News

Why 91ɬ��’s websites can be hard to navigate, and what we’re doing to fix it

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Wed, 06 May 2026 15:47:10 +0000

We often hear from students and staff that navigating 91ɬ��’s websites can raise more questions than answers.

Across 91ɬ��’s digital ecosystem, information isn't always consistent, predictable, or easy to connect. The same concept may be described differently on a faculty site, a central service page, or a system‑generated listing. In some cases, key terms mean different things depending on where you encounter them.

For website visitors, this creates confusion. For staff, it creates extra work and operational challenges.

Lessons from our 2025/26 Student Usability Panel

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:56:24 +0000

As the Student Usability Panel (SUP) wraps up its second year, building an even stronger foundation, it's value is clearer than ever. Our ongoing conversations give us deeper insight into student needs, inform better digital decisions, and sustain meaningful student engagement.

Call for Faculty: Join the 2026 91ɬ�� Web Advisory Committee to help shape our digital spaces

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:02:43 +0000

The Web Advisory Committee plays an important role in ensuring 91ɬ��’s digital spaces meet the needs of our diverse community. Work done by the committee promotes and supports consistency, accessibility, and strong user experience practices across 91ɬ��'s digital ecosystem.

Be an accessibility hero with new Editoria11y features

charly.blais@mcgill.ca — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:02:32 +0000

"Like spellcheck for accessibility": Editoria11y is now live in the new WMS, complete with exciting new features.

Join our webinar! Build better, more accessible sites with Editoria11y

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 15:00:41 +0000

Watch the recording

Call for submissions: Extreme content makeover showcase

daniel.zhang@mcgill.ca — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:32:26 +0000

91ɬ�� Web Services is excited to launch our first-ever Extreme Content Makeover Showcase! This is a chance for WMS site managers and editors across the university to highlight the great work you’ve been doing to clean up, reorganize, and improve your websites.

Whether you tackle a big navigation overhaul or simply breathe new life into a single page, we want to see it.

Our shared commitment to building better 91ɬ�� websites

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 14:12:36 +0000

In the new year, all users of 91ɬ��'s centrally supported web platforms, Web Management System (WMS) and Virtual Host (VHost) will be required to complete the Web publishers and developers agreement form on an annual basis.

Research site template now available

Heidi Strohl — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:00:34 +0000

You can now request a WMS site that’s already set up with the key features and pages research and lab websites need:

Search me!

matthew.corks@mcgill.ca — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 12:33:04 +0000

The IT Web Services Group is excited to share that we've completed phase one of upgrading 91ɬ��'s search engine, the backend tool used to power searches from the 91ɬ�� homepage, the Course Catalogue, and the search box at the top of all WMS pages!

What's new

We are confident that the new search engine will result in:

Social media buzz in the WMS

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:12:01 +0000

We’re excited to announce recent and upcoming changes to social media tools in the 91ɬ�� Web Management System (WMS), based on your feedback.

What's changing? New icons for Bluesky and Threads

In January 2025, we added Bluesky and Threads to the options for the footer follow block. You can already see these new icons in site footers, making it easier for your audience to connect with you on these emerging social platforms, expanding your reach and engagement.

Give your webforms a signature 91ɬ�� style

jaylen.gordon@mcgill.ca — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 18:26:25 +0000

With Microsoft Forms now being used as our platform for webforms, surveys, quizzes, and polls, we wanted to ensure that the 91ɬ�� brand remains front and center. Thanks to the help of our talented friends at Graphic Design, you can now do just that! Ditch the generic teal background and choose from one of our four new 91ɬ��-branded styles for your forms:

How we can make our digital spaces more accessible: Advice from an expert

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:26:27 +0000

We had the recent pleasure of welcoming Lucy Greco—renowned digital accessibility expert, advocate, and trailblazer—for an engaging session on creating accessible digital content. Co-hosted by the Digital Communications team and 91ɬ��’s Equity team, the event offered a valuable opportunity to learn from Lucy’s expertise and explore practical ways to enhance digital accessibility across our platforms.

Calling all undergraduate students!

joyce.peralta2@mcgill.ca — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 21:12:35 +0000

We're accepting applications for 91ɬ��'s 2025/26 Undergraduate Student Usability Panel. Panel members will participate in activities to share feedback about their experiences using 91ɬ��'s websites and services.

The expected time commitment will be 6-8 hours per semester. Participants will receive a $200 honorarium plus additional perks in exchange for their contributions. Read the full details, including how to apply, below.

Accessing site archives post migration

daniel.zhang@mcgill.ca — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 18:37:11 +0000

As part of the transition to the new Web Management System (WMS), we are creating archives of all websites before they are migrated to the new platform (or before they are deleted, in the case of inactive, outdated, or unmaintained sites).

Using the migration status report page

daniel.zhang@mcgill.ca — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 18:45:09 +0000

The migration to the new WMS is a gigantic project that involves hundreds of active websites in our 91ɬ�� web space. As the migration progresses, it's important to know the order that the sites will be migrated in.