Launching your website is an exciting milestone鈥攃ongratulations! To help you transition smoothly, we鈥檝e created this quick checklist. Follow these steps before submitting your go-live request:

Steps to Launching Your Site

1. Update All Content

Double-check that all your website content is present and up to date on your staging site. This includes recent pages, posts, events, media (like images and documents), and any other updates.

For example, if you added an event to your old site while your cuTheme site was on staging, you will have to recreate that content. The sites are not connected.

Blank Installs

If you had a blank site installed (versus a migration), please ensure that you have uploaded any required media from your old site to your cutheme site on staging (images, PDF files, docs etc)

2. Export Form Entries

If your old site includes active forms, export any recent submissions to ensure you don鈥檛 lose important data collected during the migration period.

3. Submit Your Go-Live Request

Once everything is ready, submit your go-live . Please allow up to a week for the team to schedule and complete the process.

4. No Further Changes

After submitting your request, avoid making additional changes to your site. This ensures that everything you’ve worked on is accurately reflected during deployment and helps us deliver a smooth launch.

By following this checklist, you鈥檒l help set your website up for a successful launch. If you have questions or need support, we鈥檙e here to help鈥攋ust reach out!

The post cuTheme Go Live Checklist appeared first on Web Services.

We are excited to announce that we will begin the pilot phase of our cuTheme rollout on June 10.

During this phase, we will offer migration to a small group of websites. The goal is to test the theme and the migration process before we roll it out to the entire 杏吧原创 community.

This pilot phase is an important step in ensuring that the new theme meets our standards for performance and usability. By working with a select group of sites, we can gather valuable feedback and make any necessary adjustments.

Additionally, this phase will help us fine-tune the migration process. We want to ensure it is as smooth and seamless as possible for our clients.

For a sneak peek of cuTheme, please visit our cuTheme Training and Documentation site. This resource will familiarize you with the new theme and guide you in making the most of its features.

Stay tuned for more updates as we progress through this exciting phase!

The post Announcing the Pilot Phase of cuTheme Rollout appeared first on Web Services.

We are getting close! Very soon we will be starting to move websites from the CCMS and Framework templates into the new cuTheme.

cuTheme and the new WordPress Gutenberg admin interface are all about choice and with the migration process we are extending that idea: You will have a choice on how your site is prepped for its reconstruction in the new theme.

What are these choices? Very briefly, we will be placing all sites on a staging server (where your site cannot be viewed) where it will be made ready for moving onto the production server (i.e., the live space where it can viewed by the entire world).

Your choice is between having a clean installation or a migrated installation.

• We can create a clean installation 鈥� in other words, a blank, or empty site, for you to move your content into piece by piece
• We can execute a migrated installation of your content for you, but this will be everything on your site.

Your choice is between these two.

With the migrated installation we can currently migrate about 90% of the content on a website. We are nearly done working out the migration plan and are looking at ways to make that 100%. You will have to move the pieces we can鈥檛, and you will be responsible for cleaning up all the content.

With a clean installation, we see a huge advantage to you: the blank canvas which will enable you much more easily to cut loose any old content, any orphan pages, old events, news stories from 1996, etc. Your site will be sleek, streamlined, and beautiful, with the advantage of users finding content easily 鈥� with the same advantage extended to the Google algorithm as it searches through your pages.

In the meantime, we are researching ways to move some areas of content while leaving others blank for you to recreate using all the amazing new features which cuTheme offers. That will take away some of the tedium of rebuilding news posts, for example, and enable you to concentrate on the fun task of re-organizing your site and crafting beautiful pages with all the new bells and whistles on offer.

Watch this space for further news on our migration plan, which will be coming your way very soon.

In the meantime, there are some things that you can do to get your site ready for the migration cuTheme!

The post Choices, choices: migration planning for cuTheme appeared first on Web Services.

For the past several months, we have been working away on cuTheme, our newest web template. We are excited to share the latest updates and announce that we are close to launching.

