NCompass Live: Pretty Sweet Tech: Introducing the New WordPress Multisite

Good morning and welcome to this week's edition of Encompass Live. Uh I am your host Christa Porter here at the Nebraska Library Commission. Uh Encompass Live is the commission's weekly webinar series where we cover a variety of topics that may be of interest to libraries. We broadcast the show live every Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. Central time. But if you're unable to join us on Wednesdays, that's fine. We do record the show as we are doing today and it will be available for you to watch later at your convenience. and I will show you at the end of today's show where you can access all of our show recordings. Um, for those of you not from Nebraska, uh, because I know we have some people that have registered that are not, uh, that's awesome. Welcome. Uh, um, the Nebraska Library Commission is the state agency for libraries in Nebraska. So, we are similar to your whatever state library. Um, so we provide all the training and services and consulting and grants and resources and databases and all sorts of things to all sorts of libraries in the state. Um, a question I get sometimes about our our encompass live shows here is about continuing education uh credits and earning those hours. Um, a after this show is over, a thank you for attending email will automatically be sent to everyone who attended the live show and there is a PDF certificate attached to that and that will serve as your proof of attending the show if you need to give that to anyone. Um, if you are a ne um a Nebraska attendee from any um either working anywhere in Nebraska and you attended this live show and you're in our public librarian or library board certification programs, you do not need to apply for your CE hours for watching encompass live, I will submit that automatically on your behalf to our CE people. If you watch one of our archived shows, each one of those sessions has a special form for that particular show. So, you would use that. If you are not from Nebraska and watching this, you will need to reach out to whoever is yours, whoever grants your CE, your continuing education hours, um we are not authorized to issue C credits for other states or other programs only for Nebraska. Um but as I said, you will have um but many states have um given uh CE for attending our live shows or our recordings. All right. So, it is the last Wednesday of the month, which means it is pretty sweet tech day. Yay. Uh, the last Wednesday of the month is when Amanda, uh, our technology innovation librarian, comes on Encompass Live to talk about something techreated. Good morning, Amanda. >> Good morning. >> Um, we do have other techie related shows throughout the month sometimes, but uh, generally you can always depend. The last Wednesday of the month will be Amanda talking about um some new fun things that she's discovered or wants to share. And today we are talking about a new offering. Yeah. That we have through the library commission um uh for um providing websites to libraries. Um this is a program we've offered websites for libraries for a long time over 10 years but the program that is changing. Yeah. and this is one of our new options. So, I will just hand it over to you, Amanda, to talk about um what's coming, what's been happening, why it's happening, all that good stuff. >> So, for a little bit of background, and I feel like I've been talking about this ad nauseium for like ever, you know, we do we were we say we've been talking about this for a long time, and but there's still some libraries who haven't heard or I mean, that's understandable or just are confused about what we're doing. It's always good to keep reinforcing. >> It's true. >> Yeah. >> So, for those who haven't heard yet or want a refresher, if you know about the Nebraska Libraries on the Web Service, the commission has been running that for probably 10 plus years. >> And so now that is no longer going to be operated under the in the same way anymore. So now we were trying to figure out some different ways to be able to transition people from the old WordPress multi-sight and I will explain later in this presentation exactly what a multi-sight is and how it works. But first off I just want to explain how the library the library commission used to host about 40 plus different websites on the WordPress hosting site. But now that we're no longer able to support that WordPress multi-sight that was hosting those websites, we had to try to find different ways to migrate people over to different solutions or alternatives. So a good number of libraries went with the free site that Vern here at the commission was able to build out and it was awesome. I love that he was able to do that. um that is a stat is a more or less static layout website that libraries can get started with that pulls mostly from the database that the commission already keeps. So that stored like the library hours, the staff information and all that cool stuff. >> And a lot of that data actually comes from the public library survey that you all submit to um services and and some things that you put on there. >> Yeah. And because stuff changes over time and policies change, staff changes, all that different stuff changes, Vern also baked in some different portals, a little submission portal so that you can update documents and update images. And there are certain select areas on the site where you can refresh content and update different things. So some libraries are happy with the free site. They are like cool, good to go. But other libraries wanted to actually have more flexibility in what they were able to do with the site. So the WordPress options, I shopped around for a whole bunch of different new WordPress hosts that might be able to work with us and landed on Lib Chalk. And Lib Chalk is a word, he doesn't just do WordPress. It Lib Chalk can work with pretty much any type of website. Um they've done Drupal, they've done pretty much anything. It's just a It's a website host. They're flexible, but I'm just talking about the WordPress side because I don't want people's heads to explode. So, so we wound up going with two different options here. Um, you may have attended a previous Uncompass where we talked about the $250 a year. You just get a regular WordPress site. You can start it. It's yours. You do whatever you want with it. And then it just gets hosted by libtrock and that was the lower cost rate that we figured out and it runs with like the cyber security going in the background. They do the maintenance updating and everything is hosted on lib chalk servers. So what this new option is is that the Nebraska libraries on the web the old version of it actually worked on a WordPress multi-sight instead of a regular WordPress installation. and the way that that WordPress inst it actually is easier at this point to explain what a word a multi-sight actually is. So in the old multi-sight, a multi-sight is actually a network of websites that run together. And so if you think about a traditional website, you start it and then in a WordPress specific website, the layout and the look and feel of the site is actually indicated by what's called a theme. And that theme will show what the header looks like, what that top menu looks like, what the menu down the side looks like, what the pages and colors and everything looks like. So different themes have different looks and feels. And so then there are in addition to the themes on a WordPress website, you also have plugins. And plugins are little additional features like if you want to add a calendar onto a website or if you want to add in um if you want to embed a PDF, if you want to do all these different things, different features usually have a different plugin that needs to be added into the m into the website for it to be able to function. And on the back end of this, all