May was a busy month here for OIT Design and we’ve had a number of projects in play as we came to the end of the spring semester and, just around the corner, the close of the fiscal year. Yes, as many have departed campus for ritzy Caribbean resorts or posh mountain retreats, we have been toiling away in our subterranean headquarters, tirelessly striving to provide the best possible web environments for our campus clients. Here’s but a sampling of some of the recent fruits of our unflagging labors…
New Client Sites
We’ve recently launched several new client sites including the Interdisciplinary Physiology Graduate Program, The Center for Human Health and the Environment and The Virtual Computing Lab. Have a look at these sites for an example what an NC State WordPress site can do for you.
Get on the Web updated
We have updated our Get on the Web tutorial site, which helps faculty, staff and students decide which NC State web hosting solution best meets their needs. These updates include an improved dynamic questionnaire to help users narrow down their options to the service that best fits their use case and a comprehensive set of web content guidelines to ensure visitors to your site can make the most of the content you have to offer. Whether you are still unsure what sort of website you need, organizing content for a new site or revising an existing site, Get on the Web has a wealth of information to make your job easier and your site better.
PHP Update
Last month we performed a campus wide update of the PHP server scripting language, which websites use to display dynamic content. All OIT-hosted sites are now running PHP 5.5
New Shortcodes
Brian and Chris have been hard at work updating and adding new shortcodes for our WordPress clients. Shortcodes are a simple way to improve and customize web page elements through features such as callouts, buttons and columns. And thanks to the improved Shortcake shortcode interface, you can even implement these features through the visual editor and bypass all that fussy coding that makes them tick. Some of these features are still in beta version currently and we are seeking pilots to test them out and provide feedback. If your are interested in becoming a shortcode test pilot, contact OIT Design.
Multi-Auth Plugin
We’re hard at work migrating our clients to Shibboleth authentication. Campus users are probably very familiar with WRAP, our homegrown NC State authentication tool. WRAP is on the way out, soon to be replaced by Shibboleth, which is a much more robust and widely-used authentication service. WRAP doesn’t yet have an end-of-life, but rest assured all our web clients will be moved to using Shibboleth well in advance of that time.
Questions about our authentication tools? Contact OIT Design.
Fare Thee Well, Hosted Drupal
As of June 1st, 2016, NC State has decommissioned its hosted Drupal service. We have now migrated all hosted Drupal sites into WordPress and cPanel.
Star Trek/ Wars Imbroglio
Finally, we nearly suffered an irreparable team-wide schism during a discussion of the fate of the Star Trek/ Star Wars franchises vis-a-vis their common administration under the auspices of JJ Abrams. I’ll spare you the harrowing cloak and dagger which ensued, but the most salient (and torrid) revelation to emerge from the fray was that CHRIS DEATON DOES NOT ENJOY DEEP SPACE NINE. Matters were further complicated by the fact that David only enjoys it insofar as he likes to imagine it is set in a South Central LA of the far flung future. Miraculously, no casualties were sustained but the matter has been permanently tabled out of concern for public safety.