McGill.CA / Web Services / Training and events

Which Web Services courses should you take?

Required training

Which role are you training for?

We’re currently migrating to a new version of the WMS, so the Web Publishing courses you need depend on which version your site uses. If you're creating a new site, take WMS 400 and WMS 401. If you're taking over an existing site, check which version it uses—you'll need either WMS 300/301 or WMS 400/401. You do not need to take both series.

WMS site sponsor

WMS site sponsors oversee a website on behalf of their unit and have final authority over key decisions about the site. Read more about the site sponsor role.

You do not need to complete any mandatory training to become a site sponsor.

However, we recommend taking our courses to learn about website best practices and become familiar with the WMS, especially if you will be contributing, editing, or approving content for the site. You may also want to become a site manager to ensure someone can make changes to the site if your regular site manager is unavailable or leaves the team.

WMS site administrator or site manager

WMS site managers create, edit, and organize content and manage the day-to-day needs of a website. Read more about the site manager role.

WMS site administrators can do everything site managers can do, but have additional permissions to manage a website’s overall settings. Read more about the site admin role.

The required courses for both roles are the same:

  • Site editing training: WMS 300 (legacy WMS) or WMS 400 (new WMS)
  • Site manager training: WMS 301 (legacy WMS) or WMS 401 (new WMS)
  • Writing for the web at McGill: WS-100
  • McGill's digital standards: WS-101
  • Designing great digital experiences: WS-102

WMS site editor

WMS site editors can edit existing pages and content on a website but cannot create, delete, or reorganize pages or blocks. Read more about the site editor role.

Required courses:

  • Site editing training: WMS 300 (legacy WMS) or WMS 400 (new WMS)
  • Writing for the web at McGill: WS-100
  • McGill's digital standards: WS-101
  • Designing great digital experiences: WS-102

Owner or administrator of a McGill-hosted website outside the WMS

This applies to public sites using McGill's Virtual Web Hosting Service and sites hosted on a server or platform maintained by a faculty or administrative unit.

Owners and administrators of these sites must complete the following courses:

  • Writing for the web at McGill: WS-100
  • McGill's digital standards: WS-101
  • Designing great digital experiences: WS-102
  • Web accessibility: WS-106

VHost users of internal, non-public sites are not required to complete any training.

External designer or developer who works on a McGill website

External designers or developers working on a McGill website that is outside the WMS platform must complete McGill's digital standards: WS-101.

They should also design.system [at] mcgill.ca (contact the McGill DS team) to understand the branding and resources applicable to their platform.


Anyone who creates content for a McGill website but doesn't have access to edit a site directly is not required to complete training. However, we recommend taking our courses, especially Writing for the web at McGill: WS-100 and McGill's digital standards: WS-101, to learn about best practices.

User experience (UX) at McGill: WS-103

This course is mandatory for:

  • Anyone planning to conduct user experience (UX) research
  • Site managers who do UX design, information architecture, or usability-related work
  • New employees and external designers or developers who aren't familiar with UX methods

Additional training

In addition to the required courses for your role, we recommend that everyone who frequently works on a website at McGill expand their skills by taking:

  • UX at McGill: WS-103 (if not already required)
  • Content auditing: WS-104
  • Web analytics: WS-105
  • Web accessibility: WS-106
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