What is UWF Web Presence 3.0?
The Web Services sub-unit within Marketing and Creative Services has been given the directive to develop a CMS-based web presence that showcases the UWF brand "distinctives" and the related messages that are important to the stakeholders that the university serves. This project is also known as UWF Web 3.0.
What are the goals of UWF Web Presence 3.0?
The UWF Web 3.0 project is a migration of the current Dreamweaver-maintained website to one with an enterprise-level content management system (CMS). The goals for the UWF Web 3.0 project are as follows:
Why Develop a Consistent Web Presence?
University of West Florida Web pages are accessed by prospective students, current students, faculty, staff, alumni, visitors, other universities, the general public, media, and researchers. These pages are often the first contact that these audiences have with the university. Others return again and again for information, research and entertainment.
There are more than 500,000 currently active Web pages at UWF. Since search engines make it simple for Web users to go directly to a page deep inside a site, it is critical for these users to have a clear indication that the page they are visiting is directly related to UWF. Consistency between university Web pages is essential.
Therefore, UWF strives to provide a common look and feel across most university-sponsored pages (personal Web sites are not in the scope of this effort). The "look" of a page applies to its visual nature, including graphics, colors, fonts and layouts. The "feel" applies to the organization of the page, including navigation, editing style and content. This goal is being achieved via a set of standard Web templates and documentation to assist the university's Web developers.
What is the timeline for the UWF Web Presence 3.0 project?
The Web 3.0 project has three major components:
A tentative timeline for the CMS process, can be found here:
Tentative CMS Migration Timeline.
As major milestones are accomplished, the timeline will be updated accordingly.
How did the design of the new university homepage and web templates evolve?
Marketing and Creative Services worked with NewCity, an interactive design agency specializing in websites, apps and campaigns for higher education, to research best practices and ultimately design the new university homepage and departmental web templates. The design process began with a comprehensive research phase that involved the university's target audiences and key campus constituents. The new designs incorporate web best practices for higher education institutions; achieve brand unity and consistency across the university web presence; increase opportunities for internal and external stakeholder engagement, promoting the core academic mission of UWF; and reflect the legitimacy of UWF's quality, uniqueness and personalized approach to our mission, vision and values.
What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A Content Management System (CMS) is a software system that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages or markup languages to create and manage website content with relative ease.
Why is UWF migrating to a CMS?
UWF's adoption of a CMS system will make it easier for non-technical staff to manage web content and provide workflow processes for content to be reviewed and approved at various levels in a timely manner.
What CMS did UWF Select?
After much research, planning and collaboration with campus constituents, UWF selected Terminalfour Site Manager as its future Content Management System. You can learn more about Terminalfour at http://www.terminalfour.com.
Who can use the CMS?
The CMS and associated web presence template system are for official University of West Florida sites only. UWF campuses, divisions, colleges, schools, academic departments and all university administrative offices must use the system, unless granted an exception from the Web Advisory Committee. Personal web pages maintained by faculty, staff or students (including student organizations) are not required to use this system.
Sites housed at the university for private partnerships or national organizations should not use the CMS. Electronic publications, newsletters and journals are not required to use the look and feel. The Web Presence Team handles all requests for the templates and reserves the right to approve or deny use as appropriate.
Why do departments have to use the CMS?
The CMS and associated template system provide the desired consistent UWF look and feel while still allowing the site manager flexibility in the presentation of individual content. The templates have been tested for responsiveness, browser compatibility and user accessibility. The use of the server side includes (SSI), and cascading style sheets (CSS) within the template allows updates propagate quickly. Do not attempt to reverse-engineer a template under any circumstance. The template makes reference to standard resources (e.g., images, CSS, JavaScript) that a reproduction may not take into account.
How can my department gain access to the CMS?
Once departmental web developers attend Basic User Training, they will gain access to the CMS and can begin migrating their departmental website(s). Basic user training is tentatively scheduled to begin in June 2013.
How will my departmental web presence be migrated into the CMS?
Manually. Campus web developers will receive CMS and migration training. They will then be responsible for migrating their existing departmental web presences into the new CMS.
How can I prepare my site for migration into the new CMS?
View the Top 5 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for CMS Migration (PDF).
Will the CMS include web templates?
Yes. Inside the CMS, clients will have templates available that enable both the technical and non-technical user to create entire websites with consistent style and navigation throughout the UWF web presence.
Top-level navigation structures, feature area samples and other web governance requirements along with the full designed template mock-ups will be added to the CMS Migration section of the Web Presence website as soon as they become available. These and other updates are communicated in a weekly email to campus web developers and those who are migration prep trained. If you would like to receive the weekly CMS Migration email, please email Jay Massey.
Do we have to use an internal website / directory for content targeting faculty and staff?
No. This policy has changed. It is no longer required that internal content be housed on an internal website.
Previously, Web Services required that content solely geared toward current students, faculty and staff be available through an /internal/ directory or MyUWF and not represented on a department's external web presence. Moving forward, web content intended for internal audiences may be represented on a department's external web presence. The use of an internal website is optional.