Overview

• Our initial pilot of cuTheme closed early last year. We paused the installation of cuTheme to work on a new version.
• Since then we have seen many advances in the WordPress environment
• We applied what we learned from the pilot. And we developed an entirely new version of cuTheme in a modern hosting environment.
• We recently completed the testing phase of this brand-new version and are implementing the feedback we received to make improvements and fix all bugs
• We’re also putting the finishing touches on our migration plan, training, and documentation
• We plan to start the rollout of the new and improved version of cuTheme in January 2024!

Findings and Lessons Learned

The main goal of our testing phase was to learn about usability for our clients. How was the transition to the new theme, a block-based system? The editing experience? What worked (or didn鈥檛)? And what could be improved or added?

Additionally, we wanted to test the technology – our servers, the software (responsiveness and bugs), and the multisite platform that cuTheme runs on.

Thank you so much to all of our testers!! The feedback is so valuable in creating the best possible web theme for the 杏吧原创 community.

1. We need some more functionality (new blocks!)

A few things that were noted by clients as missing – a Quick Links or Spotlight block, accordions (for things like FAQs), the ability to add a gray background to blocks.

2. We need to clarify some things

The editing experience is a big change and we’ve taken note of some of the things that people found a bit confusing.

To address this we:

• are in the process of updating documentation,
• adding training videos to each section,
• adding a tips section for some of the most frequently asked questions, and
• creating a quick start guide.

View the Latest cuTheme Tips on our Training Site

• Show page and block settings
• How to add a block below columns
• Change your banner style
• Drag images into pages directly from your computer

*Please note you need to be connected to VPN in order to view the links above

Tips We are Working on

• Different ways to work with video (embed block vs. video post)
• Three ways to easily add blocks to your page

Training and Documentation Updates

• Adding tutorial videos to all sections
• Adding information and examples to new blocks as developed (for example, spotlight)

Please free to peruse our training and documentation site.

3. We fixed some bugs!

Bugs that are Fixed

• Unable to add text to buttons

Bugs we are Working on

• Hyperlink in the alert box
• Stat block 鈥� Up/Down arrows not showing (Chrome, Sonoma)
• Text image block 鈥� the image does not appear on the left in the backend, and bullets in the backend also appear oddly
• Need space/delimiter between building and address in events
• Wide image – Button width settings not working correctly

We are still working our way through all of the detailed feedback (thank you) so more to come!

4. The Technology is Solid

cuTheme now works in a environment on a brand-new server. This makes things more scalable, plus way faster for us to install, and configure new sites. This translates to a better experience for our clients.

One thing we are addressing is caching issues. We’ve noted issues with things getting stuck in memory and will be fixing this so you do not have to constantly clear browser cache.

Next Steps

Over the next several weeks, we will:

• Consolidate and review client feedback and requests we have received thus far
• Finalize our migration plan in preparation for January
• Fine-tune our documentation and training process (Take a sneak peek here! – must be on VPN)
• Continue to learn about web accessibility and apply learnings to the theme and our accessibility training

Thank you for your patience, enthusiasm, and all of your input. We look forward to the launch of cuTheme in January 2024. Please read more about the migration process by clicking the button below.

The post cuTheme Update – November 2023 appeared first on Web Services.

One exciting development we can鈥檛 wait to bring to you with cuTheme is the top navigation menu.

Top refers to the position of the navigation in the new template – it runs horizontally across the top of all your pages. It is a real leap for us as well as for you, but once you start looking at what most other major websites do in terms of positioning their site menus, you will quickly find that most big-hitters have already adopted this approach.

Whether you read your news on the , , or , buy your clothes at or , or dine at or , you are going to find that top nav menus have become the norm. We are adopting the top nav menu for many reasons including consistency of look and feel, availability of more real estate for your content on the page, and improvement of accessibility.

