OPENING AND CUSTOMIZING A WEBDOTUNC SITE - … · in the world, and offer nine WordPress themes as frameworks for your site. 1.3. What are the limitations of a WEBdotUNC site? An

OPENING AND CUSTOMIZING A

WEBDOTUNC SITE An Instructional Guide to Creating a WEBdotUNC Site

Developed by Leah B. Fuller

OPENING AND CUSTOMIZING A WEBDOTUNC SITE | Page 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction to WEBdotUNC..............................................................................................................3

1.1. Who can open a WEBdotUNC site?............................................................................................3

1.2. Why open a WEBdotUNC site?..................................................................................................3

1.3. What are the limitations of a WEBdotUNC site?.........................................................................3

2. Opening Your WEBdotUNC site..........................................................................................................4

2.1. Choosing your Site Address.......................................................................................................5

2.2. Choosing your Site Name..........................................................................................................6

3. Customizing your WEBdotUNC site....................................................................................................7

3.1. Customizing your Theme..........................................................................................................8

3.2. Customizing your Tagline........................................................................................................11

4. Developing your WEBdotUNC site....................................................................................................13

4.1. Adding pages..........................................................................................................................15

4.2. Deleting pages........................................................................................................................16

4.3. Adding, editing, and deleting content.....................................................................................18

5. Deleting your WEBdotUNC site........................................................................................................20

Appendix A: Support Services..............................................................................................................21

Appendix B: Domain Mapping.............................................................................................................21

Index…................................................................................................................................................21


1. Introduction to WEBdotUNC

WEBdotUNC is a free self-service web publishing service provided by UNC Chapel Hill. WEBdotUNC runs on the WordPress platform, which is a free, open-source Content Management System. More than 30% of the world’s blogs and websites are built in WordPress. WEBdotUNC offers 24/7 support services, mobile adaptive site design, customizable content, nine WordPress themes (site framework), and 50+ plugins to add functionality.

1.1. Who can open a WEBdotUNC site?

Any UNC-affiliated student, staff, or faculty member with an active ONYEN (a UNC identification number). Officially recognized student groups can also create sites. Websites may be created for educational and University-related work; they cannot be used for commercial or non-University-related content. WEBdotUNC sites should not be used for personal projects or for University Departments. All sites are subject to WEBdotUNC Terms and Conditions.

Examples of approved WEBdotUNC site usage includes student organizations, class projects, research updates, campus facilities information, portfolios or resumes, and student-run conferences.

1.2. Why open a WEBdotUNC site?

WEBdotUNC allows any UNC-affiliated person or group to create a free website in minutes, without needing to know how to code. With 24 hour, 7 day a week support services and automatic backup, you can feel confident that your work will never be lost. You can select a unique UNC site name that reflects the purpose of your site. WEBdotUNC sites are run in the WordPress platform, one of the most popular and widely-used blogging and website platforms in the world, and offer nine WordPress themes as frameworks for your site.

1.3. What are the limitations of a WEBdotUNC site?

An obvious limitation is that people without ONYENs will not be able to create a site on WEBdotUNC. Commercial content and sales are restricted from WEBdotUNC sites. Site design limitations include limited storage space (1GB for uploaded material) and a restricted number of plugins and themes.

http://web.unc.edu/terms-and-conditions/


2. Opening your WEBdotUNC site

Navigate to the Home page for WEBdotUNC at web.unc.edu. On the WEBdotUNC Home page, you’ll find information about WEBdotUNC sites and simple instructions to start a site. On this screen, select the Create a Site button (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. The Create a Site button.

This will take you to a new screen that requires you to log in before continuing; on this screen, select the Sign In to web.unc.edu » button (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. The Sign in to web.unc.edu » button.

Log in with your ONYEN credentials (username and password) (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. The log in screen for web.unc.edu.


2.1. Choosing your Site Address

Once you log in, you will be asked to choose your Site Address (Fig. 4). Your Site Address is what your site visitors will type into their browser in order to visit your site. Keep your future site visitors in mind by choosing something short, memorable, and meaningful.

Short = easy to type Memorable = easy to remember Meaningful = closely related to your site’s purpose

Take your time choosing your Site Address. Once chosen, your Site Address can only be changed through domain mapping. See Appendix A for more information on domain mapping.

