We use four WordPress features to track progress when working on American Centuries pages: Authors, Needs, Notes, and Status.

Who is working on this page?

When a page is first created, its ‘Author’ is set to “PVMA editor”, which is a generic user name. Pages with ‘Author’ set to “PVMA editor” are available to be worked upon.

The very first step when you begin to edit a page is to change the ‘Author’ field to your own name, then save the page as a Draft. This indicates to everyone else that you are working on this page.

WordPress will block anyone from editing the page while you are actively editing it. But by adding your name as ‘Author’ everyone else will know that you are still working on it even if you have to save and put the page aside for awhile and that they should not edit it until they are sure you are done.

What needs to be done to this page?

The ‘Needs’ box lets us keep track of which elements need to be completed before the page is ready to be available to the public. When a page is first created, its ‘Needs’ include an Excerpt (a blurb or summary that appears in search results), a Featured Image (a thumbnail), Metadata (dates and terms selected from our taxonomies to support searching and browsing), and Related Items (links to other related pages.) If the page you are editing is a collection item page, it also needs Image(s), and it may need a Transcription if it is a library item.

When an element needs to be worked on, its ‘Needs’ box is checked. When you complete that element (or, if the work is being reviewed, when the reviewer completes that element), uncheck the box—that element no longer needs work. (This may seem backwards initially, but you’ll get used to it. It makes it easier to find all the pages that need work done on a particular element, for instance, to find all the pages that still need work on their Metadata.) When a page no longer has any Needs, it is complete.

Editors’ Notes

The ‘Editors’ notes’ field provides a private place for staff who are working on a page to keep track of questions they have and to leave editorial messages for the reviewer who will vet the page.

It is also useful when you notice something that is amiss but that is outside of the work you are currently doing—leave a note so that the person who comes later to work on the page will know what you found.

The ‘Editors’ notes’ field can be expanded as needed by dragging on the bottom right corner with your mouse.

Status

Draft

When a page is created its status is set to Draft. This means the page is still in progress and not ready for the public. Draft pages are only visible to staff members who are logged in to WordPress. They are not indexed and not visible in the Search|Find page on the front end.

To keep a page’s status as Draft, you must always save your work using the ‘Save draft’ link in the top right of the editing screen. (If by accident you Publish a page by clicking on the big blue ‘Publish’ button, it is easy to go back to Draft. The ‘Save Draft’ link will change to say “Switch to draft”—click it.)

While you are working on a draft page, you can always see how the page will look to web site visitors by clicking the ‘Preview’ link in the top right of the editing screen. A dropdown will appear, choose the link to “Preview in a new tab”.

Pending review

If your page is to be reviewed by someone else, when you are done with your editing task check the ‘Pending review’ checkbox, then save your work by clicking the ‘Save as pending’ link.

Pending pages are like Draft pages in that they are only visible to staff who are logged in to WordPress.

Published

When a page is complete and ready for display on the website (‘front end’), its status can changed to ‘Published’ by clicking on the big blue ‘Publish’ button. The museum will need to establish a policy about who determines that a page is complete and who will publish pages.

When WordPress is done publishing the page, an alert will appear in the bottom left of the editing screen (the opposite corner from the Publish button) saying “Page published” and providing a link to “View page”. You should click on this link to view your page and make sure it appears as you intend. (If not, you can always return to the editing screen, revise the page, and update or publish it again.)

Published pages are visible to any website visitor. They are also indexed and available in the results on the Search|Find page.