PALS Web Editors Forum

The termly Web Editors Forums will keep editors updated on the two major projects noted below, as well as enable editors to raise and discuss any issues with the website.

All editors should be aware that significant changes to websites at UCL will be coming in over the next year:

the first change will be the introduction of Indigo which will make websites responsive so that they are easy to navigate when viewed on a mobiles and tablet devices. Google is already ranking its search results on whether sites are responsive or not – those which are will be higher up the list. The UCL homepage, prospective student pages and the MAPS Faculty pages have already started using Indigo on their sites. See also the UCL Indigo Demo site and the UCL Building Great Websites site.

the second change will be moving over to Drupal, the new CMS which will replace Silva. It is anticipated that the move to Drupal will start in 2017.

Notes and slides from the Web Editors Forum

30 November 2015

Slides (PDF)

Spring 2016 - April Forum cancelled

The PALS web editors forum planned for 13 April has been cancelled. There isn’t much more to say about the Drupal project at the moment except that it’s moving forward and is being piloted on two sites (the Bartlett, and the Teaching and Learning website). You can keep up to date on the Drupal project on the Digital Presence blog and the Drupal development page. Indigo seems to be working well for editors following the PALS migration. In anticipation of the migration to Drupal, I’d be grateful if editors could ensure that when they edit pages they make sure that there are no ‘click here’ or ‘find out more here’ links on their pages. Instead links should provide the user with the context of the link and where it will take them or what clicking on the link will download: examples (i) use ‘find out more about the modules on this programme’ rather than ‘find out more here’ (ii) ‘download the XYZ application form here (PDF)’ rather than ‘open the form here’. Removing ‘click here’ links improves search engine optimisation (SEO) which means improved results in google searches etc. and is also important for those who use screens readers. You can find out more about writing for the web on UCL’s Building Great Websites page.

For anyone who edits a Silva website outside of the PALS domain, i.e. where the web address does not include PALS (ucl.ac.uk/pals) the Chief Editor of the website should consider migrating to Indigo in the next few months. Indigo sites will be on the top of the list for automatic migration to Drupal. All Silva sites will need to move to Indigo eventually. Chief Editors of websites outside of /pals should contact web-support@ucl.ac.uk requesting migration to Indigo.