WiscWeb WordPress Service

UW Theme Updated to 1.18.1

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Bucky Badger pointing to the crowd at a men's basketball game

See Known Issues at the bottom of this post.

On Thursday, April 14, 2022, the WordPress UW Theme was updated to version 1.18.1 in the WiscWeb service. A full list of changes in this version of the UW Theme can be reviewed in the changelog.

ACF and jQuery have both been updated with this release.

A few of the other noteworthy changes are outlined below:

Updates to Google Search Language in Customizer

The Google Custom Search application has been formally renamed to Google Programmable Search. This language has been updated in the Customizer to reflect this change.

Accessibility Updates to Main Navigation

The main navigation in the UW Theme has been updated to make it more accessible to those navigating a site with a screenreader. Users will now be able to more easily tab through dropdown menus and exit menus. Here’s a review of the changes:

  • A user can now use the Down Arrow to open the dropdown menu. Focus is then changed to the first item in the dropdown menu.
  • Once the dropdown menu has been opened, a user can use the Down Arrow or Up Arrow to change focus up and down within the dropdown menu.
  • While navigating the dropdown menu, using the Tab Key will close the dropdown menu and jump to the parent element’s next sibling. Using Tab/Shift will close the dropdown menu and move to the parent element’s previous sibling.
  • A user can now use the Escape Key to close to the menu. Focus will then change back to the parent element.
  • Previously, the Enter Key would open the dropdown menu. It will now also change the focus from the clicked parent element to the first item in the dropdown menu.

Additionally, accessibility improvements have been added to the mobile menu icon to add focus style and meet color contrast requirements.

Fac/Staff Additions and Changes

The Faculty/Staff custom post type now offers the option to display a website URL.

Website URL field in the Fac/Staff editing view

Website title field in the Fac/Staff editing view

Note: The headings for titles have also been changed from all CAPS lettering to title casing.

Known Issues

  • The recent release seems to have affected permalinks in a way that has broken links for Events Calendar events. If your events are not loading as expected, please try flushing your permalinks. Then, do a hard refresh on your page to see if they come back. If the issue persists, please let us know via our Customer Support Form.

If you notice any breaking issues on your site after this update, please submit a request via our Customer Support Form (Note: please choose the “Emergency Issue” option when submitting). Please provide as much detail as possible when documenting the issue you are experiencing.