Shelley Keith

As part of the WPMU implentation I’ve been working on for a year now, it’s time to start training my content contributors (“content managers”? I haven’t come up with the right title for these departmental “please take this responsibility off my plate” types). Simply giving faculty and staff basic software training and sending them on their way would be catastrophic, hence a (hopefully) well-rounded 4 hour training session that includes some elementary yet essential content tips and an overview of 508 and W3C before giving them the power to change a single character of text. The expectation is to offer this comprehensive training on a twice/year basis and provide one-hour lunchtime sessions on specific topics throughout the semester, as well as make refresher materials available online through my department site.

I’ve coordinated training with both our HR department to be counted as staff development, and through our Continuing Education department who will be issuing CEU credits. As such I feel the need to have some sort of assessment in place to gauge the success of the training, beyond just a session evaluation. If anyone has any ideas about assessing this kind of training, I’d love to hear it.

For this first round of training I have a wingman, Brent Passmore (@bpmore) from University of Central Arkansas. Brent has graciously agreed to dedicate some of his post-baby paternity leave time to my little project. Props.

Overview: Four-hour training session for faculty and staff who will be responsible for managing departmental Web content. Sessions will be presented with the aid of step-by-step video and hands-on examples.

Training Outline

1. Content
   1. Evaluate
   2. Generate – Writing for the Web
   3. Review
2. The WHY
   1. Section 508 and Web accessibility
   2. Browser Compatibility
3. WPMU
   1. Posts vs. Pages: What’s the difference?
   2. The Admin Interface
   3. Managing Posts & Pages
   4. Media for your site
      1. The media library
      2. Adding images and files to your posts and pages
      3. Flickr options
   5. Links, Widgets & Sidebars
   6. Forms
   7. Your campus directory profile

Upcoming blog entries will outline in further detail the issues we’ll be touching on along with comprehensive resource listings for existing training materials and content guides. At the end I’ll post our slides and any supplementary materials we generate. Some of these items (like Flickr options, Forms, and the directory profile) are plugin specific and/or highly customized to our site and may not be relevant for you, but I’ll show how we’ll train for it anyway.

Training is scheduled for February 3, 2010.

So I’m going to talk a little more about the overall plan, expected plugin use, and managing some of the known hurdles.

The homepage:

In the last post, I mentioned my homepage issue. The current homepage is housed at www on a Windows box. I currently expect I’ll do a permanent redirect to the default WPMU blog for just the default.php page. One of the reasons is Featured Content Gallery. This plugin gives me an easy way to do something I’ve long been hounded for, linked images and movement, without Flash. I hate Flash. It’s deeply personal. I’ve tried to implement SmoothGallery, the script that spawned FCG, but it’s got javascript errors in IE7 and I just can’t get past it.

An issue I have with FCG and a WPMU homepage is that I’ll need the gallery to show images for and link to various places all over the collective University site. It appears that I’ve found an answer with Redirect, a WP plugin that simply redirects the user to a different URL based on the content of a custom field. This, plus an automatic post expiration plugin such as Post Expirator or Auto Delete Posts could go a long way toward filling my need and making the daily cleanup/maintenance fairly painless.

Calendaring:

I recently implemented Google Calendar campus wide. It’s been a positive experience, but getting upcoming events to display on plain php pages the way I want them has been a challenge. The RSS feeds can be questionable. Luckily, there are WP plugins that do great things with iCal feeds. Specifically, AmR iCal Events List appears to have promise. I’ll be able to widget an upcoming events feed onto the homepage and be done with it.

Additionally, since our Google Calendar setup has included a lot of separate calendars for different departments merged into various configurations, I’ll be able to use the plugin for many lovely department specific feeds. It also merges multiple iCal feeds…very handy indeed.

Misc:

• I’ll use one of a variety of RSS widgets to feed “news” & a text widget or two to manage static content. Site search will utilize our existing Google Custom Search and I’ll feed Google the new urls with a sitemap plugin.
• Moving the sites back onto the University network means I may actually be able to get the LDAP plugin working…wouldn’t that be a slice of awesome? Today, since we’re running separate WP installs, we’ve got separate logins for each.
• Universal header/footer plugins exist for WPMU that will alleviate the current php include thing I’m doing and allow me to manage the files within the admin AND use WP tags in them.
• I can have customized universal dashboards for all site admins. So, for example, I can push links to the video tutorials we’re working on directly to the people who need them.
• Universal update capability means no more 3 days of single install upgrading.

