UBCO CMS Enhancements – Back to School 2019

October 15, 2019

Hello WebCore Administrators,

Below is a quick rundown of noteworthy enhancements added to the UBCO CMS so far in Fall 2019.

To see the full list of enhancement requests or to request something new, please visit our Enhancement Requests page.

Duplicate ACF Repeater Fields

IT has added a new plugin that allows users to instantly duplicate existing Page Sections, Content Rows, or Component Fields. This encourages and speeds up experimentation to compare different layouts on the same page without having to copy-and-paste content between different fields. The resulting benefit is time savings and reduced confusion when drafting new page designs.

To have this feature activated on your Faculty/Dept Theme website, please submit an IT helpdesk ticket with your website(s) URL

See original enhancement request > 

Import Featured Images from news.ok.ubc.ca RSS Feeds

IT has extended the FeedWordPress Syndication plugin to automatically assign the source Featured Image to posts that are being syndicated from news.ok.ubc.ca website. This is now active on all Faculty/Dept sites using syndication.

The new feature creates a local copy of the Featured Image from the source site and assigns that image as the Featured Image on the receiving site(s).

See original enhancement request >

Square Bullets in the Visual Editor

Bullets in the WordPress visual editor are now squares instead of the default circles. This matches the standard UBC CLF square bullets, which are displayed after the page/post is published.

See original enhancement request

Web Accessibility Skip Links [Updated]

Working with the Disability Resource Centre, the IT web team has added three additional skip links for users who browse our websites using screen reading tools. Skip links are anchor links that allow blind and visually impaired users to ‘skip’ to major areas of a webpage. Skip links are typically not visible for sighted users, they are detected and read-aloud upon page load by screen-reading software such as JAWS, Kurzweil, and Read/Write. The six (6) skip links now available are:

– Skip to main content
– Skip to the main navigation
– Skip to the page-level navigation
– Go to Disability Resource Centre Website (New)
– Go to DRC Booking Accommodation Portal (New)
– Go to Inclusive Technology Lab Website (New)

These links are a very valuable time-saving tool for any current and prospective students who may be reliant on screen-reading tools to browse our UBCO websites. Because they are read aloud immediately after page load, visually impaired users can skip to the body content without having to wait for the screen reader to read out each item in the main navigation and side navigation before reaching the main page content.

Skip links are not a feature built into the standard UBC CLF 7 theme and thus is missing on the majority UBC websites. Skip links have been deployed on the main ok.ubc.ca website and all websites using the Faculty/Dept theme.

You can (visually) reveal the skip links by loading any page on ok.ubc.ca or a Faculty/dept site using the Chrome browser and immediately hitting the Tab key. You can cycle through the list using Shift + Tab to go backwards and Enter/return to invoke the action.

Note: In case you momentarily see the skip links at the top of your page(s), do a hard refresh (shift + refresh) to clear your browser cache.

See original enhancement request >

Reminders

  • If a new employee needs to be added to your directory, but has not yet been issued a Novell ID, please submit a New to UBC onboarding ticket first. Once a valid Novell ID has been created, the IT web team will be able to add the individual to the CMS and any requested website(s) as normal.
  • It is a good web accessibility principle to add Alt Text to your image content. Images with alt text provide extremely helpful descriptions and context for blind and visually impaired users who may be browsing your page content with the help of a screen reader. WebAIM has an excellent article on the appropriate use of image Alt Text as well as many other good web accessibility practices.

In Progress

Recent Website Launches

Active Website Builds

  • UBC Okanagan Events Calendar
    • High impact, ‘Heavy Touch’ web project. UBCO campus-wide service.
    • UR and IT currently working on the long-awaited, centralized Events Calendar intended to replace the UBC Events Bedeworx calendar and RSS Aggregator listings.
    • New calendar will feature multiple filtering and display options [Organizers (faculties/depts/units), Audiences, Event Categories etc.].
    • Preview & consultation with units planned for mid/late November.
    • Migration of events and training December to early January.
    • Launch expected late January 2020.
  • School of Health and Exercise Sciences 
    • Content Starter Pack and training/handover complete.
    • Site in Content Entry Stage.
    • Launch expected in Q4 2019.
  • School of Nursing
    • IT completed initial site setup/config. using mostly clones from existing sites.
    • Site in Content Entry Stage.
    • Launch date TBD.
  • Central Directory
    • New site created to serve primarily as ‘neutral ground’ for editing cross-appointed employee profiles.
    • All profiles are now to be added and updated in Central Directory. Administrators and users should be editing profiles in central and no longer editing in their department sites. User editing is hidden in all other sites and only available in Central Directory.
    • An instruction page has been created directing users to edit using Central Directory.
    • More discussion to come at future WebCore meetings.
  • Management Redesign
    • Proposed sitemap approved by UR/IT.
    • Faculty collaborating on content for new site.

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