The latest information on the transition from Reason to WordPress, including a timeline update, a peek into our content development process, and what to expect after the launch of the Admissions website.
User Testing
The first user testing session of the Admissions website took place on February 12 at Ascendancy Research in the Twin Cities. We’ve followed that up with several additional one-on-one sessions with visiting prospective students on campus. Our goals for user testing are:
- To learn about overall impressions & messaging effectiveness
- To learn how well the site works for key student information tasks
- To improve launch content & design details based on findings
The first goal is being met with great success. And, as expected, the testing has revealed some minor usability challenges that we are working to address. Additional testing will continue as we move toward our launch date of March 19.
Gather Content
We have been piloting the use of a tool called GatherContent as a centralized way of managing our Admissions website content.
The tool allows website editors to manage the creation, review and publication of their content. Multiple writers and reviewers can work simultaneously through a shared online interface. It allows you to set up a customized workflow, where content can be assigned to one or more team members and moved to a different stage of review by others. And when it’s ready for publication, it can be pushed directly into WordPress, with no copying or pasting required.
As we near the end of the content production phase of the project, it’s almost impossible to imagine what we would have done without such a tool. We haven’t decided what our use of GatherContent will be in the future, but it’s very well-suited for large-scale collaborative projects such as this one.
Post-Launch
After the Admissions launch, we will need to turn our attention back to infrastructure and the less visible things for a while. We’ll be focused on getting our WordPress environment ready for handling multiple sites, and for running it side-by-side with Reason.
We’re also thinking about what the transition roadmap might look like, and will be notifying departments well in advance of any work needing to be done.
For more information about the move from Reason to WordPress, see the Web2020 article in the previous issue of the ITS Update, visit the Web2020 website, or for periodic email updates about Web2020, please visit our new Google Group and click “apply for membership.”
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