Feature #18412
openNew themes for template sites & template usage inquiry
Added by Laurie Hurson over 1 year ago. Updated about 1 year ago.
0%
Description
Hi All,
I looked through some themes today to see what options we have for updating the template sites. Below I have provided some info about where I landed on new themes for the templates. If you want to live preview the new suggestions on the template sites, just let me know and I can add you as an admin.
Teaching Template: https://teaching-template.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Current: Twenty Twelve
New: Tempo
This is likely the most important choice because I think this is the most used template.
Academic Portfolio Template: https://academic-portfolio-template.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Current: Academica
New: Puskar
I would also suggest we change the site name and name in the site creation process to "Faculty & instructor portfolio template" to discourage student use of the template. We have many students building portfolios now and "academic" is too broad.
Conference Template: https://conftemplate.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Current Sydney
New: sydney
I would suggest we leave the theme the same because Sydney has changed recently and there are many new options that make it a great theme.
I can make all these changes because I am an admin on the template sites (except name change during site creation) Let me know what you all think and we can discuss before I change anything.
I am also wondering if we can get a report on number of sites that have used each template to determine how often these templates are being chosed during creation.
Files
| new teaching template screenshot.png (367 KB) new teaching template screenshot.png | Laurie Hurson, 2023-08-17 02:39 PM | ||
| Screen Shot 2023-08-17 at 2.50.51 PM.png (133 KB) Screen Shot 2023-08-17 at 2.50.51 PM.png | Laurie Hurson, 2023-08-17 02:59 PM | ||
| Academic portfolio.png (698 KB) Academic portfolio.png | Laurie Hurson, 2023-09-13 12:31 PM | ||
| Teaching template v.1.png (1.37 MB) Teaching template v.1.png | Laurie Hurson, 2023-09-13 12:37 PM |
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
Hi Laurie - Here are the raw, all-time numbers for the current templates:
(
[Conference Template] => 238
[Default Template] => 9617
[Teaching Template] => 2062
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 8789
)
Let me know if there's a more helpful way to break this down.
Updated by Laurie Hurson over 1 year ago
Thanks Boone.
Would it be possible to get the template breakdown with campus included? For example # of conference/teaching/academic sites created for use at city, queens, baruch college....
And by user role? For example # of conference/teaching/academic sites created by undergrad, grad student, faculty...
If either of these is cumbersome to pull, its not necessary but I think this would give us a bit more insight on who is using these templates. I don't know if there is any need to run these filtered numbers for the default template unless you think that might be worthwhile too.
Thanks again!
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
- Status changed from New to Reporter Feedback
- Target version set to Not tracked
Getting the numbers by user role is complex and time-consuming, because of the way the data is stored.
Here's information about campuses:
Totals:
Array
(
[Conference Template] => 239
[Default Template] => 9624
[Teaching Template] => 2071
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 8795
)
By Campus:
Array
(
[gc] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 20
[Default Template] => 348
[Teaching Template] => 155
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 120
)
[ccny] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 148
[Default Template] => 6121
[Teaching Template] => 762
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 6779
)
[cuny-wide] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 14
[Default Template] => 108
[Teaching Template] => 41
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 49
)
[none] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 6
[Default Template] => 1978
[Teaching Template] => 258
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 1293
)
[lehman] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 5
[Default Template] => 60
[Teaching Template] => 62
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 17
)
[sph] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 1
[Default Template] => 2
[Teaching Template] => 2
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 2
)
[jjay] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 1
[Default Template] => 114
[Teaching Template] => 45
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 55
)
[york] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 3
[Default Template] => 56
[Teaching Template] => 20
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 69
)
[qc] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 10
[Default Template] => 164
[Teaching Template] => 119
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 71
)
[hunter] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 6
[Default Template] => 82
[Teaching Template] => 76
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 96
)
[sps] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 1
[Default Template] => 19
[Teaching Template] => 12
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 7
)
[brooklyn] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 1
[Default Template] => 66
[Teaching Template] => 132
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 22
)
[bmcc] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 2
[Default Template] => 38
[Teaching Template] => 68
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 17
)
[lagcc] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 5
[Default Template] => 27
[Teaching Template] => 24
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 6
)
[citytech] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 2
[Default Template] => 28