of the people choose to use a multi-sight instead of just a regular website or a collection of different websites if the websites you're running are all somewhat similar because when you set up a multi-sight, all of the themes that are installed on that multi-sight are available across the entire network. So you might have a a single multi-sight installation that in the old case had about 140 different websites had had 140 different library websites on it. Each one of those library websites had access to about at that time there were about 25 to 30 different themes and over time those themes got updated or if it's over a longer stretch of time some of those themes are no longer updated by the developer who made them >> because each different WordPress theme is not actually usually made by WordPress itself. A little small handful of them are like the default 2025 theme or the 2010 theme or any theme that usually has the year number in it. Those are actually maintained by WordPress themselves. But most of them, like the Nirvana theme that I use a lot or Astra or OceanWP or all of these different really popular themes are actually either made by just really enthusiastic people that made them or they're made by actual companies. Like their Nana theme is made by Cryote Creations. And Cryote Creations actually makes a little collection of themes. And some of those themes have free levels and some of them have premium levels. And those organizations that actually go like wholehog hard hardcore into these, they actually are able to sustain both the free and the paid version by lumping and bundling it all together like most companies do by having a free and paid tier, >> right? And but over time, some of those companies might go out of business and you may have operated and run an entire theme, an entire website on a theme that's no longer being updated. So that means you have to change your theme. But the cool thing about WordPress is that you can change your theme at a click of a button. So, they have a live preview feature so that you can experiment with any different kind of theme and you can preview it to make sure it actually looks the way that you want it to. And then you activate it and it'll take over the look and feel of the site. And nine times out of 10, all of your content and all of your everything will transfer from what was in the old theme to what was in the new theme. But the difference is that now these new settings are different for each different theme because no one can agree on how to run the back end of every single theme. And so some of the themes are really simple like some of them you can maybe change a few different colors. You can might you might be able to choose like the font but the layout is more or less the same. And these themes, some themes are actually designed to be simple because people just don't want to deal with it. They're like, I want to be able to set it up. I don't want to mess around with a bunch of different settings. I just want it to look the good and I want it to be set and ready. And more modern themes, they're designed to be responsive by default. But the problem is that when you are working with really old like a combination of the old themes and new themes and if you're running a multi-sight there are usually enough libraries that are running really really old themes that some of those old themes are not responsive anymore and these are the themes that are actually starting to break in the old version. So these themes can no longer be updated. And some of these themes, they don't always necessarily play nicely with every single plugin in existence. >> So when you actually start a multi-sight, you're actually doing a little dance that says, I'm going to choose this collection of themes that's going to be available to every library that's under the umbrella of this multi-sight. And then I'm also going to choose this collection of plugins. And I have to make sure that every single plugin that I choose is compatible with every single theme on this installation. Otherwise, you will start a small tech fire in the background. So, this is kind of like the dance of the multi-sight. So, it's actually easier because if you're trying to update 130 plus websites, you don't want to log into 130 plus different systems or different WordPress installations to be able to do it. In a multi-sight, you log into one system in a login style that's called a super administrator. So I would log into the WordPress backend as a super administrator and I can update every theme and every plugin from that multi-sight. So that is the benefit of having a multi-sight that you don't have to if you're trying to maintain multiple websites at one time. It makes it easier. The tradeoff is that you're running it as a network. So that entire network has to be able to work in tandem and you have to have all these different themes that play nicely. The themes don't have to play nicely with each other, but all of the themes have to work with all the plugins. So that is actually what takes the longest in setting up a multi-sight is choosing which one of those plugins to include and making sure that they play nicely with the themes. Otherwise, when you update stuff, things goes wrong. Things go horribly wrong and both the theme and the plugin can break and it will break across every single site on your multi-sight. >> That said, Wendy explains a lot all about why this has been such a struggle as years have gone for us to >> keep running the multicight that we were. And so the other fun part of that is that back when the commission first started this, the concept of a multi-sight was also still new. >> So the like the features and how a multi-sight work was actually working was still being created by WordPress itself. And then so the when the commission started it, people didn't know this yet. People didn't know the battle of the theme versus the plugin. And most of the plugins that exist now didn't exist then. So the form plugins that were used 10 years ago are drastically different than the form plugins now. And the form the form plugins that libraries were using between 5 and 10 years ago in this old installation don't exist anymore or they weren't updated or the developer just got bored and quit doing it. So, and more of the plugins and themes that were built 10 years ago were just made by enthusiasts. And those enthusiasts, they're usually learning how the system works. And they don't always do it correctly, which is part of the learning curve. So, when you're choosing themes, you also have to play that dance between, is this a good-looking theme that was probably made by a student who's going to stop doing it after they get their degree? >> Or is this a theme that was made by a company that's going to support it long term? Mhm. >> So, I choose all themes that are made by usually under the umbrella of a larger company like Cryote Creations or um OceanWP or I use like the top most popular responsive layout and designs that have some functionality that libraries can customize. So, I choose a little blend of themes that have really high customization like Nirvana. and Nirvana has like an additional plugin that adds additional features that you can change even more stuff in the theme, >> but I know that that's going to be maintained because it's by a company, >> right? >> And I know that it's Cryote also makes other themes so that if Nirvana ever actually does go down, I can flip over to another one and it has a higher likelihood of being compatible with the old stuff because it was made in the same way, >> same company. Yeah. And so I choose those and then I choose um I pair it with a plugin called Elementor. And Elementor you may have seen on previous shows too, but it is a page builder. It's a page builder plugin that basically says even though your theme says that a page is going to look this way, we're