Site authors can currently choose from seven (7) templates inside Omni. Using snippets and components to create functionality and content, these
templates are comprised of up to 12 sections that can be turned on/off so you can
organize your webpage content how you see fit. All UW pages are mobile-optimized and
allow you to plug in your content and images so you can easily add information. Custom CSS and JavaScript are not allowed on new Omni CMS pages.
Tips for Building Great Pages
The Future of Templates
In time, we will be releasing a new suite of templates for all site editors to use. These templates will more closely match the "look and feel" of the UW homepage and will be pre-built for maximum ease of use. We will notify site editors as soon as these become available!
Expand each section to see the possible design and style options available for each page template.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This template is designed to display blog/news article summaries in a listing format, which must also be located and published in the same folder as your listing page. For a full tutorial, please see our Blog Creation Tutorial.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This template is designed to create blog or news articles which can then be displayed through an RSS (automatic) feed on a blog/news listing or a news home page. For a full tutorial, please see our Blog Creation Tutorial.
What Makes a Good Webpage?
A good web page doesn't need to contain a large amount of text or "flashy" content
areas to be effective. In fact, the average time a site visitor spends on any given UW page only about 24 seconds! While we always strive to improve the amount of time someone spends on a page, ask
yourself how much information someone can consume in just 24 seconds? That's not much
time so it's important that you are choosing functionality over flashy designs.
Creating a Call to Action (CTA)
While well-placed graphic treatments on photos and icons can help bring life to your
page without distracting your site visitors, it's important to focus on getting users
to take action on your page. This is called a call to action (CTA). Each unit across campus may have a different CTA. For instance, if you are in the
Advising Center, one of your primary CTAs on your student-focused pages may be making
an appointment with an academic advisor. A CTA is usually always a link or a button
on a page, both of which can be achieved in the WYSIWYG toolbar using the hyperlink
tool or the button component.
These are some of the top considerations when building a page and creating a CTA:
Each page type has its benefits and can also have some drawbacks depending on what you are looking to create. Every template is made of of several content section where customizable containers called "snippets" can be placed and make up the structure of a page. In addition to text, links and images added through the WYSIWYG toolbar, you can add "components" to create more exciting designs that can't be achieved through standard text. When you begin to build your pages, ensure you are paying close attention the red helper text located at the top of each snippet when inserted into a page. This allows you to properly build the structure of your page. You will also need to pay attention to what type of component you are using as some are labeled to only be used on certain templates. If they can be used on any template, the component will be labled with "ANY PAGE."
Take a look at some of the pros and cons of our most popular templates available to
site editors.
Need to Change an Existing Page's Template?
Check out our tutorial on how to replace the content of an existing page which allows you to change your template if you wish to do so. This also avoids breaking
you existing page's URL and dependency tag!
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Don't forget the Request Help Gadget!
Located in the top right of your screen inside Omni CMS.
