Welcome

It is said that the only certainty is that things will “change” and we believe that this is a change for the better. The My.SUN Menu offers one of the primary benefits of a portal: you only need to go to one place to find your link. We wanted to make your experience faster and at the same time easier — give it a go for a few weeks and let us know if we succeeded!

We will be systematically integrating the My.SUN Menu with more of your frequently used applications so that you can easily jump between various functionality without having to “go back to the portal” first. The Menu was built from the ground up to integrate with any web site or application and it is easy to add it to your own site.

This guide will give you the necessary information to use the My.SUN Menu to its fullest. Enjoy!

 

Getting Help

IT Service Desk

Your first port of call for help is to contact the IT Service Desk. They will be able to assist you with using the Menu and follow up on reported content and functionality problems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This section will give answers to questions you might have and is an easy reference for tips on how to use the My.SUN Menu. If you think we are missing a question here, or you have a different question, please get in touch by visiting the Getting Help section.

Q1:  What is a Persona?

In the context of the My.SUN Menu, a Persona is a high-level grouping of users that may have different functionality requirements. A user is not designated to a specific Persona, this is a decision that the user can make depending on which grouping of functionality they use the most or feel comfortable with. Although switching between the various Personas are quick and easy, we encourage you to use the Filter functionality when you are trying to find a specific link.

Q2:  How do I close the Menu when it is open? It obscures the page I want to use.

Click/Tap on the selected Persona again (e.g. Staff, Undergraduate, Postgraduate) — this will close the menu.

Q3:  How do I change the language of the Menu?

Open the menu by clicking on your selected persona, and then click on the text in the top right corner either showing as “en” or “af” to switch between English and Afrikaans

Heads up! This does not necessarily change the language of the web page you are using.

Q4:  The Menu is very large, it doesn’t fit on my screen! How do I make it smaller?

Use the “zoom” functionality. This can be accessed via the browser’s menu, or by pressing the Ctrl and + button together to zoom in, or pressing the Ctrl and – button together to zoom out. Holding Ctrl and scrolling the mouse wheel up and down will also work. The browser remembers your setting, so it will show correctly the next time you visit the page. This issue is known to be present on the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox due to default large font settings.

Q5:  They tell me the link “YYY” is in category “XXX”, but I can't find it! How do I get to it?

Option 1: At the bottom of the Menu there are colour-coded blocks indicating how many link “pages” are available for the selected category. Your link might be on the next page. Click on the bottom-right or bottom-left arrows to move between pages. If there are no arrows at the bottom then there is only one page for the selected category.

Or,

Option 2: If you know the name of the link (e.g. “YYY”), use the “Filter” functionality. Start typing in the “filter” box; as you type, the list of possible links will appear. This filtered list will show links from all Personas (e.g. Staff, Undergraduate, Postgraduate) — you can thus use the filter functionality to find a link in any Persona.

Q6:  I used the “Filter” functionality and now it shows “Filter Results”, but how do I go back to the full list of links and categories?

The easiest is to use the “Delete” or “Backspace” button to remove the text you typed. If the filter box is empty the full list of links and categories appear. Alternatively, click/tap on one of the other Personas at the top and then back to your Persona — this will also clear the filter box.

Q7:  How do I get rid of the “Your browser is not supported” message?

Although we partially support Internet Explorer (IE) version 8 and 9, unfortunately on some pages these browsers simply react in a way that we cannot support. In these cases (called “Quirks Mode” in Internet Explorer), we disable the My.SUN Menu.

We highly recommend that you upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer. If this is not possible — if for instance you need to use a particular version with an application — we recommend that you use Internet Explorer only for those applications and start using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox as your primary web browser. You can easily download and install either one from the Upgrade section.

Q8:  What browsers do you officially support?

We always support the latest versions of the following browsers:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Mozilla Firefox (Desktop)
  • Google Chrome (Desktop)
  • Apple Safari (Desktop)

There are a few edge cases where we have decided to support other browsers on a best effort basis:

  • Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 (See FAQ about Internet Explorer support)
  • Tablet browsers that are HTML5 compliant (e.g. iPad, Android, Windows 8)

Become a My.SUN Ninja!

Everyone wants to be a ninja! They are quick, agile and wear awesome outfits. Our design goal was to make the Menu fast so that you can get to your applications without jumping through hoops. You can be a My.SUN Ninja by using these tips to whizz through the Menu and get to your next web link. (black outfit optional!)

Ninja Skill #1:  Use the “filter” function

The fastest way to get to your favourite link is to start typing the application's name in the “Filter” box. The My.SUN Menu filter is lightning fast and begs the question: Can you type faster than the Menu can filter to show your link?

Ninja Skill #2:  Get to know your Persona

Browse through the categories and check out what links are available. You might find a faster shortcut to the application you often use or a new functionality that you did not know existed. Every ninja knows that knowledge of the battlefield is the key to a swift victory.

Ninja Skill #3:  Contribute!

A true ninja knows that if you choose the battlefield, the fight is half-won. So help us make the My.SUN Menu better by suggesting better names, better categorization, more links, improvements and new features — anything that you feel will make the Menu more awesome!

Report a problem

Are you experiencing a technical problem with the Menu? It works on someone else's computer, but not on yours? It works intermittently or doesn't work on a specific application? Do you have a few suggestions to make it better?

You can send your problem/suggestion to the IT Service Desk with the details mentioned above. Please include the following information with your detailed report:

  • What is the URL/Link in your browser? (The Menu can be on any application — so this piece of information is vital)
  • Which browser are you using? What version? (e.g. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox)
  • Please include a screenshot if possible.

Upgrade your browser

The time has come. You know it is the right thing to do. So come on, take the plunge!

You deserve to have a better and faster experience when using the Web and it is only a download away. The latest versions of the popular browsers not only gives you an awesome browsing experience, but also protects you from Internet nasties. You can use any of the following browsers. If you do not feel comfortable doing this upgrade yourself, please contact the IT Service Desk and they will gladly schedule time with you to perform the installation.

Internet Explorer

Operating System Download Instruction
Windows XP   Upgrade to either Firefox or Chrome below.
Windows Vista   Upgrade to either Firefox or Chrome below.
Windows 7 Download Internet Explorer 11 from our support site (no Inetkey needed):
  Internet Explorer 32-bit
  Internet Explorer 64-bit

  Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows?

Google Chrome

Operating System Download Instruction
Windows 8/7/Vista/XP Download Chrome from our support site (no Inetkey needed — could be outdated):
  Google Chrome 32 (All Users)

Download Latest Chrome from Google's Site: (Inetkey required):
  Google Chrome for Windows (All Users)
Mac OS X 10.6 or later Download Latest Chrome from Google's Site: (Inetkey required)
  Google Chrome for Mac
Linux Download Latest Chrome from Google's Site: (Inetkey required)
  Google Chrome for Linux

Mozilla Firefox

Operating System Download Instruction
Windows 8/7/Vista/XP Download Firefox from our support site (no Inetkey needed — could be outdated):
  Mozilla Firefox 26 for Windows

Download Firefox from Mozilla's Site: (Inetkey required):
  Mozilla Firefox for Windows
Mac OS X Download Latest Firefox from Mozilla's Site: (Inetkey required)
  Mozilla Firefox for Mac
Linux Download Latest Firefox from Mozilla's Site: (Inetkey required)
  Mozilla Firefox for Linux