UBCO CMS Enhancements Round Up – Dec 2019

December 19, 2019

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

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

Office Locations on Directory Listing Pages

Office numbers have been added to the main listing of UBCO CMS directories. Any previously entered faculty/staff/grad student room numbers now show up on the main list in addition to their full profile. This enhancement was made earlier this month on all sites using the directory including the Central Directory.

Go to original enhancement request >

Darker Directory Filter Colours 

In addition to adding faculty/staff office locations to the directory main listing, we have also rolled out several styling changes to improve legibility. The following changes were made earlier this month on all sites using the directory including the Central Directory:

  • Increased height of filter dropdown selectors
  • Selector outline border made darker
  • UBC Whitney font applied to filter placeholder
  • Filter labels made smaller, bold, and all caps to help make filters more prominent
  • Increased line spacing (leading) of listings
  • Increased padding above and below each user listing
  • Decreased font size of Research Interests and Courses/Teaching fields
  • Employee name and email links underlined to make it recognizable that they are active hyperlinks

Go to original enhancement request >

Enhancements List Enhancements

We have made several minor tweaks to the Enhancement Requests page and Website Build Status page to help make it clearer and easier for everyone to stay up-to-date with web development on UBCO CMS.

  • Added ‘Last Updated’ column to Enhancements Requests page, which filters by last modified date of each item
  • The default sort for Enhancements Requests page set to Last Updated column
  • Reordered and renamed Enhancements Requests page columns to: Last Updated / ETA / Description / Submitted By / Status
  • The default sort for Website Build Status page set to the Project Status column
  • Reordered and renamed Website Build Status page columns to Project Name / Current Phase / Touch Level / Faculty/Unit / Project Status
  • Changed Plus-Minus box icons to larger and clearer Up-Down arrows
  • Generally nicer text formatting
  • Image uploads now available on the Enhancement Request form – Max 3 items. JPEG, PNG, and PDF only
  • Made media/screenshots uploaded to each full enhancement listing page display at full-size

 

Example Text for Add User Requests to UBCO Directories

Per the November Webcore meeting, below is an ideal submission for adding a new user to the UBCO CMS directory.

[Firstname McLastname] is a new [Title] in [Dept/Unit/Faculty]. Their Novell or CWL username is [flastname01] (Optional, but great if you already have it).

  1. Please add this [Faculty/Staff/Grad Student/Custom] to the FCCS website directory – https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca
  2. The UBCO CMS Central directory – https://centraldirectory.cms.ok.ubc.ca
  3. The internal FCCS website (if applicable) – https://fccs-secure.cms.ok.ubc.ca/
  4. The CCGS website (if applicable) – https://ccgs.ok.ubc.ca/

Reminders

  • To ensure a faculty/staff user profile is completely removed from your UBCO websites, you must remove the user from Central Directory as well as each department/unit websites they have been added to. For each site, go to Users > find the user > hover over the listing and click Remove > Confirm Removal. In cases where an individual needs to be removed from a directory where you are not an Administrator, contact your fellow communicator to ask them to remove the individual from their site’s users list.
  • When writing and preparing your web content, try to be mindful that a small number of users browse our websites audibly with help from screen reader software. It is very easy to hear your content read-aloud using a free Google Chrome plugin called Read&Write.
    • Read&Write is literacy software used by sighted individuals such as English Language Learners as well as individuals with learning disabilities such as dyslexia. It is a popular and easy-to-use tool to help you experience how web page content and alt-text is read aloud to low-sighted or blind website users. The Read&Write Google Chrome browser plugin (PC and Mac) is free using a Google Account.
    • Apple devices have built-in selective text-to-speech that can be easily activated in macOS and iOS.

Enhancements in Progress

Recent Website Launches

  • School of Health and Exercise Services / hes.ok.ubc.ca / Launched Dec 19, 2019

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.
    • Launch and gradual rollout starting Q1 2020.
  • School of Nursing
    • Site in Content Entry Stage.
    • Launch date TBD.
  • Faculty of Management
    • Proposed sitemap approved by UR/IT.
    • Faculty collaborating on content for the new site.
    • Launch date TBD.

The UBCO IT Web Team wishes you a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2020!

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