The best thing on the menu

Let鈥檚 take a look at the benefits in detail:

Accessibility

This menu is in the same place on every site AND when you scroll down the page

Usability

As we say, an accessible website is a usable website: those same reasons that help people with disabilities help anyone browsing a 杏吧原创 site

Consistency

Now people will enjoy the same position for the menu on all cuTheme sites, plus other major sites such as Students, Admissions, and Graduate Studies

Real estate

Removing the left hand nav means we can use much more of the page 鈥� and look out some additional widening options in cuTheme

Resourcing

Web developers in our team no longer have to check every template change works with top and left nav as they do with Framework at the moment. this means more time to develop the new features you request.

How to get to the top in website layout

Start by looking at the pages on your website.

• Are they organized hierarchically? The most important pages should be at the top level with subpages beneath.
• If your site is an academic department focused on recruitment, do you have items for prospective students and current students? Can prospective applicants get to the info they need quickly?
• Are important pages buried? Do they need to be moved up the hierarchy/made top-level?
• View your pages from the back end: We have a tool for this you can learn about and initiate here.
• Talk to the people who deal with inquiries around information via other media in your department, for example, front of office colleagues. Are they constantly fielding calls or emails because people can’t find certain info on your site? Should that info be highlighted in the menu?
• Look at other departments and even other universities to see what they are doing well. Co-opt their ideas.

We have a whole checklist of things to do in order to create the perfect navigation menu in an earlier post.

Who鈥檚 in the business of effective top nav menus? Sprott!

Now let鈥檚 dive in and see a great example of how to consolidate the menu into just a few items. The are the epitome of menu consolidation. Sprott, of course, hosts a lot of content on their site, so they needed to be economic and efficient in how they organize their menu.

Of course, they knocked it out of the park. They have four navigation items on their top nav. We featured the reorganization of their site in a news story An Exemplar cuTheme Site: The Sprott Success. In that post, Liz Lariviere from Sprott explains that they as a team, “started by benchmarking about 25 different Business school websites [in Canada and the US] … We looked at their nav, web architecture, and content. We noticed that the better sites had 3-4 menu items and their content was succinct and very visual.”

Notice that the Sprott team inserted an innovative item on the menu labelled I am. This avatar-led approach (creating the idea of a role or path that a person visiting the site is on) is another great way to channel a user to the content they need or want. Avatar roles could include “I am a future student“, “I am a student seeking an accommodation”  or even, “I am a visitor to campus seeking a sandwich.”

We are so excited to see how you take on the challenge and opportunities offered by creating a top navigation menu on your site when it comes to migrating your site(s) to the new cuTheme template!

The post Coming out on top: the new top nav menu in cuTheme appeared first on Web Services.

Reviewing your website thoroughly before migrating it, lets you start off on the right foot and can make for a smoother transition. It is also beneficial to your current visitors!

Here are four steps to help you prepare your website for migration to cuTheme.

Step 1: Do a Content Audit

• Evaluate the relevance and quality of your content. Remove outdated information.
• Delete old pages and posts. Clear out obsolete news, events, people listings, files, etc.
• Rewrite content for the web to optimize for both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and accessibility.
• Look for and fix broken links

Resources

• Website Review Training – How to do a Content Audit
• Spring Cleaning your Website – not limited to spring 馃檪
• Tips for optimizing for SEO and accessibility

Step 2: Ensure your Content is Accessible

• Review your website’s accessibility according to AODA guidelines.
  • Ensure that it’s easily navigable for users with disabilities
  • Including proper alt text for images
  • Use headings and subheadings and use in the correct order (hierarchically)
• This is good practice to ensure a site that is easy to navigate and use for all visitors.

Resources

• Online accessibility training – Learn how to make more accessible text, images, tables and videos
• Web accessibility checklist
• Alt Text
  • All about Alt Text
  • Describing people in Alt text

Step 3: Review Your Navigation Menu

The menu in cuTheme is top-of-page only (no side option). You may need to rethink your navigation depending on the length. We recommend reviewing it periodically anyway as things evolve on your site!