going to let you make it look any way that you want to. And some libraries want to mess with Elementor and some don't even want to touch it because it's another thing to learn. So I make it available as a thing that you can do. And the thing with Elementor is that if you start using Elementor, you have to update all of your other themes and plugins first before updating Elementor because sometimes Elementor will it does not always the order of update matters and that's just because of the way that Elementor itself does the updating because it's on it's a page builder that sometimes takes over some of the default settings that are on WordPress or on a theme and sometimes the layout of Elementor takes precedence over any other thing. So, Elementor gives instructions to update everything else before updating Elementor. So when you are working with a hosting company, you also have to let them know if there's an order of operations of things when things should be updated and how. So when this was switched over, um that's the other thing is that for any other library or system that's thinking about getting a multi-sight, I'll also share some of the things that went horrifically wrong that we learned from. So >> failure is important. You learn from failure. Yes. So one of the things that went horrifically wrong is that because the concept of a multi-sight was still coming into existence and most of these features still did not exist yet that order of operations of updating was not known yet >> and some things you don't know until you try it. So what we wound up trying is that some a little handful of the libraries under the multi-sight wanted to use the pro version of Elementor and some of them still wanted the regular and some wanted to not use Elementor at all. So we wound up installing the pro version of Elementor. And when you install the pro version of Elementor on a multi-sight, you can generate separate license keys that have to be activated on a per site basis underneath the umbrella of the multi-sight. But then you also have to install a separate plugin for called Elementor Pro. So, there's a plugin for Elementor the free version and a plugin for Elementor the pro version. And if you have a li if you have libraries that choose to no longer maintain that pro version of Elementor, you have to have an active license of Elementor in order to be able to update the Elementor Pro version. So for a while we were not able to update the Elementor Pro version because there were no longer any active licenses of Elementor and that broke the entire site >> because we weren't able to update that pro version and WordPress likes to have updated plugins for security patches and everything. And we tried going working with Elementor to try to get it off of there. you can't even uninstall the Elementor Pro plugin unless it's updated. And so that is one of the things that broke it more, but it was already breaking in other ways. And so one of the things that I started looking at when figuring out the best way to build out a new multi-sight under a different host was how to not accidentally replicate some of the problems that we had from before. And so what this started to look like is step one before when this old modless site was installed, we didn't know that there would be an issue with themes versus fighting plugins. So, there were too many themes that were added over time and old themes were not always there's no little alert that goes out that says this theme is no longer being updated. >> Like there's no email that goes out. There's no nothing. So, it's a lot on a super administrator to be able to go through every like multiple different themes when you have 25 plus of them to magically know when the developer got lazy or graduated or whatever and stop develop maintaining it. So instead on the new multi-sight, it's just going to be five a pack of five to 10 different hand selected themes. And we're not going to let people actually ask if they can add a specific theme because when you start letting people add a specific theme into a multi-sight, that's when things go wrong. >> That's when things started. I mean, I'm at the beginning when we started this, it was like, oh yeah, of course we'll let you choose. But yeah, it's become in it became way too much. >> Yeah. Y >> I did look up I was I was always curious about this because I always forget and then whenever we talk about the Nebraska our Nebraska libraries on the web program uh project um when we first introduced it on an encompass live show actually was in um May 2011. So 15 years actually we've been doing it. >> Yeah. So that was the wild west of multi. >> Yes. >> And so now it'll be five to 10 themes with that mix of like super simple themes versus themes where you can do a lot with it. But that'll be paired with a page builder. So even though the theme looks that certain way, you can make your pages and customize things in any way that you want. And one the one of the themes will actually be the default 2020 I think it's up to 2025 now. The one that's made by WordPress. And they actually started using a template function, a template feature that gives you more customization ability within their default theme, which also means more buttons and settings that you have to learn, but you don't have to choose that one if you don't want to do all that. And so paired with that collection of themes will also be um a core set of essentials plugins that I'm still testing out. But so far I've got WP forms which is it plays nicely with all the themes to add in a contact form or a sign up form or a booking form or anything that you are looking for. Um, I used to use events manager and I still like events manager, but I'm experimenting with a different calendar plugin. So, libraries can add a calendar that shows up as a list or a calendar that shows up as an actual calendar. And there's different features where you can embed it into different parts of the website. So, those are I'm going back and forth between those two different calendar plugins to make sure that they play nicely with all the themes. And then the third one is going to be a PDF embeder which is just called PDF embed. Um there are other embed tools and other tools that'll let you make flip books online but not all of those tools play nicely with everything and PDF embed generally does and it's been maintained pretty regularly. So I'm probably just going to stick with it. And then there'll be a site analytics. Um Google Analytics is good or some people are used to using jetpack. So I'll just keep the jetpack and the jetpack social and the jetpack >> um suite >> and over time jetpack that default where you track the stats and you can you used to be able to embed the Facebook feed into your website. Mhm. >> Um, Jetpack started off as a single plugin that had everything under one umbrella and now it broke into a few different plugins. So now there's Jetack Social and Jetack WP and Jetack. So I'll add like those the collection of Jetack. So and some of them are also be being put behind a payw wall and some of it is still free. So that'll just be on a per site basis and I'm just going to keep I'm defaulting to the free version of everything. And so those plugins are still evolving, but I'm anticipating that there will be approximately 5 to 10 different plugins and I would go up to as high as 12 if need be. And that's only because some of the themes also come with different plugins to be able to extend the customization ability. Like Nirvana's Cryo Creations has a cryo creations plugin. So stuff like that I'll still add. And so once all of this is set up in the back end, this is the theme and plug-in selection is made by the super administrator of a multi-sight. And then the host like Brian just made the multi-sight last night. And so now I can log into the lib chalk multi-sight as a super administrator and set up all