Updates from UIS Web Services

July 2022

A cache is the topmost level of your browser’s memory, where all of your most-used information is stored for fast and easy access. Think: the info you write on a Post-it and stick to your computer versus info you put in a Google Doc and can’t find later.

This newsletter aims to be your web-editing cache. Only the information you need to know; easy access. No deep-dive (or dictionary) required.

Welcome!

First off, we would love to introduce you to the newest member of our team, Ellen Robinson! Ellen (she/her) will be joining us as our new Product Manager. She previously worked at Bucknell University for seven years - most recently as an Application Support Administrator. There, she worked on their centralized website, developed training guides and ran training sessions for mass email, calendar and other web application systems. She also received a Master's Degree in Experimental Psychology from Bucknell in 2015. She is super excited to be a part of the team as the new Product Manager for Web Services! You may see her in some of your upcoming design review sessions and other meetings. Feel free to reach out to her if you have any questions! She is looking forward to getting to know you and learning more about your web product needs.

WordPress tips and tricks: The Dangers of Copy/Paste

Do you ever copy and paste content into your WordPress website from a document or email? Most of us regularly enjoy the use of copy/paste throughout our lives; when sending emails, writing articles, or creating presentations. However, in the case of Content Management Systems such as Wordpress, copying and pasting content from external sources is not always the time-saving solution we have come to depend on.

You may have noticed when you copy and paste content into your Wordpress Page or Post, that you also bring over unintended hidden content in the form of extraneous formatting, styles, and code. The styles on a WordPress website are managed using WordPress themes and ‘stylesheets’. These include the font, spacing, links and text color, and serve to provide consistency throughout the site. Copying and pasting content into WordPress can interfere with these intended styles by bringing over unwanted formatting from the copied document.

Worse, it is often not possible to see these formatting interlopers in the page editor, as they are concealed by the underlying HTML. That hidden formatting can have dire consequences for your site including:

Style issues (making the text styles deviate from the rest of your website)
Technical difficulties (your blocks might behave differently in different browsers and devices)
Loading problems (bloated code will make your website loading time slower)

Directly writing articles in WordPress will prevent undesirable formatting from being transferred.

If you must paste text onto your page in WordPress, use the plain text shortcut:

Copy the content you want to paste by pressing CMD + C (Mac) or Ctrl + C (PC)
Use Option + Shift + Command + V (Mac) or Ctrl + Shift + V (PC) to paste the content as plain text

Not a fan of keyboard commands? Not to worry! You can also right-click in the text editor and select Paste as plain text or Paste and Match Style (the exact wording depends on the browser or OS that you are using).

A screenshot of right clicking on the text editor, the Paste and Match Style highlighted

Happy Editing!

WordPress and Accessibility Office Hours

We will continue to hold both Accessibility and WordPress office hours every Tuesday afternoon. Please note that all office hours appointments will be held over Zoom only for the time being.

WordPress office hours appointments are every Tuesday, 2:30–3:30 p.m. via Zoom. You can sign up for an appointment slot (for any future office hours date!) here. Please note that we are unable to accommodate unscheduled appointments. If you are currently experiencing an issue outside of office hours, or wish to submit a feature request, please use this form to capture that information.

You can talk through accessibility-related questions with Kevin Andrews, electronic and information technology accessibility coordinator, on Zoom every Tuesday from 2–3 p.m. You can use this link to schedule an accessibility office hours appointment.

How did you get this number?

You’re receiving this email because you are listed as a primary or secondary contact for your website. If you believe you’re receiving this message in error, or you are no longer responsible for editing a website that uses a shared Georgetown template, please let us know by replying to this email.

Still have questions? Comments? Email us at webservices@georgetown.edu.