It’s a busy time with web projects at UWaterloo. There is a new web design coming as well as a new web content management system that will replace Dreamweaver and Contribute.

So where do you start to get your website content ready to move to a new web design and a new web content management system?

Well, the answer is simple and standard: You start with a ‘web content analysis’ - which can also be called a ‘web content inventory’ or ‘web content audit.’

Great, now you know what you need to do. So, how do you do it?

IST Client Services and the Waterloo CMS Project have developed a UWaterloo SEW course and a UWaterloo content analysis tool (i.e. a content analysis template in Microsoft Excel) to help you get started.

The SEW course is being offered regularly, and more information can be found on the Staff Training page at: http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/cs/stafftraining.html

The content analysis tool (spreadsheet) is available for download and use via: http://tinyurl.com/ybzwcs7

There is also the question of when you should start your content analysis and the question of when you will be moving your content over to the new web design and the new web content management system?

When deciding when to do your content analysis, keep in mind the size of your website - obviously, the bigger your website is, the longer it will take to do a content analysis.

You also want to give yourself some time to plan the sitemap for your new site and revise or create any required content for your new site; the content analysis helps you plan your new sitemap and identify what content you need to revise, delete and create.

Also note that, while the pilot website in the content management system is scheduled for launch in Fall 2010, it will take quite some time to rollout the content management system across the large web-space of the university. Keep checking back here at web.uwaterloo.ca to keep up to date on the progress and schedule of the web-content-management-system project.