Introduction

So you found yourself with extra time—maybe your team is waiting on a part, or you’re just looking to log more hours this week—and you’re not sure what to work on. I have an idea for you… help us finish the big push on cleaning up the media library!

The media library is the thorn in everyone’s side when it comes to making changes to the website. Since we don’t like thorns here at HYPER, it’s time to do some spring cleaning (or whatever season it might be when you read this). Assigning titles and categories to all the images/videos in the media library makes navigation much quicker, as all you have to do is type a descriptive word in the search bar, and all relevant uploads will pop up.

The purpose of this post is to outline the Sorting process, what’s left to do after sorting, and then Sustaining after the cleanup is finished.

Many HYPER fellows attended the first Media Library 5S workshop, but for those who didn’t, here is a quick overview on what’s been done so far:

Sorting

We sorted pictures/videos into three groups: red, yellow, and green. The reason for this was so that the CORE team could go back in and figure out the fate of anything marked “yellow,” and leave anything “green” right where it is.

How to do it:

  • Click on an image to view it in the “attachment details” window.
  • Ask yourself the two simple questions listed below when reviewing every image.
  • To add a category, please type the relevant code word in the description box with a “=” in front of it.

Questions:

  • Is it related to anything/anybody at HYPER?

No: “=red”

Not sure: “=yellow”

Yes: “=green”

  • Is it a repeat? (Only applies to “green” stuff from previous question)

If YES: “=repeat” in addition to “=green” (do this for all repeats).

If NO, please categorize as “=green” if you haven’t done so already.

Remember: add these categories under “description.”

Before Moving On…

For all posts you categorized as “green,” please be sure to add a title describing the project/post it is involved with. In the description box, add a few more relevant categories the image falls into, separated by commas (Examples: team, project, people/person in the image, chart, whatever you see fit).

Don’t forget the “=” before each one (it helps with searching purposes)

That is what was done at the 5S event with those who could make it, but a 30-minute meeting was not enough time to get this whole thing handled. The rest of the media library still needs sorting, and after that, a system must be put in place for sustaining it.

What’s Left

We can’t skip right ahead to the 5th S, Sustaining, because we still have to finish the 1st S—Sorting. To finish the sorting portion of the media cleanup:

  • Find the files uploaded by you or someone on your team
  • Follow the steps stated previously under “Sorting”
  • Don’t move on to next section of this post until everything uploaded by you or someone on your team has been sorted through.

Repeats

Once the entire media library has been sorted into red, yellow, and green, we have to deal with the repeats—the cases where two or more very similar images are in the media library, but we only need to keep one. How do we know which of the repeats is currently up on a website page or post, and which is safe to be deleted? Here’s how:

(Reminder: A website page and post are not the same thing)

  1. Have three tabs open in your browser, each logged into hydrogen.wsu.edu/admin
    • One tab should have the media library open in the “Media” tab
    • One should have “Pages” open (two tabs under “Media”)
    • The last should have “Posts” open (two tabs above “Media”)
  2. In the browser tab with the media library, type “=repeat” into the search bar.
  3. Start with the first available image—click on it to open the “attachment details,” and look for the “File URL.” Copy the File URL to clipboard.
  4. Open the other tab which has “Pages” already open.
  5. In the “Pages” tab, paste the File URL in the search bar and hit “Search Pages” (or Enter).
    • If the result says “no pages found,” then this specific image is not being used on a website page.
    • If the result shows the title of a page and an author, then you know this specific image is being used on a website page and cannot be deleted.
  6. Repeat Step 5, but in the “Posts” tab to check if the image is being used on any posts.
  7. If the image is not being used on any website pages or posts, then you may switch back to the “Media” browser tab and delete the file permanently by clicking “Delete Permanently.”
  8. After deleting the unnecessary repeats, please remove the “=repeat” tag on the images that remain undeleted.

Dealing with the Reds

After everything has been sorted into the three colors and the repeats have been dealt with, there is one last task that needs to be done for the cleanup. This task is deleting everything categorized as “red”.

  1. Start by typing “=red” into the search bar of the media library.
  2. We will be deleting everything that pops up under “=red,” however some of these images may be currently up on the website somewhere and need to be replaced before doing so.
  3. Starting with the first available image at the top, determine if this image is currently being used on a website page—follow steps 1-5 in the section “Repeats” to do so.
    • If the image is not on any pages or posts, then permanently delete it.
    • If it is up somewhere on the website, here is how to replace it:
      1. Open the post/page it is being used on
      2. Click on image and then hit the “X” to remove it
      3. Hit the “Add Media” button to replace the image with something that is more relevant and updated (If there’s people in the image, make sure they are wearing their safety goggles, or else pick a different one).
      4. After replacing the image, scroll up to the top and hit the “Save” button near the top of the window.
  4. You just replaced a “red” image on the website with something better—now go back to the media library and delete that “red” image.
  5. Repeat Steps 3-4 until all of the “=red” images have been deleted safely.

After the Big Cleanup: Sustaining

To keep the media library nice and easy to navigate, please add a quick title and a few descriptive words in the description box each time you upload something new. No need to tag anything else as red, yellow, or green, as we only needed to do that during the cleanup. Also, no need to use the “=” before every code word anymore, as we only needed that for the cleanup as well.

Before uploading new things in the future, consider this question: “Is this going to become a ‘red’ photo someday?” If so, then perhaps you should reconsider posting it at all.

Thank you all for your time and contribution to sustaining the HYPER media library!

If you’re planning to write a post and aren’t sure of how to go about it, take a look at Griffin Rinauro’s post on How to Write a Post for some great guidelines!