Simplify your Navigation

• Streamline your menu items to make navigation intuitive and efficient. Consider categorizing content logically and using sub-items where necessary.
• Limit top-level menu items to (4-7 is what we recommend). This makes it easier to navigate for the user, plus ensures it will fit
• Review top-level items. Top-level menu items with subpages won鈥檛 act as landing pages in cuTheme. Do you need to rethink your structure?

Resources

• Menu magic – Tips for improving user experience via navigation
• Coming out on top: the new top nav menu in cuTheme

Step 4: Review and Renew Your Homepage

Note: This step is optional for migration, but can enhance your site immediately and ensure your homepage is in top shape.

cuTheme will present you with a lot more design options for your homepage. However, content is still Queen! Now is a great time to rethink the most important elements of your homepage.  Prep the content now and then style it up in cuTheme.

Have Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

• Place a prominent CTA that aligns with your primary goal (e.g., register for a program, get to a service, contact your department). Make it stand out without overwhelming the page.

Create a Visual Hierarchy

• Organize content using a clear visual hierarchy. Use headings, images, and white space strategically to guide visitors through the page.

Use Dynamic Elements

• Consider incorporating dynamic elements like videos and news posts to engage visitors and convey information effectively.

Update Images

• Make sure to refresh images from time to time so they are current. This keeps your homepage from looking stale and dated,

Resources

• Reorganize your homepage – Tips & ideas for renewing your homepage content
• Calls to Action – What they are, examples, and best practices!
• Structure content on your pages – From our Writing for the Web Series, tips making your pages easy to scan
• Video
  • Generate transcripts and captions
  • Make video accessible
• Images
  • Finding images for your site – the ultimate guide …
  • Optimizing your images for SEO and accessibility

Download our cuTheme Readiness Checklist

The post cuTheme Ready – Prepare your Site for a Seamless Migration! appeared first on Web Services.

If you clicked on the headline for this post and expected an article on a player who stops the quarterback from scoring a touchdown then congratulations – you know less about American football than I do (and that is quite the achievement). Instead, today we are talking about a new feature that you will see in the new cuTheme template when it is launched.

What is a back end block check?

In the new template we are employing WordPress’ latest administration interface. This uses blocks – components which house each individual piece of content that can be edited separately and which together compose the page. (You can read more about our adoption of WordPress’ Gutenberg interface.)

That’s the back end block. The check aspect is a small function we use to ensure that any block created on a page goes out into the world as its creator intended.

What does the check do?

The function works to make sure an element is not added to the page which makes the page less accessible. As with all aspects of accessibility, making the page better for those with disabilities makes it better for everyone else.

That is what the check does – makes sure a component, for example, isn’t published with no text in it, or if it is supposed to have a hyperlink attached, that this is present.

An example: the button block

As with every component on a page in cuTheme, to add a button you now employ a block to do so. Handily, our developers named this the Button block. On the front end of the site it looks like this:

And here is how it appears when you are editing the page in the back end:

(Let’s just take a hot second to admire the neat thing about Gutenberg: the back end as you edit it looks so much like the front end, you have a much clearer idea of how your page or post will look before you hit the Update button!)

Anyway, that is how the button is supposed to look in the back end. What happens, though, if you fail to add text or a URL to the attributes of the button? You get back end check blocked, that’s what happens!:

If I remove the URL:

Meanwhile, in the top right hand corner of the admin screen you will notice something else going on when there is no URL or text. I this example I have added neither:

That’s right: the Publish/Update button remains greyed out until there is entries for text and a URL are inserted.

What’s another example?

If you use the video embed block you can place a video player, cued to display your chosen video when the page loads. The stipulation is however that the video link you embed must be from one of the providers the University wants us to accommodate: YouTube, Vimeo, Kaltura, or TED.

