard course banner

To Add a Banner

  1. Go to the Control Panel and click Customization, then select Teaching Style
  2. In the adjacent window, scroll down to Select Banner
  3. Click the Browse My Computer button and select the banner image that is stored on the computer, then click Open
  4. Click Submit

screenshot of the banner upload screen

When you update your course banner, the course card on the Courses page is also automatically updated.

You may find the following resources useful for creating your own banner:

Banners in Ultra Course View

Status: Available

Banners are displayed at the top of the Content page of your course. Banners should be at least 1200 pixels wide, by 240 pixels tall and should be uploaded as a .png or .jpg file. To ensure your image is as crisp as possible, we recommend using an image that is larger than the minimum, with 4800 x 960 pixels as an ideal size. 

course banner in the ultra course view

To Add a Banner

  1. From the Details & Actions pane, click the Edit display settings link under Course Image
  2. Click the Upload new image button 
  3. Click and drag the brighter box to reposition your image and use the slider to adjust the zoom
  4. Click the Done button to save your edits
  5. Click the slider above the image to enable it as your course image (i.e., the course banner)
  6. Under Display, if your image contains content that needs to be described via a screen reader, remove the check from the Mark as decorative box and enter text in the Image description field
  7. Click the Save button

once you have uploaded your image, click the toggle in the upper right corner to enable as the course banner

When you update your course banner, the course card on the Courses page is also automatically updated.

Because the image file size requirement is so large, it may be difficult to find an image that will work for you. We recommend taking an image yourself (smartphone size and resolution works well), or you can use royalty-free photography sites like Pixabay to find an image. Also, because the banner and course card are automatically cropped based on screen size, you should keep the focus of the banner toward the center of the image. The sizes of the image will be cropped as the screen size changes.

Learn More

Quick Guides

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I attach a banner to my Blackboard course?Updated

To upload a banner into a Blackboard course, you need to have a properly-sized banner created. For Original Course View, banners should be no larger than 1000 x 150 pixels. For Ultra Course View, banners must be at least 1200 x 240 pixals; we recommend 4800 x 960 to ensure your image is crisp as the screen is resized. Banners must be created and sized outside Blackboard and should be uploaded as a .png or .jpg file.

To add a banner in Original Course View:

  1. Go to the Control Panel and click Customization, then select Teaching Style
  2. In the adjacent window, scroll down to Section No. 7, Select Banner
  3. Click the Browse My Computer button and select the banner image that is stored on the computer
  4. Click Submit

To add a banner in Ultra Course View:

  1. Click the Edit display settings link under the Course Image heading in the Details & Actions panel
  2. Click the Upload new image button
  3. Find and select your image
  4. Drag the image and the zoom sliders to select the view you would like to be visible
  5. Click the slider in the upper right to enable the image as your course banner (otherwise, it will only be used as the course card image on the Courses page)
  6. If there is important content in your image, add text to the Image description field
  7. Click the Save button

 

What file format(s) will Blackboard accept for a course banner image?Updated

Blackboard will accept a variety web-friendly image formats. It is recommended to use banner image files in either .jpg or .png format. For Original Course View, we recommend 1000 x 150 pixels, and for Ultra Course View we recommend 4800 x 960 pixels (1200 x 240 pixels is the minimum). 


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Technical Support and Student Help

Division of IT Service Desk

815-753-8100
servicedesk@niu.edu

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Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning

815-753-0595
citl@niu.edu

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