Morristown Jewish Center

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Website User’s Guide

Jump to: Introduction | Day-to-Day Updates | Site Maintenance | Open Issues
Appendix A: Related Documents | Appendix B: Plugins

Version: 0.9, date: 11/19/2024 | Author: Bob Small

Introduction

  • This User's Guide was written at the conclusion of the "facelift" project, which was completed in the Fall of 2024.
  • The overarching goals of the facelift were to improve the usability of the website and its appearance.
  • The design goals can be found in the Website Facelift Summary.
  • Our website will often be people's first impressions of our community. If our site does not meet the high standards that people have come to expect, it will be a turnoff.
  • This document provides information for the MJCBY staff and volunteers who have responsibilities to promote MJCBY and/or keep the website current and make enhancements.
  • The website is written in WordPress (WP)
  • This document refers to communications channels
    • Some are "pull channels" (where the user has to get the information), e.g., the website, our Facebook page, other social media (TBD)
    • Some are "push channels" (where we send information to members), e.g., Monthly Newsletter, bi-weekly E-blasts

Day-to-Day Updates

The target audience for this section includes:

  • The office staff who maintain MJCBY's calendar
  • Volunteers who help to keep the "upcoming events" listings current
  • Event sponsors in the community who have events to promote
  • Staff/volunteers who produce or maintain the other channels of communication (see above)

Google Calendar

  • All MJCBY events are listed in the Google Calendar
  • It is displayed via the Calendar link in the main menu
  • Office personnel maintain the calendar
  • No WP knowledge is needed for maintaining the calendar
  • Anyone in the community who has an event to promote should communicate the event to the office prior to posting it in other channels
  • When events are created for the calendar, it is important that it has complete information, so that someone who might be interested can decide if they are interested in attending that event

Promote an Event Form

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Site Maintenance

This section documents decisions made during the Facelift project and "behind-the-scene" information needed to maintain the website.

  • All related account credentials are recorded in a Confidential Addendum provided to the MJCBY Executive Director
  • The website was designed in 2019 by Hirsch Fishman*, owner of Addicott Web; he has been available for occassional consultations but we do not have an on-going relationship with him

* The estimate of 2019 is based on the creation dates of files with his name as the author
His contact info: hirsch@addicottweb.com | 919.438.2180

Technical Debt

An essential aspect of the project was to eliminate — as much as practical — the technical debt.

  • Prior to the facelift project, a large amount of technical debt had accumulated as many changes were made (or attempted) without a clear understanding of how to proceed
  • Many plugins were installed and abandoned without being removed
  • There were two media libraries from different vendors for no apparent reason and they lacked any sort of file organization; 2,000+ unused media files were deleted
  • At the beginning of the facelift project, there were 120 published pages in the website although many were not current or being used...the obsolete pages have been deleted
  • There are currently 42 published files on the server, including several with the prefix: WEB that are not part of the site but contain documentation about the facelift project
  • The website is composed of approximately 25 pages

Domain Name

Hosting Platform

  • Our website is hosted on servers at the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ). This service is provided at no additional charge to its members as a benefit membership
  • See the Confidential Addendum with the Executive Director for the account credentials
  • The web server is Apache and it uses standard database and programming tools
  • System backups: TBD

Content Management System (CMS)

  • The website is written the WordPress (WP) — a CMS, and uses a customized theme and templates that Fishman created
  • Prior to the Facelift project, the dominant page template used was the "default template" that included a right sidebar that had been poorly implemented
  • During the facelift, all pages were rewritten with updated content using the "No Right Sidebar" or "Landing Page" templates
  • The "Members" site (intranet) is accessed via the Member Login link in the header; it is hosted in ShulCloud
  • ShulCloud and WP do not integrate well together; in the current configuration, these are the only interactions between the two environments:
    • When an event on the Google Calendar requires registration, the registration link goes to ShulCloud (this is handled by the office)
    • When a donation is made, either through the Donate link in the header or the Giving link in the main menu, the donation form is in ShulCloud
    • The monthly Newsletter: as of July '24, the newsletters have resided in ShulCloud; prior issues were stored in the WP file system - this decision should be revewed and all of the files moved to ShulCloud for ease of understanding; the updates to the Newsletter page under the Welcome menu entry are done by the webmaster

WordPress Dashboard

The following sections are in the order in which they appear in the dashboard.

