UM-Flint University Relations

All UM-Flint Drupal widgets were designed for the following, specific uses. Everything you need to achieve within Drupal can and should be done by using these widgets properly. By adhering to these guidelines, you help ensure a consistent, quality user experience throughout the UM-Flint website—regardless of the device used.

The following are some important announcements regarding new Drupal workshops and new changes within Drupal that will effect your unit’s website:

Step 1: Rethink Press Releases The web changed everything about how messages reach audiences. We are no longer dependent on traditional media outlets (newspapers, television, radio, etc.) to produce and distribute information we want audiences to receive. We can do that ourselves through our own websites, social media, and newsletters. However, that does not mean […]

The Failures in Our Success In the crazy rush to overhaul the University website before our contract with our previous CMS-provider expired, a lot of talk was made about content and organization. Unfortunately, that crazy rush left little time to really elaborate on or help out departments with those two things. Instead, people were given […]

PDFs are a wonderful thing. These little file gems are great for sharing information. Our email inboxes are full of PDFs promoting campus events. For a period there in the new millennium, the humble PDF was a transformative way to stylishly communicate information. And then along came the mobile device revolution. Mobile killed the PDF […]

UM-Flint’s Offices of University Relations and ITS are still developing a full-fledged, fully operational Web/Drupal/Content guide. Until that’s ready, you can get some broad, foundational content strategy basics via our first iteration (of many) of a Web Content Guide. Some specific best practices have surfaced since the launch of the new, Drupal-powered umflint.edu on October 1. Reference […]

With Drupal as UM-Flint’s new content management system, opportunities to implement new strategies for getting the right content in front of the right audience at the right time are now possible. In time, we will formalize processes—such as consistent naming and tagging of various types of content—making strategies like cross-unit content sharing even simpler and […]

DO If you have a lot of text: Consider using a 2-7-3 layout, because a 2-10 can put too many words on a line making text difficult to read, particularly for people with certain vision problems or dyslexia. Avoid accordions as they will shove content off the screen defeating the purpose of accordions Things that […]

Since UM-Flint’s web transition project began, we in University Relations have been throwing around the term “card sorting” like it’s going out of style. We tell you that card sorting will help you organize your web content, will open your eyes to how your website should be structured, and will be fun. Who wouldn’t want […]

I am a fan of XM radio. One of my favorite stations is The Bridge, which is nothing but the music of the singers/songwriters of the 1970s. I don’t care if it dates me, but I love that channel. Driving into Flint today, I heard Paul Simon’s, “Slip Sliding Away.” You know, the nearer my […]