Changes Announced Regarding Content Organization and Site Publishing Timeframes
The following e-mail was sent to all Saint Anselm College faculty and staff on April 26, 2010.
If you are like most people, you’d rather do almost anything than read a long e-mail with more information about the new Web site. We know that, but even so, we’re asking you to please read this one. It deals with important changes in how the content on the new Web site is organized and some tweaks in the publishing process. Your willingness to read these updates as we send them will minimize some confusion when we take the new site live, a time when we will be less able to answer your immediate questions or concerns.
Change in How Content is Organized on the New Web Site
One thing we heard repeatedly from our Web firm as well as other firms that had bid on our redesign project, is how the college’s current Web site architecture (site navigation) was very compartmentalized in its organization, meaning that it was organized according to how the college is set up rather than how the average visitor seeks information while navigating the site. For example, in the current site, visitors must visit a particular administrative or academic department to get information and must have some level of knowledge about what that department does in order to know where to go. While this works relatively well for our own faculty and staff, it is quite confusing to prospective students and their families who are less well versed in the vernacular of higher education.
The new Web site’s architecture (how content is organized or housed) has changed and will be driven by best practices and proven strategies in how users interface with our site. In most instances, the content is the same, but it may be located in a different place or in multiple places when the information is of interest to more than one segment of our audience. The one exception to this is academic departments, which will continue to be organized as they are on the current site, but can be found with fewer clicks. A new header of “majors,” which is the word choice used by prospective students, is given more prominence in the new site.
Web Accessibility Resources
Today we had two representatives on campus from the Boston Office of the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to present information on Web accessibility. The presentation was part of the OCR’s outreach to colleges and universities in New England in an effort to educate schools on the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and to provide assessment resources for gauging compliance.
Included below are links to the handouts that were provided at today’s presentation as well s links to additional online resources, assessment tools, and accessibility validators. I’ve also created a new category of links in the right column of this page, which now lists many of these accessibility resources. Please note that I provide resources primarily on Section 508. Section 504 applies to colleges and universities, whereas Section 508 applies to state and federal agencies. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was written before the wide use of the Internet, while Section 508 was updated in 1998 with technology standards. In most cases, if you comply with Section 508, you meet the standards of Section 504.
If you’d like to recommend any additional links to add to the list below, please feel free to submit a comment with your suggestions.
Web Accessibility Presentation Handouts
- Website Accessibility Under Title II of the ADA
- Accessibility of Web Sites to People with Disabilities
- ADA Best Practices Toolkit – Title II Checklist (Web Site Accessibility
Online Accessibility Resources
- Section508.gov
- Section 508 Standards in Detail
- 508 Resources for the Academic Community (links to college sites)
- W3C Web Accessibility Resources
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
- University of Minnesota Web Design References (Web Accessibility)
- Educause Web Accessibility Resources, Presentations, and Publications
- U.S. Access Board
- Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM)
Web Accessibility Validators
- HiSoftware® Cynthia Says Portal
- Section508.info Validator (Page URL or Source Code)
- WAVE by WebAIM
- Firefox Web Developer Toolbar Extension
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 Accessibility Validator (Adobe Resources)
- W3C List of Accessibility Validation Tools
Revised Site Launch Date Set for Mid-May Following Final Exams (and Other Project Updates)
It’s been awhile since our last project update. I’m including below an e-mail that was sent to the college community via a campus-wide e-mail on April 9, 2010.
Since January, we have been working hard to add newly written content and migrate thousands of existing Web pages into the new content management system (CMS). In addition, the Web staff have been learning the new Ingeniux CMS, further customizing the software, and working through the many bugs that arise when rolling out new technology.
New Site Launch Date
Since the end of the academic year is quickly drawing near, we want to minimize any potential impact to faculty and current students by switching to a new system at a critical time of year. We have revised our target site launch date until mid-May following final exams. This will also allow us more time to complete our content migration and work through any remaining technical issues.
Making Updates to Existing Web Site (in the current CMS)
If you need to make important changes to content that is in the current CMS, you are free to do so. Laura Rossi and I continue to make content updates to the current live site as needed. However, if you make any content updates in the current CMS, please remember to use the process we outlined in our January project update regarding tracking those changes . This is the only way we can be sure that the changes you are making to the current site will be added to the new system. This notice does not apply to Web sites managed outside of the CMS by software like Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage.
Content Review With Departments
Since we are migrating content from dozens of administrative departments to the new site, we simply do not have the time or ability to meet with each department on an individual basis prior to the launch of the new Web site. We know that many departments are anxious to get our assistance on technical, content, and creative concerns. As soon as we have the new site live, and training completed for departmental Website managers and editors, we will be happy to assist those departments needing our help. We ask for and appreciate your patience.
Training on New Content Management System
The Web staff will begin conducting group training sessions on how to use the new CMS immediately following the launch. Training sessions will likely begin in early June and continue on an ongoing basis over the summer and fall. We will endeavor to provide as many as possible, including some evening and off-hour sessions to accommodate schedules.
Next week, we will provide you with an update on important information about the new site’s architecture and navigation (the ‘what will live where map’ and how those decisions were made). That update will also include information about the publishing process.