Posts

There are no posts currently used on the website

Events

This feature is not being used; see see Release 3 Update for an explanation

Media

  • The media system used is the native one built-in the core WP system
  • It is enhanced by the Filebird plugin, which creates a folder system for organizing the files
  • The folder system is organized by Main Menu item or Page Name, with images filed according to the page where they are displayed
  • Some files, such as photos of the building, have been kept although they are not currently being used
  • A useful feature of the WP naming convention is that each uploaded image has a url that is unique and based on when it was uploaded, not based on the file folder location, so that moving an image within the media library does not change its url address!
  • TIP: If an image is edited in the Media application, the saved edited version has a new filename, so the referring page's link to it need to be updated

Forms

  • There are several forms used on the site
  • The Religious School registration form is implemented in ShulCloud in order to facilitate the data capture

Pages

  • After the facelift project, the refreshed website comprises approximately 25 pages
  • There are several additional pages with the title prefix: WEB- that contain documentation about the Facelift project
  • Page editing: Creating new pages is done using the Classic page editor; once a page has been created, the content is created using the Elementor editor
  • TIP: when you create a new page, type some random characters in the content field — this creates a non-null field that you can then delete in Elementor; if you don't do this first, Elementor will not be able to open the new page
  • During the facelift, it became clear that the drag-and-drop editor in Elementor was clunky and it was difficult to achieve fine control over the appearance of the page content; therefore, almost all of the content has been created in HTML and CSS within the Elementor block editor using the HTML widget
  • Metadata: It is an essential aspect of page creation to provide appropriate metadata in order to optimize search engine results. See All-in-One SEO plugin (below)

Comments

This feature is not being used. This users guide is in lieu of comments

Elementor

  • This block editor is used throughout the site with almost all content written using the html content widget
  • None of the other content widgets are not used
  • The functions of the sub-menu items have not been used

Templates

  • Only two of the existing templates were used throughout the Facelift project (Landing Page and No Right Sidebar)
  • A significant aspect of the facelift was to replace all of the "default" templates with the Right-hand sidebar), which were poorly implemented and not conducive to viewing the site on a phone.
  • The functions in this menu item have not been actively used

Appearance

  • The theme used on the site is a customization of the Twenty Nineteen theme; the customizations were made by Addicott Web; no attempt was made to change the the theme or templates
  • The Customize feature has site-specific information, e.g., MJCBY's street address, etc.
  • This is where the site menus are managed
  • Additional CSS: This is where all "last mile" CSS updates should reside; however, this has not worked reliably for all styling; this is discussed further in the HTML/CSS section

Plugins

  • Most of the plugins on the site are the free versions; exceptions (premium versions are noted)
  • Currently, the annual license fees for the premium plugins have been paid by Bob Small and reimbursed by the synagogue; a request has been made to the treasurer to establish a different system so that these fees are paid by a MJCBY credit card but this has not been considered to be a priority
  • Automatic updating: currently, most plugins have automatic updating disabled; when the facelift project began, they were all enables — this is a convenience that carries some level of risk: some plugin updates might not be compatible with our configuration. Following a problem with an update from Elementor, the decision was made to disable most auto-updates. See the discussion of this issue in the Elementor writeup in Appendix B
  • Appendix B contain a listing and description of the plugins in our configuration

Users

  • There are only 4 users as of the date this document was written:
    • Amy Weinstock is a VP and her portfolio includes technology
    • Bob Small led the Facelift project and currently serves as the webmaster; there needs to be an alternate identified to protect continuity of operations — this is discussed in the Open Issues section and has been recommended to the Executive Committee although no action has yet been taken
    • Hirsch Fishmanwas the developer who created the site; his account remains active in case he is called in to help; however, he has no ongoing role
    • Office: the office manager is responsible for day-to-day updates to the site

Other Dashboard Items

Tools, All in One SEO, ACF, Filebird, WP MAil SMTP, etc. have not been used, except for as noted in Appendix B.

