Sites Post-Implementation Upkeep
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
posted about 12 years ago
The Graduate School is moving forward with a website redesign, with Sites as the hosting platform and design model. I attended the training, and seen the 'sales pitch' for why Sites is a great, easy-to-use tool for tech and non-technical people alike.
But what does a fully implemented Sites site look like through the Wordpress back-end? The Sites page hierarchy seems visual at first, but I can quickly imagine how complicated it'll get once a major site like the GS's is 'past the point of no return'.
Who out there has already implemented a large (subjective) Sites project, and what are some things 'now' that I can do to keep the back-end tidy and organized?
My web server and my website are structured fairly differently. Over time, the website has morphed into something more fluid, whereas the web server is rigid, and mostly a disorganized maze. It seems like Sites keeps a direct 1-to-1 ratio between how the Sites pages are ordered in Navigation menus, and how they nest on top of each other within the Pages layout. Is that correct?
Also, while keeping to "UMBC" themes, colors, and branding is excellent-- and I'm a big fan of the Creative Services photo kit provided, does anyone have particular tips or insights on how to avoid designing a site that seems too "Generic UMBC", but still keeps a uniform branding.
