Your academy's website

Your academy's homepage is the page visitors see at its address, built under Academy settings, then Public homepage. Everything you change goes into a draft that saves as you work, and the page visitors see changes only when you choose Publish. Owners and administrators use the builder.

Open the builder

1. In the academy workspace, open Academy settings.
2. Choose Public homepage.

The builder takes the whole window. Overview, at the left of its bar, returns to the workspace.

At 1024 pixels wide or more, the builder has three parts: a bar across the top, a panel on the left, and a live preview beside it. On a narrower screen it shows one thing at a time (see "On a phone").

The bar

The bar names the page, Public homepage, with a badge for where it stands:

• NOT PUBLISHED: nobody can see the page yet, and nobody can apply.
• UNPUBLISHED CHANGES: the draft differs from the page visitors see.
• LIVE: the page visitors see matches the draft.

Under the name, the save state reads SAVING…, SAVED with the time, UNSAVED CHANGES or NOT SAVED. Beside it are Undo and Redo, the Assistant button when your academy's staff assistant is on, Preview, which opens the draft in a new tab, and Publish. The More actions menu (⋯) holds Open the live page, Discard unpublished changes, which works only while a published page has changes, and Unpublish page…. Preview, publish and restore explains each.

Undo and Redo step back and forward through your changes, as do ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z on a Mac (Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z elsewhere). Typing in one field without a pause counts as one change. In the brand colours and the assistant's panel, the keys undo that field's own typing instead.

The panel and its three tabs

• Sections lists the page's sections in order, with Add section above them. Choosing a section opens its editor; All sections returns to the list. The lesson Homepage sections covers them.
• Design holds the template, the canvas, the fonts, corners and images, and the academy's brand colours. See Templates and design.
• Settings holds Search and sharing (the search title and description, the share image and Listed by search engines), the page's Address, its History of published versions, and Take the page down once it is live.

The builder's address follows the open tab or section, so a copied link opens it there.

The live preview

The preview beside the panel draws the page as visitors will see it, with what you have typed before it has saved.

• Desktop, Tablet and Phone above the preview set the width it is drawn at: 1280, 768 or 390 pixels. The browser remembers your choice.
• Pointing at a section outlines it; clicking it, or a link or button in it, opens it in the panel.
• Links in the page's header, menu and footer work as for visitors: a link to a section scrolls the preview there; any other opens in a new tab.
• The section open in the panel is outlined with its name, and a section holding example content is marked Example content.
• The menu at the preview's top left switches between Homepage and Programmes, the saved draft's Programmes page, from which programme and cohort pages open inside the preview.
• The moon button beside that menu, Preview in dark, draws the preview dark or light, as the page's own switch does, without changing the canvas visitors first see.

Brand colours being tried on Design show in the preview before they are saved.

On a phone

Below 1024 pixels wide, the bar shows an arrow back to Overview, the page's name, badge and save state, the assistant, Publish and ⋯, whose menu also holds Undo, Redo and Preview in a new tab. A switch under it moves between Edit, the full panel, and Preview, the page at phone width. Tapping a section in Preview opens it in Edit, as does choosing a section from the publish check or from the strip under the bar.

What a new page starts with

A new academy's draft begins on the Studio template, on a light canvas, with three sections: a Hero with an "Explore programmes" button, Programmes headed "Our programmes", and Contact headed "Contact us". The hero takes its words from your academy's name and description until you write its own, so its row reads "academy name (from your profile)".

When the draft will not save

A strip under the bar says why, and nothing typed is lost meanwhile.

• "Finish the section section to save your changes." A section has a required field empty, or uses formatting the page cannot show. Show me opens it.
• "The search title uses formatting symbols, which search results cannot show. Fix it in Settings to save your changes." Open Settings opens the tab; remove the symbols from the title or description.
• "The page needs its hero switched on before it can save." Switch the hero back on.
• "Your latest changes are not saved.", with the reason and Try again.
• "This page was changed in another tab or by someone else." Choose Load latest to take the version saved elsewhere, or Keep my version to save yours over it.

Leaving the builder by a link while a change is unsaved saves it first. If it cannot be saved, the builder asks Leave without saving?: choose Stay, or Leave without saving to lose the unsaved changes.

