After two months of Wagtail, all of our County Center and Topic sites are in great condition. Sites that have not made major updates are still functional and look good with the new changes, and those sites that have chosen to make updates to their homepages look even better!

We realize that moving from the WYSIWYG editor of WordPress, to the block style editing of Wagtail has been a big culture shift in the way you create and post content. While you have most of the tools you originally had in the Rich text box, there are so many more that you can leverage to create better content.

A major example of this is the new Recipe block. We still have some users posting recipes using the rich text block, and while that is okay, the Recipe block has built in formatting and styles that make it stand out from the rest of your content!

We can make changes more quickly and easily. Our WordPress site had a lot of baggage. This meant that it was not only hard to add new features to our website, but that it was also hard to update to newer, more secure versions of WordPress.

We have also been able to make changes to functionalities across our sites as well. In some cases, these changes were able to be developed, tested and implemented within minutes of being mentioned!

1. Our content creators thrive when given the ability to create: We have some amazing content creators already creating intricate sites that push the limits of our system.
2. Expect the unexpected: While the launch has gone very smoothly, all things considered, we have definitely run into some unexpected bumps in the road. Thankfully our wonderful developers have been able to smooth these out in record time.
3. Structured Content is better Content: The overall structure of the block editor leads to more hierarchal content. That along with a few increased Quality Assurance checks when you submit content have greatly increased the accessibility and the look of our content across the board.

1. If you haven't, check out the new Wagtail FAQ
2. Make sure to edit your homepage!
   1. County Center Site
   2. Topic Site
3. Check XLMS for an Upcoming Training Date
4. Make sure to Update your Extension Employee Image

Check out these sites for some inspiration

County Center Sites

• Cherokee County
• Lee County
• Person County
• Yancey County

Topic Sites

• North Carolina 4-H
• Official Variety Testing
• Peach Growers Information
• Turf Pathology