Website Administration

Outlined are the main elements you will be using to update this website.  Any features not noted in this document can be ignored (they are either not used or are advanced administration settings which should not be modified).

WordPress Administration Panel:

https://rongchenlab.org/wp-admin

 

Publications

Follow these step to add new publications.

  1. Go to the top admin bar and click +New > Post.
  2. Add your publication title and add the citation for the body text.
  3. Use the date the paper was published for the date of the post on the right menu.
  4. Select Publications as the Category.
  5. Publish.

 

Home Page

The home page is a special page with different formatting from the rest of the website.

  • Slider Images
    Edit by clicking Meta Slider on bottom of the left admin menu. Update text and images and save.
  • Bottom Home Content Areas
    Built using Widgets.  Reference Widget instructions below.

 

Pages

Updating your website content is easy:

  1. Find the page you want to update by browsing your website.
  2. Click the Edit Page link on the top administration bar.
  3. Make your changes and click Publish to save your edits.

Alternate method

You can also find your pages using this alternate method:

  1. Select Pages on the left administration menu.
  2. Select your page to Edit, make changes, and Publish your updates.

 

Documents and Media

Adding images and documents to all your pages and posts is easy.

  1. Select a page or post and click Edit from the top administration menu bar.
  2. Click the Add Media button on the top left of your content editor text box.
  3. Select the files you want to upload to the Media Center.
  4. You will see a File Details menu where you can put notes on your documents.  While you can skip this step it does help keep your media organized so put a few notes on the document so you will be able to easily identify this a few months down the road.
  5. Enter a Caption if you want text to appear  below your image.  This is recommended for Publication posts.
  6. Attachment Display Settings: You will want to select Link to Media for files you want people to download.  If they are simply images for display you can select None as your link option. Then click the Insert Into Page button.

 

Widgets

Widgets are little self-contained tools that are build into your website that generally appear on your sidebar or footer.  They are also used on the home page as the bottom content area.   They can be edited through Appearance > Widgets in the administration panel.  Here are the different Widget regions on your website:

  • Sidebar: Appears on the right side of your pages (not on homepage).
  • Footer Column 1-4: these are optional widgets that will appear in your website footer.
  • Home Widget Left, Center, Right: These widget areas appear on the bottom of the home page.  You can click to open them to see what options you have for these features or edit the text that is displayed.
  • Publications: This is the display for the publications list view (http://parkhurstdesign.com/sites/dudleylab/publications/).

 

Menus

The website navigation bar is managed through Appearance > Menus. This will display all your links and you can add, edit, delete, or move any of these links from this menu.  Pay attention to indentation as this will affect your menu. Indented items will show up as drop down menu items.  Click Save when you finish your editing.

 

Staff Members

Plugin: Simple Staff List

A simple plugin to build and display a staff listing for your website.

  • Create “Staff Members” and assign them to groups.
  • Display specific groups of staff: [simple–staff–list group="faculty"]
  • Display all staff members: [simple–staff–list]

More usage details: [Documentation]

 

Update/Backup Process

Use the following process to backup and upgrade your website.

  1. First backup your website:
    1. Go to Settings > UpdraftPlus Backups.
    2. Click Backup Now and it will take a minute for the process to complete.  This will backup your entire website including the uploaded files and the database.
  2. Install Updates:
    1. Click the Update icon in the admin bar next to your site name.  Or you can click Dashboard and Updates should be the 2nd option on the left navigation bar.
    2. WordPress updates if available is listed before other updates and should be updated first.
    3. Select all Plugins and update.
    4. Select all Themes and update.