Your academy's homepage is a column of sections, from the hero at the top to whatever you place last. You add, edit, order and switch off sections on the Sections tab of the homepage builder, under Academy settings, then Public homepage. Each type has its own limit, so a page holds at most 18 sections.

The thirteen section types

Add a section

1. Choose Add section above the list, or Add section below in a section's ⋯ menu.
2. In Add a section, choose a kind, each shown with a small drawing and one line. A kind the page holds as many of as it may reads "Already on the page."

A section added from a section's menu goes straight after it. One added with Add section "goes before your closing sections", the calls to action and Contact, never after Contact.

Sample content and Mark as checked

A new section arrives filled in, so it saves at once. Facts only your academy knows, such as a name, a figure or a quote, are written in square brackets, like "[Full name]". Such a section, and every new Team, Outcome statistics, Testimonials or Logo cloud section, carries EXAMPLE CONTENT on its row and a tinted strip in its editor.

1. Replace every bracketed placeholder with your own words. The count beside Mark as checked, such as "9 left", falls as you go.
2. Check that every name, figure and quote is true and that everyone shown has agreed to appear.
3. Choose Mark as checked. While brackets remain it asks first: they are published as written.

A section marked as example content cannot be published. A new entry that brings placeholders, such as a team member, marks the section again; typing brackets does not.

Move, copy, hide and remove

• Move a section by dragging the handle at the start of its row, by focusing the handle and pressing the arrow keys, or with Move up and Move down in its ⋯ menu.
• Duplicate in the menu adds a copy straight after it.
• Hide a section with the switch on its row. Its line then begins "Hidden", and it keeps everything it holds.
• Remove in the menu takes it off at once, with Undo in the message that follows.

The hero stays first and cannot be moved, hidden or removed.

Layout and background

Every section has a Layout, each choice drawn as a picture of its shape, and a Background: Page, Soft, Tint, Brand colour or Contrast, each a swatch in your academy's colours. Brand colour sets the section on your brand colour; Contrast draws it in the other canvas's colours, a dark band on a light page.

Where a template fixes a section's layout, or a Photo behind hero's photo covers its background, the editor says so in place of the choice, such as "Term always opens on its docket".

The live sections

Programmes and Upcoming cohorts are read from your records each time the page opens, so a programme you publish appears without republishing. Show up to sets how many appear, up to six. Outcome statistics can hold figures counted by Alethris: you write only the label. A counted figure with nothing counted yet is left off the page.

Sections that make claims

Team, Testimonials, Logo cloud, and Outcome statistics holding a figure you state make claims of your own. Publishing a page with any of them on asks you to confirm: "The outcomes, team members, testimonials and logos on this page are accurate, and everyone shown has agreed to appear." The footer then says your academy states these and Alethris does not check them.

Words, buttons and contact details

• Words are plain text. A field that uses formatting symbols, such as asterisks or a heading mark, is refused with "uses formatting symbols, which the page cannot show."
• Buttons have Button text and Goes to: a section on the page, or A web address that must start with https://. A button whose section is off or missing is not shown.
• Contact shows what you tick under Show from your public profile. With nothing to show, visitors do not see it.

Pictures are covered in Photos and images on your homepage.

When a section is marked to fix

A section the draft cannot save shows a red 1 PROBLEM badge on its row, and its editor lists each problem, such as "Heading is missing." Until it is fixed, the draft does not save.

Photos on your academy's homepage, such as the hero's image, an About photo, team portraits, gallery photos and logos, are added in the homepage builder under Academy settings, then Public homepage. Each is chosen, cropped and prepared in the browser before it uploads. Owners and administrators can add images.

Add a photo

1. Open the section on the Sections tab and find its image field, such as Photo.
2. Select Drop an image here and choose a file, or drag a file from your computer onto the field. While a file is held over it, the field reads "Drop to use this image".
3. In the crop dialog, choose a shape and drag the frame over the part to keep (see below).
4. Choose Use this image.

The field then shows "Uploading…" with a percentage, and "Checking the file. This usually takes a few seconds." while the file is checked. Cancel upload stops it, and the field keeps what it had before. When the photo arrives, the field shows it at the shape this section draws it at, with Replace and Remove under it.

