Author Archives: Luca Macis

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)

Example | KB 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.

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

Launch of new social media snippet on Chronos

Dear web publishers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new social media snippet for your departmental web pages. It’s a modest update aesthetically as it refines the existing design to better sit within Chronos but the major area of improvement is how you interact with the snippet. It includes a new drag and drop model in Dreamweaver so adding multiple services for publishers is simpler and we are able to add new social media networks to the snippet pack upon request with more more ease, effectively extending your reach with less limitations.

For more information on how the snippet works and the initial set of compatible social media networks please visit our knowledge base article.

To make use of the snippet please update to the latest snippet pack and if you have any questions contact websupport@kent.ac.uk

Kind regards,
Web Support

Launch of the new Estates website

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Dear web publishers,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the rebranded Estates website. It is now in the current Chronos brand making use of some of the latest snippets and offers an improved site navigation and webpage design. It has been live for over a month and has been used by many staff and students alike now that the new academic year has begun

Web Solutions and Estates have worked closely to improve how the Estates website and internal systems work so that it can be updated in the future more efficiently. Every effort has been made to ensure all functionality works although if you do encounter any issues please use the contact form on the Estates website to let the departmental web publisher know.

The website can be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/estates/

Please do not forget to update your links on your departmental website as some pages have changed location.

Kindest regards,
Web Solutions