We are thrilled to announce a brand-new theme experience for Cascade CMS, rolling out as of September 2023†. Our goal with this refresh is to not only make it easier for everyone to build beautiful and informative websites, but to also lay the groundwork for adding more functionality with the templates to enhance the user experience.
†Websites created before this date are considered "legacy theme" (version 3.x) and are eligible to migrate to a New Site.
All new site requests will be processed with the new theme by default. Here’s what this means for you:
- If you already have a Cascade site, moving to the new theme is not mandatory. We encourage you to explore the new theme and see what it has to offer but you are not required to migrate your site to the new theme.
- Legacy site templates are still supported. We recommend transitioning to the new theme, but it will require content migration. The new theme uses a new framework, code-base, and interface for building pages, therefore content migration will be a manual process. We understand that this isn’t ideal, but we hope that you’ll see the value with the new and improved features, detailed documentation and code snippet library that comes with that extra work. Now's a great time for a website redesign.
- We’re moving away from modules. In our ongoing effort to streamline the Cascade CMS experience and make future updates smoother, we've made the decision to phase out certain modules. We are discontinuing the following cascade CMS modules bundled with the theme: News, Media Gallery and Directory. Don’t worry, we won’t leave you hanging if you depend on these modules.
- The new theme and code snippet library provides a ton of gallery options for your photos and videos.
- We have included two new directory templates to build your staff pages with more ease.
- We have a news highlight builder block to create an aesthetically pleasing way to direct your visitors to news and events about your department.
- Or, if you prefer to build your own news site or blog, we’ve created an entirely new blog site template suite to compliment your standard official department pages.
- Required training for new users. For any new website admins joining your site, please note that they must complete our Cascade Basic Training prior to receiving site access. We will launch a self-paced online training, training sandbox and training guide to ensure web editors have the basic web editing skills and knowledge of support resources. Existing users will not be required to attend Cascade Basic Training; however, we invite you to register to refresh your skills. We will also have a shorter, Cascade Refresher training course that highlights what you can expect from the new theme.
- Accessibility (a11y) Update. The latest theme takes many measures to help you keep up with the latest accessibility requirements!
We hope these improvements will make your experience managing and editing your Cascade CMS website more useful and enjoyable.
Want to see these new features in action? Visit demo.nmsu.edu
