June 2, 2023 Open Lab Notes: WDS 3.0 updates, Before Footer Widget, and pre-launch checklist, alternative text resources
What We Are Working on
Web Design System
- Node update: We’ll be making a big update to Node. We’ll add a message to Slack about when to expect the update.
- WDS 3.0 Update: Expect an update to WDS 3.0 on Thursday, June 8. Updates include the horizontal navigation and the Post/Archive settings in Customize.
- Scheduling: Expect an update on Thursday, June 8. Dan is working on scheduling to allow publishing and unpublishing blocks at a scheduled time.
- Events block: Matt is working on creating two Event blocks, list and cards, just like News List and Cards. You’ll be able to integrate site-level events and events.wsu.edu events.
- Cost Tables block: Dan is working on the Cost Tables from Student Financial Services. This block will allow embedding cost tables from Student Financial Services.
Projects
- WDS 3.0 as default theme: Soon the WDS 3.0 will be the default theme. We are working on setting a standard setup for a website, similar to how a website with a Spine theme was set up with specific pages set up, time set, and a welcome page with helpful links for the WDS theme.
- Hide & Show Plugins: A Network Admin will be able to set specific plugging to show or hide across the whole network or on individual websites within the network.
- GA4 Update: Did you notice the countdown clock on your Universal Analytics account? Don’t worry, we’ve set up a new account fall of our analytics accounts. Need Access? Submit a web support ticket to Request Access to Google Analytics. Not sure you have a GA4 account for your site yet? Submit a web support ticket to Request Access to Google Analytics.
Glitch List
Submit a web support ticket to Report a Bug/Issue if you find a glitch.
Byte Size Tutorial
- Before Footer widget: In WDS 3.0 the Before Footer widget to adds content or a html snippes into the area above the footer.
Resources
- Export Universal Analytics Data: Universal Analytics is going away and will stop collecting data on July 1. Expect to have access to the Universal Analytics Data for 6 months. Google Analytics has provided some information on how to export your data.
- WSUWP Content Syndicate: A link for the content syndicate information is on the Spine Theme Training webpage.
- WSUWP Gutenberg Accessibility: This plugin looks for some of the easy accessibility issues to check and fix. This should be followed up with a check of the webpage on WAVE.
- Pre-launch Checklist: Before launching your website it can be helpful to run through the pre-launch checklist.
- Alternative Text (alt text): There isn’t a specific check to indicate whether the alternative text for an image is correct. Use these resources to help craft an appropriate alternative text for an image.
- An alt Decision Tree (W3C: Web Accessibility Initiative)
- Images Tutorial (W3C: Web Accessibility Initiative)
- Cat with Cookies: Some of you might recognize a cat image on this search results page that I (Lesa) use quite often. This is an example of how an alternative text (cat with cookies) could use a little more information to provide a clearer picture of the image and relate more to the content on the webpage. The alternative text “cat with cookies” isn’t as descriptive as “A kittie in a cookie monster sleeper lounging on the couch resting a plate of chocolate cookies on his belly.” With this alternative text you know exaclty which image this depicts.