What this prototype demonstrates, how it was tested, what the migration found, and its limits. Prepared by Bellcourt Systems for RFP 743-2026-RFP-1515, September 2026.
What was built
1. One Multisite network, separate domains
A single WordPress 7.1 Multisite installation, installed in subdomain mode, serves three sites on three hostnames using WordPress core domain mapping, with no mapping plugin. Each hostname receives its own automatically issued TLS certificate. The hostnames are subdomains of bellcourtsystems.com standing in for the ten independent VIED domains; the mechanism is the same one that maps swtaac.org or texastrade.org into a network on University infrastructure. Uploads are separated per site, public registration is off, and public login and XML-RPC are closed at the web server.
2. A custom child theme on the Bootscore parent
The University’s reference site, arts.utsa.edu, runs the Bootscore parent with a child theme. This prototype uses the same parent (Bootscore 6.4.0) with a new VIED child theme. It uses no University marks. Every site runs the same theme, and the only per-site variation is a site name and a decorative accent color, which is how ten sites stay one theme. The child theme implements each behavior the Coordinator listed in the published answer to Question 44, plus three more found during testing:
- A skip to content link as the first focusable element on every page, which moves focus into the content, not only the scroll position.
- Every interactive control is a native link or button, so it works from the keyboard in desktop and mobile layouts.
- A mobile menu that opens as a modal dialog, closes on Escape, and returns focus to the button that opened it.
- A visible focus indicator on every focusable element: a 3 pixel navy outline with a white halo, readable on light and dark backgrounds.
- The current page announced in the menu with aria-current, which the parent theme’s menu does not output.
- Page language declared per page, and English interface text marked as English on Spanish pages.
- Links underlined in content, so they are not distinguished by color alone, and motion reduced for visitors who ask for it.
3. A scripted migration of tcc.txsbdc.org
The 13 published pages and posts on tcc.txsbdc.org were read from the site’s WordPress REST API and converted from Elementor markup into native WordPress blocks. Following the University’s direction that it does not want a one-for-one recreation, the migration proposes a smaller structure: four pages migrated, five staff bios merged into one Our Team page, a duplicate events page, whose five events had all passed, retired into Events and Trainings, and two 2020 annual report stubs retired. Every legacy address that changed has a 301 redirect. These rationalization decisions are proposals; in the project they are made with the center director.
The home page was rebuilt by hand. The REST export carried only 48 words of it, because the legacy home page is assembled from page builder templates the export does not include. This is the automated versus manual decision the proposal describes, made on evidence.
4. A Joomla migration with Spanish content
sbdcglobal.com runs Joomla and has no API for export. The English article What is an SBDC and its Spanish counterpart Qué es un SBDC were extracted from the rendered pages, converted by the same code, and published as two linked pages. The Spanish page declares lang=”es”, each page links to its translation with the language marked, and the legacy Spanish address redirects to the new page.
Test results
Automated testing used axe-core 4.10.2 with the WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 Level A and AA rule sets plus axe best practices, run in Chromium on September 13, 2026, with each page rendered at 1,280 pixels wide at its full height. All 11 pages returned no violations and no results needing manual review. Keyboard behavior was checked by hand at a 375 pixel phone width.
| Page | Violations | Checks passed |
|---|---|---|
| Network home | 0 | 38 |
| Prototype notes (this page) | 0 | 44 |
| Tech Commercialization Center home | 0 | 36 |
| Texas FAST | 0 | 41 |
| Texas Ideation Discovery Bootcamp | 0 | 40 |
| Texas A&M New Ventures Competition | 0 | 40 |
| Events and Trainings | 0 | 36 |
| Our Team | 0 | 38 |
| Center for Global Development home | 0 | 37 |
| What is an SBDC (English) | 0 | 41 |
| Qué es un SBDC (Spanish) | 0 | 41 |
| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| First Tab focuses a visible Skip to content link | Pass |
| Activating the skip link moves focus into the content; the next Tab continues inside it | Pass |
| Mobile menu opens as a modal dialog with focus moved inside | Pass |
| Escape closes the mobile menu and returns focus to the menu button | Pass |
| Focus indicator visible on the skip link and the menu button | Pass, 3 pixel solid outline |
| No horizontal scrolling at 375 pixels | Pass |
Automated scanning catches only part of what a person using assistive technology encounters. These results are a floor, not a conformance claim. The proposal’s accessibility program adds manual screen reader testing and three reviews by a DHS Certified Trusted Tester, ending in a written conformance report.
