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Helpful Tips

Use Macromedia Contribute or Dreamweaver

Encode E-mail Addresses

Check Acessibility and Follow ADA Standards

Use a Calendar Feed

 

Helpful Documents (PDF)

Communicating Our Identity Part I

Communicating Our Identity Part II

Items to include/exclude in a departmental alumni Web page

Tips for Giving Web pages

Page Design Checklist

Web Writing Tips

Adult Photo Release Form

Minor Photo Release Form

Illinois State University Editorial and Visual Identity Standards

Web Addendum

Content Maintainer

The Content Maintainer works with the Decision Maker to determine what information should be included on the Web site and how to best present that information. Your group may wish to have one or more Content Maintainers, depending on the amount and variety of information.

An ideal Content Maintainer possesses one or both of the following qualities:

• a thorough understanding of how to market their group's message
• involvement in developing print materials for your group

Planning Phase:

During the planning phase, Content Maintainers should begin thinking about what information needs to be included on the Web site.

Here are a few guidelines to follow during planning:

• Review your group's completed Communicating Our Identity Exercise Part I (pdf) and use this information to complete Communicating Our Identity Exercise Part II (pdf) if your Web site represents an academic department.
• Learn how to create an alumni page for your Web site (if applicable to your group) by reading the Items to include/exclude in a departmental alumni Web page (pdf). Contact Alumni Services at 438-2586 with questions.
• If you will have a giving page on your site, please read our Tips for Giving Web Pages (pdf)

Development Phase:

During development, Content Maintainers need to determine how to best convey their group's information. For maintenance purposes, it is best to complete this phase as quickly and thoroughly as possible. The sooner you complete this phase, the less time you will spend making updates in two places (your live site and your eStoryboard site).

Remember, you are an expert on your group, which makes you the best person to create informational content for your site. IWSS staff can then organize and edit this information in a way that appeals to your target audience.

Here are a few guidelines to follow during development:

• Evaluate your Web pages using the Page Design Checklist (pdf) to ensure you are displaying information in the best manner possible.
• Review Web Writing Tips (pdf) for advice on repurposing text for the Web. Web visitors do not read Web pages like they do paper documents - this fact has been confirmed by many usability studies.
• Refer to the Illinois State University Editorial and Visual Identity Standards (pdf) and the Web Addendum (pdf) to ensure you have met the official Illinois State style standards in your visual and textual representation of the University.
• Include Points of Pride, authentic student voice quotes, and quality indicators on your department’s pages.
• Keep all the text on your home page, and other Web pages if possible, “above the scroll,” so visitors won’t have to
  scroll down to find important information.
• Obtain the appropriate permission, as required by the University, before publishing photos:
  • Adult Photo Release Form (pdf)
  • Minor Photo Release For (pdf)

Maintenance Phase:

After the initial project is complete, Content Maintainers should review and update content to make sure their Web site remains accurate and up-to-date.

If pages are added after working with IWSS, the Page Design Checklist (pdf) can serve as a reference tool for following page creation rules.