this. >> Yeah. And I we should clarify Brian is Brian Pitchman. He is the owner founder. I don't know how what is he in Lib Chalk. It's is it his? >> So Lib Chalk was made by a group that's came out of IBM. So they're the ones who started Lib Chalk officially. He did a lot with it. I'd actually have to ask him exactly what his origin story in there, but he was there from basically like the start of it. >> And I don't know, he knows a ton about it, but it's it was a whole group of people that started it. >> Okay. Yeah. But he is our he is our person doing the our connection to live chocolate. Yeah, >> he knows all the things. >> Yeah. And if you if any of you are regulars to attend to watching Encompass Live over the years, Brian has been on the show multiple times talking about all sorts of different also techie related things. >> It's true. We do get techy with it >> and all right. So once a super administrator gets this set up which is and the multi-sight is actually started by the actual host if you go if you wind up trying this through a different host different hosts have different levels of support. So some of them will basically just say I'll give you access to the system but you have to figure out how to shard it and but I lib chalk will actually help you with setting the whole thing up so that you can then just get into it and maintain it. So it that'll be a grab bag depending on how the actual website host sets it up and the level of involvement that they actually have. But in this case he just set it up and then I log in and bring it home. And then on the back end of that that also has a cyber security monitor. So it'll go through and track web bot traffic, web traffic. And they it's mostly run out of a combination of AI and actually humans looking at it. So when their system is triggered that something is going wrong, an actual human will go through and review through it and find out what's going on. And there's a lot of AI running in the background to make sure that this is running and monitored across the board. And so once this is all set up by me, then the next level of it will be actually having different libraries get set up in there. So if you are in Nebraska libraries on the web library, I will export your files from the old multi-sight. Mhm. >> And then Brian and I'll pop that into an installation into the new multi-sight and then all of the everything will be remapped to the new site instead of so and then your old URL will be forwarded to this new installation of the new multi-sight. And some of you will be able to keep your old theme if you were using one of the like Nirvana or one of the other recommended themes, but some of you might have to switch to a different theme. And I can usually get you as like to a closer look and feel to what you used to have or you might use this as an opportunity to do a revamp that you may have wanted to do for a while. So, it'll be a 50/50 shot whether you will be able to keep your old theme perfectly or if you'll might need to make some changes. And then um it'll then after this after you're switched over and you do and as a side note you do not have to be a previous participant of the Nebraska libraries on the web service to be involved in the new multi-sight. >> Good to mention that because someone did ask about you know what if we were not already doing this. Yep. This is um >> you know >> this we are reaching out to the ones who are currently in trying to make sure they get transferred to some changed to something else either our free version or this um or if they go off and do their own thing that's also okay as well but um yes any Nebraska um public libraries correct >> yeah this >> I'm sure Brian would let I doubt he would care if a school library did it too but >> so far we've and opening it to public. >> Yeah. And that's what our original Nebraska Libr was for um the whole the concept idea was public libraries like you said back in the wild west of 15 years ago needed websites didn't know how to do it. Couldn't figure out didn't have the time, energy, money to figure out themselves and we here figured out a way where we could offer them a free site to um possibly have. Yeah. >> But yes, new libraries come have have a website either either the free one or this multi-sight one. >> And the fun part for the actual library is that you don't have to deal with any of the other stuff. Um you don't have to deal with the choosing themes or plugins or maintaining the back end or doing any of that. You pretty much just have to log in and update your content and maintain the site. So, if you are a current WordPress user, whether it's through a multi-sight or regular, it's basically just like logging into your WordPress website and making um adding blog posts, maintaining pages, updating like adding a flyer for your latest event, adding updating calendar information, and pretty much doing what you were doing before. And if you were on the old WordPress through the libraries on the web, that service got really really really really really slow to load. And so now this one is like by comparison it's like lightning fast, but it actually just loads regular. So you will not have that same loading issue with the new multi-sight, which is a question that I've gotten time and time again. And we also in the old installation used a duplicator plugin to be able to speed up the process of setting up different websites. But on the back end of that, that duplicator plugin also messed with the file path and the loading path of different images and source files. >> So we do not use that duplicator plugin on the new multi-sight. And all of the file paths are fixed by Brian because I think he's made of magic. And so when the when your old site gets loaded into the new multi-sight, all of those file path issues and duplicator issues are gone. So that'd be cool. So on the library side, you just have to log in and fix stuff. And so that's why I also worked with Diana SA and she made a word a free WordPress course that's offered through the library commissions niche academy >> and you can log into that and you can either learn how to set up and maintain your own WordPress website or you can take it as a refresher to learn the different things and the kind of some of the new features that you may have glossed over or didn't have time to pay attention to before. So, if you want to get started on WordPress, that course is a good place to start. And do you happen to have the link to that course handy by any chance? >> I know I put it on the old libraries on the web homepage. >> Yeah, I will get it. Yes. Um, and so this is kind of where we're at with what you can expect with the new multi-sight. So this will be the five to 10 themes and I've already landed on Nirvana, probably OceanWP. Diana used the example of Astra the free version so I'll be including Astra. Yes. And then the other ones are still in testing phase to make sure that they are compatible. And the other core set of plugins I'll be listing out as they get tested and added in. But I mean the core default of like the calendar forms embed and everything are in there. And it's at this point that if you have any requests or recommendations while this is being landed down, I will take recommendations, but I will not make promises because even recommendation does not mean that it passing and everything plays nicely. So now there's some flexibility in what gets added, but later on um I wish that we could say yes to everything, but it that's what broke it the last time. >> Mhm. >> And but the good Hey, my Bit Defender is updating. Cool. >> So and but the rest of it you don't really have to worry about because Libro does that. >> Mhm. And so down here, the multi-sight is $150 per year. Um, for reference, the full installation of WordPress, if you just got your own regular WordPress that you don't have to deal with a multi-sight