Author: Cynthia Ng

Setting up WordPress CMS for an Academic Library

A lot of people have setup WordPress, and obviously each organization needs to set it up a specific way to fit their needs. Nevertheless, learning how different libraries set up their CMS is something I have found useful in the past, so I thought it might be helpful for someone else if I shared the way I decided to set up WordPress at my work.

The Install

As we have more than one site, it was an obvious choice to use the MultiSite flavour of WordPress. We set it up to use the directory structure option since we would be under a subdomain already, we decided against having sub-subdomains.

We installed it on its own virtual server through our central IT. We discovered in the process, however, that by default, a lot of modules are disabled by IT, so we had to request a number of them to be installed. For the core, the only one was:

  • GD Support – required for creating the different image sizes (i.e. thumbnail, medium, large)

Various plugins uses PHP modules that are part of the standard PHP install, so may not point out the need for enabling them. For plugin requirements, I’ll note them in the plugins section.

Setting Up The Sites

Creating the sites were simply a click of a button of course, but a lot of settings had to be changed. While most of the defaults were fine, I did change a number of settings. In particular, one of the settings was only accessible (through the Dashboard) by manually entering into the address bar, options.php

image_default_link_type = ‘none’

For most of our sites, there is no advantage to linking to the attachment page or a full size version of the image. Additionally, the images that are uploaded are usually close to the size that is being used on the page. The one exception I made was for the Archives & Special Collections site.

We also do not allow users to set up their own sites, so staff have to contact a network administrator.

Making The Themes

The lengthiest part of the process was making the custom themes. I won’t actually go into details here, but will later post details on the creation of the library’s theme. I have already talked about the options I implemented in the post about Branding the Library Website.

I will note that we avoided making a ‘mobile’ theme by making the themes responsive. They’re not the prettiest, but at least they work.

I did have to make a standard template to use for our non-WordPress sites, including the ILS, Special Collections, and ColdFusion stuff.

Roles & Capabilities

All the sites use the default Roles & Capabilities, except for the main site. Using the Advanced Access Manager plugin, I changed the permissions so that:

  • Administrators: Due to the Carousel plugin, some staff were made administrators, but with restrictions at the user (rather than role) level to have similar permissions as editors.
  • Editors: have unfiltered html (using the Unfiltered MU plugin)
  • Authors: can also edit/publish pages and delete own pages, moderate comments to own posts
  • Contributors: can edit/publish pages (instead of posts) and delete own pages, and add/edit/delete own media

Pages that have JavaScript or custom CSS are also locked down so that only editors and administrators have access.

Migrating the Existing Sites

We migrated from static HTML sites and single install WordPress blogs (I don’t know why this wasn’t a MultiSite to begin with).

WordPress Sites

For WordPress sites, I used the standard export/import that you have to install, but is integrated into the core. The one problem is that in MS, if you import images, it will copy the images over with the metadata, but will not update the links in the posts themselves (see ticket #16404). To solve this problem, I used the Search and Replace plugin to change all the old links to the new ones in one go.

HTML Sites

We settled on using the HTML Import 2 plugin. It worked well, especially since it supports Dreamweaver templates, which were used with most of our pages. It didn’t catch all the links, so we had to update some of them manually, but using the Search & Replace plugin helped a great deal.

The other thing that took a bit of time was to replace thumbnail images with the WP version and delete the original thumbnails. My coworker also uploaded all the images with the thumbnail crop option on, so I used the AJAX Thumbnail Rebuild plugin to force WordPress to recreate all the thumbnails.

Updating the Site

As with any move, it’s a good opportunity to update the site. Unfortunately, we had too tight a timeline to update the content and organization of the site (except for some minor changes). As a result, the site looks more or less the same, but I updated and coordinated the updating of a lot of the code.

I consolidated the CSS files, updated the template to use HTML5 and meet WCAG2.0, and most time intensive of all, got rid of all layout tables (with some other staff helping).

Plugins

Here is the list of the plugins I ended up with including those to help with migration:

For reasons why I may have chosen some of these plugins, take a look at my other posts on WordPress plugins.

Oh The Time

So, the most time intensive part really is sifting through WordPress plugins and updating content.

FSOSS 2012: Accessible Applications

Attending FSOSS (Free Software and Open Source Symposium) 2012 this morning. One session in particular caught my eye since I’ve been looking into how to make our web services more accessible, but just writing about making anything we might offer students more accessible. So here are my notes:

Accessibility: Importance, Challenges, Technology, and Implementation

Chad Pilkey & Justin Robinson

A lot of people (10-20% of population) have a functional disability. Not just an ethical issues, but also a legal one.

