The Web Development Group works with the university’s academic and administrative
departments to create quality sites in accordance with the TU Web
Template. The Web Style Guide provides the following guidelines for editing or creating department sites.
How to Edit Your Website
1. Contact the Web
Development Group
To edit your
existing site, or create a new one, contact the Web Development Group using the Tech Help Form. After you login, select "Website Development" from the drop-down menu. We’ll
contact you to set up a meeting to discuss your site and determine a
timeline for its completion.
2. Assess Your Site
Spend time reviewing
your current site and its content. Consider your site goals: What does your
department/college/division want to accomplish and communicate with its
Web presence? Is it in line with your organization's mission as well as
the university’s mission? Consider your
primary audiences. Who
visits the site? How can you best serve each group?
3. Develop Site
Architecture
Work with the Web
Development Group to determine how your site’s navigation will be organized. Review
and revise your present site’s “architecture,” taking into consideration
the Web template’s navigation structure and the various audiences who
will be using your site.
4. Review Existing
Content and Write New Content
Thoroughly read and
evaluate the existing content on your site. Don’t automatically insert
your old content into the template. Identify missing or outdated
content. Think about whether your content lends itself to the Web.
Determine text, images, Announcements and Spotlights that may be
appropriate for each page. Make sure that you are not duplicating
content that can be found elsewhere on the university's site.
Identify content
writers: Who are the best people to write (or review) a piece of
content? Do they understand how to write for the Web? Assign content:
Make assignments to the content writers that you identified. Allocate
time to review content to make sure it is appropriate and integrates
well with the rest of the site. Consider maintenance: Consider how you
will maintain your content and update content that changes frequently.
You can get advice
and review of your content from Jackie Durbin, director of content strategy,
The Web Development Group builds
a skeleton of your website based on the site architecture you developed
with them. The files will reside in a folder in a temporary location
that cannot be found by the TU Google search appliance.
6. Populate Site with
Content
Once the site
skeleton is built, you can populate the site with text and photos. You will receive access to edit the new website with
Contribute. Please schedule Contribute training with OTS. Workshops are offered each week. Contribute self-help documents are also available.
The Web Development Group will assist with the design and placement of graphics such as Spotlights, Announcements, videos and photo slideshows on the site. Contact us for feedback after
you populate approximately 5 pages. We will also review all content on your site before it launches.
7. Site Goes Live
After the site is
approved by you and your
department, it will go live and replace any older sites you have online.
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