Category: Tips

Spotlight: Autosave and Revision History

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Welcome to Spotlight!

Spotlight is the blog post series highlighting hidden WordPress gems to help you master your editing skills. Start with the imagine this scenario or jump straight to instruction on autosave and revision history.

Are you interested in a training to learn his gem?
Snag a meeting with the Web Services Specialist or email webservices@kzoo.edu.

Autosave and Revision History

  • Learning curve: medium-hard
  • Documentation available: Yes
  • Advantage: Restores a past revision and allows viewing of past edits

Imagine this…

It’s been a long, hectic morning filled with in-person support. After the constant hustle, you’re craving a quiet moment to catch your breath. You take a sip of water and pause, contemplating your next task. Suddenly, it hits you—you still need to update the details for your department’s upcoming event on the website! Relieved you remembered, you think, “Perfect, I needed some quiet work anyway.“

You dive into the task with focus and precision, feeling unstoppable as you check each item off your mental list:

  • Add an expressive event image
  • Credit the photographer in the description field and on the page
  • Add alt text
  • Write a compelling event description
  • Use the columns block to keep the page looking short and sweet for our desktop users

You’re feeling like a pro—right up until your laptop power cord slips loose and your computer suddenly shuts down.

Panic floods in. “I didn’t save my changes! All that work—gone!” You can’t help but think, “What a waste of time, right?“

But before despair sets in completely, you remember a vital detail: WordPress might have your back. Thanks to the Autosave and Revision History features, your hard work could still be there, waiting to be recovered. Maybe your efforts weren’t wasted after all!

Restoring a Revision of a Page or Post

Thankfully the WordPress editor autosaves your work and stores a revision history for each page and post on your site. Reference the Restore a Revision of a Page or Post guide to learn how to restore an earlier version of a page or post.

Additional Revision Topics of the Guide

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Maintenance Checklists

Posted on by Katrina Frank

In order to provide an excellent user experience we MUST make quality assurance a priority while editing our sites. Check out the suggested steps that should be taken on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

Site Content Editor Checklist

Weekly Checklist

  • Check for broken links (located on the left vertical bar on your WP Dashboard). It identifies broken links and tells you where they are.
  • Fix any broken links and any other errors. Please note that Web Services is here to help you fix any errors you are unfamiliar with.

Monthly Checklist

  • Review your site for responsiveness and to make sure your design is mobile-friendly.
  • Check your website performance (optional): If you’re curious about your most popular pages, would like more data about your users, and possibly identify pain points on your website you can request some analytics for your website by emailing Web Services at WebServices@kzoo.edu.

Quarterly Checklist

  • Test out all of the forms on your website to make sure it is in working order.
  • Review and update contact information for your department (don’t forget to also check your right-sidebar and footer).
  • Back up the content of your site
    • If you would like to preserve your website content you can use print to PDF on a page by page basis to save a PDF version of your page.

Annual Checklist

  • Audit your website content
    • Determine which pages are performing best and what topics your audience most connects with.
    • Determine which information needs to be deleted, updated, etc.
    • Check for accessibility compliance and that you are following proper usability standards.

Deleting Pages, Images, & Documents

Did you know that even though you might not display pages, uploaded images, or documents on your website that doesn’t mean they won’t show up in a Google search?

Be sure to delete pages, uploaded images, documents, and other items in your Media Library that are no longer in use on your website.

Other Best Practices

Keep your team in the loop: Be sure to keep your colleagues informed of what’s happening with the website during department meetings. By doing so not only are you showing the use of the website, but it allows others to provide more content to be added to the website.

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New Blocks Available – Accordions and Post Layout

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Hello WordPress SCEs,

We wanted to share the latest additions to your block library, the Accordion and Post Layout.

Have questions? Please reach out to Web Services so we can support you.

Accordion Block

Block Details

New "accordion block" icon.

The new accordion block provides more settings and variations that include:

  • choosing a heading level
  • margin settings
  • padding
  • borders
  • icon selection

Accessibility and Usability

To remain ADA compliant and provide our users with the best experience, it is imperative that SCEs pay close attention to the the additional settings of this block.

Settings to be mindful of include, but do not limit the following:

  • Assigning the appropriate heading level. Please note that a heading may not be needed for all uses.
  • Make sure there is enough color contrast when choosing colors for headings, the accordion body, borders, and text color.

Accordion Block Examples

Schedule

The following example is from the 2021 Parents and Families Orientation Schedule.

Wednesday, September 8

1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

  • Student Move-In (Residence Halls) – Resident Assistants (RAs) and Peer Leaders will be stationed at check-in tables at each residence hall to welcome your student. Students will pick up their orientation folder from the Peer Leaders. Then see the Residential Life staff to get their student ID, room key, check into their room, and get settled. Health verification must be completed before students can check in. Students with incomplete health requirements will be directed to the Health Center to complete any necessary requirements before they are permitted to check in.
  • Health Center Open (Main Floor, Hicks Student Center) – Health Center staff is available for health information verification as well as general consultation with students and families.
  • Book Club Cafe Open (Upjohn Library) – Stop by the first floor of the Upjohn Library and allow one of our baristas to serve you a cup of Kalamazoo Coffee, hot chocolate, tea, or a specialty espresso. Choose from fast grab-and-go options including pastries, house-made salads, sandwiches, and sides.

