Creating a New Blog Site with the UTC theme

(You must have Administrator permissions.)

Create a new Blog

• Log in with CAS
• Go to the Dashboard
• Click on “My Sites > Network Admin” in the top menu.
• Under “Sites” in the sidebar, click on “Add New Site”
• Give the Site a URL
• Give the Site a name
• Add webmaster@utc.edu as the Admin Email.
• Click “Add Site”
• Go to your new site:
  Click on “My Sites” then find your new site in the list, OR Type the URL in the browser

Add an admin user (blog owner)

• For existing users:
  • Go to “Users” > “Add New User”
  • Type in email or UTCID in the “Email or username” field
  • Change role to “Editor”
  • Check “Skip confirmation email”
  • Click “Add Existing User”
• For new users:
  Go here for details: https://blog.utc.edu/2013/08/adding-users-to-utc-blogs/

Theming and Menu Set-up:

• Go to “Appearance” > “Themes” in the sidebar
• Find “UTC Tailwind Genesis” in the list, rollover and click “Activate”
• Next go to “Appearance” > “Menus” in the sidebar
• Add “Main Menu placeholder” in the “Menu Name” field.
  • Check “Primary Menu”.
  • Click “Create Menu”.
  • You can add to this menu at any time.
• Next, click on the “Create a new menu” link in the white box at the top of the page.
  • Add “Secondary Menu Placeholder” in the “Menu Name” field
  • Check “Secondary Menu” (This will add the “I am” and “Quick Links” menu items.)
  • Click “Create Menu”
• Go to your site homepage to check the menus.
  If they are not there:
  •  Go to “Appearance” > “Customize”.
  • Click on “Menus”
  • Click on “Main Menu placeholder”
  • Check the “Menu Locations” to see if “Primary Menu” and “Secondary Menu” are checked.
  • Click “Publish”.
  • Close out of that interface to get back to the Dashboard.

Add Plugins

• Go to “Plugins” in the sidebar.
• Check the following plugins:
  • Add Widget After Content (optional)
  • AddtoAny Share Buttons (optional)    
  • Akismet Anti-spam: Spam protection (mandatory)   
  • Authorizer (mandatory)   
  • BackWPup (mandatory)   
  • Edit Category Slug (optional)  
  • Edit Flow (optional)    
  • Efficient Related Posts (optional)   
  • Enable Media Replace (optional)    
  • FitVids for WordPress (if you are going to have videos in your blog)   
  • Genesis Blocks (recommended) 
  • Guest Author (recommended)   
  • Iframe (mandatory)
  • Imsanity (mandatory)
  • Jetpack (mandatory)
  • Jetpack without Promotions (recommended)  
  • My Eyes are Up Here (recommended)
  • Network Plugin Auditor (mandatory)
  • Relevanssi (mandatory)
  • Simple Page Ordering (mandatory)
  • Simple Yearly Archive (optional) 
  • Site Kit by Google (recommended)
  • Taxonomy Images (recommended)
  • Taxonomy List Widget (mandatory)  
  • UTC Department Directory Widget (recommended)    
  • UTC Email newsletter (not usual, for email campaigns)   
  • UTC WP YouTube filter (mandatory)
  • Video Thumbnails (if you are going to have videos in your blog)   
  • W3 Total Cache (mandatory)     
  • Widget CSS classes (mandatory)
  • Widget Options (recommended)    
  • Yoast SEO (mandatory) 
• In the dropdown below the widget list, select “Activate” then click “Apply”

Remove and Add Widgets

• Go to “Appearance” > “Widgets” in the sidebar.
• Under “Primary Sidebar” Remove all the default blocks.
• (Open the Block details and select “Delete”)
• Then under “Primary Sidebar”, add the “Text” widget and add the title “Contact Info”
• Sample info to enter:

Blog Owner’s Name (if applicable) Department University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Street Address Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598 Phone: 423-###-#### Email: firstname-lastname@utc.edu

• Click “Save” then “Done”
• Under “Above the Footer: Department Information”, drag the “UTC Department Directory Widget” (at the bottom of the “Available Widgets” list) to that widget region.
  Under “UTC Organizational Sections:”, select the organization’s name.
• Click “Save”
• When it is finished, click “Done”.
• Click your site to check the footer and the sidebar widget.
  

Add Google Site Kit (optional and can only be done by a UTC web developer)

To add Google analytics and a stat dashboard to the site, click on “Google Site Kit” in the upper part of the admin sidebar menu and do the following:

• On the “Set up Site Kit” page, check “Connect Google Analytics as part of your setup. Activate Google Analytics to track how much traffic you’re getting and how people navigate your site.” Then click on “Sign in with google”
• On the “Choose an account” page, choose webmaster@utc.edu, then click “Continue”.
• On the “Sign in to Site Kit” page, verify that you are signing is as webmaster@utc.edu, then click “Continue”.
• On “Site Kit wants access to your Google Account”, click “Continue”.
• On “Have Google verify site ownership”, click “Verify”.
• Click “Next”, if prompted.
• On “Turn on metrics in your dashboard”, click “Allow”
• On “Set up Search Console”, click “Set up”.
• On “Set up Google Analytics”, click “Next”.
• You should be redirected back to the blog site.

• On the blog site, you may be prompted to choose some options; please select the following:
• “Account” > “UTC”
• “Set-up a new property” > “blog.utc.edu (465063435)”
• Click “Complete Setup”

You’re all set with analytics! With a new install, it may take up to 72 hours to get the data stream.

Finishing Touches

• The “Hello world” article is the default starter post and will need to be deleted. The accompanying starter comments can also be deleted.
• If you do not want comments to be available to the public, go to the Dashboard to “Settings” > “Discussion” and uncheck “Allow people to submit comments on new posts”. Uncheck all other items below that and “Save Changes”.
  (Note: The “Hello world” article will already have the comments allowed for that specific article. You can remove that by editing the post, going to “Post” in the righthand sidebar, scroll down to “Discussion” and uncheck allow comments.)
• Check your site again.
• You’re done!
• Notify your blog owner.