Now that we have reached the exciting time where we are publishing our new website, I wanted to ensure that I answer as many of the questions which we have received throughout the build process.
We will add to these as we get more questions in to the team.
How do I report a problem?
One of the challenges of building a new website, and migrating so much content (29302 at current count), is that there are many intricate pieces that we have to get right. From the page content, internal linking to the redirects file (which contains almost 15,000 records!), there are bound to be some things fall through the cracks.
If you find any, please let us know! The whole team are on hand to squash any bugs that are found as quickly as possible. The best way to do this is email all of the details (and any relevant screenshots) to support@derbyunidigitalteam.atlassian.net.
On to the questions…
Where can I find…
A lot of things will be moving round as part of the new website. To give you a head start, here are some of the things we know you’ll want to find.
Site search
This will be accessible from every page on the website, you will see a spy glass icon on the right at the top of the page, this is where you can start your search from.
UDo, library and Staff areas
Links to UDo, the library and Staff areas are now in the footer (as they were on all mobile responsive pages of the previous site) and this will be the same on every page of the website. You will also find other commonly used links in the footer as well.
Staff profiles
We know staff profiles are very important so they have had a complete structural overhaul. They now use a more intelligent taxonomy so that each member of staff will be linked to relevant subject areas, Research Centre’s, College’s and Departments. This means we can create dynamic staff lists for any area of the organisation and other really cool stuff.
Staff profiles can be accessed by searching for the staff members name and selecting ‘Staff profile’ as the result type. We will shortly be launching a specific staff search page which will give greater visibility.
Staff profile user guides and logins will be setup over the coming weeks.
Why does it look like this?
Before concept work began, an extensive Brand project was undertaken in conjunction with an external agency and the Executive team. The output of this was a new, bolder and more confident brand. This brand project has had some very key influences on the new website which you will begin to see:
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- The line device and use of a box to emphasise particular content – you will see this in use in particular search results and on course pages to emphasis key information.
- The use of patterns with nine colour variations – where a photograph isn’t needed we can use a variety of patterns and colours in title areas.
We have also spent a significant amount of time and effort on making sure that the foundations of the website follow accessibility standards which we will continue to build on.
Where can i find key areas of the organisation?
Information about the organisation is structured in a similar way to the previous website and can be found using the footer links. This content will be located at https://www.derby.ac.uk/organisation (but not until monday 🙂 )
We now have a much better search functionality, so why not search for what you are looking for?
The search results aren’t what I expected to see
As with any new search appliance, it will take time for the results to be returned in the most optimal order. Please report any issues to our support address at the top of this blog post and we will investigate!