A refreshed, accessible online presence for OpenAthens.
- CMS Website
- Accessibility
- WCAG
- Component Libraries
The client.
Jisc is a UK not-for-profit organisation providing digital solutions for education and research. It supports universities, colleges, and research institutions with advanced network infrastructure (like Janet), digital resources, cybersecurity services, and strategic guidance. As part of its offerings, Jisc operates OpenAthens -a single sign-on access management platform that enables secure, seamless access to online academic content and resources across thousands of institutions worldwide.
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The brief.
OpenAthens required a fully CMS-supported site with a strong focus on accessibilty - conforming strictly to WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
The site needed to be extremely flexible for content editors to maintain and extend, with a wide variety of different content types allowing the client to categorise and sort their content in a way that made it easy for users to quickly find the information they were looking for.
The approach.
During the build, Lunar worked closely with OpenAthens to ensure that the product delivered was held to the highest standard and evolved with the growing needs of the client. Through fortnightly sprint presentations and weekly catch ups, Lunar and OpenAthens worked together in a way that promoted transparency and communication.
On this project Lunar built a system to speed up workflow and aid in the modularity and maintainability of the site: a pattern library of composable elements that acted both as a development tool and as documentation on the project.
This approach allowed us to easily build in end-to-end testing that ensures that the functionality remains consistent and minimises regressions.
Lunar have remained involved in the project and continue to provide support as a tech partner, responding quickly to the needs of the OpenAthens team as the site continues to evolve.
Accessibility at the heart of the project.
One of the principal project requirements for the OpenAthens build was that the new site be as accessible as possible, and conform strictly to WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Lunar collaborated with the OpenAthens team to ensure that the end product removed the barriers that often make sites difficult, or impossible for some people, to use. Making accessible sites is to the benefit of all involved, and is something we care deeply about at Lunar.
The result.
The OpenAthens project concluded with a robust and long lasting product that is flexible enough to continue to evolve and fit the needs of a wide variety of content, all while conforming to standards of accessibility that mean that the site will be usable by anyone who needs it.
An accessible and simple to use resource
Fully CMS supported build
Long term relationship as technical partners
A robust and maintainable content platform
