Demonstrating EdWeb: new site now up
Our new demonstration site launched last week, and building it has been a journey for all of us.
At the end of last week, we published a new site in EdWeb, intended to showcase what the system can do.
Demonstrating EdWeb – University website
It’s been a collaborative effort between Editorial Officers and Assistants – great thanks to Duncan for kicking it off – and I took over the lead of it after getting back from maternity leave.
It’s Drupal, but not as we know it
Building the demo site gave me great exposure to the system and what it can do, and how EdWeb processes and functions relate to how things worked in Polopoly – all, of course, against the backdrop of great usability and Writing for the Web.
Although some development had started before I was off, I was in many ways coming into the system cold – as the editors migrating content from Polopoly will be – so I was in the unique position of knowing guidance and best practice inside out without being overly familiar with the CMS. Those familiar with Drupal might have a head start, but hundreds of hours of testing and development have gone into making the EdWeb CMS right for our purposes. A quote from one of our team on my first meeting back was ‘It’s Drupal, but not as we know it’.
Who is the site for?
The site is for anyone with an interest in the EdWeb central CMS or the EdWeb distribution – current users, potential users, or even just curious colleagues.
It’s intended to answer key questions that editors should be asking themselves every time they create web content. Questions like:
- What can EdWeb do?
- How can we best use this functionality in the most user-friendly way?
- What do the features look like?
- What changes when you view from mobile devices?
Practical guidance
As we know, repeated web content is frustrating, and means errors are much more likely to creep in. We’ve been careful not to repeat ourselves (other than a few key messages that bear repeating), so we’ve been careful to keep practical guidance off the demo site, instead linking out to the wiki. Look out for the ‘Practical guidance’ heading on almost every page.
The wiki pages link back, in turn, to the demo site, minimising the need for screenshots. This way, whether someone starts with a specific task or is looking for inspiration, they have an easy journey showing them how to build what they need, and exactly what that might look like.
EdWeb support – training wiki [EASE login required]
There are also a great series of videos, produced by Duncan, to provide quick and easy overviews for common functionality.
Showcase videos – Demonstrating EdWeb
Work in progress
Much like EdWeb development, it’s still a work in progress. It will develop alongside the CMS, incorporating forms, different types of homepages, event overviews, and all the other features developed for EdWeb in the future.
These needs are always driven by the needs of both site visitors and CMS editors, so keep in touch about what you like and dislike about the new system.
website.support@ed.ac.uk [opens your mail client]
In the meantime, we hope you find the demo site useful and inspirational.
Further training
