A few best practices considerations:
Categories - Think “WHO” - limited in number - large “bucket” items, mirroring existing administrative organization. Our Document Repository has three levels of categorization, all of which must be set: Audience, Division, Business Process (always “College of Law” for now). Categories can be “nested” into a tree structure.
Tags - Think “WHAT” - Perhaps more numerous, reflecting functions or area of interest. Tags are generally not hierarchical, but could be represented as a “tag cloud” with more popular tags in larger font. We used tags to designate “exam archive” and “faculty_meeting_minutes” for inclusion in the respective lists.
Another conceptual approach: Categories are the table of contents, Tags are the index words * The key is to tag sparingly and efficiently. *
Using Categories and Tags
Because we all share these lists of categories and tags, care must be exercised in creating new ones.
ONLY CREATE A NEW TAG OR CATEGORY IF YOU HAVE AN EXPRESS REASON TO DO SO.
If you cannot state why you are creating or assigning a tag or category, then don't. The main reason for creating or using a tag or category is so the post/document/media/etc can be included on a list of similar items. See the Advanced Post List plugin for how this is done.
"MORE" does not equal "BETTER" - in fact, the smallest number of tags and categories to achieve the goal is the best route to go. The point is to organize not to clutter. You want to help people find what they are looking for, not generate multiple listings for them to wade through.
Since most of InsideLaw is password-protected and not indexed by search engines, there is no reason to tag for search engine optimization (SEO). The internal WordPress search returns results based upon title and content, with tags and categories contributing *no* improvement to the search results.
Categories should be more limited, and possibly added only by consensus. Tags should only be added if more than one item is to have this tag *and* there is a needs to generate a list of items sharing that tag. The practice of using tags for search engine optimization should be discouraged, as it just clutters the tagging system and dilutes true functional tagging.
Media
The Media Library is intended for images or video that will be embedded inside a page or post. Documents or other downloads should be placed in the Document Library. The Media Library on InsideLaw and LawMedia have categories added via a plugin. All media should be tagged with the year and what the media item is used for (email graphic, etc.). These categories are primarily internal for editors and will become very important when the Media Library has grown extremely large through the years. The clean-up can then proceed starting with the oldest items.
Events
All College events are submitted via InsideLaw. Events that need to be listed on the public law.gsu.edu site need to have the tag “public” added. Either event calendar (InsideLaw or law.gsu.edu) can be embedded in an Outlook or other calendar. While InsideLaw does provide some privacy to events, truly private events should not be posted here (for example, it is best to *not* post the name of a prospective job candidate on a calendar event entry for a job talk).
PDF files
- Use PDF files only when:
- the document is intended to be printed, and the printed version needs to be in the same layout format as the original document,
- or, the document is historical in nature and some reasonable assurance of originality is needed.[1]
The WYSIWYG editor in WordPress is very good at making attractive pages out of material copied/pasted from a Word document. This is much better for searching purposes, and make maintenance of the information much easier going forward.
WordPress basic terms
Post - a basic entry in WordPress (WP) - generally is time-sensitive and time-limited - usually categorized and/or tagged and included in time-ordered, most-recent-first lists. The InsideLaw home page currently has an embedded list of recent announcements.
Page - much like a post, but usually of more permanent type of information, included in navigation structures instead of time-ordered lists.
Media Library - images, video and possibly other files that are usually attached or embedded in pages or posts. WP does not have a good management system, but we have added the ability to categorize media items. The LawMedia server is the preferred solution for hosting videos, images, and other files.
Document Repository - We have added a “document” post type where the document has a joined post to hold meta data (description, category, tags, etc.). This is most suited for fixed documents that may be updated or revised periodically. This system keeps copies of previous revisions for historical purposes.
Events - A custom post type that has specific dates and locations added. We have also added a flag (field) for requesting technical support.
Custom Content - Posts that have added fields for holding associated information. We currently have Externships and Faculty Committee history in custom content on InsideLaw. The main web site used it’s own version of custom content ("Types" plugin) for the faculty/staff profiles.
Forms - We use the “Formidable Pro” plugin (add-on) to collect data. Entered information can be transformed into custom posts or just downloaded into Excel, etc. Our plugin has the ability to allow the original poster and/or editors to retrieve and modify entries. One early use will be the new Pro Bono recording system.
Short Codes - Word enclosed in [square brackets] to implement special functions. WordPress has several built-in shortcodes and many more are implemented by plug-ins. We are implementing special functions with short codes, such as class schedules and student organization listings. I have also implemented a short code to display meta data associated with students, such as the recently-release class rankings.
Groups - A WP pkugin add-on that gives us the ability to restrict content to certain groups (Students, Faculty, Staff, etc.). This gives us the ability to customize pages, lists, menus, etc., to visitors in each group. We most likely will keep these groups as the “big buckets” and use a different system to create class or student org groups. While many groups have the same name as "roles," note that roles are to control access to administrative dashboard functions, whereas groups control reading of otherwise public-facing pages - i.e. published material.
Newsletters - A collection of custom posts (stories) that are collected together and e-mailed out to particular groups (as defined above).
Comments - All WP posts (pages, events, etc) have the capability for visitors to leave comments. We have disabled these by default, but there are ways this feature may be useful to obtain feedback.
“Advanced Posts Lists” - a powerful (read “confusing”) add-on plugin that allows generation of lists (usually links) to posts (etc.) based upon certain criteria, usually based upon categories or tags. Items (posts, documents, etc.) added to the category or tag will automagically be added to the lists. This is how we generate the Exam Archives and the Faculty Meeting Minutes Archive listings.
Topics - We do have a “Groups Forum” that allows for threaded discussions limited to a particular group. We have not yet determined what use is best, but most likely the most successful use would be for considering complex, limited scope decisions that are not highly sensitive. One example might be in considering a new course offering, where input might be valued and the considerations may be complex and nuanced. This could also be where “off-topic” discussion might take place, such as a ride-sharing board, classified ads, etc.
Messages - Still in the concept/testing phase, these would be custom posts addressed only certain people and/groups. Follow-up by the recipients would be via the comments function.
Use cases:
- A student could address a message to the Registrar’s Office, where it would appear on the dashboard of bit Tricia and Lauren, either could reply.
- College Administration could send a message to any group, where that message would appear on their dashboard and be included in the next weekly newsletter.
- A student could send a message to another student or an ad hoc group - for example, to arrange a study group. Students could be given a separate “low priority” channel for other types of more widely disseminated messages, such as a ridesharing board, classified ads, etc. (or “Topics” discussed below).
[1] Almost all digital artifacts can be forged, but a PDF offers some protection against inadvertent alteration.