Software student is working on is using Adobe Flex 4 with its own Accessibility Framework using API.

Need to plan ahead of time and can make it much more user friendly.

HTML5 ARIA

  • accessible rich internet applications
  • allows for dynamic content compatible with screen readers
  • assist HTML5 with flex-like accessibility features
  • useful to those who need it; invisible to those who don’t

Limitations

  • flex: uncooperative components, potential obsolescence e.g label components will not be read (have to use built-in labels)
  • HTML5: not yet standardized, may remain that way for the next 2 years

Combined both in order to make up some of the limitations.

Need to test!

Considerations

  • metadata
  • hot keys or way to skip past chunks of content
  • ability to change colours & fonts
  • larger buttons (don’t require very high precision)
  • a/v: transcripts, captions, volume control

There are definitely more considerations, but they didn’t list them all.

I didn’t include many notes on importance, types of disabilities, and screenreaders, etc., so more general information since I’m familiar with much of it and have blogged about it (which I’ll repost shortly).

Access 2012: Conference Reflection

Honestly, my mind is still reeling from the conference. There were so many thought provoking ideas that my brain seems to still be processing them all.

Solving Practical Problems

One of the difficulties I frequently have is when people talk about great ideas, but they’re big ideas. Not that we don’t need to start these discussions, but on the more immediate front, I like to be able to take something practical back to my workplace to say “here’s how they did it, I think we can do it too.”

In this respect, one of my favourites was dchud’s Social Media Feed Manager, especially with the code available on github. I use this example first because it’s something simple enough that if you’re familiar with this sort of thing, it wouldn’t even take a day to set up. Pulling in social media feeds is something many researchers have trouble with and on top of simply solving a problem, this would be a tool that we can use to reach out to more faculty.

While I’m not sure how we might integrate the use of it into my workplace, I got really excited over Lisa’s talk on CWRC to build a connected, linked data environment and repository. Definitely one of the biggest issues of getting metadata the way we want it to be is the amount of work that is usually involved, and frequently involves technical knowledge, but the CWRC tool definitely makes it look easy to do.

New Perspectives

Another set of talks I really appreciated was looking at an existing concept in a vastly different way. A good example would be Hugh’s Keeping Books Open talk. While I have considered the definition of a book to be changing and somewhat fluid, Hugh spoke about a different model in publishing and interaction with readers that made me wonder at the possibilities.

Another good example would be Alistair’s talk on Civil Rights in Big Data and Answers. Who knew there would be connection? I have always thought of big data as just that, a lot of data. I considered big data to be a great way of becoming informed and exploring different connections. I never thought about the possible impact that it has already had on our society.

Doing Both

While roaming services and a deskless reference service are not new ideas, Marc’s Reshaping Service Delivery talk added a layer beyond simply providing roaming services within the library. I (and I’m certain many others) was very impressed on how he took the library’s circ desk out into the community.

Taking It Back

As I said, I think one of the most valuable things about Access is hearing about the new things that other libraries are doing that I can then take back to my workplace. While we have already implemented (or in the process of implementing) some of the things presented (such as a more integrated, one-look mobile site), I have definitely gotten a better idea of how to tackle other issues we haven’t even begun (like collaborative digital collections).

Final Thoughts

Another great Access. While a couple of the presentations were a bit too technical for me, I liked that once again, there were people pulled in from outside of the library and academic area.

I am definitely putting Access down as my must-go conference. Next year is in St John’s though which is rather far especially if I return to the West Coast, so I hope I can make it, but we’ll see.

Now to Get Some Rest

Access 2012 Day 3 Closing Keynote: Brain Injuries, Science Fiction, and Library Discovery

by Bess Sadler

 

We do the things we do, because it feels good. It provides us with a reward. Being intrinsically motivated is the best predictor of happiness and healthy living.

What is missing is how we can make libraries better for users.

Used emotional words to describe physical collections, but efficiency for digital collections. How can we change this?

The emotional design is more important than practical design.

Virtual Shelf List especially useful for multi-branch libraries, including closed collections with digitized materials. Using semi-automated metadata.

What is Still Missing?

Falling short of providing emotional, spatial sensory that physical shelf browsing.

Need to take inspiration from sci-fi. Render library in 3D virtual world e.g. browsing the library as if in Hogwarts

Do this at a human scale. Consider making it more personal and smaller for children.

What’s Next?

This can happen.

See also Affordance theory: a framework for graduate students’ information behavior by Bess Sadler

Emotional Design by Donald Norman

More notes on Access 2012 Live Blog.