Contents

Pages as Reference Material

The attitude taken during this iteration of University ITS Web page design is that our pages are reference material for ourselves and our customers. We are interested in a design which promoted fast access to content rather than one which used the latest techniques.

For better or worse (and worse certainly in an artistic sense), the following criteria were most important.

1. the indexing of the pages (how easy it is to find information),
2. the consistency of "look-and-feel" across Univerity ITS pages,
3. the content of the pages,
4. the aesthetics (attractiveness) of the pages, and
5. the ongoing management of the pages.

   Consistency

   It seems appropriate to develop a common "look-and-feel" for many (although not all) University ITS Web pages. This commonality includes expressing
   1. an association with the University of Connecticut,
   2. an association with University Information Technology Services,
   3. an association with a department (if appropriate),
   4. an association with a program or managed area (if appropriate),
   5. an association with a service, project, team, or group (if appropriate).
   Other common elements include
   1. a simple logo,
   2. a "last changed" date,
   3. an e-mail address to which comments can be sent,
   4. a common background or background color.

   To achieve consistency, these common elements should be positioned on all pages in the same locations. Further, the adopted design should promote rapid download (no big graphics) and ease-of-use (sensible positioning of elements).

   At present, it seems reasonable to require a common "look-and-feel" for some but not all of the pages developed by University ITS personnel. The following guidelines are suggested:

   1. Pages Using the Standard Design
      • University ITS home page;
      • University ITS component pages (Business Office, Communications, Computing);
      • University ITS program or manager-level pages (e.g., Help Desk, Production Control, Data Communications);
      • pages presenting University ITS-wide information (e.g., Directory, Training);
      • pages which are more likely to be printed out as references or "publications."

      To look at a standard web page, please go to: University ITS Home Page

   2. Free(r) Form Pages
      • personal home pages;
      • lab pages;
      • team, project, or topic pages.

   Indexing

   University ITS pages should be viewed as reference documents or publications for our customers. Two key organizational criteria pertain.
   1. Pages should provide rapid access to relevant information.
   2. The collection of pages as a whole should offer multiple paths or links to most pages.

   Content

   Page content should be developed by the subject matter experts themselves. Attention should be paid to proper mechanics: spelling, grammar, punctuation, parallelism, etc.

   Page authors should consider including the following:

   • relevant information void of wordiness,
   • links to related pages,
   • a table of contents for large pages,
   • illustrative graphics if necessary to explain an idea.

   Page authors might also review Guidelines for SLIM Web Pages.

   Aesthetics

   University ITS Web pages, whether or not they conform to the standard design, must be in good taste. Avoid profanity, gruesome graphics, and casting aspersions.

   Management

   In the general review of University ITS Web pages, we have discovered that pages are located in any number of places, on CMS accounts as well on microcomputers and workstations. There is a bit of a dilemma here...
   Decentralized pages facilitate interested page authors in keeping their pages up-to-date.
   Decentralized pages are more difficult to manage as a common collection.

   Managers should try to centralize pages under their control, and place them on a server or an account which is readily accessed by the staff who are tasked with maintaining those pages. University ITS pages should reside only on stable production servers.

   Standard Web Page Template

   A template for standard University ITS Web pages is available on two UCC CMS accounts:

   CMS ID	Fileid
   WWWUCC	UCCSAMP HTML
   UCCDOC	UCCSAMP HTML

   Computer Center staff should be able to link to UCCDOC to access the template. Comments are included in the template regarding what should be changed to customize a page. See Rick Ellis for assistance as necessary.