WordPress at Â鶹´«Ã½
Log in toÌýÌýwith your MIDAS ID and password.
WordPress is an online toolset that allows users to create and publish their own websites. Â鶹´«Ã½ has made the WordPress professional suite available to the entire campus community. With dozens of free, professional looking themes, extremely easy content management and a library full of custom plugins, WordPress gives its users the tools to create fully featured websites in minutes.
Using WordPress at Â鶹´«Ã½
WordPress for Faculty and Staff
Faculty and Staff can set up personal sites that are hosted at . Each person is allowed one personal site per MIDAS role. Your site will live at fs.wp.odu.edu/<yourMIDASid>.
You can set up additional sites for courses and organizations by using the Manage My Sites menu option on the admin bar in WordPress. Course and organization sites are hosted on the network.
To create your personal site, go to .
All web sites created using WordPress must be developed in accordance to Â鶹´«Ã½'s Information Technology Accessibility Standard, which follows WCAG 2.2 standards.
In addition to the main WordPress environment, we have a pre-production environment available for Â鶹´«Ã½ faculty and staff who would like to experiment with new features and plug-ins. Sites built in this testing environment are not public. In fact, access to the pre-production system is limited to wired campus computers and users of the Â鶹´«Ã½ VPN. To log in and access the Pre-Production system:
- Go to .
- Select "Login with Shibboleth" on the screen.
- Use your MIDAS ID and password to access the system.
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WordPress Assessor Role
As more and more students use WordPress for coursework and ePortfolios, instructors and advisors need to be able to review student work. Unfortunately, students sometimes forget to grant access to their sites.
Teaching faculty and departments who regularly review student work can request an "Assessor" role that provides read-only access to any Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress site, regardless of the site's security settings. To request this role, simply send an email to itshelp@odu.edu with:
- the name and MIDAS ID of each person who needs this role
- the purpose of the request
- the dates (beginning and end) that the individuals will need Assessor privileges
WordPress for Students
Student sites are hosted at . Each student is allowed one personal site per MIDAS ID. Student sites will live at student.wp.odu.edu/<yourMIDASid>
You can set up additional sites for classes or organizations by using the Manage My Sites menu option on the admin bar in WordPress. Course and organization sites are hosted on the network.
To create your personal site, go to .
WordPress for Courses and Organizations
Users are allowed to create as many sites as they need for courses, learning, student organizations and groups that are directly affiliated with Â鶹´«Ã½. These sites are hosted on a third Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress network, .
To create a site for your class or organization, go to . Your pages will live at sites.wp.odu.edu/xxxx, where xxxx = a name of your choosing (within limits). Anyone who creates a site will be the primary owner and can assign others to be administrators.
Users looking to create personal pages should use either the or the .
Examples
- (University of Mary Washington)
WordPress for Faculty and Staff
Faculty and Staff can set up personal sites that are hosted at . Each person is allowed one personal site per MIDAS role. Your site will live at fs.wp.odu.edu/<yourMIDASid>.
You can set up additional sites for courses and organizations by using the Manage My Sites menu option on the admin bar in WordPress. Course and organization sites are hosted on the network.
To create your personal site, go to .
All web sites created using WordPress must be developed in accordance to Â鶹´«Ã½'s Information Technology Accessibility Standard, which follows WCAG 2.2 standards.
In addition to the main WordPress environment, we have a pre-production environment available for Â鶹´«Ã½ faculty and staff who would like to experiment with new features and plug-ins. Sites built in this testing environment are not public. In fact, access to the pre-production system is limited to wired campus computers and users of the Â鶹´«Ã½ VPN. To log in and access the Pre-Production system:
- Go to .
- Select "Login with Shibboleth" on the screen.
- Use your MIDAS ID and password to access the system.
Ìý
WordPress Assessor Role
As more and more students use WordPress for coursework and ePortfolios, instructors and advisors need to be able to review student work. Unfortunately, students sometimes forget to grant access to their sites.
Teaching faculty and departments who regularly review student work can request an "Assessor" role that provides read-only access to any Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress site, regardless of the site's security settings. To request this role, simply send an email to itshelp@odu.edu with:
- the name and MIDAS ID of each person who needs this role
- the purpose of the request
- the dates (beginning and end) that the individuals will need Assessor privileges
WordPress for Students
Student sites are hosted at . Each student is allowed one personal site per MIDAS ID. Student sites will live at student.wp.odu.edu/<yourMIDASid>
You can set up additional sites for classes or organizations by using the Manage My Sites menu option on the admin bar in WordPress. Course and organization sites are hosted on the network.