ShulCloud

  • ShulCloud's services were purchased primarily for its back-office features of financial management
  • Michael Roberts, the MJCBY bookkeeper, is the relationship manager (account owner)
  • The only features that are relevant to this Maintenace Guide are the arrangement of individual members' page: During the Facelift project, the Member Resources tile was added and under it, the Member Directory was moved there and the B'nai Mitzvah Members' Addendum added
  • All other activities are the responsibility of the Office and Bookkeeper

HTML/CSS

  • All of the pages in the site have been created using the WP Classic Editor and the content edited using the Elementor block editor
  • Because of limitations in controlling page layout using the drag-and drop editor, all content is specified in HTML and CSS
  • As part of the Facelift project, we have enhanced the Accessability features of the site
    • Added "alt text" to every image that is descriptive of the image so that a user who is using a screen reader can have a real understanding of what the image is about.
    • to enhance the visibility and descriptiveness of hyperlinks throughout the site, we 1) made the link text more descriptive and 2) made the color of each link a bright blue and adding an underline to make the links stand out
    • All hyperlinks on the pages have been styled according to this spec: link-text
    • Ideally, this would be located in Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS; however, WP did not recognize the "text-underline-offset" spec when it was placed there
    • The second-best option would have been to have a section at the head of each page; there, too, WP did not recognize that spec
    • The last resort was to embed that spec in every link within all the pages; this can easily be done with copy-paste, using any existing link spec as the source; it is inelegant but it works
  • Some pages do have a section at the top, if it was convenient; most do not
  • For specific instances where styling is needed, it is done inline

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Open Issues for Follow-up

  • Establish webmaster role
    • The webmaster should be the focal point in the organization for website-relate issues and opportunities
    • The webmaster should be part of the Communications & Marketing Committee
    • There should a webmaster@mjcby.org email account and credit card for account creation and premium fee payment — this will go a long way towards enabling continuity
    • A second volunteer — with the requisite knowledge and skills — should be identified and trained so that there is a backup
  • Redesign the monthly Newsletter and E-blasts
    • These documents need to have linked tables of content at the beginning so that the reader can go directly to the relevant page, rather than scrolling through to find what they are looking for
    • Descriptions of up-coming events need to have the important information (What, When, Where, Who to contact for more info) in text in a standard layout, in order to make it easy to find information, not incorporated in a flyer

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Appendix A: Related Documents

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Appendix B: Plugins

This list explains the PlugIns that remain in the configuration. Many were removed (and are no longer listed). There are several that have been deactivated but not removed because they might be useful in the future, as explained below.

Auto-updating: Due to the bad experience with Elementor (see below), almost all plugins have been set to manual update. In the Plugin listing on the WP Dashboard, when the entry in the Automatic Updates column says "Enable", that means it is disabled.

Most plugins automatically try to upsell the vendor's premium version. This is annoyong but not necessary in most cases.

