Women In Digital Skills 13.0 – Week 5

SESSION ONE

On 28th June 2021, the trainer began day 1 of week 5 with a recap of the previous session where they installed WordPress and the necessary plugins to set up the WordPress. He also took some ladies who missed the previous class briefly to learn how to use the WordPress tools: Local, and 000webhost to build a WordPress site.

First, the trainer took them through setting up local and online web hosts to create a WordPress project. After creating the project, he taught the ladies how to make some changes to the site, changing the site name, deleting posts, adding and deleting pages, customizing the header, adding menus, changing the colors of text, hover effects, and how to install themes and plugins. 

They used the Astra theme and Elementor for page building. Working with Elementor, the participants learned how to add sections, undo changes, add and delete images, add text, use a background image and background overlay, align content and text within a section and how to use free templates and pages and how to create a Hero section containing a background image, intro text with a CTA call to action). 

As a result, they’ve gone ahead and added templates to their websites. All the ladies were made to add a template to their website and shown how to edit a template. He explained the use of templates in designing a website and how to make a template your own by changing the content. 

After this, the women were tasked with creating one page and began building the first section of their website.

On the 30th of June 2021, the class continued with the ladies designing their websites individually and in groups. They picked up from where they left off in the previous class with creating websites for their businesses. The trainer tasked the ladies to create websites consisting of a Homepage, about and contact pages, due to be presented next week. There was also a social media assignment which required the student to implement a one-week social media plan using everything they had learnt in the past few weeks about graphic designing, social media marketing and digital marketing. The trainer went on to explain that the ladies could use Canva to design content for their Instagram pages and schedule posts for the week.

The ladies sat together in their respective groups to plan and work on their business websites. A few also went ahead to work on their individual websites. The trainer moved around to support the ladies who were having some difficulties. He had to explain the process of importing different themes through Astra to a few ladies while helping those struggling to edit their homepages through Elementor. He also suggested to the ladies that using themes from Astra could be easier if they were struggling to edit in Elementor.

The class faced some challenges as the internet kept fluctuating. The majority of the ladies were able to continue with their projects while others still struggled. About two ladies had issues with their laptops which resulted in them restarting their websites.

At the end of the class, most of the ladies had made some kind of progress in their web designing, being able to create their homepage and working through editing their about pages.

SESSION TWO

On the 29th of June 2021, the trainer started the class by explaining to the ladies the difference between wordpress.org and wordpress.com and how to create a website using WordPress. The students were led through the process of creating a new website from scratch and also taught how to create websites using the server, Local. The trainer then introduced the ladies to plugins such as Astra for themes for their websites. 

Mr. Aidoo, the trainer, took the students through the various components and features of a complete website and how to edit sections such as the appearance, pages, content, and setting of their website. They imported templates from plugins they had already installed, which included Elementskit and Starter sites, and were asked to develop and edit their websites. Students were taught how to edit content, how to rename, add or remove pages, and how to insert images on their websites.

The ladies were tasked to create a multi-page portfolio website. Personal websites had the homepage, about page; where students spoke about themselves, and other pages to provide other beneficial and interesting information. It was an interesting session as students created a website for themselves. They also imported pictures of themselves and uploaded them on their websites. 

The class ended with most of the ladies being able to successfully create the homepage and about pages of their websites.

On the first of July, as the class started, the trainer asked the students to log into their websites. As each student logged into their respective websites, the trainer went around to take a look at their progress. The students were later complimented for their good work done.

The students were asked to download the wp reset plugin. The purpose of this was to recreate the website from scratch. They were taught how to deactivate already existing content and plugins from their website. Students were then asked to activate Astra in creating the new website. The trainer wanted to teach the students to use a different method to create their website. Each student added a new page to their website as they started creating.

The trainer taught the students how to edit the page with Elementor and how to add widgets to the page. They continued to add images and content to the page and also adjusting images and editing colours as they were taught. The trainer advised students to ask for more specific and clear information from clients if they are to create a website for a client. They tried this by asking the trainer possible questions a programmer would ask his or her client.

Finally, the trainer taught the students how to use WP forms in creating forms on the website. They also learnt how to add maps and videos to their website. The ladies were excited to import images from pexels.com and video links from youtube. They generated links for their website using their numbers. The purpose of this was to enable clients to reach the owner of the business with just a click. Later, students were taught how to customize the page with the names they wanted and their logo. Students spent the last few minutes making a few changes as they wished.