To create your personal site, go to .
WordPress for Courses and Organizations
Users are allowed to create as many sites as they need for courses, learning, student organizations and groups that are directly affiliated with Â鶹´«Ã½. These sites are hosted on a third Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress network, .
To create a site for your class or organization, go to . Your pages will live at sites.wp.odu.edu/xxxx, where xxxx = a name of your choosing (within limits). Anyone who creates a site will be the primary owner and can assign others to be administrators.
Users looking to create personal pages should use either the or the .
Examples
- (University of Mary Washington)
Information
Tutorials from Â鶹´«Ã½
Your first stop: . This extensive support site, with tutorials geared specifically towards WordPress users at Â鶹´«Ã½, is constantly being updated. Here, you'll find information about getting started, using Â鶹´«Ã½'s themes and plug-ins, managing your site and more. If you want to learn more about WordPress in general, see the tutorials below.
Tutorials from WordPress.org
These tutorials are largely text based, but still provide tons of useful information to developers. More tutorials can be found on the
Beginner
Design
Web Management
Policies and Documents
The use of Â鶹´«Ã½'s WordPress systems falls under the ITS Acceptable Usage Standards.
Retention Timeline
| Site Type | Removal Conditions |
| Student sites | One year after leaving Old Dominion |
| Faculty sites | One year after leaving Old Dominion |
| Course sites | Two years of inactivity |
To retain a site after you leave Â鶹´«Ã½, there are two options:
- Migrate your site.
There are tools available to help you export your site for transfer to another host, so you can take your site with you when you leave. See the "Migrating Sites" tab. - Transfer ownership of your site.
The original creator of a site is that site's owner, regardless of any other users or administrators who may have been added. Course sites (or other sites with historical value) can be passed along to a new owner after the original owner's departure. It is the site owner's responsibility to notify ITS if a site needs to be retained by someone else so ownership can be transferred. Contact the ITS Help Desk at itshelp@odu.edu.
Ìý
Storage Capacity
- Individual file uploads are limited to 500 MB. Users are encouraged to use OneDrive, Google Drive, or other similar services for data sharing.
- Sites are allowed to take a maximum of one GB of storage space.
- These data caps can be raised by contacting wordpress@odu.edu. Please provide documentation or information to justify your needs.
Ìý
Embedding Videos
To save space in WordPress, upload videos to Kaltura and embed them on your WordPress site:
Accessibility
In an effort to make technology accessible to people with sensory or physical impairments, all websites that are created must follow Â鶹´«Ã½'s Information Technology Accessibility Standard. WordPress has more about accessibility, if you need additional resources.
Requesting New Plugins and Themes
Faculty and staff can request specific plugins and themes by submitting a request through . Within three days, the new plugins will be added to the pre-production system where they can be tested by other faculty and staff members. (The pre-production system can be accessed at from on campus or through the Â鶹´«Ã½ VPN.)
After plugins have been thoroughly tested in the pre-production environment for at least two weeks, they can be moved to the live production environment for everyone to use. ITS will move all new themes and plugins from pre-production to production at the beginning of every semester, and at the halfway points of Fall and Spring semesters. In order to limit service disruptions, security updates will be the only changes applied to the production system during the semester periods.
ITS will add all plugins that are requested, even if they are similar to ones that already exist on the network. Plugins that are not used for over 12 months will be disabled, and plugins with minimal usage could be removed after two years.
To view a list of available plugins and themes on the Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress system, log into your Â鶹´«Ã½ Google account with your MIDAS ID and view .
Contact Forms
Contact Form 7 is a handy WordPress plugin that allows visitors to contact you directly from your WordPress site while also protecting your site from spam.
Migrating TO the WordPress network at Â鶹´«Ã½
Do you already have a WordPress site that you'd like to migrate to Â鶹´«Ã½'s network? Or maybe a standard html page that you'd like to transfer to WordPress? WordPress makes it pretty easy to import content from a wide range of sources. Use the tools at the right to export your current content and import it into your new Â鶹´«Ã½ site.
