Guidelines for WordPress users
Introduction
- For a quick overview of what the website is about see the summary on the history page.
- Here are some pointers on finding your way around the new website.
- The new website has a bit of a different log-in modality.
- The new website has many links to non-html documents such as PDFs in our corporate Cloud Storage. Read all the details in our How to use BOX.COM page.
The AODA
The 2021 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is the legislation that governs how our website needs to function. It dictates aspects like the size and amount of text on a page, images, etc. It draws its elements from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Hear the AODA explained for NSC on YouTube.
The Web Content Accessbility Guidelines (CAG 2) – The AODA requires we comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines that explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. The Guidelines include things like font sizes, line spacing and machine readable text.
Overview of “How To WordPress” pages
- WordPress General
- Special Content Types
- Special Functions
Images
Please use images
We request the use of images to liven up all posts or pages. The new WordPress site automatically resizes images as it uploads them, saving a step—unless they’re 10MB or more.
No copyrighted images
Needed images may be downloaded from free sites like Freepik or Unsplash without copyright issues, or requested from the PR Director who has access to the new 2022 photo bank compiled and copyrighted by a professional photographer. Requests should include a brief description of what’s needed.
Media library
The website’s media library should be searched first to see if a suitable image is already present that can be reused. That saves storage space. NOTE: the image database is only searchable by image title or description. Please be sure to add alt text and copy it to the description field to make the image searchable.
Image AODA compliance
To stay compliant with the Accessibility Act (AODA), images may not contain text since they are not machine-readable. Further, all photos on a website are required to have alternative text. “Alt Text” is a simple description of the image for people with visual impairment. Whenever you use an image, make sure you add this text (and copy it to the description field too). See this website for some examples of alternative text by hovering over the images.
Ensure you add “Alt Text” and copy it to the description field in the Media Library to any image you upload.
Types of Images
The website accepts most image formats, including png, jpg / jpeg, gif, webp (served automatically in supported browsers), heic, heif, svg. To maintain a professional, somewhat uniform look and feel, we avoid drawn images and stick to photographs.
We recommend not using images that contain any text anywhere near the borders as feature images since they are automatically cropped and some of the text disappears.
Advanced Kadence Helps for Admins
Depending on your role and corresponding permissions, you may or may not be able to do some of these functions:
- How to edit the side bar menu
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines training video
- Creating a Feature Box Block
- How to change page owner when not displayed in edit mode
- Keyboard shortcuts
- How to change page owners when there isn’t a place in the right hand menu to do so.
See also
- How To – Notes on Various Fleet Tasks.
- How To – Notes on various Webmaster Tasks & Responsibilities (requires WordPress login).
2016-01-31, HM: Added this update log. Removed post about “Creating Racing Results Pages & Folders”.
Added links to https://nsc.ca/an/how-to-fleet-tasks/ and https://nsc.ca/an/library/how-to/.
Moved post about “How to Change a user password” to https://nsc.ca/an/library/how-to/.
2016-05-18, DS: moved BOX how to from Wesmater’s ‘How to’ to this page, moved UME to How To page.
2016-05-25, DS: Moved “how to build calendar iframe” to https://nsc.ca/an/library/how-to/;
Added Posting Race Results under new heading.
Moved ‘Creating Racing Results Pages & Folders For a New Season’ under that heading.
2019-12-08, DS: replaced link to “Uploading Documents Guidelines” with link to “Get Started Guide for New Users”.
2021-04-29, HM: Removed “Create a WordPress Post” since www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/new-wordpress-post.htm no longer exists.
Removed link to “Creating ‘Title’ Posts”, as that option no longer exists.
2021-05-05, HM: Changed first link so it would not open in a new page.
2021-05-15, DS: added BOX Static Link bullet.
2021-05-15, HM: slight re-wording.
2022-06-15, HM: added link to Date & time formats.
2022-07-03, HM: shortened permalink; updated links to all child pages, including intro-wordpress-and-box.
2022-07-14, HM: added links on Expiring Posts, Post updates.
2023-08-19 SK added link to newly created page Keyboard shortcuts
2024-02-18 SK added an overview list of all “How to WordPress” pages by category