Getting Started – WordPress Websites

Getting Started

To assist the LSA Technology Services Web and Application Development Team in planning our resources for faculty site development we request that your web content is ready to be uploaded to a WordPress template when you request a site and that you launch your site within one month of the site creation date. Our staff time is divided between multiple college-wide web responsibilities and we often need to transition into other projects. Thanks!


Site Request Process

  1. Please prepare content for your site and come up with a plan or idea for the site’s navigation.  See the post on recommendations for content structure for ideas.
  2. Complete the  Site Request Form.  This is a quick online form designed to collect basic information about your site. Please review the theme options on the Example Themes page and view the example theme sites on the subpage links because the Needs Analysis will ask you to select a Theme for your site.
  3. After submitting the form someone from the Web Services team will get back to you to see if you’d like to set up a quick meeting or work over email.  We will also check in with you to determine what you’d like for your site’s URL – following these policies.
  4. You will have one month from your site creation date to work with us on building your site. After one month we will consider your site automatically launched and our staff support for building your site will end.  Open Labs and our help desk support (for issues and questions – not content updates) will still be available after the deadline.  However, there will no longer be a dedicated Content Coordinator to work with you on your site.  We will send weekly reminder emails up until the launch date to let you know that it’s approaching. After one month from the site creation date, sites that are still blank and have no content will be deleted.  We will not automatically launch blank sites.
  5. The Web Team is offering full site set up support to build WordPress sites. However, if you’d prefer to work on the site or have a lab member or student build your site, that works for us too. We will be available for help if you need it. These sites are still expected to launch within a month of the site creation date.  We will discuss how to share content for your site if it is not already published on an existing site. One of the best ways for sharing content, which we learned from the Pilot, is to create a Google folder, upload your PDFs, photos, and site navigation plan and share the folder with the Web Content Coordinator you are working with at Web Services.
  6. Once your site is launched please direct all WordPress questions and issues to LSATechnologyServices@umich.edu to ensure they are tracked in our ticketing system and that you will have a prompt response from anyone on our team. Launched sites are linked from the Main WordPress Site list page and your departmental profile.
  7. Website updates are to be done by the site owner after site launch. 🙂

Support

We offer a mid-level support plan for LSA WordPress customers. Editing WordPress is pretty intuitive and the software is fun to use. When editing, if you have general questions we recommend searching Google or wordpress.org for an answer. WordPress is open source technology and there are thousands of forums where someone has asked the same question you have, so you can quickly find an answer. If you run into larger issues when editing and need help from our team please email LSATechnologyServices@umich.edu with the question and we will be happy to assist you. Web Services hosts several weekly Open Labs on zoom. You can use these Open Labs to work on your WordPress site 1:1 with our staff. Registration for open labs and more information about our services can be found on the Technology Services website or on our Calendar page.

Training

There is no formal training for WordPress, however, there are a multitude of resources and videos available online from a quick google search or in the WordPress Codex. In addition, Web Services will be happy to do individual training during our weekly Open Labs or by appointment with your Web Designer.

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