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A guide for Admin users of the Academics subsite to add new taxonomies (with optional tooltips) that act as filters for the Academic Programs custom post type on the University of Southern Maine public website .
Definitions
- Taxonomy: A term used to categorize or tag posts and custom post types (e.g., Academic Programs)
- e.g., colleges, program types, modes of study, etc.
- Tooltip: A message that appears when you hover your mouse over an icon to provide context or more information
- Areas of Study: Groups of generalized academic topics
- Colleges: Top-most level groups of academic programs
- Every program belongs to a college that contains smaller schools and departments
- Exception: Women, gender, and sexuality studies
- Credentials: Certificates, minors, and micro-credential digital badges
- Degrees: Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees
- Departments: Third-level groups of academic programs
- Most programs belong to a department that may or may not be part of a larger school
- All departments belong to a larger college
- Modes of Study: How a program is accessed by students
- e.g., online, accelerated, hybrid, hyflex, etc.
- Program Types: The outcome of completing a program
- e.g., degree, certificate, accelerated pathways, micro-credential, etc.
- Schools: Second-level groups of academic programs
- Many programs belong to a school that is part of a larger college
- Some programs are also part of a smaller department
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How-to
WARNING: Make sure you have at least one new Program Marketing Page ready to go for a new taxonomy before creating it. Once a taxonomy is created, it appears instantly in the available filters with a zero next to it. There should be at least 2 programs available before adding a new taxonomy term.
Step 1: Log in to WordPress
Begin by logging into WordPress with your maine.edu credentials. Use the "MySites" menu in the upper-left corner of your screen to navigate to the "Dashboard" for the Academics subsite.
Step 2: Open the appropriate taxonomy
INFO: Sometimes, you will need to add more than one taxonomy to properly identify and filter new programs.
The full list of filter taxonomies is as follows:
- Areas of Study
- Colleges
- Credentials
- Degrees
- Departments
- Modes of Study
- Program Types
- Schools
For this example, we'll add a new Program Type called "Polymath Pathway." Click on the image thumbnail to see the full-sized version.
From the Academics Dashboard, hover your mouse over the "Academic Progs" menu item in the left-hand sidebar to open the submenu. Then, click the "Program Types" submenu item.
Step 3: Enter the taxonomy name
Fill in the stakeholder-approved name of the new taxonomy and click the add button.
There's no need to fill in the slug or description fields.
Step 4: Edit the new taxonomy
After the confirmation message appears, hover over the newly added taxonomy — which will be at the top of the list — and click the "Edit" link.
Step 5: Add a tooltip (optional)
This step is not required for every filter taxonomy, but some official university terms are not self-explanatory. Adding a tooltip description provides website visitors with a little more information when they hover over the circle "i" icon that appears next to the taxonomy term on the filter page, when this field is used.
Only add tooltips to the following taxonomies that appear on the filter page:
- Areas of Study
- Program Type
- Modes of Study
Scroll down to the "Tool Tip Message" field and enter the approved language from the appropriate stakeholders.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Update" button, and wait for the taxonomy updated confirmation message to appear before leaving this screen.
Click on an image thumbnail to see the full-sized version.
Step 6: Update appropriate Program Marketing Pages
Now, update the Program Marketing Page(s) you have ready to launch. Launch the edit screen for a relevant Program Marketing Page and open the settings panel on the right-hand side of the screen.
With the "UMS Academic Program" tab selected, scroll down to the appropriate accordion section and select the taxonomy you just created.
INFO: If you have the edit screen open for any Program Marketing Pages while you are creating a new taxonomy, you will need to refresh the edit screen to see the newly-added taxonomy.
Step 7: Check your work
Go to the front page of the Academics subsite and look for the taxonomy term you added.
If you included a tooltip, hover over the circle "i" icon to make sure it works and that the text is accurate.
Step 8: Filter on the back end
After assigning the new taxonomy to Program Marketing Pages, you will also be able to filter by that taxonomy on the back end.
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