PDFs and accessibility part 1: making our organisation chart accessible

Posted on by Rob Mayo

Organisation charts presented in PDF format are one of the worst offenders when it comes to accessibility. Rob, from our Content Design team, explains how he turned one such chart into accessible HTML content.

When the bristol.ac.uk site was audited by Government Digital Services last year, one of the main issues that we had to fix was inaccessible PDFs.

PDFs pose particular problems for anyone with accessibility needs. It is possible to painstakingly add all of the structural tags for titles and headings so that the PDF passes accessibility criteria, but it’s unlikely that the effort will pay off; if someone finds 99% of PDFs that they encounter inaccessible, they’re not going to take the risk of opening another.

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Digital is really about people: what I’ve learned from working with the University of Bristol Digital Experience team

Posted on by Digital Experience team

A guest post by Neil Gunn, Digital Delivery and Performance Consultant.

I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with the University’s in-house Digital Experience team since November 2022, to support them in a consultancy capacity to optimise their internal process and workflows, and make the most out of their limited resource.

On my last day with the team, I’ve paused to reflect on what I’ve learned about them and myself.

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We’re hiring! UX Consultant

Posted on by Nabila Hisbaron

Applications for this post have now closed.

We’re looking for an agency or freelance contractor to help us design user-centred products and services at the University.

    • Contract details: 4 month contract, November 22 – February 23 
    • Location: Hybrid working – homebased, with days in our city centre office every Wednesday and Thursday 
    • Work pattern: The role is on a full-time basis, though hours can be flexible. 
    • Reporting to: Senior Digital Product Manager  

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We’re hiring! Digital Delivery And Performance consultant

Posted on by Rhiannon Davies

Applications for this post have now closed.

We’re looking for an agency or freelance contractor to help us jump start an exciting change to the way we deliver digital products and services at the University.

    • Contract details: 4 month contract, November 2022 to February 2023.
    • Location: Hybrid working – home-based, with days in our city centre office every Wednesday and Thursday.
    • Work pattern: The role is on a full-time basis (35 hours), though hours can be flexible.
    • Reporting to: Acting Deputy Director of Digital Experience.

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Pair writing: Why we love it

Posted on by Hazel Jackson and Katie Manktelow

Digital officers Katie Manktelow and Hazel Jackson have pair written their top tips for pair writing.

As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. Pair writing is two (or more) people writing together. Introduced by agile software developers who were writing code, it’s now common practice in content design teams including our own. We use this approach to write copy for the website.
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Putting people at the centre of our research comms

Posted on by James Corbett

6,000 members of staff and almost 28,000 students, six faculties, 28 schools and departments, 12 institutes, over 250 research groups, groups clusters and networks, and 14 divisions…  The University of Bristol is, if nothing else, a complex institution.
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Why every digital team needs a ‘DPAB’

Posted on by Alex Pardoe

I published a post last summer about the positive effect a new project management framework was having for us and those we work with. A lot has happened since then, but, through it all, DPAB has doggedly and determinedly continued to meet every Wednesday to triage, assess and prioritise. We couldn’t do without it. So, what is DPAB and why do you need one?
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Improvements to the Clearing process: A technical overview

Posted on by Adam McKenzie

My colleague John Bourne recently wrote a post about our clearing application process covering the user experience improvements. In this post I’ll be delving into some of the technical work behind these.
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Optimising the user experience of our Clearing pages

Posted on by John Bourne

A-level results day is one of the most important days in the University calendar, and that applies to us in the digital team. One of the most important tasks for us is ensuring that any A-level students who enter clearing have all the information they need from our website to make a decision about whether (or not) they’d like to join us.
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