Avoid using abbreviations or acronyms, unless they are commonly used by your site visitors. It is better to have a longer Site Address than one that isn’t memorable.

Avoid using a date in your Site Address, unless the date is fixed (like a class year). Classof1976Reunion.web.unc.edu AnnualEvent2020.web.unc.edu

Figure 4. After logging in, you’ll enter your chosen Site Address and Site Name on this screen.


2.2. Choosing your Site Name

You will also need to name your site on this screen. Your Site Name (also referred to as your Site Title) will appear as the header (title) on your site’s Home page (Fig. 5) and also in the browser tab. Because your Site Name can be easily changed, it is fine to add a date here.

To change your Site Name later, go to Dashboard » Settings » General.

Figure 5. The location of the Site Name and Tagline in a preview of the Hemingway Theme. Taglines will be covered in another section of this guide.


Once you’ve named your site, select the Create Site button (Fig. 4). The next screen will say:

This site {your chosen Site Name} is yours. {your chosen Site Address} is your new site. Log in as “{your ONYEN name}” using your existing password.

On this screen, {your chosen Site Name} and {your chosen Site Address} are auto-filled with the site name and site address you selected, and both hyperlinked to your new site’s Home page. Select one of these links to visit your new site.

The words “Log in” on this screen are hyperlinked to your site’s Dashboard. However, we will access the Dashboard from your site’s Home page instead, which is how you will access it to add content in the future.

3. Customizing your WEBdotUNC site

Start customizing your WEBdotUNC site from your Dashboard by selecting the Customize Your Site button in the box titled Welcome to WordPress! (Fig. 6).

Figure 6. The Dashboard, with an arrow indicating the location of the Customize Your Site button (desktop view).

On the Customize Your Site screen (Fig. 7), you’ll see several basic customization options and a Publish button. In order to save any changes you make on the Customize Your Site screen, you must select Publish. To return to your Dashboard, select the X button in the top left corner of the Customize Your Site screen.


Figure 7. The Customize Your Site screen, with an arrow indicating the Publish button.

3.1. Customizing your Theme

A Theme is a template for which the majority of the coding to make an attractive website is already done for you. The Themes have different designs, layouts, and features, and some are designed for a specific purpose like blogging or photography. Each Theme can be modified with Plugins, which are pieces of software that contain functions you may want to display on your website, such as event calendars, forms, and custom sidebars. The default WEBdotUNC Theme is Heelium, which has UNC logos and colors built into the theme; there are eight other themes to choose from (Fig. 8). You can either begin customizing your site in Heelium, or you can choose a theme from the list that fits your site’s purpose.


From the Customize Your Site screen, in the first box labeled Active theme, select the Change button (Fig. 9). The next screen will show an image of each available Theme (Fig. 10). By hovering your cursor over each Theme’s image, you can select Theme Details (which includes a description and tags), Live Preview (which will show a preview of your site with the selected theme activated), or Activate (which will publish your site with the new theme).

If you are customizing your site using your mobile device, you will have to select each theme to see the Theme Details.

WEBdotUNC Site Themes

• Heelium: a modern, responsive UNC theme • Hemingway: clean, beautiful, and responsive two-column theme for

bloggers • Twenty Eleven: sophisticated, lightweight, and adaptable • Twenty Twelve: a fully responsive theme looks great on any device • Twenty Thirteen: ideal for blogs, full range of post formats, displayed in

their own unique way • Twenty Fourteen: create a responsive magazine website with a sleek,

modern design • Twenty Fifteen: clean, blog-focused, and designed for clarity • Twenty Sixteen: a modernized take on a popular layout, works perfectly

for blogs and websites • Twenty Seventeen: brings your business site to life with header video and

immersive featured images

Figure 8. List of Themes available for WEBdotUNC sites.


Figure 9. The Customize Your Site screen, with an arrow indicating the Change button for the Active theme.

Figure 10. A view of the Active theme screen with previews of six of the Themes available for WEBdotUNC sites, as well as the Theme Details, Customize, and Live Preview buttons.


3.2. Customizing your Tagline

Your site Tagline is a place to put your slogan, motto, theme, or topic. It appears directly below your Site Name on your Home page (Fig. 11). You can change your Tagline at any time, so feel free to be creative with it.

If you don’t have a Tagline or don’t want to use one, the Themes are designed to remove the space where the Tagline would appear on your Home page.