[Teaching Template] => 68
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 3
)
[central] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 2
[Default Template] => 4
[Teaching Template] => 2
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 1
)
[slu] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 2
[Default Template] => 17
[Teaching Template] => 16
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 46
)
[kbcc] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 8
[Default Template] => 99
[Teaching Template] => 26
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 31
)
[baruch] => Array
(
[Conference Template] => 2
[Default Template] => 104
[Teaching Template] => 42
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 46
)
[bcc] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 11
[Teaching Template] => 7
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 2
)
[csi] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 39
[Teaching Template] => 38
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 16
)
[qcc] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 9
[Teaching Template] => 9
)
[hostos] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 89
[Teaching Template] => 9
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 12
)
[guttman] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 19
[Teaching Template] => 72
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 14
)
[csom] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 2
[Teaching Template] => 1
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 4
)
[mec] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 15
[Teaching Template] => 2
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 11
)
[law] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 2
[Teaching Template] => 2
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 3
)
[macaulay] => Array
(
[Default Template] => 3
[Academic Portfolio Template] => 3
)
[journalism] => Array
(
[Teaching Template] => 1
)
)
If you think it's critical to have user-role info, let me know and I'll take another pass.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
Follow-up that I don't know why the CCNY numbers look the way they do. They're probably not correct. If this matters greatly, I can go back and investigate, but perhaps what you see above is enough to go on.
Updated by Laurie Hurson over 1 year ago
Thanks for this Boone. No problem about the user role numbers, it's not pressing.
I have a hunch the CCNY numbers may be accurate...The campus writing program has every freshman student creating a portfolio and I suspect that students may be using the academic portfolio template (and default at times) and so these numbers start to confirm suspicion that we should change the name of the template (and possibly make a student template for them...)
Thanks again!
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
Ha, good to know it's not a glitch in my data :)
Updated by Laurie Hurson over 1 year ago
Hi All,
Circling back on the theme updates -- does anyone want to provide feedback on changing the templates' default themes? If not, can I go ahead and change the themes on the template sites so all new template sites created have an updated theme?
Apologies for lumping this ticket in with a data pull request, I think that's how this theme update stuff got lost.
Theme update suggestions:
Teaching Template: https://teaching-template.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Current: Twenty Twelve
New: Tempo
This is likely the most important choice because I think this is the most used template.
Academic Portfolio Template: https://academic-portfolio-template.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Current: Academica
New: Puskar
I would also suggest we change the site name and name in the site creation process to "Faculty & instructor portfolio template" to discourage student use of the template. We have many students building portfolios now and "academic" is too broad.
Conference Template: https://conftemplate.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Current Sydney
New: sydney
I would suggest we leave the theme the same because Sydney has changed recently and there are many new options that make it a great theme.
Updated by scott voth over 1 year ago
Hi Laurie - Thanks for all the work you've done on this. I think Tempo is a good choice for the Teaching template, since it feels like an upgraded version of what we have now, with many new options. My only gripe with it is it doesn't have a full width option.
Puskar as an Academic Portfolio template seems buggy to me in terms of the header image and the slider. I couldn't get either to work (maybe you can double check and see if it works for you). Maybe as an alternative we could use Neve?
Sydney as a Conference Template looks great. It has lots of features and looks really cool. Good choice.
Updated by Laurie Hurson over 1 year ago
Thanks for this feedback Scott! I have changed the teaching template site and demo sites to Tempo, and will leave conference template on Sydney.
https://teaching-template.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
https://teaching-template-demo.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
I will check out Neve on the academic template and update the theme on that template site soon.
Boone, would it be possible to change the "Academic Portfolio" name during the creation process to "Faculty & Staff Academic Portfolio" or something similar. (https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/sites/create/)
Lots of cuny undergrad students are using the academic template for class writing portfolios and the default pages etc don't make sense in their case.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
Boone, would it be possible to change the "Academic Portfolio" name during the creation process to "Faculty & Staff Academic Portfolio" or something similar. (https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/sites/create/)
Yes, I can change this at any time. Just let me know what you want it to be.
