site migration and content strategy

Site Migration and Content StrategyRANDY CAREY

iCueProject.com

Careytech.com

This presentation is delivered live with my commentary. To help it communicate through slides-only, in this slide deck I have added annotations to provide a bit more explanation.

example annotation

• Careytech Studios

• iCue Project

My main work is [a] developing websites and custom applications for clients (or for agencies with client projects) and [b] Through the iCue Project I focus on developing tools and techniques for improving the web management experience.

JCM Migration ProjectI just accepted the role of migration lead and content strategist for migrating the Joomla Community Magazine (JCM) into Joomla 3.x and core content.

JCM Migration ProjectJoomla is an international project, and the migration project team members come from all over.

This presentation

• Site Migration

• Content Strategy

This presentation covers two areas: migration of web sites and content strategy. The latter is an important (and often overlooked) part of site migration.For each of these areas, I will be referring to our approach in the JCM Migration.

Site Migration

Site MigrationEvery site that lives for a few years needs a revision to keep up with the times. Very frequently this will require a migration from one technology to a more modern and more appropriate one.

Why Migrate?

Site MigrationBecause there is a cost to migrate (money, time, human and emotional resources), we naturally want to evaluate the returned value.

or “When to migrate?”

site redesign (visual)

Site Migration Why Migrate?

The most obvious reason to a client is that a migration enables a new visual design.

update or change CMS

Often the migration is needed so we can install an upgraded or more appropriate CMS.A rich and powerful CMS like Joomla 3.x adds a lot of new features and opportunities…

add new features

The new CMS can offer new features, such as Joomla 3’s content versioning…

new or better technology

…or take advantage of new technology such as responsive design.

re-organize site’s content

The need to reorganize a site and its content can suggest a migration. Such reorganization should be considered as part of any migration project.

improve workflow for content management

Likewise, the need to improve the workflow of content managers can either demand a migration or at least be considered during a migration.

Are the workflow steps logical, intuitive, and streamlined? I have another presentation on this: http://www.slideshare.net/careytech/streamlining-the-clients-workflows-in-joomla

improve workflow for content management

before

change vendor

A legitimate (but not ideal) reason for conducting a site migration is the change of vendor. If a client wants to change vendors for reasons of trust or competence, the client often has to change to that vendor’s supported CMS.

But a client should never pick a vendor with a proprietary CMS. That is vendor lock-in, among other negatives.

not just one, sum of all

The point: When evaluating the value of migrating, consider the value of all these.

recent example

I shared an example where the motivating reason to migrate was to upgrade form Joomla 1.5 to 3.x so that we could replace an outdated e-store with a modern component.Once the migration was complete, the client realized they ought to invest in a new visual design and a reorganization of navigation and content

recent example

So what could have been done during migration was undertaken in a second phase.

Site Migration Why Migrate?Again: Have the client consider all of these when faced with a decision about migration. Taken together, the client is more apt to choose to migrate, and the client will end up with a better product upon completion of the migration.

What is it that we are migrating?

Site Migration Migrate what?

We ought to think about exactly what it is that is getting migrated…

Content

Content - metadata

• SEO meta fields• old URL -> 301 redirect• category membership• content organization• tags• image attributes

features / behavior / brand

automation -vs- human effort

Site Migration automation

It would be nice if we could automate the whole process, but that is not realistic

For smaller sites, it seems easier to just copy-and-paste. But reasons to automate:• a site with hundreds to thousands of items (articles,

product data)• Data that would be tedious or error-prone to do by

automation and human review

Site Migration automation

I feel everything that gets automated needs to be reviewed by a human.

JCM Project

Site Migration JCM Project

Now I’ll share a bit about the migration approach we will be taking for the JCM.

Site Migration JCM Project what we want

The current site is on Joomla 2.5 and K2. We want the site running on the latest version of Joomla (3.x) and to use core (com_content) as much as we can.

improved workflow

The editorial team reports that they want workflows that are streamlined and more efficient.

Workflows span the registration and approval of an author, creation and submission of a new article, editorial review and editing of an article, linking translated articles to the originals, managing the articles within an issue, and publishing the issue.

refreshed design

? ? ? ?

This is a great opportunity for a visual redesign.

new features:

• responsive• microdata• content versioning• single button publishing• Joomla’s ACL• better tagging

The move to 3.x will buy us these new features and capabilities

asset management:

We will be reworking our digital asset management. For example, an author or editor should see only the images relevant for the article currently being edited.

future-proof content:

This is the time for us to work toward separating content from format so that the content of an article will easily import into other and future channels.

our approach

Site Migration JCM Project

So how do we plan to do this…

migrate just the content (and relevant metadata)

Site Migration JCM Project approach

segment work, work concurrently

visual design build template

incrementally prototype and build behaviorpublic UX, multi-language issues, workflows, ACL, content structures, etc

content migration

review migrated content

initial requirements

visual design build templates

prototype behaviorpublic UX, multi-language issues, workflows, ACL, content structures, etc

content migration

initial requirements

prototype and iterate discovery informs all other work

By iterating the prototype, we’ll get quick feedback from the stakeholders. Whenever we learn new information or a need to change an assumption, we quickly inform the whole team so other work can adapt to the newly discovered changes.

prototype behaviorcontent structures

content migration:

content migration

We need to discover the exact content structures that the new site will need. Prototyping will inform the content migration work.