Figure 11. Arrow indicates location of the Tagline in a preview of the Hemingway Theme.

From the Customize Your Site button, select the Site Identity box, then type your tagline into the Tagline box (Fig. 12). Don’t forget to select the Publish button at the top of the menu.


Figure 12. From the Customize Your Site, select Site Identity to change your Tagline. You can also change your Site Title (Site Name) from the Site Identity screen.

At this point, you have a basic website with your chosen Site Address, Site Name, and Tagline. From your Customize Your Site screen or Dashboard, you can continue to alter your site by customizing the background and accent colors, logo (which replaces the Site Name and Tagline on your Home page), header and background images, and selecting what appears on your site’s sidebars and footers. Don’t forget to select Publish or Save Changes before exiting.

From this point on, you’ll develop and edit your site from your Dashboard.


4. Developing your WEBdotUNC site

You will develop your site from your Dashboard. Both basic and advanced customization options are found in the Dashboard menu, located in a column on the left if you are using a desktop (Fig. 13) and under a collapsed menu icon (“hamburger button”) if you are using a mobile device (Fig. 14).

Figure 13. Desktop view of the Dashboard screen, with an arrow indicating the Dashboard menu.

Figure 14. Mobile device view of the Dashboard screen, with arrow indicating the Dashboard menu (“hamburger button”).


When you are making changes from your Dashboard, you’ll need to scroll to the bottom of each edit screen and select Save Changes (Fig. 15).

Figure 15. View of the Dashboard » General Settings screen, with an arrow indicating the location of the Save Changes button.

WEBdotUNC automatically creates two basic pages for your site, a Home page and a Sample page. If the purpose of your site is simple, you might decide that you only need a Home page for your content, and not the Sample page. Or you may find you need more pages, or more content, to fully develop your site. The next sections will show you how to add and delete pages and content on your site.


4.1. Adding pages

You can create additional pages from your Dashboard by selecting Pages from the menu. At the top of the screen, beside the header Pages, select Add New (Fig. 16).

Figure 16. View of Dashboard » Pages screen, with an arrow indicating location of the Add New button.

The content editing box provides basic word processing tools such as boldface, italics, bulleted and numbered lists, quotation blocks, and other tools, as well as a button to add media (images, music, videos, links, etc.) (Fig. 17). You may also edit the HTML for the page by selecting Text at the top of the content editing box (Fig. 17).

Figure 17. View of Dashboard » Add New Page screen, with the content editing word processing tools highlighted, and an arrow indicating the location of the Text button for HTML editing.


When you are finished customizing your new page, either select Save Draft, Preview, or Publish from the Publish box (on the right side of the screen for desktops, and below the content box for mobile devices) (Fig. 18).

Figure 18. View of Dashboard » Add New Page screen, with the Publish options highlighted (right side of screen).

4.2. Deleting pages

To delete a page, select Pages from your Dashboard menu. In the box listing your Pages, hover your cursor over the Title for the page you would like to delete. Several options will appear below the Title—select Trash (Fig. 19).

Figure 19. View of Dashboard » Pages screen, with an arrow indicating the location of the Trash button for the Sample page.


If you accidentally delete a page this way, you can restore it. Select Trash from above the list of pages (Fig. 20), hover your cursor over the Title for the page you would like to restore, and select Restore (Fig. 21). Alternatively, you can also select Delete Permanently if you are certain you won’t ever need that page again.

Figure 20. View of Dashboard » Pages screen, with an arrow indicating the location of the Trash button.

Figure 21. View of Dashboard » Pages » Trash screen, with an arrow indicating the location of the Restore button under the Sample page.


4.3. Adding, editing, and deleting content

Content is the material you add to your site—including blog posts, images, articles, links, widgets, and other items. Your Home page automatically comes with sample content: a post entitled “Hello world!” that you will want to either edit or delete. To make changes to the post, hover your cursor over the title “Hello world!” in the content box to see the options Edit, Quick Edit, Trash, and View (Fig. 22). To delete the post, select Trash. To edit the post, select Edit. To preview the post on your site, select View.

Quick Edit allows you to change top-level details about your post, such as the title, date posted, category, tags, and commenting permissions, but not the Content of the post.

Figure 22. A view of the Dashboard » Posts screen, with editing options Edit, Quick Edit, Trash, and View for the post “Hello world!” highlighted.