JPEG, PNG and WebP files are taken, up to 40 MB. Before it is sent, the photo is turned the right way up, cropped, made at most 2,400 pixels on its longer side and saved again, which removes the photo's location data. Visitors then receive a smaller copy that fits their screen.

Crop the image

The crop dialog shows the whole image with a frame over it, and a line such as "Keeping 1600 × 1200 pixels of 4032 × 3024." Drag the frame to move it, or drag a corner to resize it. With the frame selected, the arrow keys move it, and − and + make it smaller or larger. Each kind of image offers its own shapes:

A section's photo opens on Original, keeping the whole photo: the page fits it to each layout around the point you choose. A logo is shown whole, on a white and a dark ground, so you can check it reads on both.

Keep the right part in view

The same photo is drawn at different shapes as the template and the layout change, and on a phone. Adjust framing, under a photo, sets the point that must stay in view.

1. Choose Adjust framing.
2. Click or drag on the photo to place the marker over what matters, such as a face. With the marker selected, the arrow keys move it, further with Shift.
3. Check the shapes under How this section draws it, which follow the marker as it moves.
4. Choose Save framing, or Centre to put the marker back in the middle. Cancel leaves the framing as it was saved.

Each gallery photo shows the shapes it takes at its own place in the gallery: one in a shorter row, or the last of an odd number, is drawn wider than the rest.

Describe the image

Every photo needs Describe the image, which is "Read aloud to people who cannot see it, and shown if the image fails to load." The draft cannot save without it: the field says "Needed before the draft can save." A team member's photo is described for you as "Photo of" and their name, and the description follows the name if you change it, until you write your own. A testimonial's photo and an organisation's logo ask for no description: they are named by the person or the organisation beside them.

Use or delete an image uploaded before

Choose an uploaded image, under an image field, opens Choose an image: the images on this page under On this page, then your homepage's other uploads, newest first, under Uploaded before. Choose one to use it here. One from the page keeps its framing and, when the field has none, its description, except on a testimonial; one uploaded before needs describing. Programme covers are not offered.

An upload that your saved draft, the live version of your homepage or a programme uses shows IN USE. Any other shows Delete, and Delete image deletes it for good. If only an earlier published version used it, restoring that version leaves its place empty.

When an image is refused

• "Choose an image: a JPEG, PNG or WebP file." The file is not a picture.
• "That image is width × height pixels. This place needs at least width × height to stay sharp." Choose a larger image. A section's photo needs at least 320 × 200 pixels, a team member's photo 240 × 240, and the share image 600 × 315.
• "That file is over 40 MB. Save a smaller copy and upload that."
• "This file could not be opened as an image. Use a JPEG, PNG or WebP photo."
• "The upload failed. Try again." Nothing changed; choose the file again.
• "Preview unavailable." The image is saved but could not be shown; choose Try again.

A section that needs a photo to be published, an Image and text section with none or a Gallery with no photos, carries NEEDS A PHOTO on its row until it has one.

How your academy's site looks is set on the Design tab of the homepage builder, under Academy settings, then Public homepage. The template decides how the pages are composed, the canvas decides what visitors see first, the fonts, corners and image corners adjust the template, and the brand colours paint everything. The template, canvas, fonts and corners are part of the draft and reach visitors when you publish; the brand colours save on their own and change the whole academy at once. Each change shows in the live preview beside the panel straight away.

Choose a template

The Template group shows six templates, each drawn as a small picture of its opening in your colours, with its name and line written out. The one in use carries CURRENT.

• Studio: "Modern and clean, with quiet cards and room to breathe."
• Campus: "Warm and welcoming, opening on a full-width photograph."
• Launch: "Bold and energetic, with big headlines and figures."
• Atelier: "Image-led and editorial, with large photographs."
• Charter: "Established and credentialed, set in a serif."
• Term: "Schedule first: dates, fees and the next intake up front."

A template sets the fonts, the corners, the cards, the header and footer, the spacing, and the layout and background each section starts on. It also shapes the programme and cohort pages, which the lesson The pages the public sees describes.

Choosing another template moves only the sections still on the old template's layouts and backgrounds: "Sections you have changed keep your choices." Your words and pictures always stay. Switching back returns the sections that moved to where they were.

