Updates to the news and call to action snippets

We would like to thank you for all your wonderful feedback after our previous announcement.

We have recently updated several of our snippets to take into account requested functionality from web publishers and to update the design language to be more consistent with some of our newer snippets. These include:

  • Call to action: gallery items can now be linked to specific webpages
  • Call to action: buttons now use the new chevron found on the new buttons
  • Fullpage news summary: has been updated with a slightly lighter design.
  • News scroller summary: now also has a lighter design and is consistent with the new profiles scroller summary snippet

All changes are now live and you should see them automatically applied to your website. In addition to these automatic changes, we have also included the news scroller snippet in secondary and highlight colour versions to the snippet pack.

Again, if you have any feedback at all please contact us on websupport@kent.ac.uk

Best wishes,

Web Support

Launch of new profiles and panels snippet

We are pleased to announce the launch of 2 new snippets that will form as part of the snippet pack for all Chronos web publishers.

Profiles

After a successful focus group we have finished the design and development of a brand new profiles snippet to replace the previous “staff profiles” snippet. It’s been improved in every way:

  • Improved design reducing the block colours and putting a stronger emphasis on the profile
  • Automatically pull in staff information from the online directory just with their username reducing maintenance overheads (manual version also available)
  • More powerful category system allowing staff to be in multiple categories simplifying internal structure and profile management
  • Additional fields available: office location, office opening times, social media, second job title

Examples: full page summary, mini summary, profile | KB article

Panels

After overwhelming feedback over the years from all web publishers, we have replaced the callouts (and its disruptive habits in Dreamweaver) with something we’re calling panels. They work just like callouts but instead allow you to just drag and drop the panel you want into a 2 column, 3 column or equal width snippet and voila. You have your panel without the need to specify the width or float.

  • Provides a more accurate design view in Dreamweaver making it easier to use
  • No parameter table making it easier to use and less chance of unexpected scrollbars
  • Consistent spacing inside and outside of the panel
  • Available in 4 colours (primary, secondary, highlight and default grey)

ExampleKB Article

To update to the latest snippet pack please see the instruction below:

If you encounter any issues at all or have any feedback, please contact us at websupport@kent.ac.uk. We are always happy to hear all feedback!

Launch of new KAR snippet

Dear web publishers,

In collaboration with the KAR Admin Group, IS are pleased to announce the launch of a significantly updated KAR snippet for all Chronos web publishers. The new snippet should already be part of your snippet and comes with a host of new features:

  • Changing the order of pubications is more reliable and easier to edit
  • There are 4 referencing styles to choose from (Harvard, APA, IEEE, Chicago)
  • Ability to filter publications by the type of publication.

Please visit the KB article for more information.

If you have any feedback, please send it through to karadmin@kent.ac.uk from them to collate and present to the Web Development Team for future development work

Best wishes,
Web Support

Launch of new snippets and updated snippet pack

We are pleased to announce the launch of a completely overhauled snippet pack for Chronos which will bring many new features and snippets to web publishers. We have taken on your feedback after organising several focus groups as well as one-to-one sessions during website development projects; the outcome of which led us to:

  1. A cleaner and clearer snippet pack
  2. Launch of new snippets (buttons, twitter, tables, KAR – more information below)

1. A cleaner and clearer snippet pack

Along with adding new snippets, we also carry out regular reviews of our ever-growing pack as a whole. As a result, we have found the naming convention of certain snippets to be rather misleading for publishers. Moreover, the previous version of the pack also suffered from excessive number of subcategories within certain snippets, leading to duplication of functionality and ultimately, confusion.

For instance, we had 3 different Thumbnail snippets; Thumbnail, Index-main and Index-left. As well as a complete style refresh, now there are only two Thumbnail snippets; one with and one without background. Such improvements are abundant in the new pack and we hope it will provide a more enjoyable publishing experience.

2. Launch of new snippets

We’ve been working very hard on providing modern functionality and design principles within the Chronos brand. It all started late last year with the release of the Social media snippet and a minor update to the Accordion. Whilst a larger project is underway to design and develop an updated brand (expected early 2016), we felt that continuing to update Chronos was essential so we’ve brought you some minor and major updates:

  • Buttons: A whole new set of buttons to replace the Chronobuttons. This is a major overhaul of the buttons with the aim to bring simplicity and a modern look and feel to your website. The number on offer is reduced while versatility is increased. It is easier than ever to choose the right button for the right job. (Knowledge base article)
  • Tables: It now provides publishers the option to use any 3 of their site colours as the header and also increases spacing around the text for a lighter and more modern look and feel.  Updating any tables you have with this new snippet will breathe some life into your departmental web presence and instantly make it feel current (Knowledge base article).
  • Twitter: A minor update based on feedback introduces an optional fixed height which will be particularly useful for home pages. Stylistic enhancements also mean better integration of the website’s colour scheme. (Knowledge base article)
  • KAR: A minor update based on feedback from web publishers to include additional referencing styles. (Knowledge base article)

Don’t forget to update your snippet pack to take advantage of all of these new features:

If you encounter any issues at all or have any feedback, please contact us at websupport@kent.ac.uk. We are always happy to hear all feedback.

Staff Immigration site launch

Dear web publishers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the recent new Human Resources Staff Immigration website. We worked with our colleague from HR, Emma Milton on providing a centralised location for staff to find guidance on Staff Immigration, provided web site design and content implementation with a view to providing a simple, easy to site for users to navigate and find the content that they need efficiently.
Please visit the site at http://www.kent.ac.uk/human-resources/immigration/.
It has been a thoroughly rewarding experience working with Emma on such an important site for the University.

