Aurora University supports the publication of web pages for individuals, classes, departments, and other university groups.  All web pages published on the official AU web site must be consistent with the university's general computer use policies, and with the additional policies and standards described below.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Web Team

The AU Web Team consists of the AU Web Site Committe, University Communications staff, ITS staff and academic and administrative department liaisons. Responsibilities for each area is as follows:

1. The AU Web Site Committee assists with the review of the existing Web site to strategically improve and enhance the content and design of the site (both external and internal). The team includes representatives from the following departments: University Communications, Information Technology Services, Admission, Athletics, Student Life, Alumni Relations, Advancement, and Academics (the dean of each college and one faculty member). In addition, one student will serve as a member of this team.
   
   While the overall responsibility of the university Web site is under University Communications, the Web Site Team is critical as we seek input on strategically upgrading and enhancing both the content and design of the Web site. The team serves as an advisory and recommending group. More specifically, the Web Team Committee is charged witht the following responsibilities:

   • Review and make recommendations regarding content and timing for re-design of the Web site.

   • Discuss and provide recommendations for upgrading and enhancing the existing Web site, including overall content and new technologies.

   • Review and update, as necessary, existing Web site guidelines to best meet the needs of the university community.

   • Review the content and design of major additions to the Web site, on an as-needed basis.
     
     
2. The Office of University Communications is responsible for the design, administration, overall coordination and content of the AU Web site. University Communications also reserves the right to edit proposed pages, changes and updates for style, grammar and consistency. The Web Site Manager is will:
   
   
• serve as chief editor, designer, and publisher for the university Web site
  
  
• take primary responsibility for the creation and maintenance of all web files on the official AU Web site and Intranet site
  
  
• publish new and revised documents
  
  
3. Information Technology Services (ITS) staff members are responsible for providing technical support needed to implement new pages and updates as needed. Technical support needs may vary, but include CGI programming, PERL script programming, posting of e-mail forms, HTML editing, online applications and inquiries and online ticket orders (i.e. Music by the Lake).
   
   ITS staff members are also responsible for building and maintaining the web servers, technical maintenance tasks, security and access control systems, search engine maintenance, database design, and Web site analysis and tracking software. ITS staff will also provide hardware, software, and ongoing training on an as-needed basis.
   
   
4. Academic and administrative departments on campus are responsible for assigning one staff member to serve as the main contact for the Web site. The liaison is responsible for ensuring that all material published on that department's part of the Web site:

• conforms to all relevant privacy and copyright laws

• is accurate and up to date

• is updated by the appropriate persons within the department in a timely manner

Guidelines for the Development and Maintenance Web Pages

1. In general, all pages on the official AU web site are based on standard designs and templates developed and approved by the AU Web Site Committee. Pages that do not use the AU templates, for operational reasons, must be approved by the Web Site Committee and are subject to specific standards based on the approval of the Web Site Committee.

2. Faculty and staff creating pages should abide by the following guidelines when creating and updating Web pages:

   • Only add material that you are personally responsible for managing.

   • When incorporating information that is already available on the AU Web site, a link to an existing page is strongly encouraged. Linking relevant information to an existing page will eliminate duplicate information in various locations and help ensure accuracy and consistency of information on the site.

   • Include a date on the page to showen the page was last updated. We strongly recommend using the full name for the month instead of just a number (i.e. "7 November 2001"). This prevents confusion caused by the fact that different countries use different standards for the numerical representation of dates.

   • Include cross links to relevant and related pages. A link to the parent pages and the Aurora University home page is standard on all pages designed with the AU templates.

   • AU Web pages will NOT be posted until they are complete, correct, and ready for use. We will not post a page that contains "under construction" labels or links to nonexistent pages, internal or external.

3. The primary liaison for each department is responsible for checking their pages for content errors, broken links, and other page design problems, and for correcting these problems in a timely manner. The primary liaison should also assist in the final editing stage to make sure all links are functional before or immediately after a new page is posted.

4. Web pages representing an office, department, or unit should not be published until the head of that unit, either the academic dean or the director, has had an opportunity to review and approve the content.

Technical Standards for Design and Maintenance of Web Pages

The following technical standards must apply to all Web pages.

Naming Files. Please follow these guidelines when naming all web files:

• File names should be all lower case letters to minimize access errors - file names on the AU web server are case sensitive.

• File names should NOT contain any spaces.

• File names should NOT contain any punctuation marks with the exception of the the hyphen ( - ), the underscore character ( _ ), and the dot before the file extension (.htm).

• The primary, default, or index page in each directory should be named "index.htm." Every directory must contain an index page.

• The best file names are descriptive, pronounceable, and short. All HTML pages should be given the extension ".htm" (or occasionally ".html").

File Sizes. To help pages load more quickly, regardless of the type of Internet connection a user has, please follow these guidelines:

• The total size of all files presented on a page, including graphics, should be no larger than 100 KB.

• All graphics, in addition to the template, should be as small as feasible.

• All images used on the Web should be a resolution of 72 dpi.

• All images should be reduced to their presentation size before uploading (in other words, do not rely on the browser to perform on-the-fly reduction of a large image).