1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

  • Information Table (Hicks Student Center) – Stop by for schedules, maps, directions, resource handouts, and answers to your questions.
  • Richardson Room Open (Hicks Student Center) – The Richardson Room offers a variety of options including an extensive deli line with a wide variety of toppings and homemade soup. Also available is a selection of grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, yogurt parfaits, fruit, sweet and salty snacks, and beverages
  • Bookstore Open (Hicks Student Center) – Go Hornets! 20% off Kalamazoo College imprinted items.

4:00 – 4:45 p.m.

  • Understanding Billing and Financial Aid (Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall) – Join Director of Financial Aid, Becca Murphy, and Student Accounts Coordinator, Juan Muniz, for a session to help understand the financial side of sending your student to college. This program will be repeated twice on Thursday.

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

  • Dinner (Dining Center in Hicks Student Center or off campus) – Students and their families are welcome to have dinner together on campus at the Dining Center in the Hicks Student Center, or venture off campus to one of Kalamazoo’s excellent eating establishments (a list of restaurants is available at the information table). New students can use their student ID (which also serves as their meal card) for entrance to the Dining Center. Families may purchase tickets at the Dining Center entrance ($11.15 per person).
  • First-Generation Welcome Dinner (by invitation only) (Hicks Banquet Room) – A welcome for first-generation students and their families. Dinner buffet will be served and important information specifically for first-generation students and their families will be shared.

Evening

  • Relax or Explore the Campus and the City of Kalamazoo – Families are welcome to just relax after a day of moving their students in or explore Kalamazoo. Information about downtown Kalamazoo is available at the information table in the Hicks Student Center. Take your student shopping for last minute items, or explore campus (self-guided walking tour directions are available at the information table in Hicks). Get to know the area your student will call home for the next four years!

Thursday, September 9

1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

  • Student Move-In (Residence Halls) – Resident Assistants (RAs) and Peer Leaders will be stationed at check-in tables at each residence hall to welcome your student. Students will pick up their orientation folder from the Peer Leaders. Then see the Residential Life staff to get their student ID, room key, check into their room, and get settled. Health verification must be completed before students can check in. Students with incomplete health requirements will be directed to the Health Center to complete any necessary requirements before they are permitted to check in.
  • Health Center Open (Main Floor, Hicks Student Center) – Health Center staff is available for health information verification as well as general consultation with students and families.
  • Book Club Cafe Open (Upjohn Library) – Stop by the first floor of the Upjohn Library and allow one of our baristas to serve you a cup of Kalamazoo Coffee, hot chocolate, tea, or a specialty espresso. Choose from fast grab-and-go options including pastries, house-made salads, sandwiches, and sides.

1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

  • Information Table (Hicks Student Center) – Stop by for schedules, maps, directions, resource handouts, and answers to your questions.
  • Richardson Room Open (Hicks Student Center) – The Richardson Room offers a variety of options including an extensive deli line with a wide variety of toppings and homemade soup. Also available is a selection of grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, yogurt parfaits, fruit, sweet and salty snacks, and beverages
  • Bookstore Open (Hicks Student Center) – Go Hornets! 20% off Kalamazoo College imprinted items.

4:00 – 4:45 p.m.

  • Understanding Billing and Financial Aid (Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall) – Join Director of Financial Aid, Becca Murphy, and Student Accounts Coordinator, Juan Muniz, for a session to help understand the financial side of sending your student to college. This program will be repeated twice on Thursday.

5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

  • Dinner (Dining Center in Hicks Student Center or off campus) – Students and their families are welcome to have dinner together on campus at the Dining Center in the Hicks Student Center, or venture off campus to one of Kalamazoo’s excellent eating establishments (a list of restaurants is available at the information table). New students can use their student ID (which also serves as their meal card) for entrance to the Dining Center. Families may purchase tickets at the Dining Center entrance ($11.15 per person).
  • First-Generation Welcome Dinner (by invitation only) (Hicks Banquet Room) – A welcome for first-generation students and their families. Dinner buffet will be served and important information specifically for first-generation students and their families will be shared.

Evening

  • Relax or Explore the Campus and the City of Kalamazoo – Families are welcome to just relax after a day of moving their students in or explore Kalamazoo. Information about downtown Kalamazoo is available at the information table in the Hicks Student Center. Take your student shopping for last minute items, or explore campus (self-guided walking tour directions are available at the information table in Hicks). Get to know the area your student will call home for the next four years!

Services

The following examples were used on the IS website and the Parent and Families website.

Tech & Media Support

Academic Term Hours

See the Academic Term Hours for in-person services.

