Now that the new county designs have launched, it’s time to focus on filling out content for your county’s focus areas. Here are some tips to get you started. Also, if you’re in Eastern Oregon, the web team is coming your way for a training this week (see more at the end of this blog post).
1. Review some examples
- View a mockup of a local focus area at the end of this post. Includes annotations.
- Review examples of county pages using the redesign and new focus areas: Tillamook county and Washington county. From the county page, click “What we do” in the county’s navigation. Items under “Highlights” are focus areas. We appreciate these county’s help with testing their current content in the new designs!
2. Choose user-friendly titles
When writing a title for your focus area, we recommend:
- User-friendly titles: Use terms that are general and understandable for people unfamiliar with OSU Extension. Avoid using program names and internal jargon when possible.
- Encouraging action: Show people how they can become involved (e.g., use “Preserve food at home” instead of “Food preservation”).
- Concise titles: If a desired focus area is too big to use a simple phrase because it includes too many topics, it should probably be broken into multiple focus areas.
Here are some examples:
- Activities for youth
- Caring for your forestland
- Grow your gardening skills
- Start or grow your small farm
- Preserve food at home
Please contact us if you have any questions or would like some help identifying focus area titles or how to organize content to fit within focus areas.
3. Select which types of local focus area
There are three options for focus areas:
- 1) Display a custom page: this includes a place to add information about the local context, related resources, contact info, etc. See mockup at end of this blog post for an example.
Or, link to existing content:
- 2) Link to a local program (for 4-H or MG): Links will take visitors directly to the landing page for that local program (i.e. Benton County 4-H).
- 3) Link to an existing focus area in another county: if you would like to display a focus area that has been added by a different county (e.g. for a regional focus area), select it here. Links will take user directly to that focus area.
Select which desired option under “How to display” when creating a local focus area.
4. Create or edit a focus area
Read last week’s blog post for training materials to get started on creating or editing your focus areas.
The following focus areas have been or will been created for you:
- Any content that is currently within county sub-pages. We’ll transition this content to focus areas for you.
- 4-H and Master Gardener: These have been added. They link directly to county program pages (e.g., Gilliam County 4-H)
- Gardening: A template for gardening is being developed.
You can change the order of focus areas on the ‘What we do’ page and select which three to include on the county landing page.
New locations for content in new design
County programs & local focus areas
Three focus areas are set to display on the county landing pages. The ‘What we do’ page also includes:
- All focus areas: listed under the ‘Highlighted’ heading.
- Programs offered: Include all programs on the OSU Extension site that have been tagged with your county. See what is a program on the OSU Extension website.
Links to the ‘What we do’ page are in your county’s navigation. Links to 4-H and Master Gardener can now be found with focus areas.
Social media & newsletters
When the content is for:
- The county as a whole (e.g., county newsletter): These go in the orange quick link bar on the county landing page.
- A particular topic or program (e.g., Eastern Oregon Gardening Newsletter): These go in the orange quick link bar on the relevant local focus areas. County Master Gardener and 4-H social media are already part of local program pages, but can also be added to relevant focus areas.
We recommend using announcements to promote new newsletter issues.
County subpages
Content that is currently in county subpages will be transitioned to local focus areas by EESC. If we aren’t sure how to make the content fit, we’ll work with you to find a solution.
Eastern Oregon website trainings this week
You are invited to attend in-person trainings in Eastern Oregon this week:
- Malheur County office on Wed., April 24: 10am-noon, lunch break, then continues 1-3pm. If anyone wants more personal, hands on instruction, contact Bobbi Howell.
- Union County office on Thurs., April 25: 10am-noon, lunch break, then continues 1-3pm. If anyone wants more personal, hands on instruction, contact Sherry Nantz.
The trainings will focus on using the new county page designs. Please bring your questions and a laptop if possible, so we can work with you on your county pages. For questions about the location or accommodation, please contact Bobbi Howell (Malheur County) or Sherry Nantz (Union County). For questions related to the training, contact Bryan Mayjor or Victor Villegas.
Getting help
- Attend our office hours starting April 26th on Tuesdays and Fridays. Visit by WebEx, in person or by phone.
- As always, you are welcome to contact us if you have a question or suggestion.
Mockups & a shout out
A shout out to Carrie Berger and the forestry team for the awesome content they developed for county subpages! This content provided an inspiration and starting place for the focus area mockups below.
Focus area mockup with annotations.
Click mockup to view larger version.
Focus area mockup.
Click mockup to view larger version.