What the migration found in the legacy content
Every item below was found by the migration scripts or in review, and every one would have reached the new sites unless handled.
| Finding | Standard | Handling |
|---|---|---|
| 16 of the 18 images carried to tcc.txsbdc.org’s new pages had no alternative text on the page or in the media library | WCAG 1.1.1 | Alternative text written after reviewing each image; one map silhouette marked decorative |
| One image’s library alternative text was truncated (“America’s Seed Fun”) | WCAG 1.1.1 | Corrected |
| 5 images were the only content of a link, so their alternative text is the link text | WCAG 2.4.4 | Alternative text extended to name the destination, for example “Bijo Mathew, LinkedIn profile” |
| Paragraphs and lists wrapped inside heading elements, and two whole paragraphs marked up as headings | WCAG 1.3.1 | Structure rebuilt: 5 heading wrappers removed, 2 paragraphs restored |
| A second h1 inside page content, a heading repeating the page title, and skipped heading levels on the Joomla pages (h3 then h5) | WCAG 1.3.1, 2.4.6 | One h1 per page; duplicate title removed; levels made sequential with sibling headings kept equal |
| Joomla used image file names as alternative text (“SBDC life bus2”) | WCAG 1.1.1 | Replaced with a description of the chart, in English and in Spanish |
| Two links wrapped in Outlook SafeLinks redirects, one carrying a staff member’s email address in its tracking data | Privacy, link reliability | Unwrapped to the real destination, the University’s Qualtrics form |
| A partner logo hotlinked from a third party’s storage bucket | Reliability | Brought into the site’s own media library |
| The media library holds 159 retrievable items; 18 are used by the migrated content | Question 85 | Only referenced media migrated; the rest left for the director’s retention decision |
| A success story published as an image of a full page of text | WCAG 1.4.5 | Transcribed into page text with its headings, impact list, and quotation; the image kept as a link; transcription to be confirmed by the center |
| Five “upcoming” events dated February and March 2026 | Question 35 | Retired as past events; the page keeps its links to the center’s live event calendar |
| An email link that displays one staff address but sends to another | Link reliability | Link aligned to the address shown in the sentence; flagged for the director to confirm the right contact |
| A link that resolves to an SVG file | Platform | WordPress blocks SVG uploads by default; left pointing at the legacy file and flagged |
| sbdcglobal.com serves its TLS certificate without the intermediate certificate | Security, availability | Noted; resolved at cutover, when the domain is served by the network |
What this prototype does not cover
- It runs on Bellcourt Systems infrastructure, not University infrastructure, and none of the environment decisions the University reserved for project planning (Questions 72 and 73) have been made.
- It is not built from the arts.utsa.edu theme source, which the University provides after award (Question 28), and applies no University brand guidelines or marks.
- It migrates one of the ten sites and one page pair from a second, not ten sites. The two largest sites, sasbdc.org and sbdcnet.org, hold far more content.
- No center director has reviewed anything. Every merge, retirement, and piece of rewritten structure is a proposal.
- Content is stored as native WordPress blocks. The University prefers Elementor or WPBakery (Question 1); the builder is settled at the template review.
- Testing here is automated scanning and developer keyboard checks, not the manual screen reader testing and Trusted Tester reviews the proposal commits to. The Spanish alternative text was drafted by Bellcourt Systems and needs review by a Spanish-reading reviewer at the center.
- Forms, the events system integration, and MarketPlace payments are linked as they are today, not rebuilt.
This prototype will remain available through the conclusion of the University’s evaluation. Content copied from center websites is shown for demonstration only and remains the University’s.