The canvas

Canvas is Light or Dark: "What visitors see first. They can switch, and the page remembers their choice." The switch is in the page's footer, and in the menu on a phone. A visitor sees the canvas you publish until they choose light or dark, here or anywhere else on Alethris; their own choice then wins. To look at the page in the other one without changing the canvas, use the moon button above the builder's preview.

The light canvas sets your pages on a near-white ground, the same one your learners' workspace uses. Your brand colours show in the buttons and links, the Tint and Brand colour backgrounds, and a header or footer the template draws in your primary colour. The dark canvas sets your pages on a near-black shade of your primary colour.

Fonts

The Fonts group says what the template sets, such as "Studio sets Work Sans throughout." Each choice is a card with "Aa" in its heading face and its faces named in its body face:

Template default uses the template's own pairing. A pairing that would set exactly what the template already sets is left out, such as Clean sans under Studio. Every face covers the letters of Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa names.

Corners and images

Corners changes the corners of cards, buttons and fields: Template default, Square or Rounded. Image corners squares off photographs: Template default or Square. The group's note says what the template draws, such as "Atelier draws square corners." A choice that would change nothing under the template is left out, and the group is hidden when nothing is left to choose.

Brand colours

The Brand colours group opens with a warning: "These apply to your whole academy as soon as you save them: the live page, sign-in and your learners' workspace. They are not part of this draft." They are the same two colours as on the Branding page under Academy settings.

• Primary colour covers "Buttons, links and the ground every page is derived from." Until you set one, the neutral starter palette applies.
• Accent colour covers "Eyebrows, section labels, links and small marks." Left blank, it is derived from the primary colour.

1. Pick a colour from the swatch, or type a six-digit hex value such as #0E9F6E. The template cards and the preview redraw in it, and the line beside the buttons reads "Shown in the preview only. Not saved yet."
2. To see the learner workspace in it, choose See the learner workspace in these colours ↗.
3. Choose Save colours, or Discard to go back to the saved ones.

Saving confirms with "Brand colours saved" and "Your live page, sign-in and learner workspace use them now." Every word and button is held readable against your colours: a band in the brand colour sets its words, and its buttons, in the one ink that reads on it.

Logos and the favicon are not set here. They are on the Branding page, which the Start an academy guide describes.

When a colour will not save

• "Six-digit hex, like #0E9F6E." The value is not a whole hex colour. Correct it; Save colours stays unavailable until you do.
• "Colours could not be saved" Nothing changed. Try again in a moment.

If you would rather start from a draft than a blank page, the homepage builder's assistant can write the words for you, from the page, your academy's profile, programmes and upcoming dates, and your notes. It never adds images, and example people and figures are marked for you to replace. Nothing changes until you read the draft and apply it, and applying changes the draft, not the live page.

The assistant opens from Assistant in the bar of the builder, under Academy settings, then Public homepage, in a panel beside the preview. The button appears only when your academy's staff assistant is switched on and published. If you leave the builder, the panel picks up a draft still being written or waiting for review when you come back.

Draft the whole page

1. Choose Assistant in the bar.
2. Under What it should do, choose Write a full page ("Proposes a complete page from your profile, programmes and upcoming dates.") or Improve what is there ("Rewrites your sections in place and adds only what your notes ask for.").
3. Choose a Tone: Warm, Plain, Formal or Energetic.
4. Optionally, write Notes: who the academy is for and what the page must say.
5. Tick either box if you want them:
   • "Draft example team, testimonials, figures and partners for me to edit". The assistant writes those sections with every name, figure and quote in square brackets, such as "[Lead instructor's name]", never an invented one, and they are marked as example content.
   • "Suggest a template and fonts".
6. Choose Draft the page (or Draft improvements), after checking the line beside it, which says what a draft usually costs and how many credits the academy has. The panel reads "Writing the page. Sections appear as they are drafted." Cancel stops it before writing begins; after that, the draft arrives for review.

Review the draft

The review opens with a count, such as "6 sections drafted", and the credits used. Every section is shown in full, with badges: REWRITES and the heading it replaces, NEW, EXAMPLE CONTENT, or NOT ADDED with the reason, such as "A page has one hero." Buttons show where they go; one that keeps a web address of yours reads Your own link. Untick Include on any section you do not want; the count then says how many will be applied.