To create a new post, select Posts from your Dashboard menu, and then select the Add New button at the top of the screen next to the Posts title (Fig. 23).

Figure 23. A view of the Dashboard » Posts screen, with an arrow indicating the location of the Add New button.

As with the Page content box, the Post content box provides basic word processing formatting and HTML editing functions. Create your new post by giving it a title and adding text, images, or media in the content editing box. Once you are finished adding your content, select Save Draft, Preview, or Publish from the Publish box (located on the right for desktops, below the content box for mobile devices) (Fig. 24).

Figure 24. View of the Dashboard » Add New Page screen, with the Publish options highlighted (right side of screen).


5. Deleting your WEBdotUNC site

You can delete your site if you no longer need it and would like to permanently relinquish the Site Address. To do this, go to your Dashboard » Tools, and select Delete Site (Fig. 25).

Figure 25. A view of the Dashboard with the Tools menu option open, and an arrow indicating the Delete Site link. On the Delete Site screen, you must confirm that you want to delete your site permanently and that you will not be able to use the Site Address again, then select the Delete My Site Permanently button (Fig. 26). Finally, you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you want to delete your site by selecting the enclosed link.

Figure 26. A view of the Dashboard » Tools » Delete Site screen, with 2 of 3 steps to delete your site circled.


APPENDIX A: SUPPORT SERVICES

If you experience technical difficulties or need assistance with you WEBdotUNC site, you can access UNC Information Technology Services (ITS) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by submitting a help ticket. Visit UNC ITS here: https://digitalservices.unc.edu/selfservice/.

APPENDIX B: DOMAIN MAPPING

Once your WEBdotUNC Site Name has been created, you can’t change it. You can, however, map another site name (known as a custom domain name) to your WEBdotUNC site through Domain Mapping. Once you’ve completed the domain mapping, your site visitors will use the other site name to access your WEBdotUNC site. Read more about Domain Mapping and get step-by-step instructions for the process by visiting this site: https://help.unc.edu/help/wordpress-custom-domain-names/.

INDEX

Activate .............................................................. 7 Active theme. See Themes Add New ............................................... 13, 14, 17 Address, Site. See Site Address Blog .......................................................... 1, 7, 16

blogging ...................................................... 1, 6 Change ........................................................... 7, 8 Content ............................ 1, 5, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 Customize ..................................... 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Dashboard 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 Delete ....................................... 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 Domain Mapping ......................................... 3, 19 Edit ................................................................... 16 Edit, Quick. See Quick Edit General Settings ................................................. 4 Home page ........................... 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 16

Home ................................ 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 16 Live Preview ................................................... 7, 8 Log in .............................................................. 2, 3 Mobile device ................................... 7, 11, 14, 17 Name, Site. See Site Name ONYEN ........................................................ 1, 2, 5 Pages .................................. 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17 Page, Home. See Home page Plugins ............................................................ 1, 6 Posts ........................................................... 16, 17 Preview ...................................................... 14, 17 Preview, Live. See Live Preview

Publish ................................. 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 17 Quick Edit ......................................................... 16 Sample page ........................................ 12, 14, 15 Save ................................................ 10, 12, 14, 17 Save Changes ......................................... 10, 12 Save Draft .............................................. 14, 17 Screen .... 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,

16, 17, 18 Settings, General. See General Settings Site .. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19 site .................................... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 18 Sites.................................................. 1, 2, 5, 18 Site Address ....................................... 3, 5, 10, 18 Site Name............................... 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 19 Site Tagline. See Tagline Support Services ................................................ 1 Tagline ..................................................... 4, 9, 10 Text .................................................................. 13 Themes .......................................... 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

Active theme .............................................. 7, 8 theme ..................................................... 6, 7, 9 Theme Details ................................................ 7, 8 Title, Site. See Site Name Tools................................................................. 18 Trash .................................................... 14, 15, 16 View ................................... 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 WEBdotUNC ................ 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 18, 19 Website ................................................ 1, 6, 7, 10 WordPress ..................................................... 1, 5

https://digitalservices.unc.edu/selfservice/

https://help.unc.edu/help/wordpress-custom-domain-names/

Documents

OPENING AND CUSTOMIZING A WEBDOTUNC SITE - … · in the world, and offer nine WordPress themes as frameworks for your site. 1.3. What are the limitations of a WEBdotUNC site? An