To confirm the content approach for the Topic pages and whether this will mean changes to the wireframe.
Discussion items
Item
Notes
Discussion and decision
Content Length
Too long for mobile
Doesn't fit within current wireframes
Possible changes to design
Using concertinas and dropdowns
About page is the longest, could a solution be to create an overview tab?
Everyone agreed the content was too long
There are options for concertinas and dropdowns in the design already
If we are using show/hide functionality we should still consider first whether content can be written more concisely - the benefit of mobile first content reaches to desktop users as they often don't want to read a lot on screen.
Decision:
Reduce the length of the content
Retain design patterns that hide longer copy
Careers
This is referenced on every tab but also has its own tab.
Does this need to be referenced on every tab
If it does is that because of a user need or is it something that could be addressed in the design?
Careers is important because for some students this is an important driver for their decision.
Rather than a large block for careers references could be woven into other parts of the content where relevant.
Decision
Reduce the number of blocks referencing careers.
Exchange
Unsure if this is a marketing driver
This was an example of a block that would push people to richer content rather than being about exchanges being promoted on all Topics. Equally the content could have been about BA Internships.
Having these blocks is part of marketing the uniqueness of what Victoria offers.
The Exchange block could still be relevant for some topics - as it could be worth talking to Victoria Abroad about what subjects are more likely to be interested in exchanges.
Decision
Block patter should still be developed but these should only be used where they enhance the content for users not by rule for every single topic/page.
Support for students block
Content lives in a different area of the site - could look at fleshing this out as part of the BAU IA work in the 'Why Choose' area of the site.
This is a longer block and points to three places: Student Services on Future Students hub, Maori at Victoria and Pasifika at Victoria.
Discussion that this is a very long block and probably isn't necessary to be pointing students in different directions from this page.
The statement or something similar is still useful as many people coming from High School are told how big, unfriendly and unsupportive the university is and this isn't true and should be demystified. "New students find Victoria a welcoming place, with great student support. If you run into a problem, there will be someone who can help"
it is problematic that three areas have been cherry picked - why isn't disability services their?
Decision
It is better to have a much more simpler block with just a heading and simple statement which could then point of to Student Services. The Student Services content on Future Students could be reviewed to ensure it works well for users.
Why Wellington
This looks like generic content that could be used across all topic pages
Alternatively, there could be a smaller selection of blocks to choose from e.g. one for each campus, one about government, culture, student life etc.
Would international need different blocks?
Could we just push them to the Future Students hub for this?
The content is important in this place as it is sometimes the only tangible point of difference from other institutions. The content could then push people to where this is more information.
Decision
We will have a reduced number of blocks which can be maintained centrally - what these are and how many will come out of the work that Gabe and Alida do as they work through the content.
Degree Planning
Does this need to be surfaced on both the 'About' and 'Study options' tabs or is this envisaged as a part of the footer?
It was felt this wasn't the right place in the journey to talk about customising the degree, here was a still talking about the topic.
The way it is currently written is overselling things a bit - we aren't really highly flexible but there are some options that we haven't included in Degree Requirements as they add too much complexity for all users when they are only relevant to a few.
Decision
This content will move to the degree/programme 'about page'
Content templates
Recommend that these are built to fit the wireframes and create in GatherContent with character limits.
Currently we are still looking at what content review tool we are going to use but everyone agreed it will be good to have the templates set up so they restrict content and spell out the page layout.
Content prototypes
Rewrite one of the existing topic pages to fit the prototype and based on the wireframe approach. This could then be the basis things are worked from.
Decision
Gabe Ryan (Unlicensed) and Alida Steemson (Unlicensed) will review 'Tourism Management' and either 'Building Science' or 'Architecture. These were chosen as they are part of the list which will be simplest to get live once we have sign-off.
Content plan
The content plan in confluence doesn't seem to have been adhered to
This information wasn't kept up to date as changes were made
There could be areas of this plan that aren't being met and should have been.
Decision
WIPII Team will review these as the content is worked on and finalise them for future development.
Media
Look at reducing the amount of media used on each tab. These should only be included if relevant and helpful to the marketing of the topic (not just as filler).
People agreed they were overused
Partly there are so many quotes in the draft content as there haven't been images and video available.
Decision
The use of these elements will be reduced
If images and video aren't available then we won't automatically default to quotes.
We will potentially go live without some rich content but asked the relevant Faculty/School to work towards creating this type of content.
User journey
We need to keep this in mind - where/what will they do next?
Agreed by all.
Information vs Marketing
Potentially the 'About' tab could have the marketing focus and the other tabs could be more informational?