The Digital Services team is in the process of migrating websites from an older version of our CMS to the newer version, Drupal 9.
Drupal 9 offers more flexibility in building web pages, is more user-friendly for editors, and allows for more visually appealing sites. The overall time frame to complete this process will vary depending on the size of your site. We estimate at least 2 weeks for most sites.
During the coming weeks, someone from the Digital Services may be contacting your department web editor and/or chair to schedule a meeting to begin the content audit and review process. All administrative offices and departments at Oswego are encouraged to have a website through oswego.edu. Editors must attend an introductory training session before they are given access to Drupal.
If you would like to start the review process, please schedule a meeting using the button below. Someone will respond to your request within three (3) business days. If you aren't available during the times listed, email Kate DeForest to set up a training session by appointment.
Session Types
Introductory Session
Training sessions will introduce you to the Drupal editing interface where you will learn to log in, create and edit pages in our CMS (content management system), upload photos/videos, link to documents and web pages, format page styles, and restructure your navigation and touch on layout templates. You'll be set up with an editing account before the session.
Introductory sessions will get you started with the basics of using the editing interface. An editor account will be established for you before the session. This session is suggested if you have no prior experience with Drupal or as a refresher session if it’s been a while since you’ve done any editing. You will learn how to:
- Log in
- Create and edit pages
- Upload photos, videos and files
- Link to documents and websites
- Format page styles
- Restructure your navigation
- Add various content components
- Incorporate basic digital accessibility principles
Component Session
Drupal offers flexible, responsive layouts for your content, as well as stylized components for featured content. This session is for editors who have already attended the introductory session and are looking to take their pages to the next level. We will go over:
- Content components and their uses
- Different page layout styles
- Using hero images
- Accessibility features
Improving Digital Accessibility
There are some basic steps you can take to help improve the overall accesibility of your digital content. While the other sessions briefly touch on accessibility features, this session will go into deeper detail about how to make your digital content more inclusive. We will discuss:
- How accessibility principles benefit a wide audience, regardless of abilities
- Using headings and lists
- Adding alt text
- Embedding links with descriptive text
- Choosing the best wording and language
- Captioning videos and providing transcripts
Content Development
Content is king. Often, it’s not the design that makes a great website but the content that’s displayed on it. Visitors come to your website for information, but what information should you be displaying, where, and how? What’s the best way to present it? Schedule an appointment to discuss the finer points of aligning your website to your business goals. You will be sent a brief questionnaire prior to our meeting. Questions will include:
- What are the goals of your site
- Who is your target audience
- What would you like them to accomplish on your site
- Where do you expect them to go next
Training Guide
Our training documentation provides step-by-step instructions, covering the basic steps of editing pages in the new CMS, including:
- adding a new page
- adding components to a page
- using the text editor
- uploading images
- linking files
- linking to another web page
- and more