Updated by Colin McDonald over 1 year ago
Hi Laurie and Scott, thanks for staying on top of these theme upgrades. Tempo for the teaching template is looking good to me, though I'm getting "Posts" as kind of a second line or secondary item in the nav that looks a little odd. Maybe we don't need it, at least by default? Or maybe we could find a way to get it all on one nav line.
I wonder if we want to consider removing "portfolio" entirely from the Academic Portfolio name, as I see how that can be confusing for students. What about something like Faculty/Staff Homepage? Perhaps the use of "scholar" in the description is also too unclear, as can't students be considered (or consider themselves) to be scholars as well?
"The Academic Portfolio Template launches a WordPress site pre-configured to present the work of a scholar and teacher."
It begs the question of where we'd want to direct students looking to set up their own homepages or portfolios. Laurie, do you know if that's a common need? Perhaps our ongoing #17768 CV work will be worth pointing students toward eventually when it's live, but in the meantime, is it just best for students to start with a normal site and perhaps some suggested themes we could put in documentation?
Updated by Laurie Hurson over 1 year ago
- File new teaching template screenshot.png new teaching template screenshot.png added
- File Screen Shot 2023-08-17 at 2.50.51 PM.png Screen Shot 2023-08-17 at 2.50.51 PM.png added
Hi Colin and Scott,
I decide to change the teaching template to Ashe because it had a featured image an sidebars and overall looked more updated than the other pick: https://teaching-template.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Boone, new screenshots of the teaching and academic templates are attached to update the image of the template in the creation process
Scott, I see what you mean about the bugs in Puskar, I could get the header image to work but couldn't change the title color or get the slider to work. I tried the Neve theme but couldn't figure out how to add a header image or add a slider with the free version, lots of the header options I saw were more menus. Were you able to get a header image or slider to work with the free version of neve we have? I wonder if all these theme options might be too overwhelming for new users to create a portfolio but I will leave the academic portfolio running neve and let's see how it goes. I kind of like how its a blank slate, and encourages users to explore and personalize the site. New screenshot attached.
Colin, I think we should leave "portfolio" in the title for the academic template, but make more clear it for instructors. And maybe consider making one for students with input form CCNY... Perhaps we can add these items to the agenda for the first fall team meeting.
Thanks all!
Updated by Boone Gorges over 1 year ago
Laurie, could you please assign the ticket to me when you're ready for implementation? It doesn't need to be linked to a milestone, as it's something I can do in the Dashboard, but I want to be sure you're 100% set with the new name and screenshot before I make the change.
Updated by Laurie Hurson about 1 year ago
- File Academic portfolio.png Academic portfolio.png added
- File Teaching template v.1.png Teaching template v.1.png added
- Assignee set to Boone Gorges
Attaching updated screenshots.
Let's update the screenshots in the Create page now, but keep the name the same on Academic Template. Template name warrants further discussion at team meeting but I think it's best to get the screenshots up now since this is what users will see if they activate the templates currently.
Just to recap:
Teaching template changed from Twenty Twelve --> Ashe
Academic Template changed from Academica --> Neve
Conference template same: Sydney
Only Screenshots for teaching and Academic templates needs to be changed in creation process.
Updated by Boone Gorges about 1 year ago
Thanks, Laurie. Could you check to see whether you have the ability to modify this? https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-admin/post.php?post=70078&action=edit If so, you can change the Featured Image on your own. Otherwise I'm glad to do it - just confirm that you want it done immediately, or if not, exactly when it should happen.
Updated by Laurie Hurson about 1 year ago
Hi Boone, I just updated the featured image and it looks like its live in the creation page. So yes I can update and will complete this task. Can you also provide access to the academic portfolio post so I can update the image there too?
thanks!
Updated by Boone Gorges about 1 year ago
Laurie, if you've got access to edit that item, then you should be able to edit any item here: https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=cac_site_template Let me know if you have problems.