How to apply it offers two ways, when your page already has sections:

• Keep my sections: "Every section stays where it is. Rewritten sections take the new words; new ones are added in place."
• Replace the page: "The page follows the draft's order. Sections it leaves out are removed unless you keep them; the hero, Contact, and sections holding your photos or claims always stay." The sections that would go are listed under NOT IN THIS DRAFT as WILL BE REMOVED; tick Keep beside any you want to keep.

Under ALSO SUGGESTED, each extra has its own Include box:

• Search listing: a title and description, with their character counts, included unless you untick it.
• Template and fonts, when you asked for them: the template, the fonts and the reason. Applying it moves the sections still on your template's layouts and backgrounds to the new one's.
• Brand colours: marked CHANGES THE LIVE ACADEMY and unticked. Ticked, they are "Saved to the academy at once: its live pages, sign-in and learner workspace change straight away, not only this draft." A suggestion of a primary colour alone says "Your accent colour stays as it is."

Choose Apply to the draft, or Discard to throw the draft away. With only the colours ticked, the button reads Change the colours and the draft is left as it is; with nothing ticked, the line under it reads "Tick what you want to apply."

One section at a time

The button with the assistant's name at the top of a section's editor offers Rewrite it, Make it shorter and, for sections of people, quotes, figures or organisations, Draft examples to edit. Draft it with and the assistant's name, under each kind in Add a section, writes a new section. Rewrite or add one section with the assistant covers both.

After you apply

The builder confirms with "Homepage draft updated" (or "Homepage draft and brand colours updated") and "Read it through before you publish." Every section stays editable. Sections marked as example content must have their bracketed words replaced and be marked as checked before the page can be published.

When the assistant does not draft or apply

• The Assistant button is missing. The staff copilot is switched off, or its profile is not published. An owner or administrator switches it on under Academy settings, then AI assistant.
• "There are not enough AI credits for a draft." The owner or a finance administrator buys AI credits under Billing; then try again.
• "Your latest edits are not saved yet." Wait for SAVED, then apply.
• "The page changed after this draft was written, so it can no longer be applied." Choose Draft again. A draft that was waiting when you came back offers Start a new draft instead, which opens the brief without spending credits.
• "Too many requests in a short time. Try again in a moment." Wait, then try again.
• "The draft did not complete. Nothing was applied." Try again, perhaps with shorter notes.

The AI in your academy guide explains credits, tasks and the staff assistant.

The homepage assistant can work on one section at a time as well as on the whole page. It rewrites a section, makes it shorter, or drafts example people, quotes, figures or organisations for you to replace, and it can write a new section of the kind you choose. Owners and administrators use it in the homepage builder, under Academy settings, then Public homepage, when the academy's staff assistant is switched on and published. Each draft uses AI credits, and nothing changes until you apply it.

Rewrite or shorten a section

1. On the Sections tab, open the section.
2. Choose the button with the assistant's name at the top of its editor.
3. Choose Rewrite it or Make it shorter. For Team, Testimonials, Outcome statistics and Logo cloud, Draft examples to edit writes example entries in square brackets for you to replace.

The foot of the menu says what a draft usually costs and how many credits the academy has, such as "Usually about 40 credits · 1,960 available". Choosing an item opens the assistant's panel beside the preview, which says what it is doing while it writes, such as "Rewriting the section section." or "Making the section section shorter."

Review and apply the section

The review, headed "section rewritten", shows the section with REWRITES and the heading it replaces, and every word it would write. Each button shows where it goes. In Outcome statistics, a figure counted by Alethris is marked KEPT, with "Counted by Alethris", and stays as it is. Example entries carry EXAMPLE CONTENT.

• Apply to the section takes the new words and keeps the section's layout, background and photos. The builder confirms with "section updated".
• Discard leaves the section as it was.

A section given example content must have its bracketed words replaced and be marked as checked before the page can be published.

Add a new section written by the assistant

1. Choose Add section above the list, or Add section below in a section's ⋯ menu.
2. In Add a section, choose Draft it with and the assistant's name under the kind you want. A line under the dialog's description says once what a draft usually costs.
3. Read the review, headed "section drafted", with NEW and every word in full. It says where the section will go, such as "It goes after “Who we are”."
4. Choose Add to the page. The section is placed there and opens for editing.

