During the fall term 2019, I’ve been working on the WordPress site and updating the Carleton DHA page.
In the former project, collaborating with professors from the Classics Department, I created CHIANTI site, a WordPress site. To add and organize various contents, I used several plugins: Elementor to organize the content pages, Shortcodes and List category posts to order posts sorted by categories on a page, Document Embedder to convert language learning sources to be downloadable, Smart Slider to use a video carousel on the student portal page, and Pods Admin to create a submission form for faculties.

In the course of arranging and refining the site, I realized some tips which would be helpful when creating websites at another time. I’ll write them down for future use.
- Clarify the audience and objects of the website.
- When you get stuck, google for the troubleshooting first. There is maybe somebody who is in the same situation and already asked similar questions.
- Be careful about the consistency – theme colors, fonts, font sizes……
- When you are not sure which plugin to use, see their review, download numbers, the latest update date.
- If you create a website and then yield control over it to the third party, make sure to create a concise and easy to follow instructional document. (preferably with some screenshots as needed) This is actually a great way to keep information in one place, such as the theme colors and fonts.
- Finally, although there is a lot more to mention, communicating with partners/clients is crucial to improve the website closer to what they expect.
Regarding updating the Carleton DHA page, with permission to access and edit the page, I mainly updated the DH members for this year and the past projects. Updating past projects especially required some important things to keep in mind: 1) Use visually eye-catching screenshots of the project, 2) Check the copyright of the image within the screenshots, 3) Avoid controversial contents/images publishing on the web, 4) Make sure that private information is hidden.
As you’ve seen, I spent most of the time working with WordPress. For the next term, I hope I’ll be working with other types of digital tools.