and you can have more control over everything, that is $250 per year. >> And with the $250 per year option with Lib Chalk, uh, you can pretty much choose any theme under the sun. You can add in any plugin and you have more flexibility because with a $250 a year version of it, you don't have to worry about 10 different themes playing nicely with 10 different plugins. >> Um, you only have to worry about one theme playing nicely with a collection of plugins that you chose. And as you get started with different themes, you'll also find out that even some of the core functions of like from the traditional Gutenberg editor don't always play nicely with the theme because of the theme's custom settings. So there's there's just no perfect combination like that just doesn't exist. But I'm this will be like the best of combination. And these are actually going to be set to auto update in the background. So auto um updating a theme or updating a plugin um that is where adding in any new security updates, any new functionality, any new layout changes, anything like that. So, if you ever notice anything like a setting that changed or a some like the layout on your website looks slightly different than it used to, it's probably because an auto update happened in the background and the theme itself or the plugin itself changed the setting or changed the theme and now it just doesn't look quite the same way as it used to. And that's not something that you did, something that I did, or something that anyone did. It's just the developer that had to make a change. So, note to self. >> It happens. Yeah. >> Yeah. And so the other thing that I wanted to go over is more or less about the things that are going to be the same and things that are probably going to look a little bit different. >> Mhm. And the things that are the same is that if you were on the old multi-sight or on a WordPress install before, that login and the dashboard, the WordPress dashboard are going to look more or less the same. If you have a full Lib Chalk installation, what will be different is that you now have control over the theme and the plugins and any different settings. you have way more access to the different features. So that might be confusing at first, but you will also have more control over changing the entire theme of your site and adding like all the different features. If you are on a multi-sight, that dashboard will look similar again. But if you were on your old theme, it's probably going to look drastically different in terms of settings because this old installation hasn't been updated in approximately a year to a year and a half. And that's just because the system broke on the back end and wouldn't let us update anything. >> Yep. And that's why we're doing this. Well, one of the many reasons why we're doing this. Yeah. And the fun part of that is that when the old site gets exported in from the old version of the multi-sight into the new version of Lib Chalk, whether it's the multi-sight or the full like a full paid version, a lot of the settings change almost completely >> or a plugin will change almost completely because a year to a year and a half worth of updates happen overnight. M >> and so some of those layouts changed like WordPress changed drastically over the course of a year. They had like a major update. So their theme their default theme setting is completely different and some of the um editor like the regular editor updated. So it'll still if you knew it before, it won't take you too super long to kind of pick up the new stuff. >> But if you're completely new to it, I recommend going to Diana's course because some stuff changed. >> Yes. And I do have that link here. I will um I'll add that into the uh show info for this episode since this is something we're talking about. Um I'll add that link in there as well for everyone. Uh we have it through our niche academy which is a place where we host some of the training that we do some of our CL courses. Um and it's just a free online for Nebraska libraries. Yeah. And so that's more or less the biggest difference is going to be you're going to see a lot of updates in a really short amount of time. And what used to we're used to actually having incremental changes because things might change every 2 months, every 3 months, but this is going night and day from no updates to a year and a half updates. And so it's just going to be a little bit of an adjustment. And some things are going to change barely at all. And some of them will have changed completely. So, the other thing is that I also talked to Diana because I was getting questions from libraries about I just need someone to be able to help me set this up and make it look the way that I want to in the first place and then I'll take it over from there. So she offered to set up like little um mini web development packages so that if libraries actually want that little push of support, they can work with her to get like a um like custom package. And she's one of the only people that I could find that would actually offer like the shorter like the little smaller projects for web development. Most of the web development come like groups or consultants that I talked to, they would only do like the massive projects that cost like thousands of dollars, >> right? >> But she would do like the smaller projects that say like, "Give me like 100, 200 bucks and I'll do these few changes. >> I'll get you started. I'll get you set up to start with." >> Yeah. >> Or give me like a few,000 instead of like 10 like the $10,000 that other places were looking at. and I'll get you like I'll set up your whole site and then I'll help you get started on being able to take over the setup yourself. >> Yeah. Many web developer companies or people are there for those big big companies, big library systems or something that need a ton of things done. But our whole purpose of this whole program is we've got those as you all know you are the little libraries the ones that are you're only serving a population less than a thousand. You're open 20 hours a week. You just need >> Yeah. what they are and it does not have to be crazy huge and you don't have a huge budget to pay a developer to do but we need um and Diana was great to say I will I am here for the for the for the little guy >> and she's been working with libraries forever. She's based out of Florida and she works with the Florida library system over there >> and so she's been doing it for ever so she knows that libraries it's something that libraries need. So she just said, "All right, we'll do it this way." And so she didn't have like a specific pricing structure that says like because it's going to vary quite a bit based on what the individual library actually needs. Cuz if you just ask her to like set up the layout of some like three different pages, then that's going to be different than build my whole site. And so it'll range from like maybe a 100 200 bucks to like maybe thousand like a few like a few thousand or something like that if it's going to be like a really extensive update. So, kind of the the most daunting thing that thing that libraries have run into is that they want to revamp their site, but they just want someone to step in at the start of it to say, "Help me plan it. Help me lay it out. Make it look the way that I want it to look." and then let me take over because I don't have the budget to do this all the time. And weird. >> She also started a an option for the libraries that want small short-term maintenance like every few months or something. So, if you want her to like schedule out like take every few months schedule out some different posts or updates or change the look of this page or do said set up a new summer reading page, then she'll just jump in and do that. So, I'll put in her contact information if that is something that you want to explore because that's something that