What's a tip or trick you want publishers to know about?
Strategy & Approach
Nicole, Product Owner
"I want publishers to know that the most important thing they can do when working with their solutions provider is to explain the "why." We can’t build effective solutions based on the what or when, we need (and want!) to know the why. Take time to tell us what you want to do but tell us why, tell us what it means for your business model, your users, your users 6 months from launch. Tell us how it will affect future enhancements and how you imagine being able to build on top of it. We want to find a solution that is effective, efficient, within budget, and scalable."
Meredith, Associate DevOps Engineer
"I’m getting more and more exposed to how different people want to consume information. For example, visually impaired people appreciate text describing images in articles, because their web readers will skip over them. Those who are hard of hearing need closed captioning. And the option of different fonts or colored backgrounds can make text more readable to those with dyslexia. It makes it easier for them if these considerations are made from the beginning."
Zach, UX Designer
"Always empathize with all your users first! Making even a small effort to focus on user research can make a huge impact on designing a great product. Taking a moment to look into user analytics & feedback (from as many users as possible, not one or two) can tell us where to focus our problem-solving efforts together."
Christine, Technical Lead
"Be pragmatic about edge case defects. We love to work on what provides most value."
Patrick, Senior Business Analyst
"Migrations aren’t as scary as they sound. Change can be unsettling but with the well-established requirements gathering process Silverchair has put together, the build process is not something to be afraid of."
Nathan, Associate Software Developer
"I want publishers to know that I am as invested in their product as they are, therefore communication is key. Insight and understanding into each other’s world through constant feedback and updates are mutually beneficial."
Melissa, Content Migration Analyst
"The content migration process tends to be much smoother if the client comes to the RFP/sales process with clear goals for their content backfile. I.e., Are they reasonably happy with their content and just wanting to move it from one platform to another as-is, or do they want to use the migration as an opportunity to clean up and/or enhance their content? These are two different migration approaches that have different implications for the timeline and cost of content conversion and are best acknowledged and planned for early in the process."
Troubleshooting
Ashley, Client Services Team Lead
"The more detail, the better! To help troubleshoot an issue, we first need to be able to reproduce it. So, knowing the steps you took in full will help us to help you faster and with greater accuracy."
Will, SQA Engineer
"Most content-related problems can be resolved by fixing your XML, and any related assets, and re-uploading it to Zipline."
Milena, Senior Product Owner
"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I often find that screenshots and diagrams can greatly help a discussion. Screen shots can help both parties discuss a bug or an idea for an enhancement. Diagrams can help both parties discuss and gather requirements around an integration."
Matthew, Technical Leader
"Pay attention to the warnings provided in the content loading tools. They could provide valuable information as to why your content is not appearing the way you think it should!"
Stephen, Business Analyst
"Our platform tool user guides are very comprehensive and will answer most questions one might have about them."
Features, Products, & Services
Aaron, Senior Software Developer
"Your site's Search Results page lets you drill down with a variety of facets. You can capture a set of advanced search results – or a custom selection of content contained in your products – in an article listing widget called the Selectable Content List widget, or 'Magic widget.' Its capabilities are limitless!"
Brian, Design Manager
"With a little know-how, you can do a lot in SiteBuilder CSS files. CSS Tricks (https://css-tricks.com/) is a great resource."
Andy, Tech Lead
“Once a user gets to your site, user affinity widgets can help keep them there.”
Emily, Senior Business Analyst
"HEADMasterSEO is a free tool that will check up to 500 URLs in bulk and tell you where they resolve. This is useful for lots of everyday sanity checks for things like 1:1 redirects, doi.org/ URLs for Crossref deposits, and more!"
Micah, Product Owner
"If you want to review XML but Notepad++ has too many bells and whistles, there’s a free XML editor called First-Object XML Editor (foxe) that I use every day which can make reviewing XML much easier."
Who Knew?
Patrick, Architect
"You can spice up your normal keystrokes by holding down “Ctrl”! Ctrl+Left/Right moves your cursor by the word instead of the character. Ctrl+Home/End moves to beginning or end of a document instead of the line. Ctrl+Enter does all kinds of stuff depending on where you are, like send your email, or submit your Jira comment, or accidentally start a video call with someone you were just trying to write a text message to."
Addy, SQA Manager
"You can see what a site will look like in mobile by hitting F12 and clicking the two boxes icon in the window that appears. You can then toggle different devices like iPhones and Android devices."
Blaine, Associate Front End Developer
"Try navigating your website with just a keyboard. Use the Tab key to jump through the content and press Enter/Return to interact with links and buttons."
Stephanie, Senior Marketing Manager
"If you’re a Silverchair client, our sprintly Release Notes emails are an important source for changes to the platform and other client-only communications, so check with your PDM to ensure you’re on the list. And our monthly email newsletter, Silverchair News, offers a roundup of our news, blogs, industry reads, and upcoming events. Subscribe here."
Whatever your 2021 goals, we're glad to have you reading along with us and invite YOUR life hacks, queries, and more at info@silverchair.com.