3:00p.m., June 18, 2014. MC 2018 a/b
Present:
Donald Duff-McCracken (Chair), Darren Bondy (Secretary), Herbert Balagtas, Tanya Balian Bedrossian, Marta Bailey, Kirsty Budd, Janice Cooke, Michelle Douglas-Mills, Chris Francis, Jim Johnston, Joe Kwan (guest), Andrew McAlorum, Collin McIntyre, Mark McKay (guest), Liam Morland, Kris Olafson, Megan Saunders, Andrew Smith, Heather Wey
Absent:
Daniel Allen, Marlon Griffith, Karen Jack, Amy Aldous, Dave Annable, Cynthia Breen, Nigel Henriques, Tammy Marcinko, Amy Meredith, Paul Miskovsky, Rose Padacz, Elizabeth Rogers, Susan Shifflett, Terry Stewart, Andrea Sweet, Victoria Van Cappellen
1. Graded Browser Support (Joe Kwan, MSC)
Joe Kwan attended the meeting to present on graded browser support. Topics included:
- Executive summary
- Purpose
- What does “support” mean?
- Progressive enhancement v. graceful degradation
- What are grades of support?
- Initial scope
- Definition
- GBS Chart
- Requirement levels
- Special considerations
- Analytics
The Graded Browser Support presentation is available online.
Comments & discussion
- The analytics used to inform this report were compiled from the limited data we had access too; as we currently do not have campus-wide analytics, the assessment of browser usage is not complete. The more access we get to data, the more accurate these reports can be.
- Attempting to support every type of browser will severely limit what we can do with our websites; certain types of new functionality and features would be limited.
- The unsupported browsers will still work in terms of general functionality, but they would not provide the best user experience.
- Questions were raised about mobile browsers not being as supported as desktop browsers. The analytics we have show that there is still a high percentage of traffic from desktop hardware. However, this may be misleading – the WCMS is not responsive which could be discouraging mobile use. Again, we do not have campus-wide analytics to fully assess this situation.
- The ultimate goal is to have a common campus-wide understanding about what browsers we will support.
2. Google Analytics (Mark McKay, MSC)
Mark McKay attended the meeting to present on Google Analytics, standardized reporting, and the University. Mark's is available for your reading pleasure.
Comments & discussion
- The upgrade to the new Universal Google Analytics code will not delete old codes; the old codes will remain until they expire in 2 years.
- Historical data will still be accessible; for the interim, both codes will essentially collect data side by side.
- Standardized reporting with Google Analytics makes it easier to measure conversion.
- To measure success of our websites it is recommended to use goals for tracking.
- With goals you can track if people are doing on your website what you want them to do.
- Would there be any resistance to implementing this Universal Analytics code at the University?
- We could provide site managers with an “opt out” option in case some sites are private and not front facing.
- All present members of WAC agreed this is a very useful concept, that the data would be very valuable to UW, and endorsed the implementation of campus-wide analytics. There was an assumption by some that this data was already being collected!
- There was a consensus that some tool for aggregating analytics data would be of value to the community (particularly those not adept at personally assessing ‘raw’ Google Analytics data). Perhaps a future presentation could be made on some options in this regard?
3. Chair’s Remarks (Don Duff-McCracken)
- The scheduling of the Web Steering committee has been adjusted to allow for more timely flow of information too and from the Web Steering committee. Chair has been to a couple of Web Steering meetings so far and is optimistic that we can move forward on evolving the implementation of the UW webspace to stay current and meaningful.
4. Approval of minutes of May 21, 2014.
The minutes of March May 21, 2014 were approved as distributed.
5. Business Arising
None
6. Waterloo CMS Update (Heather Wey/Kris Olafson)
Training update (Heather Wey)
- The Skills for the Electronic Workplace courses for July and August are being put together now.
- Attended the Accessibility Conference last month; if anyone is interested in the report from that conference contact Heather Wey.
CMS update (Kris Olafson)
- Hoping to release the version 1.9 upgrade in July.
- In response to questions from Tanya, there is no timeline yet for responsive theme redesign. If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact Kris.
7. Summer WAC schedule
Most members in attendance said they could attend a July meeting; July meeting will occur as scheduled at which time we will discuss having an August meeting.
8. Other Business
None