I just don't have the bandwidth to be able to make a 100 different sites. Like, that's just not going to happen. And so, let me grab Oh, and of course, I'm not even in I'm on my email on my phone, but I'm not in my email on the computer right now. I have her Gmail, but I want her Navari Solutions. There's an easier way to do this. >> She has a website. and she is with so her group is called Navari Solutions. So she does like the education, does WordPress support and does some like the library tech planning all that different stuff. And what I'm looking for are her >> think we have that here >> email. course. Usually I just go into my email and it's right there and you can also go to her LinkedIn and get a hold of her there. She has the contact info in the footer here exactly where it's supposed to be, but what I don't remember is if she's diana Library.com. >> Yeah, and my email is Diana at Yep. I just >> Okay. >> So, Diana Library.com. Yep. That would be directly to her. >> Okay. So, I don't know if you just want to put that into the chat. I'll add it into a slide, too. Yeah. And I will mention because someone did ask as they always do. Um yes, uh these slides will be available afterwards with the show recording. So you'll be able to go back and um uh reference um all of this here. Oops. And so let me add in her. So, she's the one who built the free WordPress course, >> right? >> I mean, the commission purchased it, but it's >> uh available on the Commission's Niche Academy. >> Yep. And I just put into the chat for all of you um her email address and um the direct link to the class the course which is also available through our Nebraska Libraries on the web website and will also be on the show um the page for uh today's show. We do have a question too that has come in. And if I do want to mention everyone um we're getting close to the top of the hour, but um I'm not sure if Amanda has some more things to go over with you all, but also if you have any questions you want to ask um go ahead and type them into the question section and we'll make sure that any questions, concerns you have will be Yeah, there it is right there. The WordPress site um uh will be answered. There is that. And so what was the question that popped in? >> Uh well two different things actually. How will we they be build for the um Liboc? Is that going through us at the commission or is it directly from the library to between the library and live? >> So that goes directly between the library and libchalk. >> Okay. And so he has an online portal where he can do it or he can also go by check or um he can also do a >> he's he yeah purchase order. Yep. >> Okay. So that would be directly between you and them. We we um arrange for this to be available to you, but we don't do any of the billing or any of that. you'll you'll if you do decide to go with the multi-sight or the um more expensive the $250 do-it-yourself site, you're working directly with Lip Chalk um for that. Uh and then the other question is about being converted. Um and I'm not sure which do you mean for the free site or for this because the question says, "Will Amanda contact us when they convert us? Will login information change?" Um, can you can you clarify if you were asking about like would that depend on which choice they make or >> Yeah, like it depends on Yeah, if you can let me know which if you've already contacted me, then I might already be I might already have have you on the list of people that I'm switching over because I got a bunch of people in a row. So, I have a small backlog going right now. But if you have not made the choice yet and have yet to email me, then you can let me know which option you went with >> and then I can if it's a free site um I basically just send it over to Vern and Vern gets it set up. If it is the um lib chalk site, then I export your old files from the old what libraries on the web and then shoot it over to Brian who starts a new installation and >> Yep. So they specified to they're talking specific. Well, it's good to know all the answers, but they specifically were wanting interested in the $150 multi-sight. Yeah. >> Yeah. So that one you would just send me an email or if you can also let me know who you are right now and I can add you to my sheet. >> She said they did already contact you and you're on the list. They're on the list. >> Yep. So you are probably either Redcloud or Oyola and you but it's so yes we are in the process of migrating right now but I just have to set the actual words and the themes and the plugins before giving all the libraries access to it so that the installation actually looks the way that it will look and should look >> instead of saying >> I started to set it up But it's going to get there. So, it's easier to just have it all up and ready before getting people on there. >> Yeah, it is Redcloud. Yes. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, you are on the I have you on the list of two to three libraries that are going to be switching over right now. I have another list of libraries that are still talking to the board and talking going through the process. So yeah, you are on the list to get flipped over when I have the when I've landed down on the specific themes and the specific plugins because otherwise if I do it now it'll be a quiet chaos. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Um another question, another question from someone else. Um do um and I know yes for the free site because Z has said yes. Um and I think we just confirmed with you Amanda about the lib chalk sites follow those new uh web content accessibility guidelines that are coming. >> So the web content so the ADA compliance is actually set by uh it's actually set at a few different layers. Most of the new themes are designed to be modern and responsive. And for the most part, if it's made by a professional company, the like the color contrast will be ADA compliant. >> Some of the themes that are made by people that are just kind of getting started out, they are not always ADA compliant. So most professional themes are designed to be ADA compliant from the start. >> But what changes is that when libraries add in their own custom content and start changing settings, they sometimes accidentally change the settings >> that make it not ADA compliant. >> And you also have to load in page content so that it is ADA compliant. So, I'll give the example that um if you want to make a page in the old days, you would just add in a font and make it the size font that you need it to be in different areas. But in ADA compliance, you have to actually label that heading as a heading and you have to label headings in order. So on this slide here, this WordPress training support would be heading one and then down here would be heading two and then this would be a paragraph. >> So this is heading one, heading two, heading two, heading two, heading two, paragraph, paragraph, paragraph, right? >> This is actually how a screen reader interacts with different content and understands what's going on. So, if you have a website from the olden days, this would actually just be a paragraph that is in bold font that's in size 67 in poppins. And this would be a paragraph in size 24 font in bold. So, if this is the old version of it, or if you add in new content that's all in a paragraph that's just formatted to look like a heading, that's what's not ADA compliant. A screen reader doesn't know what to do with it. And any ADA compliance tools don't know what to do with it. And that's what makes a even a a theme that does its best and invests like a bunch of time and energy into making their theme ADA compliant can still become non-compliant if you don't add in the content in the right way. >> So some of it is on choosing the right theme but some of it is in adding the content in the right way. So, the other thing that happens is that when you