So, if we add something that is not a valid URL, first of all, we will see the checker block the page from being saved:

And the same is true if we include a URL which is technically valid, but which doesn’t point to a YouTube, Vimeo, Kaltura or TED address. For instance, from the rogue video website, TheyTube instead of YouTube:

Again, that error message appears, but check out what also happens with back end checks: you notice the Update button in the top right is greyed out. Tht’s right – you can’t save the page while that error exists.

Table manners

Here is one more example of something we have programmed in to check that blocks and their content are valid. Tables, which are there to display tabular data and not to lay out a page, must have properly defined column headings. This is for accessibility’s sake – users employing screen readers hear potentially misleading information about tables without column headers.

Therefore placeholder text is in the column header cells to remind you to add text to label the headers (with the imaginative text of Header label).

We hope you share our understanding that these checks will enable our community to create even more accessible and usable content as we move all our sites into cuTheme.

You can still leave these blank but you will find the button to update or publish the page is greyed out. This is a measure to protect accessibility of the page, of course, so we know you will understand why this measure has been implemented.

These are some of the blocks you will encounter in cuTheme and some of the ways we ensure they are released into the wild in good working order, insuring more usable and accessible content. The other portion of that insurance is all the amazing website content editors on campus continuing to create great, usable, and accessible content!

The post Back end block checks: helping you to help your website appeared first on Web Services.

There are a lot of great improvements to the 杏吧原创 web template on the horizon when we launch cuTheme. Something we are excited for is the removal of the ability to edit a page by adding HTML, Javascript, and styling.

In this post we outline why we need to make this critical move. There are several reasons that having the ability on hand to edit HTML is a liability for your end users.

Accessibility

If there is one good reason to remove the ability to edit HTML code it is the potential for rogue code to harm the accessibility of a web page.

The example often used to show the harm HTML code can do is coloured text. We have very dark text for a reason 鈥� it contrasts well with our light background and colour contrast is key to the legibility and scanability of text. With the HTML editor in place a website maintainer could place very light text on our white background making it invisible to those with vision challenges. Keeping the text within certain tones makes sure the text is as legible as possible. Remember, someone does not have to have particularly bad eyesight in order to find it a strain to make out light text on a light background.

People also use HTML to colour code text, giving it meanings that are implicit but only to those who can perceive them. Changing text to render in red, amber, and green to illustrate bad, neutral, or good items only works if people can view those colours. One in twelve of some demographics can鈥檛 distinguish red from green, making this practice misleading and even possibly dangerous.

That鈥檚 the classic example. But in fact a more important instance of changing the attributes of a font comes with using HTML and JavaScript to change the size and weight of text. Imagine you want to write the word Warning in a way that makes it more noticeable. One way would be to make the text much bigger using HTML code. But by doing that you are confusing users especially those whose neurodivergence manifest in the form of a difficulty in how a page of information is laid out.

By using HTML to show text at the same or similar size to one of our subheadings, the user believes the word Warning denotes a section of the page when it is doesn鈥檛. It then becomes unclear what is a page section and what it isn鈥檛. And if you use it to set the size of the text for a heading, then you are going to confuse humans and the screen readers they employ.

Usability

That also illustrates a good example in the crossover between usability and accessibility. Usability 鈥� how easy it is to move around, identify, take in and interact with page content on a website 鈥� is affected by many of the same concerns that affect accessibility.

People also use HTML to manipulate colour of links. Links in text in the CCMS render as red, with the exact tone double checked to match the . If that colour is then used to highlight something, people assume it is a link. When they can鈥檛 click on it they are confused.

Consistency

That previous illustration also refers to consistency. Another practice is to use a different colour on links so some are red and some are blue. Elsewhere a subheading in the text might be blue. This means someone might click on it, only to find nothing happens. Confusion all around!

Ease of maintenance

But why limit confusion to the front end of a website when an editor can also cause mayhem in the backend too? Remember that not everyone has the coding knowledge that one team member might possess. That鈥檚 fine when the coding guru is around, but if they win the lottery (or go on vacation for a week) and aren鈥檛 available then the colleague who steps in to make a change might be left scratching their head as to how to edit the page. They are confronted by a set of code they don鈥檛 understand. The most likely thing is that they will break the code making the page even more unpredictable to users.