A section asked for below another goes straight after it, Contact included, as one you add with sample content does. One drafted from Add section goes before your closing sections, the calls to action and Contact, and the review says so, such as "It goes before “Contact us”." A new Team, Testimonials, Outcome statistics or Logo cloud section is always drafted with examples, because nothing real has been given yet. The assistant never adds pictures, so the review of a new Image and text or Gallery section says "Add its photo after applying." or "Add its photos after applying."

When the button is held back

The section's button does not open its menu while a draft is being written or reviewed, or while something stops the page saving. It says why in its tip when you point at it or reach it with the keyboard, and in a line beside it on a phone:

• "Finish or discard the draft open beside the page first." Only one draft is reviewed at a time. Apply or discard the one in the panel.
• "There are not enough AI credits for a draft." The owner or a finance administrator buys AI credits under Billing.
• "Finish the section section to save your changes." Fix what that section lists, then try again.

If you change the page while a section's draft waits, the review says "The page changed after this draft was written, so it can no longer be applied." Choose Draft again to ask afresh, or Start a new draft for a draft that was waiting when you came back to the builder.

If you build your academy's homepage, you check the draft with Preview, put it live with Publish, and go back to any earlier version from History. All three are in the homepage builder, under Academy settings, then Public homepage. Publishing is what opens your academy: until the homepage is published, its address shows a holding page and nobody can apply.

Preview the draft

The live preview beside the builder's panel shows the homepage as you edit it. Preview, in the bar, opens the draft in a tab of its own, as a visitor would browse it.

1. Choose Preview. Anything you have typed is saved first.
2. Read the draft in the new tab. A bar across the top reads DRAFT PREVIEW and "This is the draft, not the live page. The programmes and cohorts in it are the real ones."
3. Choose CLOSE PREVIEW to close the tab and return to the builder.

Links inside the preview stay in it, through the Programmes page and into programme, cohort and application pages, in the draft's template and colours. An application form there is drawn as a visitor would see it, "but nothing can be sent from here." They open before the homepage is first published too.

While you are trying brand colours on the Design tab, the preview uses them and says so: "This is the draft, with the brand colours being tried in the builder, not yet saved." Preview is unavailable while a section has a problem to fix.

Publish the homepage

1. Choose Publish in the bar.
2. Read the dialog, headed Publish your homepage the first time and Publish your changes after that. It checks the page and lists anything still to do, each with a button that takes you there:
   • "section has example content to check", with Review;
   • "section needs a photo", with Add a photo, for an Image and text section without its photo or a Gallery with no photos;
   • "section has something to fix", with Fix;
   • "The search title uses formatting symbols, which search results cannot show.", with Open Settings (or the same for the search description);
   • "Your profile needs a description and a contact email.", with Profile.
3. If the page includes Team, Testimonials, Logo cloud, or a figure you state under Outcome statistics, tick "The outcomes, team members, testimonials and logos on this page are accurate, and everyone shown has agreed to appear."
4. When the list reads "Every section is ready." and your profile is ready, choose Publish.

Your latest edits are saved first, then the draft goes live and the badge in the bar reads LIVE. The first publication opens your academy: its programme pages, cohort pages and application links work, and Homepage published is ticked on the set-up checklist. Publish is unavailable while the live page already matches the draft. A switched-off section never stops publishing.

Restore an earlier version

History, on the Settings tab, lists every published version, newest first: its number, the hero's headline, the date, its template and who published it. The live version is marked LIVE. Show older reads further back.

1. Choose Restore beside the version you want.
2. Read the dialog: the draft is replaced by this version, and visitors see no change until you publish. Any image deleted since then is left out, its place empty.
3. Choose Restore this version, check the draft, and publish when you are ready.

To throw away draft changes you no longer want, choose Discard unpublished changes in the bar's More actions menu (⋯), then Discard changes. "The draft goes back to the page visitors see now. You can undo this until you leave the builder." It works only while a published page has changes.

Take the page down

1. Choose Unpublish page… under Take the page down on the Settings tab, or in the More actions menu.
2. Read the dialog, headed Take the page down?: "Visitors are told the academy has not published its page yet, and nobody can apply from it until you publish again. Your draft and history are kept."
3. Choose Unpublish page, or Keep it live to leave it as it is.