  • Advanced Custom Fields Pro
    • This plugin extends the data structure of WP elements and editing screens
    • It might have been used during site construction although not used directly in the facelift project
    • Removing it seemed risky and unnecessary
  • Akismet Anti-Spam Protection
    • This has been deactivated as there are no active blogs with comments sections that need protection
    • It has not been deleted as a reminder of its availability should the site start using blogs in the future
  • All-in-One SEO (AIOSEO)
    • Provides feedback during content creation - scoring and suggesting improvements to page metadata to improve Search Engine results
    • At the time of writing, there is not an active effort to use SEO to enhance search results
  • Classic Page Editor (CPE)
    • Default WP editor
    • Used for creating the skeleton of a new page or changing its internal name; this plugin has limited - but essential - utility
    • There had been a problem with an update to Elementor and the CPE was useful as a stop-gap until the Elementor issue was resolved
  • Code Embed: This plugin allows for Elementor to embed code in the pages - this feature is used throughout the site
  • Disable Comments
    • Deactivated as there are no current blogs or comment fields in the site
    • It has not been deleted as a reminder of its availability should the site start using blogs in the future
  • Elementor
    • Used throughout the site for content creation
    • TIP: When update 3.25.6 was automatically installed on 11/13/24, the "publish" button became suppressed due to a bug in the update — and updates to our content could not be made. It took hours to figure out that a new feature called "Editor Top Bar" was interferring with the functioning of the Elementor menus. Turning off this new feature resolved the problem. The surprising thing was this feature was labelled a "stable feature" (not beta) in the release notes. This was a painful lesson about the risks of leaving plugins set to Automatic Update and they have all since been set to manual update.
  • FileBird Lite
    • Used to create folder system in Media gallery
    • Maintaining good organization of media files is key to ensuring the maintainability of the site
    • This plugin was installed as part of the facelift project; prior, there were 2,000+ media files in the media gallery with no folder system for organization
  • Google Analytics for WordPress: This is active but not currenly being consulted; at some point, we might start doing a page utilization analysis
  • Gravity Forms
    • This is the Form generator that is used on the site
    • The control for where the notification is sent is controlled on each form under Settings --> Notifications; at the time of writing, all form notifications are sent to the office
    • The data collected from each submitted form is available on the dashboard - under each form, the Entries link displays the list of all records created from form submissions
    • We currently are not importing form data from here into ShulCloud; it's likely that the data from these forms can be exported in CSV (comma separated values) format and imported into ShulCloud, but this has not been investigated
    • Supporting Plugins:
      • Authorize.Net: Deactivated: not currently using its functionality to purchase goods and services through Gravity forms; all purchases online are for registration fees for events and handled through ShulCloud
      • SendGrid: This feature connects Gravity form to a Sendgrid account. It is not clear if this plays a role in our configuration and so it has been left activated. I spoke to SendGrid customer support and learned that this account was set up by Fishman. I spoke to Fishman about it and he said that this is his company's account and that we didn't need the credentials! I don't really understand its role in our configuration.
      • Signature: This feature is used on the Membership Application form
  • Maintenance Redirect
    • Deactivated; this should be activated if the site is down for maintenance
    • To date, all maintenance has been done one page at a time and reviewed while the page was published but not connected to the site's menu system, so the site has not needed to be taken off-line
  • Quick Page/Post Redirect: Deactivated; not currently needed but might be useful in the future
  • Relevanssi
    • Enables the search function on the website; the vendor claims it to be better than the native search but I have not investigated this
    • It is activated by the magnifying glass icon in the header
  • Slider Revolution: Used to implement the photo carousel on the homepage
  • The Events Calendar, Events Calendar PRO & Aggregator
    • This feature allows for the creation and display of WP Events, which can be more visually attractive than Google Calendar entries
    • The Aggregator was used to import Google Calendar entries into the Events Claendar, but this proved to be too problematic to be workable
    • A decision was made see Release 3 Update for discussion to not use this feature in favor of only using Google Calendar, mostly for simplicity of operations
    • These plugins have not been deleted against the possibility that the decision to not use them is revisited
    • We bought a one-year subscription to the PRO version in July '24 to try out the features; this will not be renewed unless there is a changed decision
  • Wordfence Security: Does security scans in the background; no idea how effective it is or what it does, but seems harmless
  • WP ADA Compliance Check Basic
    • Deactivated for the time being
    • It provides real-time feedback about accessibility issues as pages are created; however, our templates were created before accessibility concerns were top of mind, so there were MANY alerts that were due to Theme & Template designs/implementations
    • The premium version includes an accessibility widget that could be very useful
    • If and when the site is redeployed with a new, more modern theme, this plugin would be very useful for ensuring a higher degree of accessibility
  • WP Crontrol: There are many active events that run in the background
  • WP Edit: Deactivated; assuming that this plugin was evaluated when Elementor was chosen; candidate to be deleted
  • WP Mail SMTP: I believe — but not sure — that this is used in the Gravity Form submission process. All other MJCBY email is handled outside of WP
  • WP_Optimize
    • Used to compress images and has been used intermittently
    • When an image is opened in the Media Gallery, there is an indication that it has or has not been compressed
    • All images should be compressed to improve site performance
  • wpSUBpages Redirect
    • Deactivated — candidate to be deleted
    • Not sure if it provides the same or different functionality as quick Page/Post Redirect
  • Yoast Breadcrumbs: Creates breadcrumb path

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