Risk of errors

Introducing HTML code 鈥� or trying to fix it when its creator has gone on vacation 鈥� can also create havoc with other elements on the page. Why? Because the CCMS template is created using a combination of HTML, CSS, and PHP, but also a series of Javascript libraries. Injecting code into the page can interfere with that. In the very simplest example, failing to close a font tag code make the rest of the text on the page red.

We have a team of developers who spend days on end testing for how content can break the code in the template. Let鈥檚 make not make their jobs harder.

Security

Finally, there is the safety aspect. With an HTML editor enabled, there is always the fear that malicious actors can inject code that does harm to the site or the whole network. HTML injection attacks involve inserting malicious HTML elements or tags into the content created with the editor. This can result in the manipulation of the page’s structure and content, potentially leading to security vulnerabilities or phishing attempts. URLs can be placed in a page that lead to websites whose owners have criminal intent, for instance. Similarly, JavaScript can be injected as a potentially more powerful security threat than HTML.

In the future we will give some guidance on how to achieve some of the things previously rendered by adding code in the page. Until then, we will give you time to mourn loss of the

SUPERPOWERS

associated with the HTML editor.

The post End of an error: removing the HTML code editor in WordPress appeared first on Web Services.

If you were unable to attend the recent Web Wednesday event, no worries we have got you covered …

For this Web Wednesday, Troy took everyone through cuTheme. He started out with a demo of the various blocks and then dug into the backend to show us how things worked from a web content manager’s perspective.

Please take a few minutes to peruse the highlights below. Watch the video for all the juicy details!

(To view examples of the blocks currently in our development environment, click on the links below. *Please note, you will need to be on VPN)

cuTheme Blocks

Core Blocks

are content blocks provided by WordPress. These include headers, tables, buttons, quotes, and images.

Card Grids

are blocks that allow you to display content in a card format. There are currently 5 types of card grids in cutheme: , , events, videos, and .

Stacked Listings

are blocks that allow you to display content in a horizontal listing format. , and can be displayed this way.

Custom Blocks

are blocks that we have created specifically to meet the needs of our clients’ 杏吧原创 websites. These include and .

cuTheme Backend Demo

Next up was a tour of the backend, and how to build pages in cuTheme. Some of the features that Troy reviewed include:

• The ability to review as you build
• SEO tools
• Modes of working (distraction-free writing, spotlight, fullscreen)
• Different ways to add blocks
• Cropping images within the theme
• Prepublishing checks for accessibility
• Embed (Kaltura, Power BI)
• Features of: Description List block, Stat card block
• Hero banner
• Features of listing blocks

Video Replay

Video Contents

Next Steps

We will be sharing more details about the rollout and migration plan in the near future. Stay tuned for an event invite!

In the meantime, we encourage you to do a site review. This will help you get ready for the new theme.

If you attended the workshop, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Please share your feedback and ideas for future Web Wednesday topics using the form below!

The post Web Wednesday Recap – cuTheme Demo and Update appeared first on Web Services.

Preparing for the new cuTheme migration can be very exciting, although, it can also be a bit overwhelming as it is a big change. A few of our sites, such as the , were a part of our cuTheme pilot project and have successfully helped pave the way for this new transition across the 杏吧原创 domain. Unlike other faculty sites, all programs within Sprott are represented by this site. We had the opportunity to interview , the star behind the Sprott website. She provided us with insights on the overall clean-up and organization process, metrics, and navigation, as well as her additional advice on website management.

Clean-up Process

Regarding the minimalistic and clean look of the site, how did you manage to classify all the Sprott pages under just four menu categories (Programs, 杏吧原创 Us, Research and, I am:? ). Were there other menu categories you were considering? Did you always have just these four categories, if not, what was the organization process like, and how long did it take?