While the page is down, the badge reads NOT PUBLISHED, Homepage published is unticked and the set-up checklist returns to the Overview.

When it does not work

• "Your session needs refreshing before the preview can be built." Go back to the builder, then open the preview again.
• "The preview could not be built. The draft itself is safe — try again from the builder." Try again in a moment.
• "This page was changed in another tab or by someone else." Close the dialog, choose which version to keep in the strip under the bar, then publish.
• "The page could not be published. Try again." Nothing changed on the live page.
• "Your latest changes could not be saved first. Try again." Your edits are saved before publishing or previewing, and that save failed. Check the strip under the bar.
• "Allow pop-ups for this site and try again." The browser blocked the preview's tab.
• Publish is unavailable in the dialog. Choose the button beside what is listed, and finish it.

Every academy has a permanent address on Alethris, chosen when it was created, such as meridian-studio.alethris.com. On the Growth, Scale and Enterprise plans you can also connect a domain of your own, such as courses.your-domain.com, and once it is verified it becomes the address visitors see. If you are an owner or an administrator, you manage both under Academy settings, then Domains.

Your Alethris address

The Domains page lists your Alethris address first, marked Live. Its description reads "Your permanent Alethris address. It cannot be removed, and it always opens your academy." Your public pages, your sign-in and both workspaces live there until you connect a domain of your own, and it keeps working afterwards.

Exactly one address is the Main address: the one your academy's links and search listings use. "One address is the main address, and the others send visitors to it." While you have no domain of your own, the Alethris address is the main address.

Which plans include a domain of your own

The Plan entitlement card beside the list says whether you can connect one: "Growth, Scale and Enterprise include a verified custom domain with managed HTTPS. Starter uses the Alethris address only." It names the plan you are on. On Starter, Connect domain is unavailable; if you can change the plan, Compare plans on the same card opens the plans under Billing. An academy connects one domain of its own at a time.

Connect a domain

1. Choose Connect domain.
2. In the dialog Connect a domain, enter the Hostname: "A subdomain you control, like courses.your-domain.com. Apex domains cannot be connected — use www." A bare domain such as your-domain.com is not accepted, so use www.your-domain.com or another subdomain.
3. Choose Connect domain. Alethris sets up routing and a security certificate, and the records to add appear on the card in a moment.
4. The domain's card lists the DNS records to add in a table with Type, Name, Value and Last check. Copy each name and value with the button beside it, and add every record where your domain's DNS is managed. If your DNS provider adds your domain to the end of a name, enter only the part before your domain. The TXT record marked Ownership carries a value issued to your academy alone and proves that your academy controls the domain; the domain cannot go live without it. If the domain's DNS is on Cloudflare, the CNAME record can be proxied or DNS only.
5. Leave the page open. Alethris checks the records every few minutes and the page updates on its own, or choose Verify now on the card to check at once.

What happens next

While a check runs, the card reads Checking. Afterwards, Last check marks each record Found or Not found yet, so you can see which one is still missing. A new record can take up to an hour to be found. While a domain is being set up, its card shows its stage, such as Setting up, Waiting for DNS (amber, waiting on you) or Securing (blue, the records are in place and Alethris is issuing the certificate).

When the domain is verified and its certificate is issued, it reads Live and becomes the main address. A page opened at your Alethris address then opens on your domain, where anyone signed in signs in once more. Until then, the domain does not open your academy: "Only a verified domain opens your academy". A live address on the card opens your academy in a new tab. Lesson videos play there from the moment it is live.

Disable a domain

1. Choose Disable on the domain's card.
2. Read the dialog: "The domain stops opening your academy. Your academy stays online", and your Alethris address becomes the main address again.
3. Choose Disable domain.
4. Once the card reads Off, remove the domain's DNS records where it is registered.

Connecting the same domain later "starts its checks from the beginning", and needs the records again, including a new OWNERSHIP value.

If you move down to Starter

The card If you downgrade to Starter sets out what happens: "Your custom domain keeps working for 14 days and we will warn you. Then your Alethris address takes over before the domain is turned off, so your academy never goes offline. Moving back to a plan with custom domains cancels the deadline." During those 14 days the domain's card gives the date it stops.

