STA Blog

Asmita Karmakar

Asmita Karmakar

Blog Post Week 2

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Hi everyone!

For my second week I spent most of my time working on the Blanton Website Migration project.

 

 

 

Project: Blanton Website Migration
Client /Prof: Blanton Museum
completion status: started work on August 23 and still continuing
staff guidance: Ruben Garza
STA team members: Marianne, Angie
description/plans: Start working through more pages and seek guidance on creating more complicated page layouts that don’t use the typical 30/70 section divide.

To be completed: long-term project, date not known but is a priority

The Austin In Depth section took me a bit of time since it was my first time creating lots of new pages to add to the left-side navigation bar. Ruben provided me with a few example pages to help me get started.

 

The Past exhibition page contains all of Blanton museum’s past exhibitions back till the 2000s so this page is taking me a long time. I am creating new pages for each gallery and linking it to the main page. I am working on this into the following week.

 

I also completed a training on the basics of WordPress and made this little post. I played around with some of the media options and inserted this cute gif of a corgi waving.

First week blog post

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My first week as an STA!

I had two firsts this week: starting my sophomore year of college and joining the Design and Coding STA team! It was an exciting week to say the least. In terms of my STA work, this week I began to work on my first STA trainings on web development basics.

I learned how to use the browser inspect tool and messed around with the UT Rhetoric and Writing webpage. It was really fun to change the stylistic elements and learn more about how to view the HTML/CSS of a website.

I also got to pick apart the accessibility of certain website like one for Channing Tatum’s book “The One and Only Sparkella” through my web dev accessibility standards training. This grew my understanding of how a website layout/style can affect the viewer’s experience and encourage inclusitivity.

I also started work on the Blanton Website Migration project. I worked alongside Ruben, Marianne, and Angie to help with the website refresh through WordPress. This was my first time working with WordPress so I had a lot to learn about the different tools and widgets. I worked on numerous pages and copied over the content such as the #MuseumFromHome page and the Accessibilities and Amenities page.

The use of WordPress for the Blanton project helped me gain more comfortability using the application which also aided me in creating this blog post!

 

Welcome to the STA Blog

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Hi Adrian! 🙂 Welcome to the STA Blog! This the page where your blog posts will published.
Toward the end of your STA Orientation, you’ll design and upload a banner to go at the top of this page.

Upload a Blog Banner

Step One: Design Your Banner in Photoshop

Use these Photoshop specs when you’re making your banner:

  • Your banner should be 780 pixels wide (the height doesn’t matter)
    • Must include your name, your major, and your expected graduation year
    • Your banner should reflect who you are (your personality, interests or major)
    • Make sure to save your banner for the web (i.e. File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy))
    • If you save your banner as a JPG, make sure sure the quality is high (i.e. at least 60)

Step Two: Save Your Banner

  • There are two places you can save your completed projects: UT Box and the LAITS server. You’ll be given a personal folder in both locations. For now, you only have to save your banner to UT Box, but you may have to access the server at some point in the future.

Accessing UT Box

Accessing the LAITS server

  • Accessing the LAITS server from off-campus is slightly more complicated.
    • You’ll need to be registered with Duo if you aren’t already (you can register here).
    • Then you’ll need to connect to the UT VPN and the LAITS server. The videos below will walk you through how to do that:
    •  Then navigate to your STA volume folder and save
      • smb://file.laits.utexas.edu/sta/Adrian McKee
    • Save your banner both as an image and an unmerged PSD

Step Three: Upload Your Banner to the STA Blog

  • Log in the the STA Blog here.  You should’ve received an email confirming your new WordPress account with your username and assigned password. If didn’t get it or you can’t log in, ask Suloni or another STA.
  • You’ll be able to change your password anytime by going to Users > Your Profile > Account Management > New Password.

Uploading media and banners in WP

  • Read these links before you upload your banner.
  • They will walk you through how to upload media to your blog.

How to Upload a Homepage Banner

Adding New Posts and Media