Greetings everyone,

I was doing some research the other day and remembered this fun HTML slide show on layout tables and web standards.

Two caveats before you read:

1. This slide show was put together in 2003 when the web standards debate was really heating up, so they're really trying to make a point. If you're already familiar with this information, just file it away as something you can use to convince others if needed.
2. Though the slide show touts the benefits of accessibility, there's no text describing the background images (comic strips)!! Just goes to show that it's possible to create a page that is valid, but not necessarily accessible.

Enjoy!

Hello again,

Here are answers to a few more frequently asked questions about the templates:

How can I get help using and updating the templates?

If you need help with the templates, you can take advantage of the services offered by the New Media Center (free), or the Blacksburg Electronic Village (low cost).

New Media Center
1140 Torgerson Hall
(540) 231-4826
http://www.nmc.vt.edu/

BEV Web Support Services
http://www.websupport.bev.vt.edu/

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Hello everyone,

I was looking at the VT web templates the other day (because I use them too), and realized that the copyright year in the footer was still set to 2006 (!). Needless to say, it should be 2007, or the current year. So, if you haven't done so already, now's the time to change that year from 2006 to 2007.

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We have some good news to share.

At the upcoming CASE District III Awards banquet next month, Virginia Tech is a finalist for a Grand Award in two Web categories: Web Home Page Design and Implementation, and Overall Web Site Design and Implementation. A complete list of winners is available at http://www.casethree.org/documents/1/Award%20Winners%20for%20Web.pdf. The finalists in the Web categories did some absolutely fantastic work this past year, so just being among them is an honor.

These are two of six categories in which Virginia Tech has been recognized in this year's competition. Three of us from University Relations, including myself, will be attending the CASE III conference in Nashville, and if we win any Grand Awards, I'll be sure to post an update!

The deadline for CMS proposals passed on Jan. 12, and the selection committee is in the process of reviewing and scoring the proposals. So I thought this would be a good time to review why we're purchasing an enterprise Web CMS and the benefits it will bring to the university.

Lately I've been talking with a lot of people about this project, both formally and informally. Beginning next week I'll be doing a CMS overview presentation as part of FDI's Campus Resources short course. In each presentation, I start with this basic definition of a CMS:

A Content Management System is a software program that makes it easy to post information to websites without having to know how to write website code. A CMS will help you and others in your department quickly create, approve, and publish content on the Web.

This is a very powerful thing. Finally, the university will be providing an enterprise solution that allows anyone, regardless of skill level, to participate in the Web publishing process. And the CMS will provide a basic structure for managing that process.

I see these major benefits to Virginia Tech:

• Allowing people across the university to move content to the Web according to enterprise business rules
• Engaging more people in Web publishing because contributors will not need to know how to write website code
• Helping departments quickly create, approve, and publish content on the Web

Other benefits:

• Production efficiencies
• Compliance with W3C/508 standards
• Improved security
• 24/7 technical support from VT web hosting
• Consistent brand, user experience
• Improved accuracy of information
• Ability to share content
• Distribution across multiple channels

Over the coming weeks and months, I'll be talking about our CMS project in much more depth, and hope to hear from many of you regarding our efforts. I also look forward to sharing news regarding our selection process. We're moving very aggressively to develop a timeline for purchase and installation.

I've gotten some good questions about the template update today, so I'm writing up my answers here for everyone:

How often will template updates be released?

There is no set schedule for releasing template updates. I generally release updates to add new features, deal with changes in technology (such as IE 7),  or address a critical mass of smaller issues that have built up over time.

You can apply template updates on your own schedule, though it is a good idea to apply them as soon as you can.

Does a template update mean that I'll have to redo my entire site?

Not at all. It is possible to apply the template update to an existing site without recreating all the pages.

How do I apply a template update to an existing site in Dreamweaver?

I need to write up some documentation on this, but here's the quick and dirty version:

1. Make a back up of your site.
2. Download the latest version of the templates.
3. Replace all the stylesheets in the assets/css folder, all the images in the assets/img folder, and all the templates in the Templates folder.
4. Repeat Step 4 of the Instructions.
5. Perform a site wide template update.

You won't have to repeat Step 5 again because Dreamweaver will respect the individual settings for each page. 

Repeating Step 4 of the instructions is really tedious. Is there any way to make it easier?

If you have Dreamweaver or a good text editor, you can do a multiple file find and replace of all the placeholder text in the templates. I haven't tested this, but here's something you can try in Dreamweaver:

1. Go to Edit > Find and Replace.
2. In the Find and Replace dialogue box, go to Find in: Folder... and select the Templates folder.
3. In Find: put "Your Department" (without quotes).
4. In Replace: put the name of your department (without the "Department of" part).
5. Click the Replace All button.

If you have access to server-side technology, you can put all of your often repeated content (such as navigation) into include files. You'll still have to reinsert the include statements into the updated templates, but you won't have to redo the placeholders, and you might even be able to avoid Dreamweaver's template update process all together.

Abobe's website has a good article on when to use templates, library items and server side includes to manage your site.

Happy New everyone!

Version 1.12 of the Templates is now available.

This release looks forward the growing adoption of Internet Explorer 7, as well as the need for more navigation styling options. Several smaller issues from the last three months have also been addressed.

For more details, please refer to the Template Change Log at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/change_log.php

To download the updated templates now, please go to the Template Downloads page at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/downloads.php

The Template Overview and Instructions pages have also been updated with detailed code samples and information from the Web Symposium last November.

For the sake of simplicity, I removed references in the Instructions to topics such as site migration and server side includes. I'll do my best to write up these topics separately as time permits.

You can find the Overview page at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/

You can find the Instructions at:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/web/templates/instructions.php

The university has posted the RFP for the university’s web content management system (CMS). It can be downloaded at www.ita.vt.edu/WCMS-RFP.html.

We’ve set a deadline of Jan. 12 for proposals.

To follow the progress of the CMS selection committee, and the implementation of the CMS itself during the next year, I encourage you to bookmark this page. We will be using this blog as our primary means of communication with the university community regarding the enterprise CMS project.

Video/Broadcast Services at Virginia Tech has completed production of our Web Development Symposium held Nov. 9, and all presentations are now available online at http://www.vbs.vt.edu/content/adhoc/fall2006/web_symposium/.

To recap the event and the presentations available for viewing:

On Nov. 9, 2006, University Relations held a campus-wide symposium intended for anyone at Virginia Tech who maintains or contributes to university web sites. The four-hour session covered myriad topics, including:

• University branding architecture
• The website redevelopment process: Creating goal-oriented site architecture
• Case studies: Financial Aid and Undergraduate Admissions
• Implementing university web templates
• What's ahead for My VT / VT Search
• An update on the enterprise CMS

The discussion videos require RealPlayer® and Javascript. Download the free RealPlayer® for Windows, OS X, OS 9, or Linux.

It's always good to read and hear perspectives of other IHEs regarding web development. A great blog post with website redesign advice just came through my RSS inbox.

(And I swear I'm not sharing this just because I'm one of the featured advisors.)

Karine Joly, who maintains an excellent blog at collegewebeditor.com, has posted a link to her most recent column for University Business, now available in the December issue as well as online: "10 Tips to a Successful Website Redesign". I encourage you to read the article. One passage that hit home for me: "Expect some opposition and criticism from staff, faculty, students, alumni, and even donors for changing 'their' website." That certainly happened here in the wake of our redesign of vt.edu.

What tips would you add to the list?