When a domain does not work

• "The current plan does not include custom domains" The owner or a finance administrator moves the academy to Growth, Scale or Enterprise under Billing; then connect the domain.
• "The custom domain is unavailable" The hostname is already connected somewhere else. Release it there first, or choose another.
• "Enter a valid custom subdomain" The hostname is not a subdomain you can connect. Check it.
• A failed domain without Verify now. A domain marked Failed reads "The academy owner checks a failed domain again." Only the owner sees Verify now on it.
• "The domain stopped answering. Its DNS records may have been removed." The domain is marked Unreliable and keeps serving your academy meanwhile. Check the records at your registrar, then choose Check again. If it goes on failing, your academy moves back to its Alethris address.
• "The DNS records were not found in time. Connect the domain again." Disable it and connect it afresh.

If you run an academy, its website is more than the homepage. Once the homepage is published, visitors can open a Programmes page, a page for each programme and cohort, and the pages where they apply or enrol, built from your programmes and cohorts in your template and colours.

Before the homepage is published

Until the homepage is published, the address and every programme, cohort and application link show a holding page with your academy's name and "This academy has not published its page yet." Invitations and signing in still work.

Around every page

• The header shows your logo, or your academy's name where there is none. It links to the Programmes, Cohorts, About and Contact sections that have something to show, and offers Sign in, Open the console for staff, or My learning for a learner. Its button says what it does: Apply now or Enrol now when a cohort is open, Apply or enrol when open cohorts take both, otherwise See programmes or See dates. On a phone, a programme or cohort page keeps its button in the menu and in a bar at the foot instead.
• The footer repeats your logo, description and social accounts, lists the sections under Explore, offers Verify a credential, gives your contact details and holds the Light and Dark switch. If the homepage makes claims of its own, it says that your academy states them and Alethris does not check them.

The Programmes page

The Programmes page lists your public programmes, newest first, 24 to a page, with More programmes to read on. Each card opens the programme's page.

A programme's page

A programme's page, or course page, opens on a masthead: the trail back to Programmes, the programme's format, its title and the opening of its summary, then a row of facts with icons (the next start, the length, how it is delivered and the level), one main button, and the programme's cover image, or a picture in your template's pattern with the programme's initials where there is none.

Where the fee sits depends on the template: in a card over the cover's lower edge (Studio, Campus and Launch), on one line beside the button (Atelier), in a ruled register under the cover (Charter), or in a ruled docket of figures across the foot (Term).

Below come what it asks of you, "Is this for you", the outcomes, the syllabus (folded after six modules), what you hand in, what counts as complete, When it runs and How you get in.

• Apply for this programme or Enrol on this programme starts the way in, in the open date's own words when only one date is open. When every open date is full, it reads Apply for the waiting list. A reader who has already applied or holds a place is offered that instead, such as See your application, and is no longer shown a date to apply by.
• When no date is open, the page says so plainly: "Applications open" with the date and See the dates when one is announced, or "No dates open right now" with Ask the academy.
• On a phone, once the main button scrolls away, a bar at the foot keeps the fee, the next closing date and a button such as Apply now in reach.

Dates and their states

Under When it runs, and wherever cohorts are listed, each date carries its state and the line a reader acts on, in the cohort's own timezone, with the year when it is not this year's:

A cohort that takes direct enrolment says "Enrol by" and Enrol. A cohort already being taught, or finished, is left out of the dates a reader can choose.

A cohort's page

A cohort's page opens the same way, titled with the cohort, then sets out its calendar, its sessions, "The people teaching it", what it covers and Other dates, the programme's cohorts that have not started yet. A full cohort that still takes applications offers Apply for the waiting list. A cohort that cannot be joined says why, such as "This cohort is being taught now", and points to an open date or the programme. Only scheduled and running cohorts have a page.

Applying and enrolling

The way in leads to the page to apply or enrol, where someone signed out is asked to "Create an account or sign in to apply", or to enrol. The Apply and enrol guide follows a learner through it.

What visibility changes

A programme's Who can find it, set by an owner or administrator, decides where it appears:

Search engines list nothing at your address while Listed by search engines is off in the homepage builder.