To read more about this project and the experience of the publisher, see our blog.

Best Wishes,
Web Support

HEFCE changes announcement

Dear Publishers,

Please note that the HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) have updated their site and as such, links to their site from University of Kent webpages may no longer work.

Please take some time to review any links you may have to the HEFCE websites, to ensure they still work.

The main differences from the old site are:

* the design is new
* the main sections now reflect HEFCE’s new business plan
* the layout and structure of pages has changed
* the site works better across different mobile devices.

The extranet is unaffected by these changes.
If your institution’s website links to HEFCE’s site there may be a need to update your site’s pages. See below for a breakdown of the new locations and contact us at websitefeedback@hefce.ac.uk if you have any questions or feedback.
‘Regulation’

Content previously published under ‘Regulation’ is now published under ‘Regulation and assurance’.

‘Funding and investment’

Content previously published under ‘Funding and investment’ is now published under ‘Funding and finance’.

The following pages are now listed under ‘Working with HE providers’:

* Lists of funded universities and colleges

‘Learning and teaching’

Information on the provision of information and funding for learning and teaching continues to be published in the ‘Learning and teaching’ pages.

The following pages are now listed under ‘Working with HE providers’:

* Information for further education colleges

The following pages are now listed under ‘Regulation and assurance’:

* Assessing and assuring quality
* Review of quality assessment
* Student numbers and high grades

‘Widening participation’

Content previously published under ‘Widening participation’ is now published under ‘Student access and success’.

The following pages are now listed under ‘Analysis and insight’:

* POLAR – Participation of Local Areas
* Trends in young participation
* Gaps in young participation in higher education
* Young participation from A-level and similar
* Differences in degree outcomes
* Non-continuation rates: Trends and profiles

‘Research’

Content published under ‘Research’ continues to be published in the updated ‘Research’ pages.

‘Knowledge exchange and skills’

Content published under ‘Knowledge exchange and skills’ continues to be published under the updated ‘Knowledge exchange, subjects and skills’ pages.

‘Leadership, governance and management’

Most of the content previously published under ‘Leadership, governance and management’ is now published under ‘Working with HE providers’ with two exceptions.

The following pages are now listed under ‘Funding and finance’:

* Efficiency in higher education

* Financial Sustainability and TRAC

‘Cross-cutting work’

This section no longer exists. Links to the location of its content are listed below:

* Strategically important subjects
* Postgraduates: policy and funding
* Postgraduate Support Scheme
* Data maps of higher education provision
* Data about demand and supply in higher education subjects
* Healthcare

To read the full news story visit http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2015/Name,102221,en.html

Kind regards,
Web Support

Launch of interactive map for ParrotNet research group

We have been working in collaboration with the ParrotNet team from DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology) to design and develop an interactive map which highlights sightings of invasive parrots across Europe.

The team are hoping to understand why parakeets are such successful invaders and how they can predict their agricultural, ecological, economic and societal impacts.

Allowing users to filter through thousands of entries (and hundreds of thousands of sightings), the map will assist researchers in how parakeets may be affecting specific areas of interest. Jim Groombridge and Simon Tollington plan to continue adding data in the next few years from numerous different sources, increasing the number of sightings, species and countries affected and assisting future research across the ParrotNet network.

For more information on ParrotNet and to view the interactive map, please see some of the links below:

Launch of new SSPSSR website

Dear web publishers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new SSPSSR website where our primary focus was improving the website navigation, reducing  the number of content webpages and archived material and providing a simplified user journey throughout the site.

Please visit the site at http://www.kent.ac.uk/sspssr/  to see the finished product. Harriet Armstrong-Viner from SSPSSR also kindly asks to check any links that are directed to SSPSSR from your website and that they are updated accordingly.

It has been a rewarding project and it has been a pleasure working and collaborating with Harriet, Eddy and Jackie from the SSPSSR web and marketing team.

Best Wishes,
Web Support

Yesterdays rollout of the tables snippet

Dear web publishers, 

Yesterday we rolled out a central update to the table snippet with the aim of modernising the look and feel to be more consistent with the recent changes made to Chronos. Following testing, we reverted the update as it had unintended affects to a minority of webpages that use tables to lay content out.

Our intention is to plan for a more gradual rollout in the new year where the changes will be available on www-test for several weeks so that all departmental web publishers have an opportunity to have a look through their pages and let us know if there are any problems.

It is recommended that where possible, web best practice should be used when laying out content in a page. This can accomplished using our layout snippets. All support documentation on layout snippets, such as the columns or grids, can be found on our Knowledegbase:

If you would like any assistance in updating your pages or would like some advice on whether tables, columns or grids should be used, please feel free to contact websupport@kent.ac.uk who would be happy to help.

Many thanks for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Best wishes,
Web Support

Launch of the new Publisher Control Panel for web publishers

Dear web publishers,

Web Solutions are pleased to announce the launch of the Departmental Publisher Control Panel (PCP). Once enabled, it appears on every page of your departments website on www-test to provide a convenient way to access commonly used internal systems and sites that web publishers make use of (news blog, events factory, configuration tool, Google analytics and the Knowledgebase). These links are unique to each department/site which provides a personalised central repository of convenient links for web publishers.

More information on the PCP can be found here:

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated as we add more features in the coming months to help make web publishing easier for you and your teams.

Kindest regards,
Web Support