Migrating FROM the WordPress network at Â鶹´«Ã½
When you leave the University, you can take your personal WordPress content with you. To keep your site after you leave, you'll need to export your information and upload it to another server. The tools to the right can help with that, too.
Migration Tools
To export a website to an external WordPress system, follow the
If you currently have an HTML site that you want to migrate to WordPress at Â鶹´«Ã½, the following plugins are available in the Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress system.
Tutorials from Â鶹´«Ã½
Your first stop: . This extensive support site, with tutorials geared specifically towards WordPress users at Â鶹´«Ã½, is constantly being updated. Here, you'll find information about getting started, using Â鶹´«Ã½'s themes and plug-ins, managing your site and more. If you want to learn more about WordPress in general, see the tutorials below.
Tutorials from WordPress.org
These tutorials are largely text based, but still provide tons of useful information to developers. More tutorials can be found on the
Beginner
Design
Web Management
Policies and Documents
The use of Â鶹´«Ã½'s WordPress systems falls under the ITS Acceptable Usage Standards.
Retention Timeline
| Site Type | Removal Conditions |
| Student sites | One year after leaving Old Dominion |
| Faculty sites | One year after leaving Old Dominion |
| Course sites | Two years of inactivity |
To retain a site after you leave Â鶹´«Ã½, there are two options:
- Migrate your site.
There are tools available to help you export your site for transfer to another host, so you can take your site with you when you leave. See the "Migrating Sites" tab. - Transfer ownership of your site.
The original creator of a site is that site's owner, regardless of any other users or administrators who may have been added. Course sites (or other sites with historical value) can be passed along to a new owner after the original owner's departure. It is the site owner's responsibility to notify ITS if a site needs to be retained by someone else so ownership can be transferred. Contact the ITS Help Desk at itshelp@odu.edu.
Ìý
Storage Capacity
- Individual file uploads are limited to 500 MB. Users are encouraged to use OneDrive, Google Drive, or other similar services for data sharing.
- Sites are allowed to take a maximum of one GB of storage space.
- These data caps can be raised by contacting wordpress@odu.edu. Please provide documentation or information to justify your needs.
Ìý
Embedding Videos
To save space in WordPress, upload videos to Kaltura and embed them on your WordPress site:
Accessibility
In an effort to make technology accessible to people with sensory or physical impairments, all websites that are created must follow Â鶹´«Ã½'s Information Technology Accessibility Standard. WordPress has more about accessibility, if you need additional resources.
Requesting New Plugins and Themes
Faculty and staff can request specific plugins and themes by submitting a request through . Within three days, the new plugins will be added to the pre-production system where they can be tested by other faculty and staff members. (The pre-production system can be accessed at from on campus or through the Â鶹´«Ã½ VPN.)
After plugins have been thoroughly tested in the pre-production environment for at least two weeks, they can be moved to the live production environment for everyone to use. ITS will move all new themes and plugins from pre-production to production at the beginning of every semester, and at the halfway points of Fall and Spring semesters. In order to limit service disruptions, security updates will be the only changes applied to the production system during the semester periods.
ITS will add all plugins that are requested, even if they are similar to ones that already exist on the network. Plugins that are not used for over 12 months will be disabled, and plugins with minimal usage could be removed after two years.
To view a list of available plugins and themes on the Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress system, log into your Â鶹´«Ã½ Google account with your MIDAS ID and view .
Contact Forms
Contact Form 7 is a handy WordPress plugin that allows visitors to contact you directly from your WordPress site while also protecting your site from spam.
Migrating TO the WordPress network at Â鶹´«Ã½
Do you already have a WordPress site that you'd like to migrate to Â鶹´«Ã½'s network? Or maybe a standard html page that you'd like to transfer to WordPress? WordPress makes it pretty easy to import content from a wide range of sources. Use the tools at the right to export your current content and import it into your new Â鶹´«Ã½ site.
Migrating FROM the WordPress network at Â鶹´«Ã½
When you leave the University, you can take your personal WordPress content with you. To keep your site after you leave, you'll need to export your information and upload it to another server. The tools to the right can help with that, too.
Migration Tools
To export a website to an external WordPress system, follow the
If you currently have an HTML site that you want to migrate to WordPress at Â鶹´«Ã½, the following plugins are available in the Â鶹´«Ã½ WordPress system.