Content Cleanup

Led jointly by University Communications, University Marketing and Information Technology, the university will be reimagining our externally-facing website and exploring a new internal communications platform (intranet). This work is vital to strengthening W&M's brand, driving prospective student demand and improving the online experience for all audiences.

At university leadership’s direction, our first milestone is a review and cleanup of Cascade web content by December 15, 2025. We have identified a point of contact for each site to coordinate this effort with their fellow editors. Below you can find guidance, resources and tools to help ensure this vital work can be accomplished.

Read the Latest AnnouncementsSee the Points of Contact (POCs)

What Content Needs Cleaning Up?

You will need to make decisions that are appropriate for your content and audiences, but please consider this a time for robust action and a dramatic reduction in your content. We offer the following guidance to get you started:

• Must remove or update inaccurate or outdated content – expired announcements, old processes, COVID-19 guidance, etc. Pay particular attention to content created more than a year or two ago, as it may now appear dated or irrelevant. 
• Must review all storage folders and only keep files actively in use – documents, images, widgets, etc.
• Must delete all archival-like content and store it offline in OneDrive, Box, etc., if an archive is needed.
• Must correct incorrect uses of the university's name.
• Could review all grammar and punctuation.
• Could complete any needed accessibility enhancements.

Ensure assets are reviewed and marked as reviewed by December 15.

News Stories: Additional guidance will be provided regarding the retention of archival news stories and borrowed news stories. Assets in "news" folders have been set with an extended review date for spring 2026.

Resources & Tools

• Content Review Guide – find detailed guidance for the review of documents, images, pages and more.
• Content Ownership & Content Review – mark and monitor your progress with these Cascade features.
• Acquia Web Governance (formerly Optimize) – use to help find broken links, editorial violations and accessibility issues.
• Analytics – review the data to help prioritize your efforts.
• Print to PDF – learn how to easily archive pages offline before deleting them from Cascade.

Cascade Tips

• Learn how to get the most out of your Cascade relationships.
• Learn what to consider before moving and renaming assets or deleting them.
• Learn how to easily update documents and images.
• Learn why and how to update your page menus when changing page titles.
• Learn how to publish your work faster.
• Learn how to use Working Copies to lock and collaborate on updates to a page.

Support

• Designated POCs – you are invited to join us at any of our Cascade Cleanup Support Sessions. These will be scheduled weekly through December 15 in both an in-person and virtual format.
• All other editors – discuss questions with your site's POC or contact your Cascade Manager.