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Guides, news, etc relating to web content.

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Creating prototype UG course pages

The digital communications team is continuing with our digital prospectus project by developing undergraduate course pages. In a previous post, we described the rationale for creating UG pages with more tailored and…

A title image which says, "Room for improvement"

PGT launch process – room for improvement

Earlier this year, we created and launched the new centralised postgraduate taught pages for 2016 entry. With the 2016 academic year now upon us, we have launched the 2017 entry versions of these pages to provide…

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Central data – why it’s important

One of our 10 design principles is ‘data-driven’, which means that we use data to establish user needs, but it can also mean that wherever possible we want to use data held in central databases to populate our web…

Rich media content: the future of University websites

A few weeks ago, myself, Steve and Gareth attended attended IWMW 2016 (the Institutional Web Management Workshop) in Liverpool. The overall theme of the conference this year was ‘Understanding Users; Managing Change;…

Plain English does not mean “dumbing down”

There seems to be some confusion over this point, so let me be clear – writing in plain English does not equate to “dumbing down” content. In the words of Lorena Sutherland, content lead for Office of the Public…

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Make your content stand out against the crowd

There’s nothing new under the sun. For the most part, every topic that could be talked about has been talked about. This can be a daunting realisation for digital writers who struggle to produce new and engaging…

New PGT webpage about the History of Philosophy from St Andrews

The new postgraduate taught course pages are live!

Over the last six months, the content team have been working hard to create centralised web pages which advertise each of the postgraduate taught courses on offer at St Andrews for a 2016 entry. With 108 PGT courses to…

Why we avoid writing in first person on external pages

As part of the University house style, we do not use first person when addressing external audiences unless speaking from the perspective of the University as a whole. [Note: second person, ‘you’, is acceptable.] It…

Images: Quality over quantity

The modern web is built on strong visual imagery. Sites like Twitter, Netflix, and even LinkedIn, all utilise large images to add to their sites’ appeal, aesthetic, and brand identity. The University of St Andrews’…