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Old WordPress Plugin

Modified on: Thu, 31 Oct, 2024 at 8:20 PM

Note: This article applies to versions prior to 2.0.0 and to versions after 2.0.0 if you choose to uncheck 'use latest experience' in the plugin configurations per these instructions: How to Disable New CMS Plugin UI.

The Siteimprove CMS plugin is an overlay that, after installation, appears in your CMS platform informing you about issues related to the site/page that you are working on.

The Siteimprove WordPress plugin is the CMS Plugin used specifically with Wordpress. The plugin works like a small version of the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform and shows information about pages that are available to our crawler. 

The Siteimprove WordPress plugin has the added advantage of Siteimprove’s Prepublish check functionality which allows you to check for certain content issues before publishing.

Note: You’ll need a Siteimprove subscription to Prepublish in order to use the feature. Contact Siteimprove if you have any questions regarding your subscription.

Installation

The installation of the plugin is easy and it follows the standards of any other plugin installation inside WordPress.

  1. Under the 'Plugins' menu item select 'Add New.' Then the installation can be done in one of the following ways:

    Screenshot of Plugins menu and arrows pointing to it and the Add New button.Location on the WordPress Menu to install the plugin

    a. By searching for the plugin under the search box on the 'Add Plugins' page and selecting the 'Install Now' button.

    Add Plugins page with the word "Siteimprove" in the search box with the Sitemprove plugin result listed below it.


    b. Install it by selecting the 'Upload Plugin' button and then uploading the plugin file you can download from the WordPress Plugin Marketing Site page or here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/siteimprove/.

    Image B (Install using the upload feature)
  2. After that, the plugin can be activated in one of two ways:

    a. Immediately, by selecting the 'Activate' button on the 'Add New' page.
     

    b. By selecting 'Activate' on the 'Installed plugins' listing page.

    Image of the Installed Plugin page highlighting the Activate button on the Siteimprove plugin

Configuration

  1. To continue the configuration of the plugin, the user should click on the 'Siteimprove' menu item.

    Siteimprove logo with arrow pointing to it. 
  2. Token: this field is filled automatically and should not be changed unless a new token is needed. Then if that’s the case the user should click on 'Request new token' to generate a new one.

    Screenshot of Plugin Configuration Options 
  3. Public URL (optional): should be used in the case that the admin of the website and the final version are located on different domains. For example: The WordPress CMS Editor is located at https://stg-thewebsite.com but the final domain, where the content is published be displayed to the public is located at https://thewebsite.com. In that case, the Public URL field should be https://thewebsite.com.
  4. Plugin Experience (may not be an option with versions prior to 2.0.0): you have the option to opt out of the latest version of the plugin by unchecking the checkbox next to ‘Use latest experience.’ If you uncheck this box and use the 'Old Plugin Experience' the rest of this guide will apply. If you leave this checked you will be using the New Plugin Experience which you can read more about here: How to navigate the New Siteimprove CMS Plugin
  5. API Credentials (optional): can be filled in to use the Prepublish feature. You will need to create an API key following the instructions under How to connect to the Siteimprove API and have a Siteimprove subscription to Prepublish in order to use this feature. Contact Siteimprove if you have any questions regarding the subscription.

    Note: It is recommended to create an API key for an generic user for this, with Account Owner or Administrator level permissions and access to the appropriate sites in the Siteimprove Platform, so that it doesn't change with updates to users and cause issues with accessing this feature in the plugin.
  6. After filling in the fields, select ‘Save Settings’ to save the settings.
  7. After configuring the plugin, someone with Account Owner level permissions in the Siteimprove Platform will need to log into the plugin and accept the plugin terms and conditions.*

    Screenshot of Plugin Terms and Conditions 

*You can also read the Siteimprove CMS plugin terms and conditions under Settings > Integrations > CMS Plugin Setup

Usage

Login and Plugin Overlay

After installing, activating, and configuring the plugin, one of the two following cases below will show on the right sidebar of the admin page which is the plugin overlay. 

Siteimprove logo with Login button under it.

Plugin Overlay with user not logged in

Siteimprove logo without Login button underneath it.Plugin overlay with user logged in

To use the plugin, the user must be logged into the plugin with their Siteimprove user credentials.

If the user is not yet logged in, the sidebar on the right side of the screen will ask them to login. If the user is logged in, only the Siteimprove logo will appear. 

Site Overview and My History Tabs

Click to expand out the plugin overlay on any page to see the following screen, showing global statuses for the current website:

Screenshot of the Wordpress with the Siteimprove plugin overlayed on the right side.

That’s just a global view so the user can see the global overview of the site under 'Site Overview' and view the last checked pages on the 'My History' tab.

This Page Tab

If you are in the 'Editing' view for pages you will see the 'This Page' tab appear in the plugin with more specific details and insights on the particular page from the Siteimprove Platform in the plugin overlay.

Sidebar widget open showing the last report stats for the current page/post

You can click 'Re-check page' to have Siteimprove recheck this particular live page. This may take time as Siteimprove redraws your page.

To check what happens if you remove the current page from the website, click 'See unpublish impact.'

View insights on the current page from the last checked published version of the page in the Siteimprove Platform and click on the particular issue areas to view more about those issues on page reports or issue pages in the Siteimprove platform. 

You can also change the location of the overlay or what areas you see in the plugin from the platform under 'Settings.' 

To read more about usage of the plugin you can visit the How to navigate the Siteimprove CMS Plugin article as well.

Prepublish

Click the 'Preview' button on the top of the editor (or sometimes on the right side of the WordPress post/page edit screen) to be redirected to a preview screen showing the page with current unsaved changes:

SI Test WP Install page.

On the top of the page, if the Prepublish feature is configured per steps above, you will see this button:

Prepublish button.

Clicking this button on the top bar triggers the live Prepublish check on the current page.

Detail of the sidebar showing that Prepublish check is running.

When the Prepublish check finishes running, the user can see the live results in the same window by clicking the "See results" button:

Arrow pointing to Prepublish check banner that says "The pre-publish check is complete. 7 issues in total. See results button."


Here the you can expand each section checked to see what needs to be fixed in the content. You can also sometimes highlight the issues directly on the preview page if the eye icon come up for that particular issue. 

List of 7 various accessibility and quality assurance issues to check.


You can read even more about Prepublish checks under Prepublish content check: How to ensure quality content on your site.

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