Frequently Asked Questions about the web project
These are the most frequently asked questions by Macquarie University staff about the Web Transformation project. There is also more information available on the Project Wiki, which is available only to Macquarie University staff.
Contents
- What is the timing of the project?
- What is happening to my research pages or staff profiles?
- What if the Search functionality does not work as I want it to?
- Where are ‘my’ pages?
- Where do I put the content I want to publish – Public or Staff or Student site?
- Will all pages on the staff and student sites be behind a login?
- What if I find the new public site unintuitive or difficult to use?
- What is being done to improve the Content quality on public site?
- What about the incorrect information on our Google Maps ?
- Should we rebuild our website now or wait for the web project?
- Will there be different styles on different sites?
- When will I get new templates to apply to my website?
- Will my images need to be resized?
- Can you build a new website for me as part of this project?
- Will our current site be broken up or deleted?
- What will be my role in the new website if our current website no longer exists?
- What happens to research centres?
- Will there be a way to manage staff profiles?
- Can my web application be hosted on the new website?
- What about training?
- How can I participate in the project?
What is the timing of the project?
The key dates are:
- The staff and student websites will go live in early 2017. Work started on these in August 2015, which went on concurrently for the public site and staff/student intranets for several months between August and October 2015.
- The public website went live in October 2015.
What is happening to my research pages or staff profiles??
The research management system project is underway to provide a home for this information.
Staff profiles and other key research information to remain as is until migration to new Research system.
What if the Search functionality does not work as I want it to?
The information relevant to future students, industry partners, collaborators,future staff, and alumni will be made easy to find.
Testing of the of the new public website took place in June after redirects were completed. Many staff were found to be missing from the search and are now being added.
Where are ‘my’ pages?
The new websites are built on principles of user centered design. Three websites will be in place for three audiences.
Within the staff and student portals a content map is being developed in collaboration with content owners which details the new locations of content.There is a map and content finder tool for the public website.
Where do I put the content I want to publish-Public or Staff or Student site?
The location of the content will depend on the primary audience. Determine if the content belongs on website or in iLearn, research system etc. Some content e.g. campus map will appear on all sites but with a single source of truth.
Content that is no longer used should not be moved.
All publication should be aligned with web policy.
Will all pages on the staff and student sites be behind a login ?
By default, staff and students will access content on the new portals without logging in.
Content owners decide if the content should be secured. Access is open by default.
What if I find the new public site unintuitive or difficult to use?
The public site was designed for external audience needs.A strategic decision was made not to design it for staff use.
The staff portal is being designed specifically for current staff. All staff can help with the content of this site, or testing the site for ease of use.
What is being done to improve the Content quality on public site?
A project for Review and renewal of content on public site,focusing on areas of need and user traffic data has been started.
What about the incorrect information on our Google Maps?
The google map data will be updated and building-to- building directions introduced.Discussions underway with vendor and Google.
Google maps will be integrated into new websites and mobile app.
Should we rebuild our website now or wait for the web project?
You should limit work such as design or navigation changes prior to the project, and instead try to clean up your site where possible.
Your existing content will probably be used in the new website, so improving it will help you to save time and effort in future.
Examples of re-usable changes include:
- adding images and videos
- editing and re-writing content to make it more concise, or to tailor it for specific types of people
- removing old news and events
- deleting unused pages
- search engine optimisation work, such as identifying good keywords.
Examples of changes that may not endure or not be cost effective include:
- navigation changes
- supporting mobile devices
- designing new templates.
Will there be different styles on different sites?
The public website was launched with the new design and CMS in October 2015. The staff and student templates will be the same as on the public site, apart from the homepages.
When will I get new templates to apply to my website?
The current University website has been re-skinned as an interim measure. Existing faculty, department and centre web templates were rebranded and received a logo change to bring them into compliance with the new Brand Identity guidelines. If you have any enquiries about the reskinning project, please contact Sarah Jessup — sarah.jessup@mq.edu.au.
Will my images need to be resized?
The templates for the new website call for a range of different image sizes depending on what they will be used for. The images used in banners, carousels, image galleries and on pages will have different dimensions. To preview a list of the different image sizes, please visit our Wiki page.
Can you build a new website for me as part of this project?
This project is focused on optimizing the user experience of the existing websites and web materials,which is a very broad scope. It does not include creating new websites.
The University strategy is to combine websites to have fewer larger sites. This makes it easier to find information and improves search performance.
Will our current site be broken up or deleted?
Rather than organising content along the boundaries of internal organisational structure, content will be organised on the new website in ways that will best meet the needs of visitors to the website and support our core business objectives.
It’s unlikely (based on similar case studies), that the new model will require multiple websites catering to the same audiences, or covering the same content. Creating simpler user journeys involves content creators collaborating to produce common content.
What will be my role in the new website if our current website no longer exists?
Regardless of how information is organised in the new website, if you create or maintain content now, you will still do this in the future.
What happens to research centres?
Research centres that do not use the Macquarie University brand will not be included in the web project. If the research centre is 100% part of Macquarie University and adopts the new brand identity, a home will be found for it in the new website.
Will there be a way to manage staff profiles?
Staff profiles won’t be migrated to the new website because there is a better solution coming as part of the new research system. Although it was originally planned to create reusable staff profiles as part of the web transformation project, the new research system will offer a better alternative.
Can my web application be hosted on the new website?
This project will only provide hosting for the vendor’s web content management system and the web search system. The contract prevents anything else being hosted.
How will applications be handled in the project?
The scope of the project doesn’t cover web applications, however it will look for improved ways to help people get to the applications they need using search, navigation, or other methods. The shared identity project is addressing the implementation of new Macquarie styles and logos to major web applications so that they have a consistent look and feel.
What about training?
Training will be provided for web content managers in
- using the new CMS
- writing for the web
- web accessibility.
Writing for the web workshops have already been conducted for web content authors and no more face-to-face workshops are planned.
Most content authors have been trained in the Squiz Edit+interface. Squiz training sessions continue to run twice a month.
The section of the online Squiz manual that covers Edit+ is available here. Training is also available via video on our official Squiz Wiki. There is also a comprehensive manual for Squiz Matrix available online at https://manuals.matrix.squizsuite.net/
How can I participate in the project?
You can participate in many ways, including:
- finding people to participate in the research activities of the project
- sharing prior web and user research with the project team
- removing any web content that is old, stale, duplicated or rarely accessed
- editing and re-writing content to make it more concise, or to tailor it for specific types of people
- removing old news and events
- working on search engine optimisation.