Content migration will be automated through a tool and the tool’s code will be adjusted and tested until we see it getting all content into the new content structures.

review and clean migrated content

The ‘body’ of content needs to be migrated early so that a team of volunteers can review each of over a thousand articles for how well the migrated content works within a responsive design, and to identify and fix inline styling.

content migration: review & clean migrated content

content migration

…this means that content migration needs to migrate the main content early (so the volunteers can start their work on the large set of articles. But later on, the migration will need to leave this content in place while updating other fields as needed. (example: the hit count cannot be updated until the last minute before we throw the switch to the new site.)

small team, experts, empower experts

Migration Recap:

Site Migration recap

Why migrate?

• weight benefits of all opportunities• opportunities

What can be migrated?

• content• meta-data (SEO, etc.)

• features/apps (Whatever the site’s tribe expects)

• branding

Automation

• human review

JCM approach

• only content rethink and rebuild everything else

• work concurrently, iteratively

What is content strategy?

Content Strategy

What is content strategy?

Content Strategy

Planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.

-- Kristina Halverson

Role of a content strategist

Content Strategy

• Lead the stakeholders into an articulated content strategy.

Role of a content strategist

Content Strategy

• Lead the stakeholders into an articulated content strategy.

• Provide expertise, guidance, and recommendations.

• Do or oversee the work

JCM Project

Content Strategy JCM Project

I will discuss content strategy in terms of the JCM Migration project.

content structures How will data live in 3.x ?

From the movie Apollo 13, where technicians realize that the filters on the LEM are different from those on the capsule. They needed to find a way to merge the two systems.In our project, the data structures of K2 are not identical to those of Joomla 3.x

content structures How will data live in 3.x ?

------

content migration strategy

K2 Content• -----• ---• --------• -• ---• ------• ---• ----------

Article----

-----------

migration index

The migration process must create records in a custom table, records that track the relationships between the old site’s content and the new records

------

content migration strategy

K2 Content• -----• ---• --------• -• ---• ------• ---• ----------

Article----

-----------

existing

migration index

When the migration routine needs to adjust or add new content, it will reference the migration index table.

metadata migration strategy

K2 Content• -----• ---• --------• -• ---• ------• ---• ----------

• SEO meta fields• old URL -> 301 redirect• article -> monthly issue• tags and categories• image attributes

multi-lingual articles, editions

Content Strategy JCM ProjectWe need to accommodate articles in multiple languages as well as special editions dedicated to a particulare language (below is English and Spanish editions)

editorial workflow

We will use a role-based approach for authors and editorial staff, so that we can better manage workflows and editorial UX.

editorial workflow

create edit tag /SEO publish

workflow = notification and tracking

create edit tag /SEO publish

• ***• ***• ***• ***• ***

notification tracking

Workflow might include governance (who can do what), but it is more about notifying people and providing some tracking of the state of workflows (in this case, the state of each submitted article)

workflow ->

streamline steps

7 steps 3 steps

authoring / editorial UX

Where we can, we will apply a streamlined approach to editorial roles.

For example, a person should see only the fields relevant to that person’s role.

…and the toolbar should be minimalized to display only few buttons and to provide only those editing features that person should have access to.

toolbar : semantic markup

Content Strategy JCM Project select topics

getInstance()getInstance()

We plan to provide new JCE buttons that will apply ‘semantic’ markup.

examples of code from buttons that apply ‘semantic’ markup

AVOID inlining

replace with CSS classes

blobs -> chunks

blob approach

chunks approach

blobs -> chunks

45 6 7 8 9

We can identify at least 9 chunks for an author’s bio form

blobs -> chunks

truncation fails

gasp… truncation is not a good technique when we need short versions of the same content

blobs -> chunks

we need two fields/versions for ‘same content’

blobs -> chunks

…A recent article on how Flipboard assemble articles shows that they maintain multiple versions of the same image

cropped

full width

smaller version

Content Strategy Recap:

Content Strategy recap

What does content strategy plan for?

• creation of content

• management of content • publication of content

• governance of content

What is the role of content strategist?

• articulate a strategy• guide, recommend, oversee

areas to consider

• content structures• workflow of content authoring and management

• governance (ACL)

• improve toolbar (semantic markup)

• future-proof for multiple channels

Questions? Discussions?

Site Migration and Content Strategy

Randy Carey• iCue Project – web architect• JCM – migration lead and content strategist

Site Migration and Content StrategyRANDY CAREY

iCueProject.com

Careytech.com

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