NOTE: Any private content geared solely for internal audiences that requires password protection should remain in a private, password-protected directory. Web apps and forms can be made available through MyUWF. Listed Departmental Information Administrators (DIAs) can submit a request for an addition / modification to the MyUWF portal. DIAs can find MyUWF Resources and Guidelines to assist with the request process.
Web Services will provide an internal web template within the CMS for departments that would like to continue to maintain an internal website. Otherwise, departments will no longer be required to create internal websites for non-private internal web content.
Will my existing web content automatically fit and display nicely within the new CMS web templates?
The majority of existing web content will fit and display nicely within the new web templates. However, some content may require reworking and/or reformatting if it is out of compliance with the current web governance requirements. For example, banner images sized at 610px for the current university web presence may need to be resized or removed with the new web templates.
How much time will it take for my departmental web developer to migrate our existing web presence into the CMS?
Time will vary depending on the size of the site(s) to be migrated. However, campus web developers who have followed all of the CMS preparation guidelines provided by Marketing and Creative Services.
How was the design for the new web templates determined?
Marketing and Creative Services worked with NewCity, an interactive design agency specializing in websites, apps and campaigns for higher education, to research best practices and ultimately design the new university homepage and departmental web templates. The design process began with a comprehensive research phase that involved the university's target audiences and key campus constituents. The new designs incorporate web best practices for higher education institutions; achieve brand unity and consistency across the university web presence; increase opportunities for internal and external stakeholder engagement, promoting the core academic mission of UWF; and reflect the legitimacy of UWF's quality, uniqueness and personalized approach to our mission, vision and values.
Are there any web content standards that must be followed by departments?
Yes. View Web Content Standards (PDF).
How flexible are the new CMS web templates?
The new UWF web templates are designed to provide a flexible system while maintaining a consistent university identity. There are certain elements in the design that must remain consistent to achieve a common look and feel. These elements include the university header and the style sheet. In addition to these design elements, there are a few navigation elements that must be consistent. These elements differ according to whether the site belongs to a university college, university school, academic division/department or non-academic department. Refer to the Web Template Standards for elements that pertain to your area. While these few items must retain their built in characteristics, the template system was created to be a starting point and a framework to build on; it is not meant to be a rigid mold that makes all pages exactly alike. The greatest amount of flexibility is available inside the content area.
Can I still use Dreamweaver to maintain my departmental web presence?
Once the CMS is fully launched, UWF Marketing and Creative Services will no longer provide support or training for the use of Dreamweaver to maintain sites that are housed within the CMS. Licenses for Dreamweaver supplied by ITS used to manage sites or other projects outside of the CMS will be available at the discretion of ITS.
What is workflow?
Workflow pertains to the process through which web content is created, uploaded, published and maintained on a website. One or many individuals may be involved in the workflow process for an individual website.
Who will have the ability to manage my departmental web presence within the new CMS?
Currently, UWF has a single-tier system where "web developers" are the only individuals who access website files and make edits. Moving into the CMS, user rights and roles will be multi-tiered and configurable which allows users to update and manage content for the particular parts of the site or parts of a page they have been assigned to look after. Users can even be delegated a small part of a web page. The four basic levels of users will be:
When the new CMS is implemented, individuals involved in maintaining websites will be assigned one (or possibly more) of these roles. Marketing & Creative Services is currently in the process of working with university leadership to develop the protocol for making these assignments. In some cases, you or your colleagues may serve dual roles in the workflow process. The intent of the new process will be to improve efficiency and content quality, empowering departments to take greater ownership of their web presences. As the migration is finalized, additional levels may be added based on the various needs across campus.
User level information will be added to the CMS Migration section of the Web Presence website as soon as they are finalized. These and other updates are communicated in a weekly email to campus web developers and those who are migration prep trained. If you would like to receive the weekly CMS Migration email, please email Jay Massey.
What kind of training opportunities will be offered for campus web developers?
Marketing & Creative Services (M&CS) began offering "Writing for the Web" and "CMS Migration Prep" in Spring 2013. In addition, M&CS has worked diligently to offer numerous one-on-one consultations with departments that self-identified as requiring assistance. M&CS will continue to offer one-on-one consultations in addition to "Core Web Developer CMS Training" and "Basic User CMS Training" classes through Summer 2013 in order to train all campus web administrators on the new system and templates. Additionally, "Migration Work Sessions" will be held for developers who would like assistance while they work on migrating their site(s). For more specific information on Training Program offerings, please visit http://uwf.edu/webpresence/training.cfm.
Will training continued to be offered after the CMS launches?
Yes. Ongoing basic user training will continue to be offered following the CMS launch. Some training sessions may be offered via video tutorials while others will be held in a classroom setting. Eventually, Web Services will offer advanced training sessions exploring the more robust functionalities of the CMS as the university grows into the system.