How do I create a shortcut to Purple Mash on my device?

You can create a shortcut to Purple Mash using either your School Portal page or your Quick Login Link.

The following guide will focus on shortcut creation for the following devices:

• Windows PCs
• iPads
• Chromebooks
• Android tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab 4)
• LearnPads

For compatible devices, you may want to use the official Purple Mash image (here) to use as your Purple Mash shortcut icon.

Windows PCs

On Windows PCs, Purple Mash works on major browsers such as Google Chrome & Micrososft Edge.

The screenshots in this guide feature Google Chrome browser and Windows 10. However, regardless of which browser you are using or the version of Windows your computer is running, the steps to create a Windows shortcut are largely the same across modern versions of Windows.

1. Copy your School Portal or Quick Login URL from your Quick Login Shortcuts menu as displayed below:

   

   

2. Go to your desktop, and right click on some empty space. With the cursor, highlight New, then click on Shortcut

   

3. In the shortcut creation wizard that has just popped up, paste your School Portal or Quick Login URL and click Next

   

4. Next you can give the shortcut a name, such as Purple Mash, and then click Finish

   

5. Your shortcut has now been created. However, it will usually display the default Browser's icon like so:

   

   The above example is with Google Chrome set as the default browser.
6. To change this, first download the Purple Mash Icon file (here) Then right click the shortcut and click on Properties

   

7. Then click on Change Icon

   

8. Then click on Browse

   

9. Browse to the location you saved the Purple Mash icon file into, click on it, and then click on Open

   

10. Click on OK, then Apply, then OK again. Your shortcut is now fully set up.

iPads

The best browser for Purple Mash on iPads is the default Safari browser. Although you can use other browsers on iPads, such as Google Chrome, this guide will focus on steps to create a Safari browser shortcut on the iPad, in line with our best recommendations for Purple Mash. The screenshots in this guide are from an iPad Air 2 (Model MGLW2B/A) running iOS 12.2, however the process for other iPads and iOS versions is largely the same.

1. First open Safari Browser and navigate to your school's Purple Mash Portal Page or your school's Quick Login page.

   

2. On the Portal Page or Quick Login page, tap the Action (Share) icon, indicated by an arrow coming out of a box.

   

3. Then swipe across the available options and tap on Add to Home Screen

   

4. Type in the name of the shortcut and tap on Add

   

5. Exit Safari browser and view your home screen. Your Purple Mash shortcut has now been created

   

Chromebooks

To create a shortcut to Purple Mash on your Chromebook you will need to be logged in with your Google account. You cannot create shortcuts on guest mode.

1. First navigate to your school's Purple Mash Portal Page or your school's Quick Login page.

   

2. Click on the triple hamburger icon on the top right of the page, then move your cursor over More tools, and then click on Create shortcut...

   

3. In the shortcut creation menu that pops up, type in the name of your shortcut, for example "Purple Mash" and then click on Create. You can also optionally check the Open as window box if you would like this to launch Purple Mash in kiosk mode where the browser functionality is removed.

   

4. Your shortcut will now appear on the Chromebook Shelf alongside other shortcuts.

Android Tablets

Google Chrome is the recommended browser for accessing Purple Mash on Android tablets and the functionality of Google Chrome on Android tablets is largely the same. In this example, a Google Chrome shortcut will be created for a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.

1. If Google Chrome is not installed on the tablet by default, download Google Chrome using the Google Play Store or using an Android APK file (See Does Purple Mash work on an Amazon Fire tablet? for more information on how to use APK files).
2. Open Google Chrome and navigate to your school's Purple Mash Portal Page or your school's Quick Login page.
3. Tap the triple hamburger icon on the top right of the page, then tap Add to Home Screen.

   

4. Give the shortcut a name, such as Purple Mash, and then tap Add.

   

Your Purple Mash shortcut has now been created and will appear on your home screen.

LearnPads

Google Chrome is the best recommended browser for accessing Purple Mash on LearnPads. Overriding the default browser on the LearnPad is easy and you can do this specifically for the Purple Mash shortcut we are going to create in this guide. You will need your Class Connect login credentials to-hand so that you can access the resource manager in Class Connect. You do not have to carry out these steps on the LearnPad itself, and can simply use any computer with a browser and an internet connection.

1. Head over to Class Connect and log in. You can log in here: https://connect.learnpad.com/login/
2. On the left, under Content, click on Resources.
   (You can also Click Here for your convenience).

   

3. Over on the right, in the Actions box, click on Add New Resource.

   

4. In the dialogue box, give your resource a name and set the Type to Website. Then click on Add Resource

   

5. First change the Icon Image field to the supplied image below. (The .PNG file supplied below preserves transparency to prevent a white background on your icon).

1. To do this, simply click on Change Icon, then Upload New Icon, then Choose File, and browse for the saved image on your computer. Finally click Open and then Upload
2. The next field you need to update is the Website URL field. Click on the pen icon in this field to update this, then add your school's Purple Mash Portal Page or your school's Quick Login page to the field. After adding your URL, you will also need to quickly validate the URL by clicking once on the URL Status field until this shows Valid URL

   

3. It is strongly recommended that you add the following URLs to the Whitelist URLs field:
   static.purplemash.com
   www.purplemash.com
   http://www.purplemash.com
   www.purplemash.co.uk
   http://www.purplemash.co.uk
   http://minimash.purplemash.co.uk
4. Next you will need to override the default android browser to Google Chome. To do this, edit the Android Browser Override field and copy and paste the following link:
   
   com.android.chrome/com.google.android.apps.chrome.Main
   
5. Finally, change the Published field from No to Yes. Your main fields should match the following image, however you can update other optional settings of the resource as you wish (such as adding a description, adding tags, or adding the resource to a category).

   

6. To push the resource to the LearnPad devices, click on Add to Category and then select your target category from the drop-down menu. Then click Add Resource. Your resource has now been pushed to the LearnPad category.

Simply open the LearnPad category on your LearnPad while the device is connected to WiFi and the new resource you just created will appear shortly after it synchronises.