“This took about 6-8 months of research and re-organizing. We [myself and Kim Swartz, Media & Relations Officer and our Comms Team Lead] started by benchmarking about 25 different Business school websites. Half were Canadian and the rest were bigger-named Ivy League schools, both American and International. We looked at their nav, web architecture, and content. We noticed that the better sites had 3-4 menu items and their content was succinct and very visual.

Then we took a full inventory of our 500+ pages and cleaned up any orphaned pages, anything that was outdated or didn鈥檛 NEED to be on the external website, which was a huge job. (As a faculty, we don鈥檛 have departments like others do, so our website covers everything Sprott) Staff and Faculty info was moved over to the intranet and we overhauled our UG current students section after 4 years and a few different people in those roles. We got it down to about 325 pages. Then I had to take all those pages and fit them into our new categories. If it didn鈥檛 quite fit, we had to decide if it belonged on the website and/or what to do with it. The other thing we had to keep in mind is that websites aren鈥檛 as linear as they used to be, so we also limited our structure to 2-3 levels, otherwise, it was just too much! I think I had 6 different spreadsheets before we decided we were happy with it and it made sense. It was a huge job, but I鈥檓 so glad we did it. It was clearing off and reorganizing a messy desk and starting fresh!”

Audience Filtering in Menu Bar

The I am: section is a unique touch that other 杏吧原创 websites have not included in their menu bar. Do you believe this menu category is an effective way for users to find the content they are looking for? Would you recommend other departmental sites across 杏吧原创 include this category in their menu as well?

“I do! I have to admit we 鈥渂orrowed鈥� this from another website we came across in our research. Our 2 major audiences are 1) prospective students and 2) current students. The 鈥淚 am a鈥︹�� menu allows the visitor to select the audience they belong to, and us to easily deliver our messaging and content specifically for them. Of course, they can get to those same pages in other ways, like search, but this menu gives us the option of an audience filter vs content filter.”

Google Analytics

Do you track your Google Analytics often, and if so, do your analytics have a big impact on the way you display content on your site?

“Yes! We鈥檝e always tracked GA and review monthly reports. Our site follows some solid trends during the academic year, but sometimes we do get surprises and it鈥檚 always good to have the numbers to fall back on to figure out the 鈥渨hy鈥� 鈥� whether it was positive or less than positive. It shows us what our stakeholders are looking for and when, and allows us to make changes if they aren鈥檛 seeing the content we want/need them to see too. We relied on our GA stats a lot when we were re-structuring the website for CUTheme too. If a page wasn鈥檛 getting views, did we need it? If yes, we had to figure out how to redevelop that content. If not, it allowed us to build a case as to why it shouldn鈥檛 be web content. It also gives us insight on other aspects of comms, like whether or not a social campaign was successful, and what kind of stories resonate with our community.”

Top Navigation System

I noticed the Sprott site uses a top navigation system. Have you noticed an improvement in user experience when switching from side navigation to top navigation?

“Previous to CUTheme, we were on Framework and a totally custom template before that one, so Sprott has always had a top nav. It鈥檚 also in line with industry standards and trends.  So while I can鈥檛 compare it to a side nav, we did reduce the 鈥渓aundry list鈥� of 8-9 menu items and that鈥檚 been an improvement. We noticed an increase in traffic, more time spent on pages, and lower bounce rates in some places. We also realize a lot of users just search, so we also worked on improving our SEO. #TeamTopNav!”

Additional Advice

Do you have any advice for our other clients who manage 杏吧原创 sites?

“I think my advice would be to always ask yourself (or your colleagues) is does this NEED to be on an external website and what value is it providing to the stakeholder, especially if you鈥檙e managing a larger site. Content can balloon quickly, so sometimes we have to step back and evaluate the best way to communicate our message. I also try to do a yearly review with our different teams and clean up anything that鈥檚 outdated or no longer providing value and that helps us keep on top of our content.”

The post An Exemplar cuTheme Site: The Sprott Success appeared first on Web Services.