AEM 2022 Recap & Outlook 2023

Search page redesign and new functionality

A complete redesign of the search for AEM websites was released at the beginning of 2022 which included:

• a new initial overlay with quicklinks for main applications for internals,
• a secondary overlay with suggested results for people, locations, events and webpages,
• a small design update for the individual person search page,
• a new search result page layout with results separated by type, including possible suggested results for internal administrative organizations, a link to related publications in Research Collection, and relevant event suggestions, 
• additionally, for location links in contact information and for general location inquiries, a new location search result page was introduced.

New news article and news feed design

News article redesign and Newsfeed 2.0 component

New design of components and switch to a new wide page template

All components in the system have been customized for the new wide page layout. Many received new design options or layouts that are only available on the wide page layout, and new components being developed in the system will only be available for use on the wide page template.

The old content pages with context column will gradually disappear and are no longer be supported in the system. Authors are therefore encouraged to migrate their pages to the wide page layout using the switch in the page properties. The current content will be retained during the changeover, but the content in the context column must be deleted or moved to the content area.

See also: Where to put content of the context column?

New Homepage design

Design adaptations and new components for the homepage (wide page layout) are ongoing. As a pilot project, an initial preview is planned end of December 2022/beginning of January 2023 for the ETH main site.

With the new display options, website visitors should be able to better use the homepage as an overview page. In the course of 2023, these display options will also be made available on all AEM websites.

• 2 Adobe service pack releases for general updates and improved security
• Replacement of entire AEM infrastructure with new more powerful servers, with the latest operating systems, new load balancer to increase security and availability of websites
• 17 releases with enhancements and bug fixes

• Ongoing accessibility improvements, such as additional support for authors in choosing headings, improved support for alternative texts.
• Introduction of the Siteimprove tool for better accessibility and quality control: 1 person per website can get access to Siteimprove as Chief Editor.
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• Simplification of linking within AEM websites: inserted frontend links are automatically "internalized" so that after page moves all internal AEM links continue to work.
• Better management of copyright information of images.

• AEM basic courses
  
• Various Accessibility courses (Introduction, in-depth sessions, consulting, fixed consulting hours)
  
• AEM Online manual
  
• Q & A Sessions

As of 2023 additonally:

• Analytics courses (Details to follow)

New wide homepage layout for all AEM websites

The pilot MVP (Minimum Viable Product) release for the new wide homepage template is planned for January '23 for the ETH main site only. Further development of new components, as well as the redesign of existing components, specifically for the new wide homepage template is currently ongoing in order to make the new wide homepage layout available for all AEM websites.

In future, the focus will be on flexibly designable "teaser components" that can be used to highlight selected website content on the homepage. With the teaser it is possible to arrange the content vertically in order to optimise the user guidance. This will also ensure that the desktop and mobile views are consistent.

All components that are currently available on the homepage will either be optimised for the new template or a new solution will be developed. The timing of the swith to the new template can be chosen by the authors themselves - the existing homepage template will continue to function without restriction.

Web analytics solution

A new web analytics solution, based on Google Tag Manager and the actual tracking tool "Piano Analytics", will be rolled out to the entire ETH. Users will receive support with a training offering, recordings, documentation, etc. Benefits of the new solution include:

• state-of-the-art usability
• data collection in compliance with data protection regulations
  
• integrated dashboarding module for the creation of overviews and sendable reports
• extensive export options
• new metrics and dimensions such as scroll depth, link clicks, video interactions
  
• differentiation between staff/students, non-AEM authors/AEM authors, ETH-internal/ETH-external users
• use of standard UTM parameters for online campaigns

Redesign of the Academic Calendar

On the one hand, the academic calendar will be converted to a completely new backend, the PCM (Public Calendar Manager) and analogous to what was already done last year with the event calendar application. Above all, however, the presentation on the web is being revised and will soon be available in its new look.

Change of User interface to 'TouchUI'  

The current "classic" AEM authoring backend is no longer being developed by Adobe and will be replaced by the new "Touch UI" interface. The development of "Touch UI" for our AEM should be completed by mid-year. Then the Classic and TouchUI versions will run concurrently for about six months to give authors a chance to get familiar with the new Touch UI interface. After that, the backend will be completely converted to Touch UI.

New landing pages

It is planned to introduce a landing page status for specific wide page templates. This status will then make some special components, like a new Home Hero, available for the landing webpage. The landing page is designed to address the needs of:

• units hosted within a single website, e.g.
  
  • ZO units in main sites,
    
  • institutes integrated into department sites and
    
  • research groups integrated into institute sites
    
• an event webpage integrated into a website
  

Decentralization of permission granting

We have been working for some time to build an AEM extension that will allow each site to have its own Chief Editor to authorize new authors for their site. Initial tests look quite promising, and we are confident that in the course of 2023 this functionality can be rolled out gradually.