Website roadmap
A couple of weekends ago we upgraded our enterprise web content management system, TerminalFour Site Manager, from v.6.2 to v.7.2 This has been a major upgrade, and something that we’ve been gearing up to for the last two years.
Prior to the upgrade we held a number of demo sessions to show users what the new version would look like. Feedback has been, generally, very positive.
At those sessions we also handed out an information sheet informing users where we see ourselves heading in the next year or two. The following is a slightly updated version of that roadmap.
Roadmap
As part of the upgrade to the new version of Site Manager we have been reviewing the following areas with a view to improving the user-experience for both content editors and website visitors. The following is a summary of changes that will be implemented during the coming months.
Infrastructure
Over the summer and autumn we have been upgrading the website infrastructure, for example moving to new, faster servers. There are a few other enhancements that we are currently testing which will improve the reliability and reputation of the website.
Related content
We plan to simplify the way related content is managed. This will remove the need to tediously hunt down rel_{something} sections. We also plan to make things more efficient by using existing data for contact details, for example, pulled from central databases.
Faster publishing
The new version of Site Manager is significantly faster than the previous version. While the main university website used to take 40 minutes to publish, it now takes just under five minutes enabling content to be published more frequently.
Lowercase URLs
Since the launch of the website in 2007 URLs have been published using a mixture of upper and lowercase letters. To improve consistency and make URLs more predictable we have now switched the website to use all lowercase URLs.
Standards and consistency
We are in the process of looking at how to improve and standardising many elements of the website content to offer a more consistent user experience.
Style guide
We are in the process of updating the web content style guide. This will be published online in the coming months and will cover guidelines on spellings and formatting, as well as certain Site Manager elements like naming conventions.
Writing for the web training
We would strongly recommend that you attend writing for the web training. We run courses regularly; please check PDMS for dates of the next course.
Users
We have recently removed around 130 user accounts: 70 accounts that have never been used since attending a Site Manager training course and a further 60 accounts that have not been logged into during the past 18 months. Coupled with an issue of some users requiring to update content only once a year, this has highlighted a need to reduce the number of content editors but increase the remaining editors’ skills.
Review user accounts and permissions
Changes in the way that Site Manager v.7 manages users means that we need to review how permissions and editing rights are assigned to our current users. We will continue to monitor which users are accessing Site Manager infrequently to ascertain whether they really need access or not.
Training
We plan to run more frequent Site Manager and writing for the web training courses (see PDMS for dates).
Design
The web is continually evolving and we need to respond.
Mobile web
We will be moving to a design that is more responsive to mobile phone and tablet devices, as well as the laptop and desktop devices that the current website is optimised for. It’s an exciting time for web development, particularly as the new HTML5 and CSS3 standards continue to take shape offering new possibilities.