Change the way your university sees news - #heweb11

connect

simplify

looks for related stories -

based on tags, title, content.

how do you keep users on your site?

show them more of

what they want.

BEFORE

Magazine

Website

Research

Website

Employee

News

Website

General

News

Website

Same story. Posted 4 times.

(sometimes even more!)

AFTER

MERGE

Merging internal content sources

makes all your content more:

• News Service
• VUCast - Video/Media
• myVU - Employee Communications
• Exploration - University Research
• Lens - Medical Center Research
• Vanderbilt View - monthly magazine
• Experts @Vanderbilt

Merging in 4Q.2011:

• Medical Center News

Magazine

Employee

News

Research

Site

General

News

• manageable
• useful
• interesting
• interactive

Same story. Posted once.

Available on multiple front-ends.

or the user can click on any of the

story tags, and see a listing of all

stories specifically related to that

topic.

shorten

#APS1

vanderbi.lt

view simple stats

hook your shortener to WP

brand your stories on twitter

Provide multiple

front doors for

your content.

Get Featured Research

<?php

$nodups = array();

$slideshow = new WP_Query(array('tag'=>'featured-research','showposts'=>6));

if ($slidershow->have_posts()) : $post = $posts[0]; $c=0; while($slideshow->have_posts()) : $slideshow->the_post();

$nodups[] = $post->ID;

?>

<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><img src="<?php echo $localimage;?>" height="350" width="685" title="<?php echo $slidertext; ?></a>

<?php endwhile; endif;?>

Create new page.

Apply Page Template.

Lets get a research subsection...

but no duplicates

<?php

wp_reset_query();

$medlife = new WP_Query(array('cat'=>694,'showposts'=>3,'post__not_in' => $nodups));

if ($medlife->have_posts()) : $post = $posts[0];

while($medlife->have_posts()) : $medlife->the_post();

?>

<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>

<?php endwhile; endif;?>

Vanderbilt View

myVU

news.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbiltview

news.vanderbilt.edu/myvu

Vanderbilt

News

Research

news@VU

news.vanderbilt.edu

news.vanderbilt.edu/research

• Featured Stories Slideshow
• Subpages related to the View

• Featured Stories Slideshow
• Latest Stories
• Events from Calendar
• Stories from View Magazine
• Flickr photos
• Magazine Stories

• Featured Stories Slideshow
• Latest Stories by Research Area
• Research Videos
• Research Events from Calendar

• Featured Story
• Latest Stories
• Videos / Audio
• Research Stories
• Experts
• Magazine Stories

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34186060@N06/4679403124/

page template = front door

<?php

/* Template Name: Research Home Page */

include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/header-research.php'); ?>

<?php

include(TEMPLATEPATH . '/footer-research.php'); ?>

lots of nibbly code bits

Check boxes

determine what

websites a story

appears on

Establish a brand hierarchy

for the individual stories

to determine what that

story looks like.

Video playlist based

on videos tagged

"commencement 2011"

• various header brands are used (based on the brand hierarchy)
• different sidebar content
• different subscribe options
• large video player

Based on what type of story this is...

single template =

individual story view

<?php

if (in_category(168)) { include(TEMPLATEPATH.'/header-research.php'); }

else if(in_category(535)) { include(TEMPLATEPATH.'/header-myvu.php'); }

else { get_header(); }

?>

<?php

if (in_category(168)) { include(TEMPLATEPATH.'/footer-research.php'); }

else if (in_category(535)) { include(TEMPLATEPATH.'/footer-myvu.php'); }

else { get_footer(); }

?>

Neuroscience Program

pulls through stories

tagged "neuroscience"

News listing based on

stories tagged

"breast cancer"

lots of nibbly code bits

Human Resources sites

pulls news tagged "HR"

and a separate feed for

other stories in myVU category

content

lacy tite

Lead Web Developer

Vanderbilt University Web Communications

@lacytite

• private university in nashville, tn
• 10 colleges
• 12,000 students
• 23,000 employees (medical center!)
• Research Institution
• Web Comm manages all top-level websites, social media presences and content management systems

strategy

image courtsey of www.style-photo.ch (2007)

Change the way your university

sees news with WordPress

automate

@lacytite

View presentation and code samples at:

lacytite.com/heweb11

email template basics

myVUpreview

Vanderbilt

View

research

news@Vanderbilt

get last # days ... in # category ... tagged #

Automatically generate

HTML coded emails.

Stories tagged "featured" within last 4 days

Upcoming Events pulled from calendar (not WP)

stories NOT tagged "featured" within last 4 days.

Media (video/audio) tagged "myVU featured media"

stories in Vanderbilt

View category within the last 28 days - tagged "featured".

The rest of the stories

(not tagged "featured")

function filter_where( $where = ' ' ) { // get last 5 days

$where .= " AND post_date > '" . date( 'Y-m-d', strtotime('-4 days') ) . "'";

return $where;

}

add_filter( 'posts_where', 'filter_where' );

query_posts( $query_string. "&cat=40&tag='featured-myvu'" );

if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()): the_post();

endwhile; endif; wp_reset_query();

remove_all_filters( 'posts_where', 'filter_where' );

Research stories within the last 7 days

Videos tagged "featured research media"

lots of nibbly code bits

lovely html email code

$campaigntracker = "?utm_source=myvupreview&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=myvupreview-".date('Y-m-d');

generate URLS with Google Analytics Campaign Tracking

<tr><td style="padding-bottom: 7px;" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="middle" width='70'>

<a href="<?php the_permalink();$campaigntracker;?>">

<img src="<?php if($image_url!='') { echo $image_url; } else { echo 'http://news.vanderbilt.edu/i/vu-icon.jpg'; } ?>" width='50' height='50' align='left' hspace='8' vspace='8' style='background: #FFF; padding: 3px; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin: 0;'>

</a>

</td>

<td style="padding-bottom: 7px;" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" valign="middle" width='265'>

<h2 style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12pt; color: #666666; line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0; padding: 0; "><a style="border: 0; text-decoration: none; color: #666666;" href="<?php the_permalink(); echo $campaigntracker;?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>

</td></tr>

Don't want to create a customized email?

Let Feedburner Emails do it for you.

Schedule stories to post.

Then go do something else.

automatically

generate images

functions.php

// Enable support for post-thumbnails

add_theme_support('post-thumbnails');

add_image_size( 'feat-research', 685, 350, true );

add_image_size( 'feat-story', 300, 175, true );

add_image_size( 'feat-media', 170, 95, true );

add_image_size( 'research-thumb', 215, 110, true );

help

takes time...

SAVES time.

build site-specific

help pages