DKC Training Site

Tag: Spring 2023

  • Sites Blog

    Here is a link to a subsite I created: training.umwsites.net.

    Sites@UMW allows you to create a website for a small or short term project. You only use WordPress when adding to the site and don’t have much of an option to change the theme. you can create as many subsites, they can used for personal or educational purposes. You can name your subsite anything you’d like but keep in mind, “umwsites.net” will be attached to your title. After graduation, its possible to download your subsite but you’ll have to change the URL (“umwsites.net”). If you want access to hundreds of themes, plugins and space to show your creativity, creating a DoOO will be best. You’ll be able to create a long term website that is dedicated to you. You can name your website anything you like and it wont have “umwsites.net” attached at the end. after graduation, you can take the site with you can modify it whenever you want.

  • Plugin Blog

    I used an interactive plugin called H5P. It allows you to create word searches, quizzes, cross words puzzles, and much much more! I created a simple crossword puzzle (check out the menu to use it). I used H5P because I wanted to use a plugin that added an extra interesting feature to my website!

    I’m excited to learn about InDesign because it sounds most interesting.

  • Accessibility

    Because we here at the Digital Knowledge Center are creating an open and accessible environment for everyone, the accessibility training module is crucial. There isn’t a whole lot on my website to begin with, so making sure that its accessible for the visually and auditorily impaired isn’t very difficult. The Accessibility Checker plugin also works to help me make sure I’m covering all my bases. I definitely didn’t think about creating a simplified summary of my posts until the Checker pointed it out to me. Beyond that, accessibility is already a pretty big factor in my own daily life, so I like to think there isn’t too much left for me to learn as far as making things accessible. And, like I said, the website is so simple at this stage that it’s accessible by nature of brevity.

  • Sites@UMW

    One of the assignments that is due soon (and one that I have been putting off doing) is the Sites@UMW training assignment. I don’t have anything inheritly against Sites@UMW; but, change irks me. I already learned (and like) WordPress through Domain of Ones Own. Sites@UMW is a more watered-down, simple version of DoOO WordPress. Although, I do admit that Sites@UMW seems much better for beginners and students who just want to do an assignment and be done with it.

    The difference between the two is akin to Sites@UMW being like having a family pet, versus DoOO being a pet that’s yours and yours alone. Sites@UMW takes care of a lot of the gross behind the scenes complexity, but you also don’t get as much freedom, and the site feels less like your own. DoOO is more complicated and hard to handle, but if you can handle it, it’s your website.

    Here is a link to the site I made.

  • Training #4

    I had a really fun time learning about the different ways to make a webpage accessible. The most interesting thing for me was learning about alt. text because that was a feature that I had never used or heard of before. In addition to this feature I found it interesting how design elements impact accessibility. For example, I had only thought of font, text size, and background color as part of making your website look good. I had never thought of them as ways to make it easier for people to read and navigate the website. It is also cool to see how the accessibility plugin assists in making your website better by showing you the corrections you should make. I’m excited to learn more about this topic and begin prioritizing it in my future page and post designs.

  • Training Post #2

    My main focus today was reorganizing my website and making sure everything was where it is supposed to be and that the site was easy to navigate. I designated the about me page as the homepage for the site with the training posts page as an option in the menu. On the about me page I made sure to link the DKC training site so that if someone were interested as to why I created the page they would be able to find it just by clicking a link! I think I am starting to get the hang of simple WordPress procedure and I am very excited to learn more skills offered by DKC consultants. While I was looking into the services offered in the DKC my attention was grabbed by the video and audio editing. These topics have always interested me and I can’t wait to grow my skills past basic iMovie and Garage band functions. Below I embedded the appointment types page on the DKC website so that the curious minds reading this post can see the range of skills many of the DKC consultants use and teach during their shifts.

    Appointment Types

  • Training Post #1

    This semester I am training to be a consultant at the DKC! By the end of this semester I will have gained new tech skills and will be able to help others make websites like this!

    Let’s chat about the customization of my website! I started by changing the theme and creating a page for posts and a special page for a project I am gonna start. This new project is gonna be a page where I post the link to a song I like every day and include why I chose it. Throughout this process I learned a lot about WordPress and definitely still have more to learn. One thing in particular was how to create and edit pages. Thank you for reading! As a treat here is the link to my favorite break up scene from my favorite tv show. 

  • Training Post #3

    Today I created a site using sites@umw! The main difference I noticed between Sites and DoOO is in their abilities and uses. In general you can do more with DoOO. Sites is only site building using WordPress while on Domain of One’s Own you can install other applications for site building and other needs. In this way the uses of Sites are very limited. Overall I enjoy the formatting of Sites a lot and for a beginner it is a lot less intimidating and a good way to become familiar with using WordPress.

  • Fourth Post

    Accessibility Training

    Today I completed the accessibility training to make my site more accessible. One thing that surprised me was the importance of heading structure. I got a warning for my heading structure through the new plugin I added, and once I read more into it I realized how important it was. They stated that incorrect heading order can make it difficult for visually impaired users to follow the topics of my site using a screen reader.

    One thing I still have questions about is how to create the best alt text without being too wordy. When I try to describe my image in the alt text the plugin says the alt text is too long. Also, why does the underlined text warning show up when I do not have any underlined text?

  • Post 4: Accessibility

    What have I learned?

    I learned today that I didn’t really think about accessibility before today, especially how it actually helps other people in the long run. I didn’t know that specific hyper links should have a meaningful word attached rather than just “Here”, something I’m very guilty of. I always thought it looked neater but I can now understand how there may be some confusion with where the hyperlink is placed if it’s not labelled correctly. I also didn’t know that there were specific plugins designed to make the website more accessible which is really helpful and something that I fully intend on using often. Lastly, I didn’t know that accessibility was something that companies could be sued over and I find that very interesting, although helpful in the way that it enforces accessibility.

    Questions

    I think if I absolutely had to think of a question, I would ask how one could install a website reader and how those work, especially with getting access to the alternative text. I personally rely more on reading than hearing because I have a tendency to not process words that well if they’re spoken too fast or I’m not ready, so seeing the reasoning behind something I wouldn’t normally use seems like something I should do.

    Final Thoughts

    I’ve gone through all of my pages and posts to make sure I don’t have any naked links, or photos without alternative text, or colors too close together that may be difficult to read. Using the accessibility reader was really interesting, especially seeing what it counted because things like comments and the users icons, things I can’t change, are flagged because the colors might blend in and I can’t add alternative text. But overall everything seemed to check out and I ended with a 95%, including the things I personally can’t change.