2021 was all about improving user experience on McGill's websites. From updates to the WMS search tool to the launch of the new virtual campus tour to efforts to improve website accessibility, the push was on to provide user-friendly, welcoming and inclusive web spaces for all members of the McGill community.
- Initiatives supporting accessibility and inclusion
2021 was packed full of initiatives aimed at improving site accessibility including:- Web Services' student-led accessibility audit team
- Accessibility Infosession and Hackathon, February 2021
- Numerous new accessibility articles and resources shared on the Web Services website
- Editoria11y accessibility evaluation tool for WMS websites.
- Search updates
Our improved WMS search tool went live in January of 2021.
- Launch of the new Virtual Campus Tour
McGill's spiffy new virtual tour shows off our beloved campus and facilities.
- New options for digital publications
View a complete rundown of McGill-supported tools and platforms for digital publications, including new options introduced this year.
- Web governance and initiatives proposed by the Web Advisory Committee
How do you get 1700+ staff members who manage 900+ websites on the same page when it comes to web strategy and standards compliance? Watch our presentation at the 2021 #PSEWEB conference to hear about our path to better web governance at McGill.
- Evolution of Web Services' processes and support during COVID
Working remotely caused us to reevaluate and refine many of our tasks and processes. We shared insights about some of the ways our methods are evolving at this year's HighEdWeb conference.
- Consultation projects
We were pleased to provide support on a large number projects for new and redesigned websites, including:- Launch of the Bicentennial website
- McGill's Coronavirus website
- Revisions to the Sustainability website
- Launch of new Indigenous Initiatives website
- New Models of Work website
- Health e-News/Le Bulletel
- Numerous faculty and department websites including, Research + Innovation and Schulich School of Music
- Design system progress
We were excited to share details about the new McGill DS (currently in beta) at our year-end presentation. Request a demo.
- Planning and preparation for Drupal 9 release
Towards the end of 2021 we shared our initial announcements about our plans to upgrade McGill's WMS to Drupal 9. Check out our Drupal 9 toolkit for info.
- Putting our design principals game face on
We've got a number of new resources and initiatives in the works to help site managers create attractive user-friendly layouts. Read all out it in our article, Design Principles: UX design basics for site managers.
- Web Services training registrants
Why stop at 10 when you can go to 11?! This year we trained over 600 people in our Web Services training courses (more than 1300 if we count individual registrations).
Additional tools and resources launched in 2021
New guidelines and best practices
Protect websites and users' data
- Privacy considerations concerning data collection for analytics and user research
- Guidelines for linking to information in a cloud service
- Webform security resources
Be consistent
- Translation guidelines
New training courses
- Designing digital experiences with the McGill brand - WS-102 (New updates)
- Web accessibility - WS - 106
Our 2021 year-end presentation
Interested in hearing more about the tools and resources we launched in 2021? Watch video of our recent 2021 year-end presentation!
