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Web Communication Web Communication Team Update

Web Communication Team Update

Good afternoon. I wanted to provide an update on some of the progress being made on the central web communication team. 

First, late last week we posted for a Senior Word Press Developer. This important position will be responsible for full-stack WordPress development at WSU. It closes on December 2. I encourage all of you to share with your networks, as appropriate.

Second, we are kicking off a project later this month that will be of interest to all content managers, designers and developers across WSU. This project will expand the default spine template offerings available on the WSU WordPress platform. This effort will be led by Clint Young, Eric Limburg, Jason Bittle and Danial Blaile. 

As always, please remember to visit us at open lab every Friday morning or our service desk portal if you have any questions or want to learn more.

Nov. 9 – web open lab: Qualtrics

UPDATE: Room change to ITB 2071

We will be covering the following some beginner level Qualtrics topics:

  • Login
  • Question type basics
    • Descriptive Text
    • Graphic
    • Multiple Choice
    • Text Entry
  • Add Display Logic
  • Add Skip Logic
  • Look & Feel
  • Survey Options

Feel free to bring any Qualtrics questions to discuss before or after topic discussion.

Come join us at 9:30 a.m. on Friday in ITB 2071.

or

Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/958936893

You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (408) 650-3123

Access Code: 958-936-893

Oct. 19 – web open lab

We have guest host Lesa McPeak from CAHNRS for open lab this week!

She will be covering the following web accessibility topics:

  • Images & alternative text
  • Headings & content structure
  • Link text and links to documents
  • Text styling & color
  • Search engine optimization
  • Accessibility Testing

Come join us at 9:30 a.m. on Friday in ITB 2025.

New format for open labs

We have seen great success in our open labs each week (minus holidays) for over 4 years. Any student, faculty, or staff in Pullman on a Friday morning has been able to come in and ask questions on all things web to help further their efforts. We want to make open labs even better!

Starting this Friday, open labs will be taking on the following format:

  1. ~30 minutes for quick questions
  2. ~30 minutes on web topics
  3. ~30 minutes for questions on the web topic for that week or other general questions

One of the main reasons we want to modify the format is to help broaden the WSU web community and to open it up to even more people. We will be posting topics in advance, and we encourage you to share with potential interested colleagues across the university.

Here are the next 3 open lab topics:

  • October 12 – Dive into menus in WordPress
  • October 19 – TBD web accessibility topic
  • October 26 – Media library & document revisions in WordPress

In an effort to make open labs even better, we will be soliciting topic suggestions in the near future as well as finding a way to connect with other campuses. No matter what the weekly topic is, please come whenever you have a question and would like some one-on-one support.

Web Communication Team Update

Thanks again for all of your continued support during this time of transition for WSU’s central web team. As we rebuild the web communication unit, Clint Young will serve in an interim capacity as WSU’s web director.

In addition, Danial Blaile from CAHNRS will provide WordPress development support on an interim basis. For the next three months, he will lend his skills and expertise halftime to assist the central team in platform maintenance and addressing critical needs.

I would also like to thank Phil Cable for his contributions to the web team over the past few years. We wish him continued success and all the best in his future endeavors.

As always, if you encounter any issues, have questions, or want to learn something new, please visit us at open lab every Friday morning or visit our service desk portal.

Web Accessibility Update

If you have already taken the online web accessibility training:

  1. Thank you for taking the training and making web accessibility a priority here at Washington State University.
  2. You should have received a certificate via email on September 17, 2018 as an appreciation of completion.

Anyone who takes the training and passes (with 70%+) in the future will receive their certificate via email immediately after completion.

Please stay tuned as we schedule future web accessibility workshops.

Intro to WordPress – September 2018 Edition (Tomorrow)

This will be a general introduction training. Whether you are new to WordPress here at WSU or just need a refresher, everyone is welcome to attend.

WHEN: Tuesday, September 11 @ 8:30 am – 10:00 am

If you are on the Pullman campus – WHERE: ITB 2025 Please come in person.

If you are not on the Pullman campus –

Please join this meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

You can also dial in using your phone. United States: +1 (571) 317-3122

Access Code: 442-191-821

Out of the office

There will be multiple team members either on vacation or out of the office September 4 – 6, 2018. Open Lab will continue as scheduled on September 7, 2018.

If you need any urgent items addressed, feel free to contact Holly Sitzmann (holly.sitzmann@wsu.edu).

Web Communication Update

Good afternoon. As many of you know, WSU’s Web Communication team is currently undergoing some changes. With the departure of Jeremy Felt and Stephen Locker, as well as the reassignment of Clint Young, we currently have little capacity to focus on new web features and site builds. Instead, our team will primarily be focusing on maintenance of current systems right now.

As with any transition, there will be some hiccups and pain points. We hope to keep those to a minimum. If you encounter any issues, have questions or want to learn something new, please visit us at open lab every Friday morning or fill out our contact form. 

University Marketing and Communications remains deeply committed to maintaining a strong web presence. Updates regarding the Web Communication team will be posted here.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Events site update

The WSU Events site was recently overhauled to provide an improved experience for visitors and users alike. Feedback is welcome and appreciated as the site continues to be developed!

New design

The most obvious change is an updated design. All events for the given day are displayed in the home page header, a search field and filters for viewing events by type or campus are provided below that, and a curated set of events is featured in the body.

All other pages include the given day’s events in the footer, and the entire site has a persistent footer with a calendar for quickly viewing which days have events, “Submit an Event” and “Contact Us” buttons, and a mark that links back to the home page.

Event entry

The new event submission form was designed to be more intuitive and easier to use. Built using WP Event Calendar as a base, some additional fields were added for capturing further details visitors might expect to see.

The venue and organizer entry processes in the previous system led to the creation of multiple duplicates, so the new system offers a simpler interface for both.

  • For venues, there is now a list of buildings to select from, and a “Notes” field for entering more specific details (like a room number, for example).
    • If you don’t see your building listed, or notice that the name of a building isn’t quite correct, please don’t hesitate to contact us about it!
  • For organizer information, there are fields for entering a “Name”, “Email”, and “Phone Number”.

A completely new set of fields is available for creating a call to action link. These are optional and can be used for purposes like linking to a registration or RSVP form.

Users of the previous site might notice that “Tags” and “Categories” have been dropped in favor of “Types”. The “University Organization” taxonomy has been updated, too, and between these two changes, a majority of use cases for “Tags” and “Categories” from the old system are accounted for.

Event feeds

As with the previous site, the new site serves as a system-wide calendar and offers API endpoints that can be used for displaying specific subsets of events on any site.

For sites on the WSUWP Platform, the WSUWP Content Syndicate Events plugin is still the easiest way to display a feed of events. Support for the “Type” taxonomy has been added, and the documentation will be updated to include instructions on how to pull a feed by “Type” soon!