load a an image into a website, um there's also an alt text field. >> And nine times out of 10, most libraries will leave that alt text field blank. And it's because you have to go into a separate setting in WordPress to fill it out. And if you leave a in some cases that won't matter because in a um most screen readers and most ADA compliance will tell you a screen reader does not need or care need to know or care about an image that is purely decorative. So, some of it will ignore decorative images and some of it will put in an alt text so that it will say um picture of a room full of people working on laptops in a computer lab. >> Appears to be I've seen that suggested text. Yeah. >> Yeah. And so in some WordPress and in some website hosts, they now actually have AI that goes through looks at the image and makes a recommended alt text that describes what that is. And some and this will be like at an organizational level where you'll actually decide whether a screen reader needs to know about a decorative image like this and or just going to disrupt the experience of a screen reader to say like I truly do not care if there's an image of a bunch of people that are on computers right now. That's not adding any useful content. It was something to make this look more interesting to those of us that can see when we're looking at them. So it's not just words because people like to look at pictures. >> Yeah. >> So the like where you would actually add it is something like this flyer >> because the content and text on a flyer >> you a screen reader would not be able to actually read this if it was saved as like a JPEG or an image. So it would just be it would you don't want this to actually show up as blank. So when you add a flyer for a service, >> you would actually add an longer alt text that says um flyer for event flyer for NLY representing representation and stories for every child made possible by IA by AI and usually it would say event on October 3rd, 2026 at 100 p.m. in the main branch of the library. So, you would actually want to fill out an entire alt text that said that. Otherwise, if you use fly, if you primarily use flyers for advertising, if you don't add that alt text, you won't be ADA compliant and a screen reader will never be able to it'll never even recognize that that image or flyer was there >> and the image the the event is no one will know about it. >> Yeah. All right. So um to start with yes the free sites and lib chalk will start out with being compliant. What you do well the free site you can't change any of the design on that. You can add you can do updates of like here's our new uh story time or something. So that's yeah fine with any of the lib chalk either option if you make other changes that's something you have to be aware of. Um, the up another uh new uh follow-up question came in and we're not going to get into that today because we're already getting kind of in the weeds here about it. Um, is making content ADA compliant part of the lib chalk training? So, Diana did go over some ADA compliance. She has an ADA compliant section. >> Um, she al like if you want you can also go through Diana and she'll go through a review for ADA compliance. She's gotten some requests from libraries about that before. So, >> and we have done sessions here. Uh Andrew Sherman Sherm who's one our um IT support person here through at the library commission has did do um a uh encompass live just in July about library compliance with the ADA title 2 web content accessibility guidelines. And the recording and slides for that are in our show archives. Um, >> and what I would recommend is actually reading all of the different guides for ADA compliance and watching. >> He's got a lot of resources in there to help you go do it as well. And also be aware we've got an extra year to become compliant, too. They did extend the deadline for everybody. So, >> I mean, it does help to do it now because >> just Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, >> you have a little more time, but the earlier you start thinking about it and looking at things, the more time you have to fix anything that you might need to or be able to. >> Um, but session I think was really good with lots of good resources and things to use to help you um make sure you're doing the right thing. And if you are if you are short on time, short on staff, or short on confidence and actually knowing that you're doing it the right way, um you can also reach out to Sherm or me and we can help to an extent. >> Yeah. >> And then you can also go through Diana and she'll just do it for you. And I'm sure that she's not the only one. There's probably like eight jillion people that are going like, "Sure, we'll do it for you." But but Amanda will help you out at no cost. No additional cost with any advice or tips or about things. Yeah. >> But I cannot promise to build out your whole site. >> No. No. >> So yeah, but I can guide you through the steps and process of how it works and how ADA works and what to look for and what to set up, but I can't do it for you and I can't maintain it every step of the way. >> No. and neither can sh even if he wants to. >> All right, what else do we have? Are we we've gone through? >> Um, so after this, I'm just going to add in the updated contact information and then I'll share I'll share the link to these right now because that the link's not going to change, >> right? And let me grab this copy and I'll put it into the chat, which I think probably only goes to you on this one. >> Yeah, that's fine. I will grab it and share it and it will be in the Yeah, got that. Back up. Back up. Copy. there. I did put that link into the questions for everyone if you all want to grab it now, but like I said, it will also be linked off of the um recording archive page to it later. And I am putting in Diana's information. If I stumble across anyone else who is doing like the smaller projects, I'll share that out on um later um emails, whatever it may be. But I'm also fixing the mail to on this because it put in the info and you don't want to do that. Is she a.com or aorg com? >> Yeah, come tell. >> All right. And then I'll also put in my contact information because I can do some of it but not all of it. I've also got other projects too. So, I'm trying not to overcommit on saying that I can do all the everything. And I'll say, oh yeah, I should have I forgot. Yeah, Sherm is actually in is watching right now. I remember I saw Sorry. >> Hi. Uh um and he did just share a link that which is the actual link to the standards. Um if you do want to read through all of those >> um >> or watch his webinar that he does. >> I highly recommend yes watching his uh session too. >> And then I'll also put in >> I'm sure he appreciates us offering him up for support. And I'll also put in the link to Libro's main website. >> I would say to go through either me or Brian to get set up so that you get the right pricing tier and people know that you're actually part of the libraries on the web so that we grab your files and get everything flipped over. But if you also do want to embed like a live like a training or education sequence, um they also do have a a option where you can add in a training portal and add in like education series on your own site too. >> I forgot about that. >> Yeah. Cool. And let me done. Who should have fixed this slide before? So just thought about it right now. Right here. All right. And then I'll also add in my usual question page and then we should be good to go. So I'll take any other quick questions now. Otherwise, you can email me later. >> Yeah. Does anybody have any other questions they want to ask of Amanda um about anything going on with the changes to the libraries on the web project? Um we got comments saying thank you lots of useful information. We'll be in touch. Um we are as as Amanda said we had a lot of libraries that