Consistency Between Users. To help create a Web page that is consistent with various browsers and monitors, Web pages should follow these guidelines:

• Pages should be easily viewable on a standard VGA monitor (1024 x 768 pixels). It is recommended tha pages are reviewed using different browsers, screen resolutions, and color settings before publishing the pages on the Web site.

• Pages should be accessible from various browsers that do not display images in the event that the image function is turned off or that the user is viewing the page with a text-only web browser such as Lynx or a hand-held device.

• Pages should not contain features that only be can be correctly processed by all standard browsers. Avoid coding techniques that work only with specific browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.  As a matter of practice, all web pages posted on AU main web server must be compliant with Mozilla Firefox 2.X, Netscape 9 and Internet Explorer 7.X or later.
  

Non-Discrimination Policies. In compliance with federal law and University non-discrimination policies, all Web pages must be accessible to people with disabilities, who frequently use special software to facilitate access to web pages. Here are some tips to assure maximum accessibility for these users:

• Whenever possible use text rather than an image for a link.

• When using text as a link, use text that makes sense when read out of context (i.e. avoid link text such as "click here").

• All images must include an ALT label to clearly identify the content of the image, particularly if the image is serving as a link.

• Label and summarize all multimedia content.

• Avoid using frames.

• For details, consult the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

In addition to the guidelines above, you should also:

• Avoid features that impair readability, including certain background designs and certain text-background color combinations that are difficult to read. Please note that white text on a dark background will in many cases disappear when that document is printed.

• Avoid text that is too small or lacks sufficient white space.

• Avoid using distracting animations.

• Except for scanned images and photographs, all colors used on page elements should be selected from the standard "safety palette" of colors -- the 216 colors that are supported by all computer platforms.

Instructional, Student and Personal Pages

1. All faculty, staff, and students may publish web pages from their personal system accounts.

2. Space will be provided on AU servers for this purpose, but the authors bear sole responsibility for the creation and maintenance of these pages. The following regulations apply:

   • Nothing in their design should suggest that the content of that page is in any way the official view of the University (since these are not official University pages).

   • Disclaimers should be posted where appropriate.

   • In accordance with the general AU computer use policy, personal web pages may not be used to promote personal business, profit or non-profit.

   • All personal web pages will be removed at the time the individual leaves the university as a normal part of the deletion of that user's other computer accounts.

   • The Office of University Communications reserves the right to remove pages from the site if they contain information that is outdated or can in any way harm the reputation or integrity of the university.
   
   
3. Faculty interested in publishing instructional, scholarly or course specific Web pages have two options.

   a. Develop the Web page within Moodle course management system. Moodle provides a wide variety of easy-to-use design and publishing tools. Pages developed through this method require that the user have a log-in id to see the pages. Pages posted within Moodle provide more flexibility in terms of content and design since the pages are not viewable by the general public (since a log-in is required). Contact ITS for assistance with the set up process.

   b. Publish instructional pages in personal Web space on the server web.aurora.edu. Taking advantage of this method will require that the developer is skilled in HTML editing and/or programming. Contact ITS for assistance with the set up process.

4. Student organizations may post Web pages to represent their activities and events. These pages are subject to:

   • All AU computer use policies and the design standards listed above in sections B and C.

   • Officially constituted student organizations interested in creating Web pages will be given space for pages on the main server.

   • Unofficial student groups may post web pages using the personal web area of one of the group's members.

   • The Web Site Manager will assist with the publication of student organization pages. However, please note that the Student Life office is responsible for coordinating the creation and maintenance of these pages.

Standards for Pages and/or Applications Developed by Outside Sources

Normally all pages on the AU Web site are developed by AU staff. In some cases, outside authors may be used to develop pages for the AU site. In other cases, outside authors are required for the development of certain functions approved by the Web Team Committee (such as and including Flash video and other Flash elements). Under these circumstances the following policies apply:

1. An AU staff person (such as department's main contact person or the student organization sponsor) must serve as the contact person for such pages. The contact person must:

   • Verify that the contributed pages are compliant with all AU policies.

   • Ensure that the author creates pages that are HTML standards-compliant.

   • Ensure that the pages are compatible with all standard browsers for both Windows and Macintosh platforms.

   • Pages that do not display correctly on standard platforms will not be published.

   • Ensure that the pages are properly maintained and updated in a timely manner.

   • Ensure that videos can be run with Flash Player, video streaming is not acceptable or compatible for the AU Web site.

2. All pages developed by non-AU authors must comply fully with the AU computer use and web publication policies.

3. Pages containing errors or which are not in compliance with the above policies will not be published.

4. Pages containing CGI scripts not written by Information Technology Services programming staff are not permitted and will not be published.

5. Pages containing in-line code (such as javascript) must be reviewed and approved by ITS staff before the page containing it will be published.

Please Note: ITS staff will take responsibility for reviewing and publishing pages from outside sources. However, any and all editing and/or maintenance will be the responsibility of the original author, except by special arrangement. In no case will the Web Developer or Information Technology Services be responsible for the maintenance or troubleshooting pages designed by outside firms or individuals.

Revised 17 May 2007
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