UVM Drupal Web Guide

The Future UVM.EDU

Join us on our journey to upgrade our web content management system (CMS) and do a major web redesign. This page is a source for following the progress, getting sneak peaks at new designs and features, and looking ahead at the timeline.

Amplifying our impact. Web redesign and rebuild 2023.

The project kicks off with a brand new UVM homepage. The goals behind the new homepage is evocative of the institution's values and mission.

Be distinct, bold, and impactful
Emphasize content of value to prospective students
Elevate our strategic imperatives
Showcase our values and strengths with emotive imagery and concise messaging

Following the homepage launch, we will be continually rolling out web updates throughout UVM.EDU. Eventually, all content hosted on the current central Drupal 7 platforms (main and shared) will move over to the new Drupal 10 CMS and take on the new design.

New infrastructure. New possibilities.

The new website decouples the web CMS (Drupal) from the front-end application. The decoupling process allows for greater flexibility of designs, more performant (faster and more dynamic) webpages, and lots of future possibilities for content aggregation. We are using some of the most popular and modern web development frameworks to create our front-end.

We are also tapping into some exciting new Drupal features that will enhance the web authoring process for those creating and maintaining UVM web content. Some of the most exciting features include:

A wide variety of design components that allow you to create sophisticated layouts with little to no HTML or CSS experience.
Highly flexible templates that allow you to mix and match different design components on a single page.
A media library that offers easier and more intuitive access to your image and video assets.
More sophisticated group options, including the ability to make subgroups.
A new and improved navigational design.
Multiple new and flexible ways to organize and present your news content.
New and expanded ways to include video content.

Evolving the brand. Step by step.

The new website design is part of a wider deliberate and incremental process to push the UVM brand in a bold, new direction. As the updated UVM brand continues to unfold, expect the web designs to include features that will perpetuate and facilitate those changes.

Some of the initial brand changes you'll notice include:

A clean, lightweight, and more streamlined design.
An updated color palette emphasizing UVM's traditional green and gold.
The introduction of a new font-face used for main banners.
Larger imagery and font sizes.
New recommendations for photography and copywriting.

Re-envisioning UVM web content. Top to bottom.

Wondering what you can do to be ready to upgrade? There are several steps you can take to best prepare your content (UVM login required) for the move the Drupal 10.

Audit Your Web Content

When your website moves to Drupal 10 in 2023, all of your content (including copy, images, and other media) will move along with it. This is the perfect opportunity to evaluate your existing content and decide what should stay, what should go, and what should be reworked. Be sure to update or remove any content that is outdated or no longer relevant. For inspiration, watch the recording of the workshop “Optimizing Copy for the Web.”

Collect your multimedia assets

The new web design includes lots of possibilities to use imagery and multimedia to enhance and support your content. Getting a jump on collecting those multimedia assets will put you in a great position to get your web content up and running quickly on the new platform. The new designs utilize 16:9 (1200px max width) or 1:1 (800px max width) aspect ratios, so keep this in mind while selecting and cropping the images you are considering using. You can find a wide variety of images on the UVM Photoshelter account (log in for full access).

Migrate your Drupal forms

The "new" Drupal platform will not include Drupal forms. We have found Drupal's forms to be both limiting in their functionality and difficult to author and maintain. At UVM, we already have access to two supported web form platforms, MSForms and Qualtrics, that can offer stand-alone web form pages or provide code that can be embedded into Drupal pages. We're here to help you review forms and migrate them over, just stop into help hours or reach out to Nina Shedd.

Review your web analytics

Reviewing the data in your analytics can help you determine if changes need to be made to your website’s structure or content. Before your website moves over to the new format, it’s a great idea to have a firm understanding of your current numbers. Check out the workshops “Google Analytics Basics” and “Google Analytics: Beyond the Basics” for help.

Revisit your site navigation

Throughout the lifetime of a website, new pages can be added and navigation menus can become sprawling. Take some time to get your navigation/menu back on track and as streamlined as possible. Aligning your navigation with UVM best practices and standards will help website visitors have a consistent and easy to follow journey when navigating across all of UVM.EDU. Review our guidelines for group navigation (UVM login required).

Consult with the UVM Digital Team

Stuck on any of these steps? Want to make sure you’re headed in the right direction? The digital team is here to help. Drop-in web help hours are held every week, access the current help hours from the Drupal Web Guide homepage. You can also submit a web help form.