WordPress Website Migration

What

A large initiative to migrate more than 50 websites for departments & groups from an older, unsupported CMS to WordPress. Without a direct import/export pathway, lots of manual recreation was necessary – in addition to providing a simpler CMS to site stakeholders, we also took the time to reevaluate the information architecture of all the sites and used our results to build more effective menus.

Why

This project was intended to modernize the web experience for sites under the College of Arts & Letters’ domain. Often, prospective students would use these sites to understand degree programs and their offerings, so increasing the usability and working towards a more modern UX helped both the programs and the students connect more effectively.

How

• Holding & leading meetings with department representatives to determine their perspective on which content was critical, what they would like to highlight about their programs, and assess their level of general CMS/WordPress experience.
• Continually task switch between multiple ongoing migrations at once: building megamenus, using Elementor to create more visually involved ‘marketing pages’, evaluating information architecture, archiving and deleting content that was no longer needed, ensuring posts and events were preserved and working properly, and generally, managing my time between many priorities.
• Diagramming and creating visuals, note templates, and documentation. Reporting on my progress and work status to coworkers, mentors, and management.