WUG Meeting Minutes: August 24, 2017
Notes
Prior to this month’s meeting, the team requested participants send in questions ahead of time so the conversation could be somewhat focused, at least to begin with.
Site Launch Timelines & Important Dates
September 30th is the target launch date for several sites as well as major integrations. These integrations include the much anticipated Faculty/Staff directory.
The team needs to prioritize among the sites that have already started. We have to show measurable progress to university leadership about progress on sites. We will contact you with more information soon. We will ask for your priorities within your areas.
Q. How do we know what’s in the queue?
A. This list is being finalized now.
Tips for getting started
Begin with moving pages one-to-one from Ektron to WordPress.
It’s important to remember that both DIY and supported site migrations need information architecture work. Depending on the group, a lighter approach to the Information Architecture work can help provide the basic guidance to get your site launched.
Updates to the WordPress theme
We’re testing a new approach to theme updates. This new approach will keep development and launch to a regular schedule. Most of the shortcodes you learned in training are still available. Most of the changes that we are seeing now are in layout & styling.
If you have a specific concern that hasn’t yet been addressed, let us know.
We could use help from the WUG to test release candidates for theme updates. We don’t yet have a plan or process for this, but if you’re interested in helping us test, let us know, and we’ll contact you when we’re ready for your help.
Faculty & staff directory
This integration is on the current quarter’s list of integrations. We’ll tap into data from both the NAU directory and Faculty 180, which houses faculty profile info. We are aware that directory information is often out of date, which stems from each department’s ownership of their own directory data. As we have been working on this integration, we’ve identified issues that are being circulated up to leadership.
Q. Will a person’s info come from the department’s list of, for example, phone numbers, or will it come instead from the information that each individual controls?
A. The information will come from the NAU Directory tables. Departments may update this information through the Directory Maintainer tool. Each department has a directory administrator. The solution does not differ for Faculty and Staff. The web team is not the team responsible for data governance of either Faculty 180 or directory data.
Q. Should we book appointments with Marketing to get head shot photos of our unit members? Will those images be used for the directory pages on our web site? We don’t want to send our people for photos now if we’re going to have to send them for some other photos later.
A. We don’t have a confirmed process for this. Check with Marketing on specific photography questions.
Forms
For now, submit request to create a form to the PubOps team. By Oct. 1, Gravity Forms will be more widely available and well documented. Eventually we’ll create some documentation, training, and perhaps videos so people can eventually do self-serve form building. Will eventually develop some form templates for common types of forms.
GravityForms features
- Pagination
- Ability to save partially completed forms
- Can manage forms at the network level
Q. Will Gravity Forms replace anything we’ve already built in OnBase?
A. We don’t have a good way to turn OnBase stuff into Gravity Forms. Best solution for now is to just link to existing OnBase forms.
Q. What does a Gravity Form generate?
A. These forms can send out email notifications. Content submitted through the forms can also be stored in a WordPress database and can be exported as CSV.
Q. What about security of certain kinds of forms (example: complaint forms)? Who can see them in the WP database?
A. If you have that kind of need, let the PubOps team know. We can create special roles for you to limit who has access to secure or private data.
Calendars
The calendar integration will pull in a feed from events.nau.edu. Each site will have a default calendar page for each site. The team might need to pilot with a few sites prior to end of September before this can be rolled out to other sties. This integration will be more widely available in the last quarter of this calendar year (after Oct. 1).
If you have a current need for calendar integrations, contact wcm-support@nau.edu. They can train you on how to submit events.
Q. What about things that are not events, but are more like deadlines?
A. You might be able include this by default on each site’s calendar page. To answer this question, we will need guidance & decision from Web Advisory Council.
Q. What about news? How to display unit or site-specific news from the NAU news feed?
A. We’re investigating ways to syndicate stories from NAU News. But this integration couldn’t be included in this quarter’s work because of higher priorities. We will work on it after Oct. 1.
Templates
We currently have a home page template and a simple page template. More will be available when the updated theme launches by the end of the quarter. Subsites can have their own home page template, which might eventually get housed under a larger parent site structure.
We are also developing localized footers for each unit, so your Contact Information can be replicated throughout.
The team is working hard on creating recommended layouts that incorporate best practices for various kinds of contact blocks.
Tables
Several candidate plugins are being evaluated. TablePress looks potentially promising. This is one of the features that is slated to be available by Sept. 30. We don’t know yet whether the solution will offer filtering & sorting.
Q. Can we use Tables for information about grants? We are currently using Excel spreadsheets in Ektron. Should we keep doing that for now?
A. Yes.
Photography & Image Standards
Major transitions in the Marketing department have left some gaps. We’ve lost several people (CMO, Executive Director, Assoc. Director of Digital Strategy). These departures have affected the web project. The new CMO just started. Photo concerns will be presented to her as a high priority.
Inadequate library of photos is a major risk for the web project. Ektron photos are not only old, they are off-brand, staged, and of insufficiently high resolution. Many of the existing new images work okay in the main page content areas, but they don’t work well for wide horizontal banners at the top of the page. We’ll work with units to see whether you have your own bank of high-quality images that could be reviewed for brand compliance. We know most units don’t have their own photo bank.
We had previously told you Marketing was going to handle web photo requests. Marketing doesn’t currently have the ability to handle the volume of photography needed.
Q. Can we use placeholder photos?
A. You can use images from Libris Photoshelter. We can give you access.
Q. Given the changes in Marketing staffing, can we still get help with writing and editing of our page content?
A. Marketing doesn’t have a process yet, but they are working to establish things.