HighEdWeb 2008 was amazing.

I’m glad it’s been podcast or I’d be in trouble since I was running around like a crazy person pretty much the whole time. Met some really wonderful people…shout out to my peeps.

WP update

I just updated to WP 2.6.2. Been using it at work since release, but I tend to be slow to do things with Eironae. I also applied a new theme and installed a Twitter plugin since I’ve now become officially addicted.

ff0000;">Note to self: must remove that default logo and upload some new header photos…in my spare time

Wedding news

Date: Dec 20, 2008
Place: Umsted House B&B, Camden, Ar
Time: 4 p.m.
Site: http://www.mywedding.com/shelleyandchris

Explanation & History

First and foremost, I did not write this plugin. Credit for that goes to Dan Peverill. He long ago stopped supporting/developing it, and graciously allowed me to re-release it for public consumption after I contacted him looking for the old config instructions I knew used to be out there.

Why do I want to regurgitate an old, unsupported plugin? Because I use it…a lot, because it still works beautifully in WP 2.3.1, and because as far as I can tell it’s the most graceful solution out there for WP breadcrumbs.

I’m not a programmer by a long shot, but I will attempt to support any issues you have to the best of my ability. My hope is the people who used this plugin previously will seep out of the woodwork with valuable insights and make themselves useful. :)

Most of the instructions here are taken verbatim from the archived version of the original support site. I will edit as necessary as time permits.

Installation

Start by downloading the latest version. Then to install, simply unzip breadcrumb.php to your plugins directory, and enable the plugin in your admin panel. For information on how to use the breadcrumb, scroll down to basic usage.

What’s a Breadcrumb?

A breadcrumb is a navigation trail that leads from the user’s current location in your web site, back to the home page. This is useful for larger web sites that have deeply nested pages or sections in their site. For a live demo of the breadcrumb, simply look around on this site. You’ll see the breadcrumb located just under the header. What you see on my site is only the basic usage of the breadcrumb.I’ll add breadcrumbs to this site and produce several more real-world examples shortly. Feel free to email me with examples of your work and I may include them here. Screenshot(s) detailing more customization:

From Nazgul’s blog:

(example no longer in use on target site, but example is still valid)

Basic Usage

This plugin will allow you to display a breadcrumb navigation anywhere on your site. It’s usage is simple. Wherever you want the breadcrumb navigation to display, simply call the breadcrumb() function:

000000;"><?php breadcrumb66cc66;">(66cc66;">); 000000;">?>

If you’d like to use the breadcrumb in your titlebar, no problem, there’s a function for that as well:

<title><?php breadcrumb_title66cc66;">(66cc66;">); ?></title>

If you want more control over how the breadcrumb is displayed, there are a few options. You can specify a different separator, text to put before a crumb, and text to put after a crumb. So displaying the breadcrumb as a unordered list, for example, would loook something like this:

000000;"><?phpb1b100;">if 66cc66;">(has_breadcrumb66cc66;">(66cc66;">)66cc66;">)66cc66;">{
000066;">echo ff0000;">'<ul class="breadcrumb">';
808080;">// Note that any and all of these parameters are optional.
breadcrumb66cc66;">(ff0000;">"", ff0000;">"<li>", ff0000;">"</li>", ff0000;">'<li class="selected">'66cc66;">);
000066;">echo ff0000;">"</ul>";
66cc66;">}
000000;">?>

Using a different separator between your crumbs would look like this:

000000;"><?php breadcrumb66cc66;">(ff0000;">":"66cc66;">); 000000;">?>

Advanced Usage

Sometimes, more options are required. A lot of users love to customize every inch of their web site, and I’ve provided a way to do that with the breadcrumb. Through advanced options, you can control just about any part of the breadcrumb in combination with its filtering system (scroll down for filtering information).

Advanced options include:

• sep (breadcrumb() only) : Separator between crumbs.
• before (breadcrumb() only) : Text before a crumb.
• after (breadcrumb() only) : Text after a crumb.
• last (breadcrumb() only) : Text before the last crumb.
• echo (breadcrumb() only) : Set to false to return the breadcrumb rather than printing it.
• home_always (breadcrumb() and get_breadcrumb()) : Set to true to always display the Home crumb.
• home_never (breadcrumb() and get_breadcrumb()) : Set to true to never show the Home crumb (this is the same as removing the get_breadcrumb_home filter).
• home_title (breadcrumb() and get_breadcrumb()) : Change the text displayed for the Home crumb.
• link_all (breadcrumb() and get_breadcrumb()) : Set to true to link all crumbs.
• link_none (breadcrumb() and get_breadcrumb()) : Set to true to link no crumbs.

