WordPress updating to version 5.9.5

This newer version of WordPress offers improved features for the newer Gutenberg editor. There are also minor cosmetic changes to the WordPress dashboard, and you may find it easier to switch languages at the WordPress login screen.

• Text wrapping will now break a word when it would previously be kept intact and moved to a second line in the text. This will result in some changes with how narrow columns of text flow.

91¸£Àû Publications plugin updates

This “plugin” (additional functionality that can be activated on a site) allows for the creation of a bibliography for a department, school or research lab. Two new types of categorization will become available with this update:

• Research Area: a new taxonomy which will allow for categorization of publications along topics
• Keywords: a tag-based feature that will allow individual publications to be tagged, offering additional ways to list publications together

If you are interested in learning more about this feature of our websites, please contact us at um.weboffice@maine.edu.

UMS GPA Calculator plugin

°Õ³ó±ðÌý has been a feature of the website for over a decade, and was in need of an update. Working with UMS IT web developers, a new GPA calculator has been created that can be more broadly used on any UMS website. The above link will display the updated calculator once April WordPress updates are complete.

Using the built-in resource library
We cover the basics of using the “Resource” content type in our WordPress Basics training. Resources are used to manage the documents you upload to your website, and allow you to update those documents quickly and easily without breaking links on your pages. Did you know that those resources can be accessed in a searchable feature as well? Here is an example of a resource library on the Office of the President website, where budget materials, forms, and organizational resources are listed. For most websites, this is available by appending “resource” to your website address.

Optional publications feature available
If you have a need to list publications in a bibliography-like manner, we have an optional feature that can be switched on for your website. This feature adds a “Publications” content type to your site, and these can be used to list recent publications, viewable by publication type and author. An example of this feature can be seen on the VEMI Lab website. If you are interested in adding this feature to your website, please contact us for support at um.weboffice@maine.edu.

Thesis archive/listings with search
This feature was developed for the Honors College, but can be enabled for any site that needs to record, archive and list student theses. . If you are interested in adding this to your website, please contact us at um.weboffice@maine.edu.

In the last year, we have come to realize that Jetpack is not a good fit for every site on . As  has grown to include over 350 websites, each activation of this Jetpack feature has required additional overhead to maintain server performance. Of greater concern is that Jetpack is a large and complicated set of features that mostly go unused, and it has required updates and analysis to ensure our site is secure from exploits.

In the coming months, we will be de-activating Jetpack on most  websites. For many sites this will be a seamless transition. The most commonly used feature that will disappear are the social sharing buttons at the bottom of posts (see above image for an example of this). Our own research into current best practices has shown that these social sharing buttons are not used as much as they had been years ago, and we do not plan to replace this feature.

If you use your website for posts (news and updates, usually) and are concerned about this change, we want to hear from you. Please email um.weboffice@maine.edu to share your thoughts.