written by: Joslyn Matthews ’15
SB You was launched in January 2014 as a platform for digital expression and as a tool for students, faculty and staff to publish easily-managed websites using the popular WordPress content management system. Norma Reyes, Assistant to the Chair of the Chemistry Department, began building a website in SB You back in December for a symposium her department will be hosting in June.
Reyes started building the site through Google Apps (Sites), but after calling the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) for assistance, a staff member steered Reyes in the direction of SB You.
Norma Reyes, Assistant to the Chair, Chemistry Department
Although she was walked through the basics of setting up her website with a little help from DoIT, she soon found it was easy enough to navigate and design the website’s aesthetics herself.
“It was very self-explanatory,” Reyes said about the WordPress settings inside of SB You. “Going in to add menus and change graphics is pretty simple.”
Incorporating options such as the ability to allow people to register for the symposium and adjusting aspects of the site’s theme adds to the rich experience of SB You.
After showing the site to colleagues, Reyes received positive feedback because of its professional and sharp look. This is due in part to the responsive theme made available to users. Reyes can add different site managers who can easily tailor content to the chosen theme.
Reyes will continue to maintain the site with new details leading up to the symposium. SB You’s straight-forward features and assorted themes makes it easy for even those with no HTML or CSS coding experience to create a site from scratch.
She found that one of the benefits of SB You is that all the information is in one easy to find dashboard.
“We’re at the age of press and go,” Reyes said. “It’s very convenient to simply send a link to a modern and fully functional website rather than a text-filled email that people may or may not read through.
Reyes says she plans on using SB You again for future projects and would definitely recommend the service to other colleagues in need of a Web publishing platform at Stony Brook.
Additional Information and Resources:
Edublogs (now CampusPress) User Guides
Search for WordPress tutorials on lynda.stonybrook.edu