Migration FAQs

Migration timing is based on site complexity, Fresco capability, and the programme's capacity. Migration will be undertaken in ‘tranches’, with allocation of sites to tranches based on Fresco's functionality availability to meet the needs of the migrating sites.

Here the process at glance...

Pre-migration activities:
A mix of mandatory and recommended activities to help ensure a smooth migration.

Tranche assignment:
Tranche/month agreement (not this is dependent on the features available in Fresco). Migration T&Cs completed.

Tranche (month) kick-off
Teams session to walk through the migration process and explain the next steps. The site owner will also be asked to confirm the migration and they will only have to attend one kick-off session.

Auto Migration
Once the site owner accepts the T&Cs for Fresco, the migration support team will freeze the Mosaic site and auto migrate to the new Fresco site.

Website Review
Once auto migrated, the site will be handed over for manual review and for user permissions to be assigned. Migration Toolkit provided.

Go-Live
Site owner confirms that all manual edits complete/internal approval given, a go-live slot will be booked, redirects applied and the Fresco website made live.

Support moves to Fresco Business-as-Usual (BAU) support, with help documentation and user communities available.

For Fresco issues or questions, please submit a ticket on IT Self Service.

Regular updates are also posted on the Fresco User Group (FrUG) Teams Community, where Fresco editors are encouraged to submit their queries.

No. Mosaic access ends after go-live. Dual access only exists during the review period (before go-live). 

For guidance on how to keep an archive your Mosaic site, visit this page.

Yes, Fresco sites use .site.ox.ac.uk. Temporary redirects from Mosaic domains are applied after go-live which last for four months.

Generally we don't recommend this because they will be unable to implement a bespoke visual design as Fresco does not support custom CSS, JavaScript, or custom HTML editing. Consequently, any custom design work from a previous site cannot be "carried over" or installed.

Your Fresco site will not look the same as your Mosaic site because Fresco uses standardised University templates and fixed components to ensure consistent branding and accessibility.

The font size is part of the initial Fresco design, which was developed with input from representatives across the University and aligned with the main University website (Oxweb), which is also being redeveloped. We recognise that it feels large for some users, and our Design Team is taking your feedback into consideration and exploring improvements, including to font sizing.

For a side-by-side comparison between Mosaic (Drupal 7) and Fresco (Drupal 10), please see our comparison guide.

If your site is no longer required beyond October 2026, you can choose not to migrate and instead request decommissioning. 

Videos will not play while you are logged in as an editor. The cookie consent tool required to play third-party videos is intentionally hidden for logged-in users to prevent it from interfering with editing controls. Once the site is live and accessed by a public user, the consent tool will appear, allowing video playback.

Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics are not currently available on Fresco. There is currently no confirmed timeline for when these features will be available.

The primary difference is that Slideshow is a supported, dedicated component, whereas Carousel is a legacy Mosaic widget that has no direct equivalent and must be replaced by other components.

Mosaic carousels are replaced during migration by Listing (for dynamic content), Selected Content (for curated lists), or Card components (for static content), typically arranged within a Tile Grid.

Each Fresco website is permitted to have up to two custom domains associated with it, in addition to the platform domain (i.e. sitename.site.ox.ac.uk). It is best policy to have just one to preserve SEO, although two may be needed when there are historical reasons. The platform domain should not be linked to online and should not need to be used after the switchover from Mosaic if there is a preferred custom domain.

In testing, menus have been confirmed to work up to seven levels deep. It is technically possible to go further, although in practice it is unlikely that sites would want or need to use that many levels.

This means:

• Two-level dropdowns are fully supported.
• More complex, deeper navigation structures are also possible if required. 

At present, sidebar navigation does not exist in Fresco. Eventually, Fresco will have a feature called Local Navigation, which replaces the legacy Mosaic Sidebar Navigation widget. 

Yes, each division will have access to their own trial Fresco site. This will be a site which will allow users to experiment with using Fresco on a 'dummy' site, which will not be public facing.

If you are interested in having access to your divisional trial site, please enquire by emailing mosaicmigrationsupport@it.ox.ac.uk.