Enhancing Interactivity and engagement to the Science Gateway Community Institute Workforce Development Site 2016-2017 :: Disaiah Bennett, Tatyana Matthews, Jefferson Ridgeway :: Mentor: Mr. Jeff Wood :: Dr. Linda B. Hayden, SGCI Workforce Development :: Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education FUTURE WORK | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | METHODOLOGY | ANALYSIS | CONCLUSION | ABSTRACT | The Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research (CERSER) on the campus of Elizabeth City State University is a founding member of SGCI led by San Diego Supercomputing Center and the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI). One of the five areas of SGCI is the Workforce Development led by Dr. Linda Hayden. Workforce Development aims to nurture the next generation of gateway users and developers and engage the potential of students from underrepresented groups. As science today grows increasingly computer based, it poses challenges and opportunities for researchers. Scientists and engineers are turning to gateways to allow them to analyze, share, and understand large volumes of data more effectively. The existence of science and engineering gateways and the sophisticated cyberinfrastructure (CI) tools together can significantly improve the productivity of researchers. Most importantly, science gateways can give uniform access to the cyberinfrastructure that enables cutting-edge science. The goal of the web development team was to increase the interactivity of the SGCI Young Professionals site to attract potential members and disseminate information. This was completed utilizing WordPress Widgets to provide graphical and interactive components. Bootstrap components (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) were also researched for their inclusion into the current WordPress Content Management System (CMS) and the future Liferay CMS. WordPress.org In order to implement components from bootstrap, it was important to first develop a bootstrap theme. The first step is to then set up a server via either MAMP (for Macintosh operating systems), LAMP (for Linux operating systems), or WAMP (for Windows operating systems). The AMP represents, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. MAMP/LAMP/WAMP can be used as “local servers that are used while developing PHP sites. Using these servers, programmers can test a website locally before they upload it to the main server” [13]. MAMP was used for this research due to team members using a Macintosh operating system. One has to then download WordPress.org in order to install WordPress.org on their PC/laptop. Furthermore, the team members followed the tutorial provided by LyraThemes entitled, “How to develop a WordPress Theme Using Bootstrap (Part 1)” [3]. After setting up the MAMP server, the team had to download Bootstrap and place the Bootstrap CSS, JavaScript(JS), and font directories within the WordPress directory. After MAMP was properly configured and activated, the team members were able to see a live Bootstrap, responsive design WordPress blog post. Soliloquy Due to SGCI not utilizing a Bootstrap theme for WordPress.org, another method of implementing Bootstrap-like components in a WordPress theme was explored. Of all of the plugins that were researched that implemented bootstrap-like components, the plugin Soliloquy was used based on its ease of use and its previous installation provided by SGCI. Soliloquy is defined on the plugin website “as the best responsive image slider for WordPress…[and]...will always look great on all devices (mobile, tablet, laptop, and desktop)” [11]. Image Hover Alongside the Soliloquy plugin, the team members also searched for a plugin that would replace the textual links on the SGCI Young Professional’s Network website and make it more inviting for users. The plugin found by the team was Image Hover Effects Pro. Image Hover Effects Pro allows the user “to add 40+ hover effects to images with captions” [4]. The installation and activation of the plugin is the same as Soliloquy. A shortcode