In batch six of the Go Mobile programme we published five sites. They are:
If you’re using T4 to manage your website, and have links to these sites, you can now add them as section links. See Anne’s post for an easy way to use Siteimprove to find which sites you’re linking to.
During this batch we also began pre-migration work on nine clinical research facility sites.
In September we reached the halfway point in phase two of the Go Mobile programme.
Here are a couple of stats on our progress so far:
You can see a visual representation of our progress below. The size of each box reflects the relative complexity of the site.
Progress at the halfway point of Go Mobile (click the image to view dynamic diagram)
Our next milestone comes at the end of November when all school sites will be in T4 and the responsive template.
Since we started the Go Mobile process, we’ve deleted nearly 5,000 pages from university websites.
Many of these pages were out of date or duplicated content from elsewhere on the web. They were confusing our users by presenting information that had no currency or relevance. They were, essentially, digital clutter.
We have a minimalist approach to the web. We like simple websites that provide information quickly and efficiently by using clear language and an effective, uncluttered design.
“Some web designers mistakenly regard minimalism as a primarily aesthetic choice. They neglect the fact that the ultimate goals of minimalism are usability and economy – the ability to do more with less.”
– Alan Smith, Usability Geek
This minimalist approach is better for users because it helps create websites that are helpful and easy to use. It’s also better for you, our editors, because it offers a formula for creating good content and a framework for prioritising information.
Here are some tips to help you approach your website with a more minimalist mindset:
Be simple and clear
In terms of both design and language.
Check our editorial and content guidelines for advice on how to write and edit for the web. Use readability tools (like Clarity Grader and the Hemingway app) to ensure your language is clear.
Focus on the essential
Your users want answers to specific questions. They should be able to find things quickly and easily, without being distracted by lots of unhelpful or irrelevant information.
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time.”
– Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Treat your users’ time with respect – give them what’s essential so they can move on.
Eliminate the unnecessary
Everything on your website should serve a purpose.
The purpose could be anything from informing someone of a key date, to inspiring them with a great story. If you can’t figure out what the purpose is, it probably shouldn’t be there.
Images, videos and quotes should only be used when they support the core content of a page.
Foreground functionality
Bells and whistles can be great, but they should never compromise the functionality of a website. Design choices should help people navigate your site, not impede their journey by bombarding them with attractive but unnecessary elements.
Visit the demo site for advice on how to use content types and design new pages.
Make deliberate choices
As a web editor, you’ll receive lots of requests to add new content to your site. You need to make strong, thoughtful choices about what belongs there.
Lots of exciting things are possible in T4, and it’s easier than ever to upload new content to the web. But – to paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurrasic Park – think more about what you should do, not what you can do.
Fortunately, T4 is not able to recreate dinosaurs.
For University web editors who have gone through Go Mobile and are using T4 to edit their sites, here’s a refresher on how to embed video content.
In the new responsive template videos are embedded using the content type ‘06. External Media’. They should be hosted on a dedicated delivery service, eg YouTube.
Before embedding a video you should check that it relates to and supports your written content.
You should also check the thumbnail for the video. If it’s caught between frames or doesn’t seem appropriate, don’t use the video and flag the issue with whoever uploaded it to the channel.
When adding a video to your content always take the web address from the video’s embed code.
Protecting coral reefs video on YouTube
You’ll also need to make sure the option to ‘show suggested videos when the video finishes’ is unchecked. Otherwise you run the risk of unrelated videos, or worse competitors’ videos, being pulled into your page.
Embed code for Protecting Coral Reefs video on YouTube
The video embed code will look something like this: https://www.youtube.com/embed/X_skPHdKQgA?rel=0
The code for the Protecting Coral Reefs video is X_skPHdKQgA, while the part of the code that ensures no additional videos are pulled in is: ?rel=0.
When adding to T4:
Screenshot of video embed screen in T4 (select to view larger image)
On desktop, you can choose to align videos to the right of your content or make them full width so they stretch to the size of the screen.
We recommend using the full width option with caution, though – this often reduces the quality of the video. It can also look more cluttered and can make it harder for the user to find the answers to their questions.
On mobile, videos behave the same as images – stretching to fill the width of the screen and flowing below content.
We recommend that you only add one video per page. This is so that you don’t bombard the user with too much video content, but more importantly so that you don’t slow down the load time of the page.
Check our T4 Moderator guide for how to embed external media (University login required).
Visit our website to find further advice and support about video hosting (University login required).
Better late than never, here’s what we’ve been doing in the web team over the past couple of weeks.
Andrew has been working on the post-migration checks and editing the new School of Education, Communication and Languages website in T4. He’s also been developing a new Travelling to Newcastle page for the About section of the website, which will be launched shortly.
Steve’s been working with the School on the new website for Computing Science.
Emily’s done an audit of photos for the upcoming School of Arts and Cultures website, and has edited the new Biomedical Sciences site in T4. She’s also done the audit for NICAP, and has been working on some reviews of sites that have already gone live.
Emma C has completed an audit of ten clinical research facility sites. She’s also been working on migrating the University Events website into T4.
Lisa has finished post-migration checks on the GURU site and is currently editing the content. She has also been collating some analytics to help with the development of the site.
After returning from a two week holiday, Fen’s been working on the Catering and Conferences websites. They’re currently being edited in T4.
The tech team have been focused on pre-migration prep and then migrating the current batch of sites in T4. This has included some specific developments and scoping of project requirements for the School of Computing Science and the University Events website.
Emma C has done an audit of our own website and is working on developing it alongside our Go Mobile demo site. She’s also been creating some custom analytics reports to support development of the GURU website and reporting on internationalisation activities.
Lisa and Jane met to discuss first steps in developing a tone of voice across University sites.
The content team met to discuss and agree a plan for reviewing sites that have already gone through the Go Mobile process.
Emma C is drawing up the schedule for this academic year’s community events for web editors.
This week Anne ran a T4 Basics session and has been planning our training schedule for the coming year.
We’ve received 47 support requests through the NU Service Helpdesk and have resolved 21 of them.
Lisa wrote a blog post about limiting video content on websites.
Next week Emma’s running a training session on media management.
We’re deep into editing the next batch of sites ready for go live on 7 October. The next tasks are accuracy checks and proof reading.
