Most of the major broken link issues have been cleared up, and I thank you for your help. To that end, we are making a change to the Broken Link Checker plugin to help with some speed issues on the site. Up until now, Broken Link Checker has automatically checked your site for broken links. This slows down the site a bit, and also spams you with frequent notices about your broken links. We have changed the default the settings so that it no longer checks links automatically. You can now run your report of broken links on demand as you have time. We recommend a monthly check of broken links moving forward. Click here to view the tutorial on checking broken links. … [Read more...]
Making the UMW Web Site Easier to Use
October 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Based on input we've received about difficulties in adjusting to the new site, we have made the following enhancements: Resources Page Icon Toolbar is Back! The toolbar of icons on the "Resources for Students, Faculty, and Staff" page is back. It is still in the Helpful Links, but enough people let us know they missed it in this location, so, it's now restored. You can see it at: http://umw.edu/resources Directory is Back! The People Search directory is also back in its old location. You can get to it from the icon toolbar bar in the Helpful Links OR in the icon toolbar now on the Resources page. See it at: http://umw.edu/directory Two New Icons on Toolbar In both icon toolbar locations, we have added icons on the right, linking you to the Directory and to Forms and Documents in the Document Repository. The Document Repository is a new feature where you can search for all UMW forms in a single place without having to go to department sites to find them. This should … [Read more...]
Personalize Your People Search: Get a Gravatar!
October 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
You may have noticed that when you search for a person at UMW in the new People Search, you will see a little icon to the right that looks like this: Then, in some cases (as in my own), you will see a custom image or photos like these: Both the generic image and the custom images are called "Gravatars." A Gravatar is a personal identity that YOU CONTROL. When you create a Gravatar, and link it to your UMW email address, your image will show up on the People Search, on your division staff listings, on any comments you make to the UMW Web site, on any comments to EagleEye or UMW Blogs, and any posts/comments you make throughout the Web WHERE YOU USE YOUR UMW EMAIL ADDRESS. You can also opt to NOT have it associated with our personal email address if privacy is a concern, and if you want to keep a boundary between your UMW persona and your private presence on the Web. For those of you who deal with external audiences through your job at UMW (like Admissions, University … [Read more...]
The New UMW Web Site: Adjusting to the Change
October 11, 2011 by 2 Comments
The new site is very different in many ways. For those of us who use it every day, it's been disorienting. Improvements and refinements are on the way as we receive feedback and complete some features that there were no time for prior to migration. Here are some tips to help with navigating the new site based on feedback we've received so far: Where is the A to Z Index? The A to Z index was used by a lot of people working on campus. Unfortunately, the size of the index had grown so large that it was no longer manageable manually, and we were constantly fielding requests for changes, additions, adjustments. In short, we could not scale it well now that the site has grown so large. In lieu of the A to Z index, our most visited, requested, and helpful links are in a section called -- you guessed it -- "Helpful LInks." You will find this link on the upper-right hand side of every page in the site. Where is the Directory? The … [Read more...]
URL Changes? We’ve Got You Covered
September 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Don't worry about the print pieces with the URLs on them. Read this EagleEye post to find out why. … [Read more...]
Known IE7 and IE 8 Bug
September 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Are you still using Internet Explorer 7 or 8? If so, you may have some trouble using the Wordpress administrative tools. In particular, we have gotten reports of the Page Layout thumbnails not working in those browsers. From checking with the development community, we have discovered that this is a known javascript bug for users of IE 7 and IE8. At present, there is no known fix for it. We suggest that folks use an alternate browser such as Firefox or Chrome, or upgrade to Internet Explorer 9. Since there may be Banner compatibility issues with IE9, Firefox may be your best bet. Contact the UMW Help Desk regarding the currently supported Firefox installations for Windows. … [Read more...]
Embed a Flickr Slideshow
September 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Flickr Users: If you don't want to go through the trouble of creating a new custom slideshow, you can just embed your slideshows into your pages and posts. It's easy. View the tutorial> … [Read more...]
Make a Home Page Slideshow!
September 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
It's not just for webmasters anymore. This tutorial gives instructions on how to make a slideshow on your home page. Talk about spiffy! View the tutorial > … [Read more...]
Dang! That side menu is LONG!
September 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Have you migrated into Wordpress and now have an ugly, mile-long menu on the left-hand side? You're not alone. Contribute had only one way to create dynamic navigation, and that was through the side navigation. So many sites had to resort to a long side menu to get their link to show up on the main page. Not any more. Wordpress gives you so many more tools for organizing links to your content while still giving them home-page exposure. For more information, explore our new tutorials on "Culling Long Page Menus." … [Read more...]
Ask a Question and Share
September 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Here's where you can ask us anything you want about using Wordpress UMW.EDU. Tell us your questions, and these posts will be moderated throughout the day. This is better than email because we all can share in each other's experience, so, start the dialogue by entering your thoughts/troubles/thrills below. … [Read more...]
