The form is divided into five sections:

1. Basic Course Information
   • Course Name: The course name describes the mallard course e.g. Advanced Particle Physics. It appears in two places, to the right of the Mallard logo at the top of the page, and in the browser's window frame as the title of the document.
   • Course ID/Alias: Each Mallard course is distinguished by a course alias at the end of the Mallard's server URL. Consider the following URL: https://mallard.cen.uiuc.edu/PHYS351/. It specifies a Mallard course with an alias of PHYS351. An alias must begin with a letter. However, the remainder may consist of letters, numbers, and the underscore character.
   • Authentication Method: Mallard is compatible with two authentication methods: Bluestem, and pwf. Bluestem is a cgi based Kerberos authentication system written by Ed Kubaitis. Information about Bluestem can be found at http://ejk.cso.uiuc.edu/ejk/bluestem/. The pwf authentication method, was written by the Mallard development team, and is always available to every Mallard course. A Mallard server can have courses using both authentication methods at the same time, but a singel course can not use both authentication methods at the same time.
2. Course Personnel Information Course Director: The four entries Course Director Name, User ID, Email Address, and Web Page, give you the opportunity to add a user with Course Director Access to your course. This users is automatically listed under the course's Mail Staff link. Course Instructor: The four entries Course Instructor Name, User ID, Email Address, and Web Page, give you the opportunity to add a user with Course Instructor Access to your course. This users is automatically listed under the course's Mail Staff link. Other admins: This is a scrolling list box of all the Mallard Administrators on you system. You must select at least one to have access to the new course.
3. Mallard Homepage Link Parameters The second row of links on the Mallard home page is completely configurable. You can change the icons, link text, and target of the links. Traditionally the left link is used for course information, such as a syllabus. The right link is typically used for a conferencing tool, such as an Internet news group, or a web based conferencing program. Feel free to use them any way you want. If no URL is specified for a link, the link will point to a generic place holder page. All link icons are 40 pixels by 40 pixels. Because the newsgroup icon appears in the left menu bar, this icon must have a grayscale counterpart called _grey.gif.