Computer Help Desk

Email: HelpDesk@kzoo.edu
Phone: 269.337.5800

Media Services

Email: kmedia@kzoo.edu
Phone: 269.337.7138

Popular Parent Resources

Advice and Guidance for Parents

Understanding Supportive Services

Campus Resources for your Student

Sending Mail

Sexual Misconduct Information

Mental Health

Guten Post Layout Block

Block Details

New Guten"Post Layout" block icon.

The new Guten Post Layout block offers a few new ways to display a collection of your posts and pages. settings and variations that include:

  • choosing layout settings
  • display settings
  • heading settings
  • filter settings
  • pagination settings
  • and more

Accessibility and Usability

To remain ADA compliant and provide our users with the best experience, it is imperative that SCEs pay close attention to the the additional settings of this block.

Settings to be mindful of include, but do not limit the following:

  • Choosing whether to display the heading and subheading of this block.
  • Replacing the “read more” text if needed.
  • Adding quality featured images to your posts so they are not pixelated.

Accordion Block Examples

Skin 1

Skin 1 has a very symmetrical look with all posts having a large square feature image and overlay. Users will also experience a slight zoom into the photo when they hover over a post.

Skin 2

Skin 2 offers more of a rectangular shape to the featured image while also providing a bold date with a red background color and white text color. Like skin 1 users will also experience a slight zoom into the photo when they hover over a post.

Skin 3

Skin 3 provides the featured image sitting atop a solid block with the author name, date of post, post title, excerpt and “read more” more. Of the three this skin is a more simplified option; however, is very clear and easy to read. Like with the other skins SCEs can select the content that appears in the lower solid block.

Maintenance Checklists
Katrina Frank

Maintenance Checklists

In order to provide an excellent user experience we MUST make quality assurance a priority while editing our sites. Check out the suggested steps that should be taken on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Site Content Editor Checklist Weekly Checklist Monthly Checklist Quarterly Checklist Annual Checklist Deleting Pages, Images, & Documents Did you […]

Errors and Solutions for Siteimprove Reports

Posted on by Katrina Frank
a "thumbs up" gesture.

Beginning May 13th, Site Content Editors started receiving customized weekly email reports to keep our sites maintained and meet accessibility standards. Listed below are a few directions on how to resolve common errors that appear in your Quality Assurance reports.

Not Receiving a Quality Assurance Report?

Reports are sent to main editors on your website every week. If you are a main editor but you are not receiving reports please make sure to add reports@siteimprove.com to your approve senders list or contact Katrina at Katrina.Frank@kzoo.edu with your questions.

Common Errors and Solutions

I found a misspelling in the course catalog that is being flagged as an error on my report.

For misspellings like these please be sure to send a note to the Registrar’s office at regist@kzoo.edu so it can be updated in the Catalog which will then update on your site.

I have a broken link showing up in my report but when I click on it the link works.

Not to worry, this happens sometimes. One possibility is that something was going on with that website at the precise moment that the Siteimprove scanner came along. If this happens, please reach out to Katrina so she may rescan the page and clear the error.

I have a word on my website that has been reported as a misspelling but it is spelled correctly.

Please reach out to Katrina for words that are incorrectly marked as a misspelling as she can add them to the approved words list.

I have a link that “Needs Review” and it has a status of “403 Forbidden,” what do I do?

When a link has an HTTP status of “403 Forbidden” this means that the Siteimprove crawler was blocked from accessing the resource at the time which may happen because Siteimprove is a bot. Be sure to check the link manually and if it works fine let Katrina know and she will dismiss it in Siteimprove.

Extra Tip – Searching for Misspellings

Do you need an easy way to find the misspellings outlined in the Siteimprove Report? Here’s a few ways to do so:

  1. Use the site search widget on your footer or sidebar of your website. If you don’t have the search widget request a non-existent page to force the “Oops” page and you can use the search widget there.
  2. Use the search field located on the Pages tab. See the Search Pages Field section on the Three Things you Didn’t Know About the WP Block Editor video.

Additional Questions?

For questions related to your Quality Assurance report, please contact Katrina at Katrina.Frank@kzoo.edu.

Three Things You Didn’t Know About the WordPress Block Editor

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Video Table of Contents
  1. Search Pages Field – 00:03
  2. Adding a Block Keyboard Shortcut – 00:18
  3. WordPress Block Editor Shortcut List – 00:32

Be sure to watch our newest video, Three Things You Didn’t Know About the WordPress Block Editor (Part 1) (only 50 seconds long) to get three tips while using WordPress. If y’all like this type of video let us know by liking this the video on Stream and we’ll work on creating more for you.

The More You Know: Why PDFs are Problematic on the Web

Posted on by Katrina Frank

Hello SCEs,

Carolyn and I receive a lot of questions about PDFs and why they can’t simply be uploaded to our websites at Kalamazoo College. Due to the number of questions and requests we wanted to share a great article that helps explain why. As we know, PDFs can be very problematic for accessibility reasons but here is more evidence as to why they are problematic to all users.

Please read the Neilsen Norman Group article, PDF: Still Unfit for Human Consumption, 20 Years Later to learn more.

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