were on our old version of the Nebraska libraries on the web uh site and we are uh desperately working to reach out and contact all of them and make sure we know um get the get you all switched either to one of our new ver new options or just to let us know we've decided to go our own way. Um we have had many of the libraries who were on our Nebraska libraries on the web who have said oh we have something now through the city or through we've decided to just handle it ourselves um not using any of yours and um that's great yes um we just want to know so we can check you off our list that yes uh so and so's got a website um and I am going to because I wanted to show this here um going to pull presenter control back to my page while you're doing all this uh if that's okay, Amanda. >> And I also put in a link to my ZCAL calendar if you want to book like a half hour hour slot. >> Perfect. Perfect. Nice. All right. Um so this is the Nebraska Libraries on the Web um main web page. Um if you go to our um library commission website and search for Nebraska Libraries on the web, it will come up. And as you can see here, September 30th is when the old site and I don't know if you mentioned that this time that is when the old support for the old site will be will end meaning will be shut down. Those web pages no longer exist. Correct? Or >> so they will exist in an archived form. >> So the installation is going down and it needs to because of it. The cyber security is not it is atrocious right now and no one could see that >> nobody. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So it will be Vern will have it in an archived form and if you go to the way back machine most of the sites have actually been crawled and archived in the way back machine. So >> So and also if you don't reach out to us before September 30th your website won't you're not you're not out of luck I guess is what I'm trying to say. You're not completely out of luck. You might be about 50 to 75% out of luck, but >> if you want your previous content moved over, you need to get in touch with us before the end of September. Um, this is something we announced at least a year ago, so this is not something new or sudden that we're doing. So, and we have been reaching out, Amanda or Vern has been reaching out and trying to contact all of the libraries that were currently on um the previous version. We had many of the library websites we know were really dead, hadn't been updated in years and years. Staff changes didn't pass on the fact that there was a website that they had. Um they maybe didn't sort of their own or just say, "Yeah, we just use Facebook, whatever." Um we've had some people say they didn't even know they were on this list and had anything we were doing for them. Um, and that happens, but we just want to make sure we got everybody figured out. But you do have to get in touch with us by September 30th if you are current. And we'll keep trying to reach out to you and get an answer. >> And if you didn't have anything at all before, you can choose one of these options now. >> Okay. At any time. Yep. It's available now. It's available for the future. Yeah. This is the way we're going to be providing um websites to libraries. free basic site lib chalk hosting that you do most of the work yourself at the 250 and now the new multi-sight for $150 a year and there's a link to the training etc etc. All right, I don't see any other questions that came in while we were chatting during this and that's fine. I think we'll wrap things up then. Uh so sounds good. >> Thank you Amanda for all this info. This is very important big changes happening. Um yeah, >> I talked about uh this is our show archives where today's recording will be and here is the link to the one that um because we were just talking about that uh Sherm did back in July on the new rules ADA compliance. There's recording and slides there. Uh go ahead and watch that and um reach out to Sherm if you do want to know more about what he's doing there. Um, as I said, today's show is being recorded and I am off tomorrow. So, I'm going to have this recording done and ready for you all by the end of the day today. That's my goal. Uh, everyone who attended today's show and um, a registered will get an email from me letting you know when the archive is ready up on here. Um, so sometime later this afternoon, you all be notified. It'll be just up here at the top of the page. If you want to know if we have done a show on a previous on a particular topic of interest to you, you can search our show archives. This is our full archives going back to 2009 when Encompass Life first premiered. That means we are 18. We are adult now. Um, so, uh, uh, and if you want, and I actually was like, let's see, on I said I had to look and see when we first did this. And I remember the title of the show, introducing Nebraska Libraries on the web back on May 4th, 2011. If you want to know how this all started, if you really, you can watch that show. You can watch other things. Um, but just for any of our shows, just pay attention to that original broadcast date. And especially this is a good example of that. Things may have changed since we first had that show. Uh and uh obviously it has changed in 15 years. It is changing right now. So uh just be aware of that. But um this is something libraries do. We keep things for historical purposes. And as long as we have somewhere to host our our recordings, which right now is the library commission's YouTube channel, we will always have them out there available for you. >> Yeah. YouTube is not allowed to go anywhere. >> No. Oh my gosh. We do I do have copies of everything on our own local servers just in case something >> does blow up or disappear. We do have backups. Uh we also have a Facebook page. Ah >> yes, go back. Go back. There we go. We have uh for social media for Encompass Live. We have a Facebook page. Uh if you like to use Facebook, give us a like there. Here's a reminder to log into today's show. When new shows are coming and recordings are available, I post on here. Uh we also use the library commission social media uh Instagram page. We have our own um mailing list and blog. So uh look for updates about different when the shows are coming there as well. All right, so that's it for today. Thank you everyone for sticking around with us. Went a little long today, but got lots of good questions. I want to make sure we got through everything. This is our upcoming schedule and I do have more shows I will be filling in here. I've got um so just keep an eye on here for other dates in September that in October that I'm going to be well I've got October all up there um and I've even got into November on my calendar so keep an eye on that. But next week we're going on a field trip maybe well we're talking about going on a field trip um staff development through library visits. So, uh, Cindy Shu, who's from the J Robert Jamerson Memorial Library in Virginia, is going to be talking to us about a program that she has for staff development of going out and visiting other libraries, taking um, staff on a field trip. So, please do sign up for that and join us for that show and any of the other ones we have coming up. Um, Amanda, as I said, is usually here the last Wednesday of the month. September, she will be here. Topic to be determined. October, as you can see, no. Um, the last week in October is the Internet Librarian Conference, and Amanda is involved in that. So, we do not have um we will not have Pretty Sweet Tech in October. Um, I already have a show on for that date about homeschoolers. I know a lot of libraries have homeschoolers that come in. All right, so that wraps it up. Thank you everybody for being here with us today. Thank you, Amanda. We'll see you next month. >> Sounds like a plan. All right. And hope you'll see all the future episode of Encompass Live. Bye bye.