UW Theme Updated to 1.18.2

On Thursday, May 26, 2022, the WordPress UW Theme was updated to version 1.18.2 in the WiscWeb service. A full list of changes in this version of the UW Theme can be reviewed in the changelog.

A few of the other noteworthy changes are outlined below:

Fac/Staff Changes

Breadcrumbs

When viewing an individual fac/staff post with breadcrumbs turned on for your site, the breadcrumbs now read “Firstname Lastname” instead of “Lastname, Firstname.”

Checkboxes in Filter

The left-positioned filters have changed from radio buttons (where a user can select only one item at a time) to checkboxes (where a user can select multiple items). People matching any of the filters will be shown.

Second Taxonomy Option for Filters

Users will now have the option to add a second taxonomy option for fac/staff filtering called “Research Areas.” You can also add titles for both the “Fac/Staff type” and “Research Areas” filter dropdowns.

You must create and assign research areas to the individual person’s bio before you’ll be able to filter them in the list. Additionally, this option will only show up if “All Fac/Staff” are displayed (if you are only displaying certain faculty types, this option will not be present).

Unlink Bio Pages

Users now have the option to not link their fac/staff cards to individual bio pages. This will apply to all fac/staff cards in the fac/staff list and cannot be set for individual persons. By default, all cards will link to a bio page.

Note: This option will not work if you have more than one fac/staff type being displayed for your filters or if more than one fac/staff listing page element is included on the same page.

Placeholder Images

The Bucky Badger placeholder image for fac/staff postings has been replaced with a generic silhouette illustration. A filter allows child themes can override the default image.

Accessibility Updates

Footer Changes

A link to the new Accessibility website has been added to the footer.

Black background with centered white text. Displays a UW-Madison logo with some contact information below.

Line Breaks for Emails in 4 Column Fac/Staff Lists

Email addresses in fac/staff lists were getting cut off if they were displayed in a 4 column layout and viewed at 200% magnification. This update has the text break to the next line so that a user can still see the full address. From a screen reader, it will be read as if it is all part of the same line.

Before:

Four columns of content showing Bucky Badger in the first row and contact information in the subsequent rows. The email address is getting cut off.

After:

Four columns of content showing Bucky Badger in the first row and contact information in the subsequent rows. The email is no longer cut off.

Focus Style for Global Name Link

When the global bar is set to red in Customizer, the UW name link was turning blue on focus.

This applies the currentColor styling that had already been set for hover, visited and active and preserves the white color on focus. The focus styling is instead the standard white border and outline default.

Firefox Link Wrap Bug

Links in a Group of Links menu were getting wrapped oddly when viewed from Firefox. This update fixes this behavior.

Box showing a Group of Links menu in WiscWeb with text that oddly wraps to the next line


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.