You can use advanced options by specifying their key/value pairs within the breadcrumb() function:

000000;"><?php breadcrumb66cc66;">(ff0000;">"home_always=true&link_all=true"66cc66;">); 000000;">?>

The Breadcrumb Itself

The breadcrumb is built as an array of strings. The breadcrumb() function may or may not offer what you’re looking for in terms of customization. If that’s the case, you can use the breadcrumb array itself by calling the get_breadcrumb() function and applying any customization you want to each individual crumb:

000000;"><?php0000ff;">$breadcrumb = get_breadcrumb66cc66;">(66cc66;">);b1b100;">foreach66cc66;">(0000ff;">$breadcrumb b1b100;">as 0000ff;">$crumb66cc66;">)
66cc66;">{
808080;">// $crumb is a string.
000066;">echo ff0000;">"- ".0000ff;">$crumb.ff0000;">"<br />";
66cc66;">}
000000;">?>

Filtering the Breadcrumb

The breadcrumb plugin, much like any other part of WordPress, is filter based. Each part of the breadcrumb, whether it be the home page, the categories, and so on, are attached by filters. This allows you to do whatever you like to the breadcrumb, such as removing and adding new filters. You can add or remove any filter either specifically for a template by using your functions.php template file, or by creating a custom plugin yourself. In fact, other plugins are able to extend the breadcrumb if they so desire. Here are the default filters:

add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_home", cc66cc;">1, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_category", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_page", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_single", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_date", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_author", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_search", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_404", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);
add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_paged", cc66cc;">5, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);

To remove a filter:

remove_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb_home"66cc66;">);

To add a filter:

add_filter66cc66;">(ff0000;">"get_breadcrumb", ff0000;">"breadcrumb_search_ext", cc66cc;">10, cc66cc;">266cc66;">);808080;">/*** @param array  The breadcrumb itself.
* @param array  Advanced parameters passed by the user.
*/
000000;">function breadcrumb_search_ext66cc66;">(0000ff;">$breadcrumb, 0000ff;">$params66cc66;">)
66cc66;">{
b1b100;">if 66cc66;">(is_search66cc66;">(66cc66;">)66cc66;">)
66cc66;">{
808080;">// Do whatever you like to the breadcrumb. The user is viewing the search page.
808080;">// Be sure to check the $params for user specified options, such as $params["link_all"] if crumbs should always be linked.
66cc66;">}
b1b100;">return 0000ff;">$breadcrumb;
66cc66;">}

Release History

• 0.5.2 [11/26/2007] : Re-release plugin under new management.
• 0.5.1 [06/14/2006] : Fixed a few pagination bugs.
• 0.5 [06/13/2006] : Added advanced formatting options for breadcrumb() and get_breadcrumb, such as sep, before, after, last, echo, home_always, home_never, home_title, link_all, and link_none. Added breadcrumb_title() function for displaying the breadcrumb in a web site’s title (browser’s titlebar).
• 0.4.1 [06/12/2006] : Multiple calls to breadcrumb(); now working properly.
• 0.4 [06/11/2006] : Added pagination crumb, added option text before current crumb (users location), fixed home page crumb while paging, fixed 404 crumb, fixed month link, fixed day link.
• 0.3 [06/10/2006] : Fixed reverse order bug for page and category crumbs.
• 0.2 [06/10/2006] : Changed the breadcrumb to filter based, allowing easy extension and customization.
• 0.1 [06/09/2006] : Initial beta release.

Though I successfully upgraded several other sites, my experience on this site hasn’t been pleasant. Issues I’ve faced (with varying levels of success):

1. Upgrade flat out didn’t work, I had to import my exported blog entries (I tried to use a db backup and just had the same problems over again).
2. Lost all category assignments (and haven’t found any bulk category assigning mechanism)
3. Lost over a year of UTW tags (2.3.1 doesn’t support ultimate tag warrior, it’s got its own internal engine that didn’t accept the old ones)
4. URLs didn’t “stick”
5. Lost all my blogroll link categorization