Hi and Happy New Year, Drupalites!
The count down to the launch of the university’s new www.kent.edu and your new departmental website is just days away! The Sunday, Jan. 8, go-live is nearly here.
When the new websites launches, please know:
When Editing Your New Site:
- At your convenience, pull out that log of revisions you have kept and begin making changes to the interior pages of your new site, beginning Jan. 9.
- Attend a training to edit your new home page. To accommodate this immediate need, we will be holding open labs and training sessions. Register anytime after Sunday. We will send an email on Sunday with a link to registration dates.
- If you can’t make it to one of the open labs right away, please submit a helpdesk ticket with your immediate update needs so that we can provide support.
- Remember, you must link correctly – do NOT link directly to a URL
- While updating home pages, it was discovered that many editors are linking to a web page address (URL) rather than the page node ID number. Linking to the node ID number will ensure that your link is never broken if the page is renamed. Please review step-by-step Adding Links instructions in the Drupal Training Manual.
We Do Need Your Help:
- Please take time to edit your Title Text on Large Feature Images
- The slideshow style has changed. The title text no longer is displayed in the lower left corner of the large feature image. To display text on the image please follow the Adding Text to Large Feature Image instructions in the Drupal Training Manual.
What’s New:
- Refrain from use of creating images with text layered onto them as much as possible to improve:
- Aesthetics on tablets and smartphones
- User accessibility.
- Instead, use Drupal elements that allow for use of captions.
- Academic units that offer graduate programs are now required to include a Graduate Admissions block on all graduate program pages and graduate program overview pages. This information block was developed in conjunction with Division of Graduate Studies and will be maintained by that unit.
- The revised Guide to Web Standards is in development. It will reference existing required website elements, include the new items mentioned here and include other style guides as a reference. We’ll notify the listserv when it has been posted online.
Support & Feedback:
- If you experience technical issues, please submit a helpdesk ticket. The team will be on standby during the days after the launch to triage and process those right away.
- Please share your feedback via the Website Feedback form link in the website footer.
If you have questions, please contact Lin Danes, director of web services in University Communications and Marketing, at ldanes@kent.edu, so that she can partner with Sameer Jaleel, director of systems development for Information Services, to triage your inquiry and reply.
As always, thank you for your patience throughout this project.
Have a good weekend,
Your Web Redesign Team